LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Here are the responses I got about Electric Library. Most of them were positive.
Hi. I'm late getting to last week's mail. We have trialed Electric
Library, and it is hard to beat for the price. It seems to be very
intuitive about second-guessing what you are looking for, and I think this
works especially well for students who are novices and for middle school
students. Our high school students like it, too. I don't think it's as
loaded with sources as are UMI Proquest and Ebsco, but then, you don't get
as many irrelevant hits, either. I like the pictures feature, too.
We have used Electric Library since October and the students love it. The
pictures are one of the most useful parts because it gives them visual aids
in a hurry. I highly recommend it.
I have had ELibrary at my high school serving 1800 students. It is their
favorite database. I'd be hanged if I discontinued it. The pictures are a
major attraction for them (Tupac Shakur has been downloaded at least a
million times :-).
Hi Susan, yes, I like Electric Library! Some of our district media specialists
are running it in such a way that it overrides the internet! They feel that it
protects the student from getting into some of the junk that they find on the
net, but still avails them of excellent research sources. While I do not go
that far (the director at my school does, and so we probably will), I do think
that the information is extremely well presented. I like all the features that
are offered.
I had (have?) Electric Library on a trail basis and decided not to get
it. I don't like the selection of magazines; many are popular rather
than scholarly (I think they include Redbook and Good Housekeeping.
Also Cosmopolitan!). In addition, there are newspapers of questionable
repute. I did a search for "medieval" because of a current school
project, and the first article sited was totally unsuitable.
Electric Library is wonderful. I had a trial subscription and the students
just loved it. Joan Marstiller
would be interested in what you find out. I have not been impressed with
it when we have had trial subscriptions. However, other people have
posted messages like yours, and the hits have been positive. Proquest
Direct also has pictures. In fact the database is from scanned in paged
of periodicals.
We have used Electric Library this year at my high school and have found i=
t to be a wonderful resource. The students get lots of hits, the informati=
on is very current, and the program is easy to use. In fact, after having =
major problems with support from EBSCO MAS FullText Elite, we've dumped the=
m entirely to go solely with Electric Library.
Susan, I have used Electric Library for two years and it is wonderful.
Susan, we have a site license for Electric Library this year and it has
been wonderful. I plan to renew it again for next year. Our kids use the
text-based stuff and love the pictures and maps as well. My only
complaint with the pictures is that they don't paste into ClarisWorks
well. (We are a Mac district.) We can save them as a separate file and
then bring them up in Simpletext and the picture is fine, but it would be
nice to be able to have the kids paste them into their Claris documents.
I think Electric Library has excellent potential, but I would be cautious
about it until you check out the accuracy of information about your
state/region. I found numerous errors and omissions in the information about
North and South Dakota. It raises a red flag, if they can't get basic
information about the states correct, can we trust the accuracy on other
information? Also, can you in good faith put out a product for people to use
knowing there are basic factual errors?
They won't get my money until they fix the mistakes.
Yes, I agree with you on Electric Library. I also like the variety of
sources it uses and the full text on everything.
I have a trial subscription so I can familiarize myself with it. Haven't
spent much time on it but my first impression was that it is overloaded
with advertisements. I'm not in a school setting but would be curious to
know if that bothers folks.
Susan, I like it and the kids like it. Easy to use (and we use it all
the time.) Just be ready to buy more paper and printer cartridges,
because they print out EVERYTHING.
We've had Electric Library all year and the high school students like it.
We rarely use the picture part, however; it is heavily used for the journal
and newspaper articles. Most of our reports for juniors and seniors do not
include photos. This seems to be more useful here for science (animal)
reports in environmental science and integrated science classes. Overall,
we've been pleased.
My students who have usable vision also enjoy looking at the pictures.
We are pretty happy with Electric Library, it's easy to use and access.
We are also going to start to get SIRS online next year. I am toying
with the idea of getting the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature
online in the future as well.
However, this is a good database to "start out" with.
We really like E.Library, and the only thing I have to say is that it is
awfully expensive for a small school. They do not give any kind of price
break. But, it really isn't any worse than MAS or anything like that.
We have had El. Lib. for the past year, and love it! Have replaced
EbscoHost and NewsBank with it. Still are keeping SIRS - and hope to
be able to have both. If it came to a choice, El. Lib. would win.
Our librarians reviewed EBSCO Host, E Library, SIRS
Researcher and SuperTOM online databases. We selected
Electric Library for the district next year.
I love Electric Library. The students find it easy to use. The foreign
newspaper articles give the students a different point of view on many
issues. I recommend this database.
Thanks to everyone!!!!!!!!
> Susan Fulmer
> Media Specialist
> Mohawk High School
> 295 SR 231
> Sycamore, OH 44883
> sfulmer@nike .heidelberg.edu
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