Using Electric Library and EBSCO Host : Access Newspaper and Journal Articles from home or at the library Using Electric Library and EBSCO Host


Agenda: Agenda What is a journal index? Basic general search techniques Introduction to Electric Library Logging on to Electric Library Searching on Electric Library Introduction to EBSCO Host Logging on to EBSCO Host Searching EBSCO Host databases Other available databases


What is a Journal Index?: What is a Journal Index? Index to newspapers and magazines (use keywords to find specific article) Can be automated or manual Indexing can be selective or complete or combination (eg. Masterfile Premier indexes the first page of each section of the New York Times not whole paper) Full-text indexing means search mechanism searches entire text of article Full-text database means that database will provide citation as well as text of article (may or may not include pictures)


Basic general search techniques: Basic general search techniques Think of keywords which describe the information you are looking for and which should be found in the article. Try to be as specific as possible Think of alternative words Use the word and to narrow a search and or to enlarge it Decide if it is important to have Canadian content Think about what forms of information would suit your needs (newspapers, magazines, TV news shows)


What is Electric Library?: What is Electric Library? Automated full-text index and database for journals, magazines, certain reference books and television programs Mainly American but has some international content and a fair selection of Canadian sources A total of about 750 sources Indexes Ottawa Sun up to previous day Indexes Ottawa Citizen in house only with 4-6 week time lag


Logging on to Electric Library : Logging on to Electric Library Go to library’s webpage (www.library.ottawa.on.ca) Click on English Click on Electronic Info Click on Electric Library Click on logo eLibray Plus Type in your 14 digit barcode (must have new library barcode) Click on Continue


Searching on Electric Library – Natural Language: Searching on Electric Library – Natural Language Natural language is a question expressed exactly as you would ask someone. Remember to include any contextual information Eg. “What is the current thinking on legalizing marijuana” will give you a very different result than “What is the current thinking on legalizing marijuana for medical purposes in Canada” You can use a phrase search in Natural language


Searching on Electric Library-Boolean: Searching on Electric Library-Boolean Boolean search is using a combination of keywords and is generally much more efficient Can be used from the main search page by clicking on the radio button beside Boolean search or can use form retrieved by clicking on box “build a boolean search” The word “and” will narrow a search and in EL must be in capital letters The word “or” will broaden a search and must be in capital letters To search for a phrase put it in quotes


Other ways to limit your search: Other ways to limit your search Choose the format of material (Newspapers, magazines, Books, Pictures, Maps, or TV and radio transcripts) Restrict to Canadian sources only Choose to restrict dates of publication Restrict your search to particular publications Restrict your search to particular author in Byline (use last name only to ensure you get correct result) Select number of results


Practice : Practice 1. Find a story in the Ottawa Sun about a car driving into the Rideau Canal 2. Find a book review for the book Total recall by Sara Paretsky 3. Find all the magazine articles you can on the career Fashion designer


Hints for Practice: Hints for Practice 1. Use the publication field Use a phrase search for Rideau Canal Use Boolean logic and remember to press radio button and put AND in caps 2. Use Boolean logic and put the name of the book in quotations 3. Use Boolean logic. Expand the number of citations you can retrieve. Limit by form of publication and date to retrieve all possibilites


Evaluating your search: Evaluating your search Sorting your documents (automatically sorted by relevance, can also use date, reading level, size, title and publication) Refine search will let you change your search terms if results are not what you anticipated If you have retrieved maximum number of results refine search and increase number as you will be missing results which may be more relevant


Working with individual documents: Working with individual documents Go to best part (when looking at a document will show section which has most occurrences of your keywords) Document options View Printable copy E-mail At bottom in dictionary look-up if you need to check a definition of a word


More information on using Electric Library: More information on using Electric Library Tutorial provided by Electric library to walk you through a typical project http://www.rogerseducation.com/tutor/ Electric Library has very detailed help pages http://www.elibrary.ca/s/plusca/s-plusca/info/helptips.html


What is EBSCOhost?: What is EBSCOhost? Vendor of automated databases. Databases range from being indexes to a combination of full text and indexed databases. Mostly American although one of the databases has significant Canadian content


EBSCOhost Databases: EBSCOhost Databases MasterFILE Premier is a a large full text index to more than 1800 magazines as well as an index to another 2200 periodicals Canadian MAS FullTEXT Elite provides full text index to nearly 190 periodicals as well as an index to another 460 magazines Alt-HealthWatch provides full text indexing of more than 170 journals as well as hundreds of pamphlets and reports on alternative health subjects.


EBSCOhost Databases cont.: EBSCOhost Databases cont. Health Source: Consumer Edition provides full text indexing of nearly 160 health journals as well as indexes another 180. Novelist is a reader’s advisory tool to help you find novels on specific subjects or other works by specific author.


