LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Several people asked for me to post a hit from my query about CD databases
for a secondary school library, so here it is
John Politis
Librarian
Central High School
Philadelphia, Pa.
We have Infotrac, CD NewsBank, and ProQuest. Infotrac is really good
>> for magazines. It's user friendly, has some full text, and many
>> articles on microfiche. CD NewsBank is full text on the CD only and
>> it's newspapers, We also have the New York Times on CD. They all get
>> lots of use. It's difficult to choose only one since they each do
>> different things.
I just revamped my whole CD collection. This is what we have for 9-12
3000+ students....
Discovering Biography, Discovering Science, Discovering U. S. History,
Discovering World History, Sirs Researcher, Sirs Government Reporter,
Topicsearch, Proquest Periodical Abstracts, E-library, Follett Unison
catalog, Star Tribune, Masterplots and Netscape Navigator. It has been
much more conducive to curriculums and not so much overlap from the past
few years. The kids like it! Hope this helps!
My computer lab is ALMOST working and I have made it known
to administration that I consider the CD ROMS a more efficient way to
go. EVERYTHING is reliable and easily accessed. Some of the programs I
have ordered are SIRS, and I'm going to preview the EBSCO, Macmillan and
Gale CD ROMS - they sound good, but I want to see what the student
response will be. Please post a hit of the responses you receive.
CD databases is intranet rather than internet and I am on the program
committee for our GISD. We are installing fiber at all the schools in
our county. The big debate is intra verses inter. Sally Dunlop
sdunlop@genesee.freenet has a school almost as large as yours take away a
few hundred. Email her and she will give you a lot of the CD ROM
databases. If you can network your CD ROM product, more students can
access it at one time. Maybe your school has more direct connects to the
internet than ours, but our CD ROM products can be used by more students
at one time than our internet.
I would suggest you visit our site at http://clearinghouse.k12.ca.us. It
is
a database of titles in all types of technology which are rated as the
best
in all subject areas and by grade levels. It has a search engine which
will
allow your staff to find materials which will fit most of their needs.
The
database consista of titles which were evaluated by classroom teachers.
I like DISCovering Authors. If the school does much with literature and
criticism--this provides criticisms and information on the author. I
think the SIRS programs are also good--we have Researcher, Government
Reporter and Renaissance. They are excellent for papers being written in
social studies and science. Good luck.
--
ohn, we subscribe to SIRS Researcher and Britannica Online -- both are
very good. We also through our state library have access to many of the
databases available through OCLC's First Search. No, Internet is not all
there is. We did opt this year to change our access to these subscription
programs from CD because of the loading/reloading and dependence upon the
server's reliability but our kids couldn't do without them.
\ ohn, in addition to an encyclopedia such as World Book or Encarta97(I
have
both), you need a magazine database(I use Ebsco Fulltext Elite), SIRS, and
a
database indexing authorsand their works(I use Discovering Authors). Good
Luck!
I would definitely subscribe to NewsBank and either EBSCO or
InfoTrac/TOM online which both come with CD-ROM backup for when you
can't get an Internet connection. I would also get DISCovering Authors
from Gale, whatever modules suit your needs but definitely the
"Most-Studied" module. Also, Granger's Poetry Index on CD from
Columbia University Press is great (you can add call numbers for the
anthologies you have in collection, plus it contains thousands of
full-text poems) although I am going to try World's Greatest Poetry on
CD from Roth Publishing this year. There are lots of other CDs that I
have and insert in the tower as needed (good ones available for
anatomy/bio and other science topics), but the above are "resident" for
reference and research. They are used MUCH and enjoyed by students.
Don't buy Contemporary Authors on CD until Gale adds the criticisms;
otherwise it is a ridiculous price for just bio. Call them and insist
While our school is A LOT smaller than yours, I would suggest that you
have both SIRS and TOM on cd. You should also have at least one
encyclopedia. Assuming that you are going to ask for "everything" and
accept somewhat less, I would suggest that you plan on a server for the
cds, so that any station can use any cd at any time. You mentioned that
yours is an "academic" high school, so you might also want to consider
DiscLit. Those cds are available for either American or British authors.
