Results tagged “databases” from Carpe Hootem
If you are interested in history or genealogy, please take a look at our current trial to footnote.com.
A couple of things to note: The site is graphic and photo intense, so trying it during the afternoon slow down might not be the best idea. Although footnote.com has been around for a while, this is a growing and evolving resource. They add about 2 million items a month. At this time they only have two federal censuses online, the 1860 and 1930. I was told that most of the federal census records should be available by the end of the year. So far I find searching a little overwhelming and confusing. I'm not sure if that is because of the sheer size of the database, because I don't know what I'm looking for, or if the database is just not well designed or that the coverage is just very sporadic. I plan to spend some more time exploring before formulating an opinion.
Footnote.com also has a social network component:
Thanks!
Evan
Footnote.com combines original historical documents and personal histories, creating a unique historical and genealogical resource. Footnote.com has a vast array of valuable and unique content consisting of well over 50 million historical documents and imagesFrom inside an OWLS library you should have access just by going to http://www.footnote.com . From inside Appleton Public Library or from home, try http://0-www.footnote.com.www.infosoup.org. The trial should last through the rest of September.
A couple of things to note: The site is graphic and photo intense, so trying it during the afternoon slow down might not be the best idea. Although footnote.com has been around for a while, this is a growing and evolving resource. They add about 2 million items a month. At this time they only have two federal censuses online, the 1860 and 1930. I was told that most of the federal census records should be available by the end of the year. So far I find searching a little overwhelming and confusing. I'm not sure if that is because of the sheer size of the database, because I don't know what I'm looking for, or if the database is just not well designed or that the coverage is just very sporadic. I plan to spend some more time exploring before formulating an opinion.
Footnote.com also has a social network component:
Although footnote.com is a much different type of product than HeritageQuest, given our limited budget I think we have to look at footnote.com as competition for HeritageQuest. While HeritageQuest currently has the federal census records, a core collection of family and regional histories, and a large index of genealogy publications, it is also a static product that is no longer being updated. If footnote.com had the census records would it be a better (or more interesting) resource than HeritageQuest? Our contract with HeritageQuest runs through February 2010. Please take a look and let me know what you think.
Footnote.com creates an environment where members can share their content and insights, ranging from major historical events to personal accounts and family histories. Footnote.com, together with its members, is revealing a side of history that few have seen before.
Thanks!
Evan
The new EBSCO titles are now available from BadgerLink (and access through InfoSoup is working again!). Go to http://0-search.ebscohost.com.www.infosoup.org and take a look. When I'm back from vacation I will begin making individual links on InfoSoup to these resources. Have fun exploring.
> contributed by Evan
> contributed by Evan
As you may have heard, ProQuest will no longer be a part of BadgerLink after July 1st and thus we will no longer have access to Proquest Newspapers, Ethnic NewsWatch, and the Wisconsin Newsstand. I will post a notice on InfoSoup in the coming days. Also, as of July 1, Newsbank will no longer be carrying the Post-Crescent. They sold the rights to the above mentioned Proquest. We are currently negotiating with ProQuest regarding continuing our subscription. I will provide more information as it becomes available.
While we say goodbye to ProQuest, we can say hello to Optimal Resume! Via the jobs grant, we have a one year subscription to this service. Optimal Resume is planning an upgrade for July 3rd, so we will start our contract to coincide with their new interface. If you are curious, you can take a look at https://infosoup.optimalresume.com. Just click on Get Started Today and follow the instructions to set up an account. Once you have created an account you then have access to a wide range of help documents and video. I will let you know when the new interface is up and running. If you have any questions, please let me know.
> contributed by Evan
While we say goodbye to ProQuest, we can say hello to Optimal Resume! Via the jobs grant, we have a one year subscription to this service. Optimal Resume is planning an upgrade for July 3rd, so we will start our contract to coincide with their new interface. If you are curious, you can take a look at https://infosoup.optimalresume.com. Just click on Get Started Today and follow the instructions to set up an account. Once you have created an account you then have access to a wide range of help documents and video. I will let you know when the new interface is up and running. If you have any questions, please let me know.
