LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Dear LM_NET Friends,
Here are the responses to my request for information on DIALOG Information
Service. Most of you felt it was a valuable resource for your library, but
the amount of usage was varied. DIALOG offers a "Teach the Teacher" training
workshop, which might be valuable for those of you who are new to online
searching. For more information, contact:
DIALOG Marketing toll-free at 1-800-334-2564
For specific information on the DIALOG Classmate Instruction Program, call:
Anne Caputo at 1-703-908-2388
or write to DIALOG Information Services, Inc.
1901 North Moore Street, Suite 500
Arlington, VA 22209
FAX 1-703-524-1680
Internet: caputoa%dialogvm@mcimail.com
Thanks so much for all your helpful replies. I plan to give DIALOG a try, and
after I've used it for awhile, I'll write in and give you my impressions.
**********************************************************
* Evie Funk *
* Hopkins West Junior High *
* Minnetonka, MN 55345 *
* Evie@vax1.mankato.msus.edu *
* *
* "Oh this learning, what a thing it is!" - Shakespeare *
**********************************************************
From: IN%"jrhodus@esu9.esu9.k12.ne.us" "Jane Rhodus"
I am a middled school media specialist in Hastings, Ne. I have had
Dialog for four years and use it as a vehicle to teach Boolean search
strategy to the students. The company has been very helpful in that they
will provide free training passwords and user numbers so that students
can practice searching without it costing us anything. I don't know how
Dialog's recent changes will affect that. Students also use it for
research when they have exhausted all other possibilities. I have found
it well worth the money and the company excellent to work with.
******************************************
From: IN%"DELEON@utkvx.utk.edu" "Elsie Mae Deleon"
Hi,
We contacted Dialog this spring and requested their Classroom Instruction
Program (CIP) for use this fall. As we understand there is no monthly
charge. There is a charge for the time spent for online searching. I do
not have the information with me presently, but I reached them through an
800 number. Another media specialist in our system loves Dialog for her
elementary school. I am in a middle school. You might try calling about
the CIP.
Elsie
******************************************
From: IN%"ritenour@umd5.umd.edu" "Valorie C. Ritenour"
Oops, just as I began replying, the Middle School part of you message
jumped out at me. Still, I'm in a high school which uses Dialog a lot.
In a school of just under a thousand, I went $200 over my $800 budget
this year, and only $200 because I finally started limiting drastically
what I would allow. Don't know about middle school. Sorry, Evie.
Val Ritenour
Loch Raven High School
Towson, Maryland
ritenour@umd5.umd.edu
******************************************
From: IN%"uwnet42@u.washington.edu" "Sara Mockett"
I would appreciate receiving a Hit list on the information you receive.
I have been debating this same question.
Sara Mockett, Librarian
Seattle Country Day School
2619 4th Ave. N.,Seattle,WA 98109
uwnet42@u.washington.edu
******************************************
From: IN%"lramsey@bigcat.missouri.edu" "Linda Ramsey"
Dear Evie,
I have the high school version of Dialog in our high school. I
use it sort of as a last resort, when I have exhausted all other
resources. I also use it for teachers and students doing extensive
research projects. It has been very useful to have at times, but is
sometimes frustrating to search.
Using it sparingly, I usually budget $300-$400 per year for
charges. This includes long distance, which is figured into Dialog's
bill.
We are a small high school of 350 students.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have other questions.
Linda Ramsey <lramsey@bigcat.missouri.edu> The world is my country,
Centralia High School Library All people are my siblings,
Centralia, MO 65240 And to do good is my religion.
314-682-3508 (Thomas Paine - paraphrased)
******************************************
From: IN%"ziglinj@uwwvax.uww.edu"
Evie -
We have had dialog available in our 7-8 gr. middle school but it
has been of limited use. We did a special unit on controversial
issues 2 years ago and had groups of kids using dialog with help.
So many of the articles they found had no relation to what they
wanted. I stopped encouraging it on a wide level. I still
use it with a student when we can't find the information else-
where. Someone was doing a report on some current trend
that we found good information about using Dialog. The one
good thing about it is that I've been able to give them money
on deposit which stays with them till I use it. I don't
lose it when the budget year ends. But I will be trying to
find better ways of finding info. It is also very expensive.
