Did you know that InfoTrac's main PowerSearch menu can be customized to suit your library's specific needs? By default, all available databases are displayed, and the user must select which ones to search. Alternatively, you may choose to display only certain databases, or to have some of the databases "pre-selected" for a default search.
Additionally, Gale has made available "eCollections" which can be added to the PowerSearch menu. The eCollections are subsets of all the available databases, organized into subject-based groups. Available eCollections are:
Environmental Issues & Policy
Garden, Landscape & Horticulture
GLBT Life and Issues
General Science
Small Business
Hospitality & Tourism Reference
Vocation & Careers
Educators
War & Terrorism
Information Science & Technology
Insurance & Liability
Military and Intelligence Database
Pop Culture
Psychology
Religion & Philosophy
Diversity Studies
Communication & Media
Criminal Justice
In additional to adding or removing menu items, you may also specify multiple "Back to the library" links on various InfoTrac pages. Many libraries already have a single link that points back to their home page (if one has not been specified, the "back to" link defaults to the MBLC). In addition to this primary link, you may specify up to four URLs that will be available on the PowerSearch page as well as some individual database pages. For example, you may want to display separate links for your library's database page, your library's home page, and your town or institution's home page.
If you would like to implement any of these customizations, contact Rick Levine at CMRLS (rlevine@cmrls.org, x308).
Monday, December 17, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
Statewide Database Training Sessions for CMRLS Members
Proquest Statewide Newspaper Training
A two-hour lecture style workshop presented by a Proquest Training Specialist for regional member library staff. Training will cover the access and use of the 12 full-text Massachusetts newspapers available to all Massachusetts residents through their local libraries and home Internet connections. The trainer will also discuss how to understand and use the statistical usage reports your library receives.
Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007 2-4PM Worcester Public Library (Saxe Room)
Gale Powersearch Infotrac Update / EBSCO’s Literary Reference Center Training
A two-hour lecture style workshop presented by Thomson Gale Training Specialist Stacey Knibloe for regional member library staff and a one-hour lecture style workshop presented by an EBSCO Training Specialist (three hour total workshop time).
Friday, December 14, 2007 9:30-12:30 PM Worcester Public Library (Saxe Room) (Gale and EBSCO)
To register e-mail Jackie Belisle at jbelisle@cmrls.org
A two-hour lecture style workshop presented by a Proquest Training Specialist for regional member library staff. Training will cover the access and use of the 12 full-text Massachusetts newspapers available to all Massachusetts residents through their local libraries and home Internet connections. The trainer will also discuss how to understand and use the statistical usage reports your library receives.
Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007 2-4PM Worcester Public Library (Saxe Room)
Gale Powersearch Infotrac Update / EBSCO’s Literary Reference Center Training
A two-hour lecture style workshop presented by Thomson Gale Training Specialist Stacey Knibloe for regional member library staff and a one-hour lecture style workshop presented by an EBSCO Training Specialist (three hour total workshop time).
Friday, December 14, 2007 9:30-12:30 PM Worcester Public Library (Saxe Room) (Gale and EBSCO)
To register e-mail Jackie Belisle at jbelisle@cmrls.org
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Literary Reference Center now available
Member libraries and their patrons now have access to EBSCO’s Literary Reference Center (LRC), provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
LRC provides a broad spectrum of full-text information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. It includes 27,000 plot summaries, synopses and work overviews, 140,500 author biographies, 350 literary journals, 54,000 poems, 14,500 short stories, 8400 classic texts, 4000 author interviews and more.
In-library access to LRC is achieved with a single URL:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,cookie,uid&profile=lrc
If you library is authenticated by static IP address(es), this link will bring you directly to the LRC main page. Otherwise, you will be prompted for credentials; once entered, a cookie will be set and subsequent access will be unprompted. Contact CMRLS if you have not received your username/password via email or USPS.
If your library already subscribes to another EBSCO database, you may now see an additional LRC icon when you access that site. If so, you may modify the above LRC URL to create a separate link to that (or any other) EBSCO database by substituting "profile=lrc" with another EBSCO "profile ID." For example, to bypass the list of databases and go directly to NoveList, use http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,cookie,uid&profile=novelist. For a complete list of EBSCO profile IDs, see http://support.ebscohost.com/knowledge_base/detail.php?id=863&t=h.
Home and office users accessing the databases from the the MBLC's database page will now see LRC listed under "Arts & Humanities." If you provide direct remote access links on your web site, the URL is http://mblc.state.ma.us/cgi-bin/remote.pl?db=EBSCO_LRC.
And as always, if you have and problems or questions regarding access to or use of any of the CMRLS/MBLC databases, feel free to contact me (rlevine@cmrls.org, x308) or Dodie Gaudet (dgaudet@cmrls.org, x307) any time.
