For the final week of the Invitational, I took a look at EbscoHost Mobile. I did not know that there was a way to get access to MARVEL databases on a handheld device. Right now I'm at work and don't have time to investigate how this works exactly, but I'm putting it on my to-do list because I think it would be great to be able to access these resources on a tablet or cell phone. I also looked at Windows on Maine, another database that was new to me (well, there are still quite a few databases in that category). This looked like it would be a very useful database for teachers because of all the videos on a variety of topics.
For me, the biggest discovery of all of the MARVEL resources was Learning Express. I had no idea that it contained practice tests for professional certification exams. This is really useful for my patrons (nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, allied health students, etc.). I am going to show this database to my staff at the next staff meeting. I am also going to show them EbscoHost eBook Collection. Our library's website has a page which lists electronic resources available through the library and it has a link to the MARVEL databases. I am going to break out some of the databases that I think are most useful to our patrons (LE, eBook, Academic Search Complete, ProQuest Newspapers).
This concludes my blogging for the Invitational. Want to know why I named my blog "The Real Marvel"? My middle (and birth) name is Marvel!
Friday, December 14, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
EbscoHost and eBooks
I use Academic Search alot so I decided to look at Masterfile Premier. Under publications, I looked for Birders World (I'm a birder). It wasn't there. Then, I looked for Yankee. It was there but only in html; not as good as a pdf. Finally I looked for Arizona Highways, one of my favorite magazines. It wasn't there either. If this database is designed specifically for public libraries, it struck out in my eyes. Of course, these aren't really popular titles, I guess.
I did the basic search for foods containing zinc. I put in "zinc foods" (without the quotation marks). I found alot, so I limited to full text. I took a look at the results and the fifth item looked good to me. It was from the Saturday Evening Post and the indexing indicated "Food Sources of Zinc." So I opened the pdf. What a disappointment! It was one short paragraph. I went back and looked at the citation and clearly saw that it indicated the item was 1/4 page. It's important to pay attention to details in this database. I also discovered that the back button on the browser is not reliable and that it is better to click on "result list" or you can end up having to start over.
I think all the Ebsco databases are really rich resources but users need a bit of instruction in searching in order to be successful and efficient searchers.
I am totally bombing in my use of Ebsco e-books. I tried searching consumer health and got all kinds of odd titles. I could not find how to limit to key words. Finally I noticed the small "field codes" link which enabled me to limit to title ( not key words). I still didn't get much worthwhile. Plus I kept pulling up Historical Dictionary of Taiwan (which I pulled up in several other searches). I found only 1 good book for Constitution Day: Representing Popular Sovereignty : The Constitution in American Political Culture. I clicked on "use smart search to recommend related titles" and got 1 additional title: Natural Wonders of Tennessee : Exploring Wild and Scenic Places - huh? I wonder what I'm doing wrong?
Searching on Oklahoma as a publisher was useful, however. It pulled up lots of titles by the University of Oklahoma Press. That would give the class lots of material on western history. I tried putting Maine (nothing) and then New Hampshire (nothing) in as publishers. Oh well.
I did the basic search for foods containing zinc. I put in "zinc foods" (without the quotation marks). I found alot, so I limited to full text. I took a look at the results and the fifth item looked good to me. It was from the Saturday Evening Post and the indexing indicated "Food Sources of Zinc." So I opened the pdf. What a disappointment! It was one short paragraph. I went back and looked at the citation and clearly saw that it indicated the item was 1/4 page. It's important to pay attention to details in this database. I also discovered that the back button on the browser is not reliable and that it is better to click on "result list" or you can end up having to start over.
I think all the Ebsco databases are really rich resources but users need a bit of instruction in searching in order to be successful and efficient searchers.
I am totally bombing in my use of Ebsco e-books. I tried searching consumer health and got all kinds of odd titles. I could not find how to limit to key words. Finally I noticed the small "field codes" link which enabled me to limit to title ( not key words). I still didn't get much worthwhile. Plus I kept pulling up Historical Dictionary of Taiwan (which I pulled up in several other searches). I found only 1 good book for Constitution Day: Representing Popular Sovereignty : The Constitution in American Political Culture. I clicked on "use smart search to recommend related titles" and got 1 additional title: Natural Wonders of Tennessee : Exploring Wild and Scenic Places - huh? I wonder what I'm doing wrong?
Searching on Oklahoma as a publisher was useful, however. It pulled up lots of titles by the University of Oklahoma Press. That would give the class lots of material on western history. I tried putting Maine (nothing) and then New Hampshire (nothing) in as publishers. Oh well.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
LearningExpress - A Useful Resource
This is another database that I have never used. At EMMC we do get occasional questions concerning practice guides for exams related to certification in various health care professions so this database has potential for our patrons.
I chose the Certified Medical Assistant Practice Exam 1 and did a few questions. The exam seemed well-designed to me. There was a good amount of information provided explaining why the choices were correct or not.