You can be up to $3 - $6 before you know it.
Hope this helps.
Jan Ziglin
jziglin@omnifest.uwm.edu
******************************************
From: IN%"ac862@freenet.buffalo.edu"
Evie, We have used DIALOG in the high school for many years.
All of our students see a demo of how it works in the senior
year. They request a search and use it for the required
major English term paper. It is also available for all
the students on a need basis or if the teachers request its
use for the project. The middle school librarian often
sends us a request and we have used it extensively for
teachers and administrators.
It has many advantages: cost is low for all the
info you get. The student does the search strategy and
I keyboard it in. Student typing has proven too slow/
costly. One exception: business classes are required to do
several searches for various kinds of info.
It provides up to the day info our small school
would normally never afford. I set up an open purchase order
and simply subtract when the bill comes in. I have also
set up an account with DIALOG, and they do the subtracting,
easier for me, but our new business manager nixed that.
I ususally set aside $700 per year but have never used
that much. I limit the use of the newspaper section as
print outs are longer. I also limit the ASAP sections for the
same reason. We especially use the MAGA1 section and I mark the
print out for the titles we have. The students request the
magazines they want and I get the the odd ones from
interlibrary loan.
The DIALOG instruction for teachers was first rate.
The book gives you the forms and overheads for student use.
I modified some for our school and if you want copies
snail mail,send me your address. Hope this helps.
-- Donna Carroll
Alden High School
Alden, NY 14004
ac862@freenet.buffalo.edu
******************************************
From: IN%"PGOSDA@vms1.nysed.gov"
Evie,
I've had Dialog for a long time (10-15 years) in my middle school
library. We used to use it a lot, but other resources have now taken
its place. We used ERIC a lot, but now access that free in the Internet.
We also used Magazine Index a lot, but now have Readers Guide Abstracts
online with our OPAC and plan to add a full-text service this school year.
We also made use of the Books in Print file, but now use a CD for this.
Most of the other databases on Dialog were too sophisticated for us.
We stil have our account, but I think last school year I used it less than
5 times. It also has the disadvantage of requiring training in its
use; for me this was great, but for middle school kids, it's tough.
My recommendation is, get it if it's all you have a chance for. However,
other resources are better and easier to use. Good luck!
Patricia Gosda (pgosda@vms1.nysed.gov)
Van Antwerp Middle School
Niskayuna, NY 12309
******************************************
From: IN%"ny000999@mail.nyser.net" "Gail M. Szeliga"
We have had the DIALOG Classmate program for years and find it very valuable.
Full text magazine articles are available as well as full text newspaper
articles.
You only pay for the time you spend online searching.
They are making some changes this year regarding search terms, hopefully
it will still be as easy to search.
******************************************
From: IN%"iclise1@mickey.esd113.wednet.edu" "Irene Clise"
I used DIALOG for seven years and thought it extremely valuable. I
taught classes in critical thinking skills in several upper level classes
and helped students access information from DIALOG. The rate of $15/hr
is great and if you are thinking of getting it now, would suggest
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION PROGRAM -- it is more user friendly. It limits
acceess to some databases, but the ease of use is worth it.
I have moved to a new high high tech high school opened this year and we
are not using DIALOG. We have over 600 networked computers and heavy
into CDROM networks and will begin using INTERNET in the fall with the
students. DIALOG use requires high librarian time involvement for the
searching, whereas teaching kids/staff to use all our CDROM info, after
student/staff inservice is a better use of my professional time and the
students can access the info from their classroom.
So...if you have few computers and little CDROM access, I recommend
DIALOG highly. I have taught university classes in both DIALOG and CDROM
instruction teaching strategies. Good luck with your decision.
Irene Clise
Library Media Specialist
River Ridge High School
Olympia, Washington
iclise1@mickey.esd113.wednet.edu
******************************************
From: IN%"Cyberlib@aol.com"
Please post a "hit." I'm interested in the results of this query.