> contributed by Evan
This has been posted on various lists, but if you missed it, the latest BadgerLink contract will include a significant upgrade to our EBSCO contract. So, while we lose ProQuest Newpapers, we will be adding some new and exciting resources from EBSCO. Of great interest to OWLS libraries will be the addition of Auto Repair Reference Center and NoveList! Other major additions include the Science, History, and Literary Reference Centers. As these become available I will work to incorporate them in InfoSoup. These will also be excellent resources to highlight on your web sites. Here is the complete list as posted by DPI:
EBSCO will be providing an expanded package of databases which nearly doubles the content currently available. Libraries in Wisconsin will now have access to thirty-two EBSCOhost databases, including many new ones that were previously unavailable on a statewide basis. EBSCO will also provide an expanded newspaper package. The package includes the following:> contributed by Evan
Academic Search Premier
Alt HealthWatch
Auto Repair Reference Center
Book Collection: Nonfiction – Elementary School Edition
Book Collection: Nonfiction – Middle School Edition
Book Collection: Nonfiction – High School Edition
Business Source Premier
Consumer Health Complete
Education Research Complete
Educational Administration Abstracts
Encyclopedia of Animals
ERIC
Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia
GreenFile
Health Source: Consumer Edition
Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition
History Reference Center
Humanities International Complete
LISTA
Literary Reference Center
MAS Ultra – School Edition
MasterFILE Premier
MEDLINE
Middle Search Plus
Military & Government Collection
Newspaper Source Plus
NoveList
NoveList K-8
Primary Search
Professional Development Collection
Regional Business News
Science Reference Center
In total, the combined, unduplicated content of this package breaks down as follows:
8,140 full-text magazines & journals (of which, 5,609 are peer-reviewed journals)
1,557 full-text newspapers & newswires (of which, 1,535 are newspapers)
6,755 full-text books & monographs
The above package includes an upgrade to the Premier versions of Academic Search and Business Source; a major newspaper collection (Newspaper Source Plus); the leading reader’s advisory service (NoveList and NoveList K-8); all three versions of Book Collection: Nonfiction; two new health databases (Consumer Health Complete and Alt Health Watch); two new education products (Education Research Complete and Educational Administration Abstracts); high school level science and history resources (Science Reference Center and History Reference Center); an auto repair database (Auto Repair Reference Center), and a pair of literary/humanities collections (Literary Reference Center and Humanities International Complete).
Evan will be offering training on a bi-monthly basis on a variety of databases and online resources provided to OWLS member libraries via InfoSoup. The first in the series will be "EBSCO and ProQuest" coming up on Thursday, February 19th and Thursday, February 26th. You will have a couple of different options for each class, so you can pick which one works best for you:- Attend online via GoToWebinar.
- Attend in-person at the Appleton Public Library 2nd floor computer lab.
> contributed by Beth
The latest Gale Sizzle newsletter has a post on on a November 9th 2008 article in the NY Daily News where Barack Obama describes how a librarian helped him get his community organizing job in Chicago:
> contributed by Evan
The Mid-Manhattan Library had these books of lists of organizations, and the librarian helped me find these lists of organizations, and I wrote to every organization. One of them wound up being an organization in Chicago that I got a job with.Gale speculates that the reference book referred to could be none other than their very own Encyclopedia of Associations. Which reminds me to remind you that we have an online subscription to Gale's Associations Unlimited which can be found on the Research Tools @ InfoSoup page.
> contributed by Evan
We have an end of year offer to add TumbleReadable and TumbleTalkingBooks to our regular TumbleBooks collection. Since the talking books cannot be downloaded, I'm not sure how much they would be used. The TumbleReadables, however, seem like a natural fit. Here is the description of TumbleReadables:
One thing to note is that not all the titles have audio. The collection includes Read-Alongs and what they call Large Print Online Books. When you see a title, only the ones with (Read-Along) after the title have audio. Many of the text only books will eventually be converted to read-alongs. Take a look and let me know what you think. The login information for each collection is posted on our database trails page.
> contributed by Evan
www.TumbleReadables.com is an online collection of read-along titles for elementary, middle school, and high school students which features adjustable online text and complete audio narration. Sentences are highlighted as they are being read and the pages turn automatically. The collection features chapter books, early readers, YA/Teen Novels, high interest/low level books for both middle school and high school students, plus classics of American and English literature.
Read-Alongs are great for emergent, struggling, and reluctant readers, as well as being an excellent tool for ESL. They are also well received by strong and accomplished readers who are excited to follow along to the narration of their favorite books.