I added the course, Business Writing: Write for Clarity to My Center and took a look at it. The entire course was a good length and each section was fairly short so the reader wouldn't get bogged down reading the section. There were a lot of examples of good business writing/poor business writing to show the reader how to distinguish between the two. The course seemed like a good fit for the category of Workplace Skills and I would feel comfortable referring a patron to it.
I searched for "libraries" in the search box and found 4 e-books. I took a look at "Research & Writing Skills Success in 20 Minutes a Day." This was a 2003 book, 141 pages long, and quite detailed about writing a research paper. It seemed to me to be appropriate for a college-level student (but I'm out of my area here). I would have liked a brief description of it somewhere in order to know a bit more before adding it to My Center (maybe there was one and I just missed it). I don't know how many students would wade through this book. Can you search it and just print out chapters?
I'm going to show my staff this resource because of the practice exams for certification. I think the courses and ebooks are probably less useful for our setting.
I chose the Certified Medical Assistant Practice Exam 1 and did a few questions. The exam seemed well-designed to me. There was a good amount of information provided explaining why the choices were correct or not.
I added the course, Business Writing: Write for Clarity to My Center and took a look at it. The entire course was a good length and each section was fairly short so the reader wouldn't get bogged down reading the section. There were a lot of examples of good business writing/poor business writing to show the reader how to distinguish between the two. The course seemed like a good fit for the category of Workplace Skills and I would feel comfortable referring a patron to it.
I searched for "libraries" in the search box and found 4 e-books. I took a look at "Research & Writing Skills Success in 20 Minutes a Day." This was a 2003 book, 141 pages long, and quite detailed about writing a research paper. It seemed to me to be appropriate for a college-level student (but I'm out of my area here). I would have liked a brief description of it somewhere in order to know a bit more before adding it to My Center (maybe there was one and I just missed it). I don't know how many students would wade through this book. Can you search it and just print out chapters?
I'm going to show my staff this resource because of the practice exams for certification. I think the courses and ebooks are probably less useful for our setting.
My favorite database so far!
I've never used Ancestry Library before and I am not a genealogy person. I come from a very small family and my brother and I are the end of the line. For some reason, first cousins twice removed, etc. don't make any sense to me and no matter how many times this is explained it does not stick. But AL blew me away! I wish I could have searched this years ago when my parents and the one grandparent who I knew were still alive.
When I searched for my name, I retrieved 1,629,616 postings. I wonder why it asks you to put in your middle name and then only searches on the middle initial? That seems to result in a lot of false drops. When I added my birth year, the hits were narrowed to 566,396. Adding more details keeps winnowing down the number of hits. I did find 2 records which had my name and address correct but had my birth date wrong, not sure why. Wish I had a more unique name!
I searched for my paternal grandmother in the census and found her in 1920 and 1940. She was the only grandparent who was alive during my lifetime. In the 1920 census, my dad was listed as 1 year and 10 months old. His sister was a teenager (she died of alcoholism and my grandmother never said her name again) and there was another woman (age 21 and from Canada) listed. I think she might have been a servant; I can't read what is listed in the column that would be the occupation. I knew they had servants but to see it like this in the census listing was fascinating.
I used the advanced search feature to search for "Maine" and restrict to "photos and maps." This was the only way I could find to do this; I did not see a tab. I got over a million hits. I pressed the "r" key to refine and added Carlton Wood, my grandfather-in-law, and got 7,284. There were some cool photos, some from the Camden High School yearbook (he was principal there in the 50s and I am doing this assignment right now in the Camden Public Library).
All in all, I think this is an amazing database and the only drawback is that one cannot search it from home.
When I searched for my name, I retrieved 1,629,616 postings. I wonder why it asks you to put in your middle name and then only searches on the middle initial? That seems to result in a lot of false drops. When I added my birth year, the hits were narrowed to 566,396. Adding more details keeps winnowing down the number of hits. I did find 2 records which had my name and address correct but had my birth date wrong, not sure why. Wish I had a more unique name!
I searched for my paternal grandmother in the census and found her in 1920 and 1940. She was the only grandparent who was alive during my lifetime. In the 1920 census, my dad was listed as 1 year and 10 months old. His sister was a teenager (she died of alcoholism and my grandmother never said her name again) and there was another woman (age 21 and from Canada) listed. I think she might have been a servant; I can't read what is listed in the column that would be the occupation. I knew they had servants but to see it like this in the census listing was fascinating.
I used the advanced search feature to search for "Maine" and restrict to "photos and maps." This was the only way I could find to do this; I did not see a tab. I got over a million hits. I pressed the "r" key to refine and added Carlton Wood, my grandfather-in-law, and got 7,284. There were some cool photos, some from the Camden High School yearbook (he was principal there in the 50s and I am doing this assignment right now in the Camden Public Library).
All in all, I think this is an amazing database and the only drawback is that one cannot search it from home.
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