LRC provides a broad spectrum of full-text information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. It includes 27,000 plot summaries, synopses and work overviews, 140,500 author biographies, 350 literary journals, 54,000 poems, 14,500 short stories, 8400 classic texts, 4000 author interviews and more.
In-library access to LRC is achieved with a single URL:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,cookie,uid&profile=lrc
If you library is authenticated by static IP address(es), this link will bring you directly to the LRC main page. Otherwise, you will be prompted for credentials; once entered, a cookie will be set and subsequent access will be unprompted. Contact CMRLS if you have not received your username/password via email or USPS.
If your library already subscribes to another EBSCO database, you may now see an additional LRC icon when you access that site. If so, you may modify the above LRC URL to create a separate link to that (or any other) EBSCO database by substituting "profile=lrc" with another EBSCO "profile ID." For example, to bypass the list of databases and go directly to NoveList, use http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,cookie,uid&profile=novelist. For a complete list of EBSCO profile IDs, see http://support.ebscohost.com/knowledge_base/detail.php?id=863&t=h.
Home and office users accessing the databases from the the MBLC's database page will now see LRC listed under "Arts & Humanities." If you provide direct remote access links on your web site, the URL is http://mblc.state.ma.us/cgi-bin/remote.pl?db=EBSCO_LRC.
And as always, if you have and problems or questions regarding access to or use of any of the CMRLS/MBLC databases, feel free to contact me (rlevine@cmrls.org, x308) or Dodie Gaudet (dgaudet@cmrls.org, x307) any time.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Linking to the ProQuest newspapers
As of July 1, Newsbank has been replaced with ProQuest's "Massachusetts Newsstand." This database includes 12 newspapers from across the state:
Berkshire Eagle
Boston Globe
Boston Herald
BusinessWest (Chicopee)
North Adams Transcript
Patriot Ledger (Quincy)
Plymouth County Business Review
Sentinel & Enterprise (Fitchburg)
Sun, The (Lowell)
Telegram & Gazette (Worcester)
Gazette (Haverhill) 12/31/92 to 8/9/97 only
Standard Times (New Bedford) 1/4/92 to 8/19/97 only
Your library's links to the entire Massachusetts Newsstand collection, as well as to the individual papers, can be found at http://mblc.state.ma.us/grants/licenses/proquest.php. Alternatively, the links are included with those for all the CMRLS/MBLC databases in the 'link generator" spreadsheet, downloadable from http://www.cmrls.org/databases/help/link_generator.htm.
ProQuest links can be further "customized" to pre-select a subset of newspapers to search. For example, you could provide separate links to "Boston Newspapers" (Globe and Herald), and "Central MA Newspapers" (T&G, Sentinel).
Additionally, ProQuest lets you control whether users view a "search page" or the "databases page" when they log in to ProQuest. Currently the search page is set as the default for all libraries, and the databases page is viewable from the "Databases selected" link. With the database page as default, users are first presented with a list of newspapers to be search and the option to modify that list or go directly to any paper.
If you would like to implement any of these customizations to the ProQuest databases, or for questions about any of the online databases contact Rick Levine (rlevine@cmrls.org, x308) or Dodie Gaudet (dgaudet@cmrls.org, x307) at CMRLS.
Berkshire Eagle
Boston Globe
Boston Herald
BusinessWest (Chicopee)
North Adams Transcript
Patriot Ledger (Quincy)
Plymouth County Business Review
Sentinel & Enterprise (Fitchburg)
Sun, The (Lowell)
Telegram & Gazette (Worcester)
Gazette (Haverhill) 12/31/92 to 8/9/97 only
Standard Times (New Bedford) 1/4/92 to 8/19/97 only
Your library's links to the entire Massachusetts Newsstand collection, as well as to the individual papers, can be found at http://mblc.state.ma.us/grants/licenses/proquest.php. Alternatively, the links are included with those for all the CMRLS/MBLC databases in the 'link generator" spreadsheet, downloadable from http://www.cmrls.org/databases/help/link_generator.htm.
ProQuest links can be further "customized" to pre-select a subset of newspapers to search. For example, you could provide separate links to "Boston Newspapers" (Globe and Herald), and "Central MA Newspapers" (T&G, Sentinel).
Additionally, ProQuest lets you control whether users view a "search page" or the "databases page" when they log in to ProQuest. Currently the search page is set as the default for all libraries, and the databases page is viewable from the "Databases selected" link. With the database page as default, users are first presented with a list of newspapers to be search and the option to modify that list or go directly to any paper.
If you would like to implement any of these customizations to the ProQuest databases, or for questions about any of the online databases contact Rick Levine (rlevine@cmrls.org, x308) or Dodie Gaudet (dgaudet@cmrls.org, x307) at CMRLS.
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