Marilyn Joyce
Library Media Specialist, Brewer, Maine
address <cyberlib@aol.com>
******************************************
From: IN%"Gooselak@po-1.star.k12.ia.us"
We have been using Dialog since 1984. There are 400 or more databases
available in Dialog. We most frequently use Magazine Index because it
indexes 420 magazines and searchs for topics back into the fifties. This
means in several seconds time you can search for a topic and information
that would take hours to find using printed sources. Some of the other
databases that are most helpful are the newspaper databases. There are 50 to
60
major newspapers available full text on-line. So if an article looks good you
ca
n save it while you are on-line to read at a later time. Dialog services cost
$1
5.00 an hour and you can connect via the Internet. We have found the service
to
be well worth the cost because the students have such good success with finding
i
nformation on their topics. Dialog databases are up-dated daily so that we
were
able to get information on the last earthquake in California the next day. I
thi
nk of it as my most valuable resource.
Kathy Geronzin,
Jr.-Sr. High School Librarian,
Northeast Communit School District
Goose Lake, IA 52750
******************************************
From: IN%"gclare@cln.etc.bc.ca" "Gerry Clare"
I use Dialog for a few special purposes -- Books in Print for one. The
Official Airline Guide database is used a lot by a particular group of
Social Studies teachers for a simulated travel project. Senior students
sometimes use it for research (Magazine Index, etc) A bit expensive but
nice to have available.
Gerry Clare
Teacher-Librarian-on-Holiday
Watching the traffic go by
On the Information Highway
******************************************
From: IN%"khollens@tenet.edu" "Karen Jean Hollenshead"
Evie,
We still consider DIALOG to be very valuable in spite of the fact that
our library accesses several CD-ROM programs as well as the INTERNET.
The reasons? Currency, retroactive searches, extremely specific searches
due to the Boolean operators and other limitors. For ease and efficiency
of retrieval, DIALOG can't be beat. E-mail me if you would like more
details of our experience here at Cy-Fair. Believe me, I love CD-ROM
databases and am addicted to the INTERNET, but I wouldn't give up DIALOG.
Karen Hollenshead khollens@tenet.edu
Langham Creek H S
Houston, TX 77095
******************************************
From: IN%iclise1@mickey.esd113.wednet.edu" "Irene Clise"
DIALOG will allow you access to over 800 periodicals which are always
available fulltext on innumerable topics. The nice thing about DIALOG is
that it requires no investment other than a modem and phoneline and if
you are planning on using INTERNET, you already have access to that. It
is simply $15/hour and only charged when used--therefore it is no
investment (other than your time to learn) so you can't go wrong in
trying it. Besides the magazines/newspapers, there are government
databases, science and health databases specifically dedicated to those
issues and almost whatever you wish to search. I found I used about 10
databases a lot even though hundreds were offered. It is so much easier
to use than INTERNET and information is so much more readily located,
even though the value of INTERNET will continue to become more
user-friendly.
Good luck in whatever you decide.
******************************************
From: IN%"bluikart@umd5.umd.edu" "Beth Luikart"
For the past four years I have been an instructional assistant in a middle
school library, and we have used DIALOG for research with all of our
eighth graders. It is a particularly good resource for topics which are
current in nature--environmental concerns, political research, etc. We
made it a point to teach all the eighth graders how to use it. We went
through Classmate, which cost us less money than going directly through
DIALOG. I think the rates for schools are $15/hour. Our yearly budget
of $300 for the online time was nearly sufficient for all of our 285
eighth graders to do some research on it. The kids are amazed with the
speed and quantity of information available. We have also used it occasionally
for professional research by teachers, but our budget doesn't really permit
as much of that as we would like.
I will now be a media specialist in a high school library, and I know I'll
be doing a lot of DIALOG research this coming year.
Good luck--
Beth Luikart (bluikart@umd5.umd.edu)
Dulaney High School
Baltimore County Public Schools
Baltimore, MD
(formerly at Hereford Middle School, BCPS, Monkton, MD 21111)
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