One thing to note is that not all the titles have audio. The collection includes Read-Alongs and what they call Large Print Online Books. When you see a title, only the ones with (Read-Along) after the title have audio. Many of the text only books will eventually be converted to read-alongs. Take a look and let me know what you think. The login information for each collection is posted on our database trails page.
> contributed by Evan
I have a few more trials posted on the database trials page.
From Gale is their testing and Education Reference Center. We looked at this a few years ago and I was not impressed, but it has been upgraded considerably since then. It offers a smaller set of academic and career tests than Learning Express, but does have additional career and college information provided by (or as they say, powered by) Peterson's. Like Learning Express they also have a large selection of exam eBooks available in PDF format.
From EBSCO we have a trial to Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center (HCRC). I was not really aware that hobby and craft magazines are poorly represented in EBSCO MasterFILE, but now I am. The HCRC is part of EBSCO's Do It Yourself collection along with Auto Repair, Home Improvement, and Small Engine Repair Reference Centers. On the plus side, these collections present a much friendlier interface and are easier to browse than the traditional EBSCO databases. On the down side, it is still heavily dependent on PDFs for full text. If you are one of those crafty librarians (and I know you are out there!) take a look and let me know what you think.
> contributed by Evan
From Gale is their testing and Education Reference Center. We looked at this a few years ago and I was not impressed, but it has been upgraded considerably since then. It offers a smaller set of academic and career tests than Learning Express, but does have additional career and college information provided by (or as they say, powered by) Peterson's. Like Learning Express they also have a large selection of exam eBooks available in PDF format.
From EBSCO we have a trial to Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center (HCRC). I was not really aware that hobby and craft magazines are poorly represented in EBSCO MasterFILE, but now I am. The HCRC is part of EBSCO's Do It Yourself collection along with Auto Repair, Home Improvement, and Small Engine Repair Reference Centers. On the plus side, these collections present a much friendlier interface and are easier to browse than the traditional EBSCO databases. On the down side, it is still heavily dependent on PDFs for full text. If you are one of those crafty librarians (and I know you are out there!) take a look and let me know what you think.
> contributed by Evan
Last year we looked at a number of additional EBSCO databases, including NoveList and the Automotive and Small Engine Repair Reference Centers. Trials to these and other databases are again available through the State.
To login to the trial go to: http://trial.ebscohost.com
User Id: wisconsin
Password: trial
We have had a couple of requests asking if we could add NoveList. If this is something you are interested in, please take a close look and then email me your comments. Very soon we should also have a trial to Gale's Books & Authors so we can compare the two products. As always, if you have any questions about these trials or any of our databases please contact me.
> contributed by Evan
To login to the trial go to: http://trial.ebscohost.com
User Id: wisconsin
Password: trial
We have had a couple of requests asking if we could add NoveList. If this is something you are interested in, please take a close look and then email me your comments. Very soon we should also have a trial to Gale's Books & Authors so we can compare the two products. As always, if you have any questions about these trials or any of our databases please contact me.
> contributed by Evan
We currently have database trials from Proquest for Historical Newspapers and Safari Select. The full collection of Historical Newspapers is probably out of our price range, but perhaps one day we could afford just the Chicago paper. Coverage for the historical Newspapers is from 1849 to 2003. Safari Select is "A digital collection of over 400 technical e-books created just for public libraries, offering the latest content in popular technology ranging from books on digital photography, home audio/video, computing and home networking, and video gaming." For login information please go to the the database trials page. If you have any questions, please contact me.
> contributed by Evan
> contributed by Evan
We have a couple of trials this month. WILS is featuring some new Gale
Historical Collections. While 19th century newspapers are not at the top
of our database wish list, I think they did a nice job making it easier
to find and view the articles. They claim that 1/3 of the material came
from the Wisconsin Historical Society. The many iterations of the
Milwaukee Sentinel and Gazette make up the bulk of Wisconsin material.
Access is available all this month through WILS at
http://trials.gale.com/wils08/. This month we also have access to all
the Alexander Street Press databases, including some of the music
resources we have looked at in the past. Their web site provides details
about their many resources. Links and
password information is posted on our database trials page . You will need the
extranet login to access this page.
> contributed by Evan
> contributed by Evan