Logging on to EBSCO Host: Logging on to EBSCO Host Go to library’s webpage (www.library.ottawa.on.ca) Click on English Click on Electronic Info Click on EBSCO Host Type your 14 digit barcode in the box provided Choose between the database Novelist and the EBSCOhost Web which includes the rest of the EBSCO databases Choose the database(s) you want to search


Searching on EBSCO Host: Searching on EBSCO Host Default is standard basic search which is the only one you can use at home and must specify “and” and “or” Best not to use capitals in keywords or operators Phrase search is automatic if you have two words together without a Boolean term (ie and, or, not). Do not use quotation marks.


Searching on EBSCO Host cont.: Searching on EBSCO Host cont. Guided search helps build a Boolean search The default search is to search the author, title, subject and abstract for the keywords you specify. If you need an academic article, you can choose to restrict your search to scholarly journals.


Searching on EBSCO Host cont.: Searching on EBSCO Host cont. If you choose only one database you will have option of searching by subject. (with two databases you will have to do a keyword search first and then if you find a relevant article, click on the subject) If you choose Masterfile Premier by itself you also have the choice of specifying type of material you would like to see (eg primary documents, biographies, reference books). From home must use guided search for those options


Searching on EBSCO Host cont.: Searching on EBSCO Host cont. You can also choose to search for pictures by clicking on the button labeled Image Collections Put keyword in text box When you get result list click on thumbnail picture which interests you and will get full scale picture To print click on Print/Save button at bottom of page Make sure Image with copyright and Display to Print are the chosen items Click on Submit button Click on word File in Menu bar and choose Print


Practice: Practice 1. Find an article in a scholarly journal on designing office buildings 2. Find a book review of Sara Paretsky’s book Total Recall 3. Find a picture of the Empire State Building 4. Look at both the conventional and alternative treatments for osteoarthritis


Practice hints: Practice hints 1. Use the keywords architecture and office and put a checkmark beside Academic/Scholarly Journals 2. Include the word review 3. Use the Images Collection on top of page 4. Choose to search Alt-HealthWatch and Health Source: Consumer Edition and change the Options settings so you can view the results separately


Evaluating your results: Evaluating your results If the number of articles you get is too high you can limit or narrow them by Looking at the first two pages of results. If you find a good article try clicking on the subject heading of that article, Click on the Refine Search button to add more keywords to your search using “and” On the search screen under “Limit Results” click on the box beside Full text documents so that they will only search titles where the database has the full text


Evaluating your results cont. : Evaluating your results cont. Limit your search by specifying more recent articles in the date published area Restrict your search to a particular journal (To find a list of the journals click on choose database and under relevant database click on “complete title list”). Restrict your keyword search to a specific field (Use guided search to help you do that)


Evaluating your results cont. : Evaluating your results cont. If the number of articles you get is too low, you can increase them by broadening your search by Adding keywords to your search using the word or as the connector Under the expand the search make sure also search for related words is checked and EBSCO will use it’s own thesaurus Under the expand search check off search within the full text of the article although that may give you more than you bargained for


Displaying your results: Displaying your results Will see no. of results as well as no. of pages. If there are more than 5 pages and you want to get to the end you can only get there in five page increments by clicking on >> to get to next set of pages


Displaying your results cont.: Displaying your results cont. Clicking on the title underlined in blue will give you the citation as well as the abstract. If the words Full text in blue appear in the results as you page down you will also see the full text of the article. If you see Full Text Image instead of Full Text, this indicates a PDF document and you will need to click on that either from citation or results page. (P.S. you will also need the plug in for Adobe acrobat to view these documents)


Displaying your results cont.: Displaying your results cont. From the results page you always have four buttons Refine button will let you refine your search if the results are not what you wanted Print button will let you print your results (you can print the citations or the citations and full text so make sure that you do not try to print too much. If you are unsure after you click on print you can estimate no. of pages) Email button will let you email the results. Again if you are emailing, make sure the results are a manageable size. If you mark specific records then the program will only send those records.


Displaying your results cont.: Displaying your results cont. Save button will allow you to save your results If you are interested in specific articles, the same buttons will be available on the page you are viewing and then you know the size of the file is manageable. If you are searching more than one database, you can use the Sort function under Options to display the results of the different databases separately.


Other databases available from home: Other databases available from home Literature Resource Center (critical essays on writers and their works) CBCA Fulltext Reference indexes over 750 Canadian magazines and newspapers with full text for about 180 CBCA Fulltext Business has full-text access to nearly 140 periodicals Canadian Newsdisc full-text access to 14 Canadian newspapers and some CBC and CTV television transcripts


Other databases available from home, cont.: Other databases available from home, cont. Canadian Periodical Index indexes 400 Canadian and international journals and newspapers. Full-text for 160 and some French content Biography Resource Center (Biographical information on more than 1 million people) CanCorp Financials (Financial data on more than 12,000 Canadian Companies)


Other databases available from home, cont.: Other databases available from home, cont. Grolier New Book of Knowledge (children’s encyclopedia) Grolier Lands and Peoples (encyclopedia on countries) Grolier New Book of Popular Science (science encyclopedia