SS 7 questions in survey: 11

• Books, organization, parts of: 6
• Research Databases, features: 4
• Search Engines, characteristics of: 1

Comments, Questions & Recommendations:

• In this skill set, emphasis will be placed on databases and search engines, since distance education students have limited access to eBooks.
• Consider subscribing to NetLibrary. eBooks are not actually purchased until the 2 nd or 3 rd user accesses the eBook.
• Consider subscribing to Academic Search Premier, a broad based interdisciplinary database. If we subscribe to this, we should use it as an example in the Research Database section of the module.
• Why were books placed in this skill set? Wouldn't Library Catalogs have been a better fit for Information Retrieval Systems?

Possible Holes in this coverage of information retrieval systems (check in other skill sets)

• Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
• Publishers compilations (e.g., Science Direct)

Outline

• Books / eBooks (This is not analogous to research databases and search engines. Recommend replacing books with Library Catalogs, if it's not covered elsewhere)
• Research Databases
• Search Engines
• Assessment for Module

A. Books / eBooks

1. Books: Video (Librarian with a number of different types of books- fiction, non-fiction, handbook, directory, textbook- explaining Library Catalog, different types of books, parts of a book. )

a. Show how to find books in the Library Catalog

b. Show the different parts of a book

c. Title page (year of publication, publisher, title, author(s)

d. Table of Contents (chapters)

e. Introduction, Preface

f. Chapters, footnotes

g. Bibliography

h. Index

2. eBooks: Captivate

a. Access: Show find to find, and limit to, eBooks in the Library Catalog

b. Show the different parts of an eBook, as above

3. Discovery: Books and eBooks through WorldCat and local libraries

B. Research Databases

1. Captivate with voice over and corresponding text.  Show four databases:

a. Humanities - Humanities Full Text

b. Social Sciences - PsycInfo

c. Sciences Web of Science

d. Newspapers - LexisNexis Academic

2. For each database, start with finding tools on Library's web site:

a. eResources by Subject

b. Selecting database

c. Opening database

d. Features- fields, keyword, thesaurus, limits, search history, email/print/export

C. Search Engines

1. Captivate with voice over and corresponding text. Show two search engines:

a. Google

b. Google Scholar

2. For each, show url, links on opening page, discuss:

a. Logo

b. About

c. Help screens

d. Relevancy ranking

e. Advanced search screens

f. Differences between databases

g. Groups of results

h. Difference between open web and subscription databases

D. Assessment for Skill Set 7 Module:

1. Sorting items by type of information retrieval system

Directions: Drag and drop the items into the appropriate bins. Any item may be dropped in as many bins as appropriate.

    Flash Animation

     Flash Animation