MCLS loss of databases.

As any of you know who follow the news New York has been under financial stress. In light of that, many services were reduced across the state. Libraries were not unaffected. Monroe County ended its subscriptions to all databases minus the Democrat and Chronicle and Heritage Quest (thanks to the efforts of Jay in Science). NOVEL ny will continue to carry many useful databases that Monroe County has access to. The database team will continue to examine databases. And, to see those indepth objective reviews you may jump into the library’s Intranet.

http://mclseportal.libraryweb.org/MCLS/System%20Groups/database/Pages/default.aspx

If you would like a quick reference guide check out the MCLS’s virtual reference desk at

http://virtualreferencedesk.pbworks.com/

just type your search word in the search box.

 

Enjoy.

 

Career Guidance Database

EBSCO has agreed to give MCLS a complimentary one-year subscription to their Career Guidance database.

 

Although the database is geared to students, it can be adapted for use by adults as well. You can find out more about it here – http://www.ebscohost.com/thisTopic.php?marketID=7&topicID=681.  

 

 

This database is available at no cost to MCLS until December 31, 2009.

 

 

CREDO Reference

 

Through the Rochester Regional Library Council there is  trial access to  the  new platform from CREDO,

go to www.credoreference.com and enter the following username and password:

Username: rrlc

Password: trial

 

Trial ends by January 1st.

 

BookFLIX

This database trial was arranged by MCLS Childrens Librarians and I thought it would be a good thing to look at for our team. The database is BookFLIX and the trial information is:

http://auth.grolier.com/login/bookflix/login.php

Username:   bookflix

Password:  book

Just FYI, Tonia Burton from Brighton and Cathy Kyle from Parma have agreed to join the Database Team to help us discover and assess database for children and young adults.

 

Learning Express Computer Skills

Updated September 3, 2008

Here are the instructions to access the Computer Skills trial: 

Go to www.learningexpresslibrary.com/evaluation

Your User Name will be 989 plus the first nine digits of your 10-digit direct line or home phone number, creating a unique account. If your direct line/home phone number is 585-295-9556, your User Name is 989585295955.

Your Password is Trial. 

You will need your systems administrator to download a plug-in to access the trial. If there are any issues in downloading the plug-in please contact Customer Services at 800-295-9556, extension 2. Click computer-skills-player-installation-application-note to read about the plug in.

 

Tutor.com Trial

Connect to a live, expert tutor online 24/7. Powered by state-of-the-art technology and staffed by expert, background-checked tutors, Tutor.com gives you the flexibility, freedom and quality you deserve—24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You never need an appointment and there are no time limits on sessions. This database provides thousands of fully screened and certified tutors, and every session is recorded and available for review.

Trial runs June 1 – 30.

You may access a tutor online from 2:00 pm ET – 10:00 pm ET seven days a week either from the computers in the library or remotely. Please go to www.tutor.com/salestrial or
http://lhh.tutor.com/nGEN/Apps/SocWeb/main.aspx?ID=554be4e1-8746-4568-adc9-23f7e35d0856&culture=en and enter in the password monroe.  All you need to do after that is choose a subject and grade and you will be able to access a tutor in real time.

It would be useful if those of you in the field could have one or two of your student patrons try this out.

Patty

 

Facts on File

 There are a variety of Facts on File databases accessible through this trial. Please share your thoughts through the comments section of this post.

To Access the trial: 

http://www.fofweb.com/Demo

Username: mcls

Password: trial

 

Career Library

Career Library
This exploration and planning resource offers students, counselors, teachers, and parents a centralized location to work together on career and college guidance. The Coin program, through the accessibility of the Internet, provides a quick and user-friendly system. Whether a single student researches a college, or a class of students is drafting career goals, this comprehensive system offers tools for the individual and the educator 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Coin Career Library consists of five major components:

Exploration Center – This component lets users assess career interests and explore information pertaining to occupations and higher education. It contains interest and skills assessments, connecting results to career cluster and/or occupation list. It provides various search options and important information including: Occupation Search, College Search. Financial Aid Information, Apprenticeships, Military Occupations, College Majors, State-specific Data, Occupation Video Library (English and Spanish), and more.