Enjoy
We have Infotrac, CD NewsBank, and ProQuest. Infotrac is really good
for magazines. It's user friendly, has some full text, and many
articles on microfiche. CD NewsBank is full text on the CD only and
it's newspapers, We also have the New York Times on CD. They all get
lots of use. It's difficult to choose only one since they each do
different things.
Please post a HIT. Even though I have only 400 students our
administrators
seem to think that database subscriptions are too high price for us to
subscribe to. I am trying to change their mind. Thanks.
Dear John,
I can't imagine the frustration your students or you will endure
if all
you have for research is the Internet. It can be very slow for several
reasons: heavy traffic or looking in the wrong place using the wrong
search
terms. (Since there is no real organization of the web or its indexing,
the
last problem is not only a problem for the novice searcher, but the fairly
saavy searcher as well.) We use several CD-ROM databases and I would like
to have more. We have SIRS Researcher, SIRS Renaissance, SIRS Reporter,
Wilson Disc (mini-edition) abstracts and full text (it's the Reader's
Guide
on CD). All of these databases give a powerful searching capacity for
recent information found in quality magazines and journals. SIRS does a
great job of selecting appropriate material both in terms of age and
curriculum for HS. We also have Encyclopaedia Britannica on-line,
Encarta,
48 lines more (39%). Press <space> for more, 'i' to return.
Message 61/75 From Martha Daly
Page 2
curriculum for HS. We also have Encyclopaedia Britannica on-line,
Encarta,
Grolier and World Book...all of which are much more current than our print
encyclopedias and they are very easy to search. In the case of
Britannica,
it is up-dated online and also gives pointers to other worthwhile web
sites
on the topic. We also subscribe to Electric Library which has newspapers,
magazines, pictures, maps, TV/Radio transcripts and fliters information
searched for by eliminating commercial sites and sites that do not provide
information applicable to student research. ALL of these products are
available for free trial (usually 2 months: I'm trying Ebsco Topic Search
right now) Even if you don't order right away, it gives you a good idea
what is available. I wouldn't just offer the Internet...it isn't always
the most appropriate place to go for information and yet if it is all you
have you will never be able to show students when it is and isn't worth
their time. Good Luck.
John, you might consider a commercial internet site such as Electric
Library. It's a bit pricey but contains a wonderful array of databases
that
are tailored for student use.
Sirs, Wilsondisc Reader's Guide, Word Book, and Newsbank are what we
have...truly more efficient then looking in the Internet!
--
We are a high school of 2000 in grades 10,11, and 12.
The most used research CD's in our library are Social
Issues Resources (SIRS) and Magazine Article Summaries
(MAS). Last year we added Electric Library which is
not a CD but a research internet site. Electric Library
is fast proving to be the most user friendly and seems to
be the first choice of student
MHO you need a periodical database such as Proquest, EBSCO, or
INFOTRAC. We subscribe to the Proquest and love it altho' it is quite
expensive($3000). I ahve 140 magazines indexed back to 1988 with it. If
I had mad the choice, however, I would have chosen somehting cheaper. I
had a trial with EBSCO and Infotrac and liked both of them. I just have
too much invested to switch right now.
I hae been wondering also if we need all of our 15 CDRoms since we also
have the internet which has magazine and newspaper data bases. I probably
will get subscriptions to Newsbank and Infotrac on the Internet in the
next 5
years; hoever, since we have about 20 years of fiche and students still
do
research going back that far, I would have to check and see how far back
the
internet subscriptions go. Also, we llike the Groliers and Encarta and
World
Book CDRoms and Facts on File and SIRS is used a lot by our classes, so I
am
not about to part with CDRoms yet. Our Science Encyclopedia is seldom
used,
but it is authoratative and I did find what I needed on the CDRom and I
think
I will keep that. Scribners, Grangers Poetry on CDRom and World Authors
are
used quite a bit; however, students can get the same info on the Internet
so
i would say that CDRoms may be an outgoing technology.
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