LM_NET: Library Media Networking
A month ago I posted an inquiry on the above (to aid 1999 budgeting) and
got 8 replies from USA, Australia, and New Zealand, and some requests for a
HIT.
List members may find them useful?
Many thanks to those who responded.
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(1) Next year we are looking at either World Magazine Bank (Ebsco) (they
can
give you a trial CDROM - we used to have the old text/dos version and it
was a pain but I believe the Windows version is much improved. Contains
Australasian sources too and from UK. $500 for a year or 1100 for quarterly
updates)
or
SIRS - Web access. You can sign up for 60 day trial. Can't remember price.
Both have full text articles - (some are fulltext I should say.) Expensive
but good - about $NZ 2000)
Reuters $1500 - seems expensive but you get full text and bang up to date
plus fX and shares etc.
Britannica Online is very good - $US50 individual pa or you can get a site
licence but I don't know how much yet. It's the encyclopedia but it's
updated frequently. Also takes natural language searching. (just been
quoted $2097.00 for 15 workstations)
Also use Homework Central www.homeworkcentral.com
Scout Report http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/
Mark Treadwell's Teachers @ Work monthly website listings
http://www.work.co.nz
$145 per year for monthly updates and $34 per folder.
Encarta is popular - good diagrams and many have it at home. Too high a
level at times and just right in other articles. Same for World Book and
EB. Can get good deal on multiple users if you belong to EdCom. M/S said
it was worth paying to belong and get the deals - also get telecom
discounts.
Things like Ancient Lands are good and How thing Work. So is How Stuff
Works www.howstuffworks.com
We found an excellent CDROM on Indigenous Australians - if you are
interested let me know and I'll look out the details.
Sites like KidsClick! are excellent - organised by librarians.
sunsite.berkeley.edu/kidsclick
The English Online site is going to be very helpful. We have already found
some good units there. http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz
Also the Virtual Reference Desk run by ERIC and US Nat Lib of Ed.
Excellent list of subject and curriculum sites for asking questions - AskA
sites.
http://www.vrd.org
Ask Jeeves can be helpful www.aj.com
Hope this is of some help
Liz
=======================================================
Elizabeth Probert
Pakuranga College Information Centre
Pigeon Mountain Road
Bucklands Beach *** http://pakuranga.school.nz
Auckland *** liz@pakuranga.school.nz
New Zealand *** 64 9 5347158(Ph) 64 9 5343576(F)
*KidsConnect Volunteer*
=======================================================
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(2) The Focussed Investigation in to Document Delivery Options at
Loughborough
university UK may offer you some useful information. The project is due to
be
completed in Spring 1999 and the web pages will be updated very soon. The
home
page is at:
http://dils2.lboro.ac.uk/fiddo/fiddo.html
Sophie Lowley
Postgrauate at Loughborough university, UK
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(3) I find that World Magazine Bank (CD ROM, EBSCO, $1045 for quarterly
updates) is very useful. Particularly here, where the magazine stock was
almost solely sport-oriented, and there are no back files. The contact
person for EBSCO is Sarah Siddells at EBSCO subscription services, Private
Bag 99914, Newmarket, Auckland.
Gives full text of many periodicals, and good abstracts for others. Indexes
over 400 all up.
We have just purchased Interactive Physics (not sure where from) and it is
very popular with the boys.
Also PC maps and facts is a good source of uptodate info.
Hope this helps
Sue estermans@scotscollege.school.nz
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(4) Have you looked at ProQuest Direct's KidQuest Product, or other
versions of
ProQuest Direct?
They are subscription based which makes it good for budgeting, and KidQuest
is designed for younger users.
More information is available at http://www.umi.com, including a web-based
tour.
I was recently at NZLIA talking to a number of school librarians who showed
great interest.
UMI are very interested to put together consortia packages in Australia and
New Zealand, and would be interested in feedback on content and interface.
Title lists can be found at
http://www.umi.com/cgi-bin/TitleForm?cfg=EduTitles.cf
Free trials are available and can be requested from the web site.
Regards
Julie Stevens
----------------------------------------------------------------------
SADIS
Stevens & Dent Information Services Pty Ltd
PO Box 1398
Rozelle NSW 2039
AUSTRALIA
Phone: +61 (0) 2 9555 6033
Fax: +61 (0) 2 9555 6530
sadis@zip.com.au
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(5) Reuters is useful as it is NZ based. Students (and some staff) do need
to
sharpen their searching skills to get the most from it. However it is
always up to date. You get FX and share prices too updated.
What about World Magazine Bank from Ebsco - that's very useful.
Sirs is good for social issues but pricey at $2300+ <gulp> although easy to
use via WWW.
I investigated Encyclopedia Brit online - they quoted me $2098 for 20 users
<gulp again>
Is it still possible to get the Time Magazine CDROM? We haven't got past
1994 but it is/was really useful. Does anyone know a supplier?
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(6) I'm not too familiar with Reuters education package, but this year in
my
library we have subscribed to The Electric Library. We've found it quite
handy so far. The site license covers all the computers in the building so
it
is available in the library, the computer labs and the science technology
lab.
One of the databases it does search through is Reuters (news and business,
I
believe), but I'm not sure what the differences would be between that and
Reuters itself. If you check out E-Library's website, it will give you a
listing of the different database it accesses. We use the Win95 interface
that accesses our school district's LAN Internet connect, that way if a
student hasn't signed an Internet Agreement Policy, they still have access
to
the database (it just limits them to E-Library). The Win95 software also
allows you some control over printing/management. I'm not sure if the web-
based version does. Our price runs just around $2,000.00 American, so I'm
not
sure what NZ would be. We tried the program out on a 2 week free trial
before
we decided to purchase it, our science teachers liked it and it seemed very
helpful for other subjects. It looks like on their website that they are
offerring 30 day free trials.
Lynda Gibson
Library Media Specialist
Flushing Junior High
Flushing, Michigan, USA
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(7) tim@infosentials.com
www.elibrary.com.au
Tim Burke suggests that :
"the average sized High School can access all that content
(4,600,000 articles) for about A$2,500 per annum with a 5
simultaneous user licence." NZ content is to come - just
received a priority list from NZ Public Libraries post NZLIA.
Would like some guidance from Secondary Schools as to
what should be there. A full pricing list is available
from Tim.
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(8) I have requested a trial run of Reuters, Electric Library and ProQuest
over the next month. Most people seem to favour Electric Library but I
suspect it will be a bit expensive for us. I am allowed to spend about
$1500 if I cut out a few other items and train the staff in the use of
the resource. The Reuters education package is priced at $1500, and the
others rumoured to be about $2000+. ProQuest is discussing a deal
linking a number of schools to cut down on costs but nothing has come of
it so far.
I have stopped using INNZ because of the indifferent copying quality and
the reluctance of the modern miss to wait for material to arrive -
everything must be instant these days. I also tried INL Online and
found it cumbersome to use and very time consuming. At the moment I
subscribe to, and enjoy World Magazine Bank on CDROM - the online sub.
is too expensive for us - this CD will be one of the ones to go if we
take up Reuters etc.
Bill Siddells
Library Manager
Correspondence School
258 Thorndon Quay
Private Bag 39992
Wellington
New Zealand.
Ph: 04 474 4371
Fax: 04 499 4607
Email: bill.siddells@correspondence.school.nz
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