LM_NET: Library Media Networking
I recently asked LM_NETers the following:
California has recently negotiated state-wide prices for online and CD-ROM
databases with eight different companies (a total of 39 products for K-12).
What do you feel are the strengths, weaknesses, and unique features of any
of the following programs? If you have had experience with more than one,
which do you prefer and why?
Here are the opinion responses I received. Thanks (not in order) to Nina
Levine, Anne C. Oelke, Kathy Geronzin, Char Krahling, Melissa White,
Michele C. Knowles, Joyce Valenza, Wendy Larson, Sandy Stone, Marge
Congress.
*********
I have used all of these products at one time or another at the H.S.
level. This fall, we will have the Platinum version of UMI, Electric
Library, General Reference Center Gold and SIRS Researcher Online which
includes their SIRS Government. I feel they all complement each other.
Now, the Gale Products we are getting free through Access Michigan so
there is no fee. UMI Silver version we get free through our local REMC so
we pay an additional amount to get the platinum version.
It takes a lot of teaching on my part to acquaint staff and students to
these products. They will just use the internet if I don't teach them the
value of these products.
SIRS is great for social issues and it is all full text.
The other periodical databases have different magazines so I feel there
is a wealth of information available if one is able to subscribe to
multiple databases. What often happens is one source will index an article
and then you can find it full text in another.
SIRS Govt. Researcher is an excellent source to find out info on all
your elected officials. Also speeches and other documents are full text.
Newsbank we had for 5 years, but is way too pricey now. It is great to
find full text newspaper articles. UMI, though also periodicals if you
subscribe to their platinum version.
I have created powerpoint presentations on how to use these products. I
would teach them online and there would often be to much wait time so kids
would get bored. The kids like the shows as I add cutesy things to them
etc. and we are not waiting and waiting!
*********
Sirs Products:
Sirs Discover articles are often written by Sirs editors. Good information
written on elem/middle school level. The Deluxe edition covers both elem.
and middle levels (a good deal for a K-12 school). The online version is
great if you have plenty of internet access.
Sirs Researcher are articles selected by editors, indexed and reproduced,
mostly full text. Our students have found it very useful. The subject
headings work well for high school students, and the selection of articles
is usually quite adequate. The editors seem to be "in the know" about the
sorts of things students are likely to be researching.
*********
Iowa has contracted with Electric Library for a state-wide contract. We
subscribed to it last year in our high school media center and the
students really liked it. They say that students will be able to log on
to it at home and that is really going to be appreciated by students who
don't have study halls or access to the media center lab computers.
We had a contracted rate for the UMI Proquest Direct product and the
two seemed to complement each other. Students would readily use both of
them. They were easy to use and we used them a lot.
We are going to go to Encyclopedia Britannica online this year too
(another contracted price through our educational agencies) so it will
be interesting to see how they all work.
*********
You have asked for a lot of information. I do reviews for MultiMedia
Schools Magazine (if you don't get it, go on line and look...its
wonderful). In the Sept issue I review Proquest Direct and Facts on
Files' new on line called Facts.com. I do not recomment Proquest Direct
because it is terribly expensive. If money is no object then you might
look at it. I personally used to have Resource One Select and moved to
MAS Elite FullText. I like MAS, but recommend you go with the Dos
version as the Windows one pulls up very slowly.
Facts.Com is really excellent and at a good price. I like it because the
articles are relatively short, and take you backward and forward to see
the entire history of an issue. There are good biographies and graphics.
I love SIRS and feel it is one of the best products. I am moving to SIRS
Researcher on line this year (to get rid of 2 cd-slots) and think it
will be excellent
**********
At my old school we used SIRS Researcher online, ProQuest Direct (can't
remember the version, but I will get newspapers along with it next time), and
we are ordering Electric Library for next year. We loved it during the trial
period.
Once kids and staff get used to ProQuest Direct, it is a great resource. For
introducing novices to online periodical databases, SIRS is very good
(although I have liked TOM as well.) We have also gone through our county
library system to use their periodical databases for really tough questions
that ours cannot seem to answer. I would like to know about overlap, etc.
etc.