Planning Center – This component lets users obtain printable resources and gather information that will assist with planning to enter the higher education community or the workforce. It includes resources such as a resume builder as well as college and career planning checklists.

Resource Center – This segment lets users search for web resources related to colleges/universities, careers, curriculum, and much more. It provides information on items including: “Cool Jobs” (job profiles on up-and-coming or out-of-the-ordinary careers), Web Resources, Full Text Articles, Standards-aligned Curriculum, Occupation Video Library (English and Spanish), State-specific Data, and more.

Help Center – A dedicated technical support section, this component provides items such as documents to hand out to student and parent users, Help files, FAQs and more.

Activity Center – This component offers ways for users to test their knowledge on history, vocabulary, math, English, and occupations in an engaging environment. It includes items such as Interactive Quizzes on history and vocabulary, online polls, sample proficiency & standardized test questions, GED sample tests and more.

To acces the trial:

Go to – http://library.coin3.com
Site ID – trialny
Login – mcls

Please share your thoughts on whether MCLS should purchase this database for systemwide use by adding a comment to this post.

 

Points of View Reference Center

Points of View Reference Center™ is a full-text database designed to provide students with a series of essays that present multiple sides of a current issue. The database provides 200 topics, each with an overview (objective background/description), point (argument),counterpoint (opposing argument), and Critical Thinking Guide. Topics covered include: affirmative action, cloning, DNA profiling, HIV/AIDS status disclosure, immigration, Iraq, Israel & the Palestinians, Katrina and FEMA response, nuclear proliferation, separation of church and state, standardized testing, stem cell research, tax cuts, voting machines, and many more. Points of View Reference Center contains a balance of materials from all viewpoints, including 800 main essays, leading political magazines from both sides of the aisle, newspapers, radio & TV news transcripts, primary source documents and reference books. The database also offers guides to debate, developing arguments and writing position papers. Additionally, this database contains the Video Encyclopedia of the 20th Century, providing students with a searchable collection of some of the most important social, political, and cultural moments of the 20th century. Points of View Reference Center provides the basis from which students can realize and develop persuasive arguments and essays, better understand controversial issues and develop analytical thinking skills. Critical Thinking Guides for every topic covered helps the student judge Fact vs. Opinion and enhances the student’s ability to read and think critically.

To Login to the Free Trial:

1. Go to http://trial.ebscohost.com.
2. User ID = mcls
3. Password = trial

Go to: Points of View Reference Center for more information on the database.

Please share your thoughts on whether MCLS should purchase this database for systemwide use by adding a comment to this post.

 

Literary Reference Center

Literary Reference Center™ Literary Reference Center™ is a comprehensive database that provides users with a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. It has been specifically designed for public libraries, secondary schools, junior/community colleges, and undergraduate research. Literary Reference Center is a full text database that combines information from major respected reference works, books, literary journals as well as original content from EBSCO Publishing. Literary Reference Center contains full text for 27,500 plot summaries, synopses and work overviews, nearly 100,000 articles/essays of literary criticism, 140,500 author biographies (including 20,000 in-depth bios), more than 420 literary journals, more than 569,000 book reviews, 57,000 classic and contemporary poems, 14,500 classic and contemporary short stories, 4,700 author interviews, over 7,100 classic texts and much more. In addition, Literary Reference Center also includes Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature, Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature, Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature, Continuum Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature, The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, Beacham’s Research Guide to Biography and Criticism (six volumes), The Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature, The Literary Encyclopedia, The Columbia Companion to the 20th Century American Short Story, all of MagillOnLiterature Plus™, and much more.

To Login to the Free Trial:

1. Go to http://trial.ebscohost.com.
2. User ID = mcls
3. Password = trial

Go to: Literary Reference Center for more information on the database.

Please share your thoughts on whether MCLS should purchase this database for systemwide use by adding a comment to this post.