**********
(notes from a phone conversation)
Bell and Howell (Pro Quest) has just merged with Electric Library (3 weeks
ago). This could be great because B&H has the most newspapers. This could
mean access to back archives.
Recommendations:
Gale has great subject headings, especially for curriculum subjects at
various grade levels. They also have outstanding reference (biography)
products.
Important things to look for: topics at appropriate grade levels, back
archives.
If a school is limited in funds, purchase:
Online encyclopedia - Groliers
SIRS
One magazine index
**********
EBSCO Middle Search Plus (online & CD-ROM)Love it and so do the kids. Can
be networked
Facts on File News Service I have the print and my kids don't use it.
InfoTrac Junior Edition (formerly Primary TOM) (online & CD-ROM) Didn't
like it, my students never used it.
Electric Library (online) Like it
NewsBank, Inc.Use it, but the kids don't like it as much as Ebscomiddle
Search. Can be networked
SIRS Discoverer (Middle Edition) (CD-ROM)Very nice program and very
affordable. Can be networked
**********
Our middle school has been using ProQuest Direct (I'm not sure whether
it's the platinum or gold edition) through our state-wide school library
system which has provided site-wide access to schools free of direct charge
for the past two years. It has been absolutely fabulous! Prior to it, we
used ProQuest Resource One (quarterly CDs with positive fiche for full text
of 60 magazines, plus NYTimes and USA Today newspapers). And prior to that,
we used InfoTrak with very complicated-to-use, sequentially numbered,
negative fiche.
Compared with the CD/fiche method of retrieval, PQD is like jumping into
the 21st century. More than 600 magazines and newspapers are indexed. Very
many are full text with considerable backruns. Illustrations are often
included and can be enlarged. Text can be shipped to email addresses. Have
found over the past year plus that it was only inaccessible once due to
their technical difficulties.
We also have used SIRS Discoverer for the past year. This is good, too --
a much more constricted information source. When your topic matches one of
their strengths, results can be very good. But coverage is no where near as
broad as PQD's. Also, there is very limited visual material in Discoverer.
However, ability to access broad categories of information that are hot
topics for middle school is worth the $500 or so it costs. Especially since
license allows access on any computer in the school and I believe it can be
placed on your school's web page for access at home. Discoverer articles
can be emailed home, too.
Having web-based products is a real boon for us, too, since our school
uses both MACs and PCs on the web -- had a real divergence of views when we
started into computer technology! Web-based eliminates our
platform/delivery problem.
*********
I started with Electric Library and Electric Library Elementary. when I
could I added UMI Proquest. It gives me a good vareity of user friendly
databases. Also, use OCLC and First Search. My choices were somewhat
governed by the products that got discounts through the state bid for
Iowa.
*********
I have used InfoTrac Jr. for many years with great success. The fact
that GaleGroup is packaging InfoTrac products together with their other
subject specific products such as GaleNet and/or the UXL products is a
major plus for me. In the middle school, the UXL products are a
mainstay (ie. UXL Biographies, UXL Science). The package also allows
you to include Primary Source Media's primary source document
collections which are a must in my library. The students and teachers
find all of these products user friendly. Given a choice, I would
select the Gale product as fundamental. I also use SIRS Researcher which
meets certain needs in the curriculum better than any other database.
Our students researching any health related ideas/topics do well here as
do the students seeking info on human and civil rights. I have access
to Proquest Direct also through a consortium. It's cost is prohibitive
for me to purchase it independently but it is a wealth of info. Both
teachers and students use it but the preference is still towards
InfoTrac. We have looked at the EBSCO products, but students still
prefer InfoTrac for its hit rate on full text articles, the integration
of newspaper and periodical articles and search interface.
**********
Online article:
"Electronic Reference Roundup: A Game of Tetris" by Joyce Valencia
http:www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/sept98/valencia.htm
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Judy Turner, Librarian/IMC Supervisor jturner@tcde.tehama.k12.ca.us
Tehama County Department of Education
www.mc.tcde.tehama.k12.ca.us/welcome.html
P.O. Box 689, Red Bluff, CA 96080 (530) 527-5811 FAX 530-529-4120
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