Electronic Resources

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Electronic Resources

• Out on the prairie

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What are Electronic Information Resources?

• Materials in an electronic (digital) format
• Citations, abstracts, thumbnails
• Data sets
• Documents (text, PDF, HTML, etc)
• eBooks, eJournals, eNews
• Sound recordings, video
• Collections of these materials
• Computer files
• Digital repositories
• Indexes and databases
• Library catalogs
• Web pages

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Methods of Searching

• Analytical Searching combine words (or phrases)
  to construct a search by entering words into a
  search box. Keyword search on WebPALS, Google or
  Amazon.
• Browse Searching look at a list. Similar to
  using an index in a book. WebPALS
• Hypertext Searching jump from one concept to
  another. WebPALS click on a subject heading
• Hierarchical Searching List of topics which
  start with a broad topic go to increasingly
  narrower topics. Directories in Google or Yahoo.

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Analytical Searching

• Boolean Operators AND, OR, NOT are used to
  combine ideas in a search
• Symbols may be used instead of words.
• Operators may need to be all capital letters.
  Many .gov collections need all caps.
• You may need to choose a Boolean Operator from a
  drop down menu or text box.

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AND
 
 
 
 

• cat AND dog
•  
• Finds all items that have both cat and dog in the
  item. Any dog or cat listed individually will be
  thrown out. 

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OR

• cat OR dog
• Finds all items that have cat and all items that
  have dog in them.

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Not

• cat NOT dog 
• Finds all items that have cat in them but not
  dog. If it finds a dog with a cat it will throw
  that item out.

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Help files Tutorials

• Electronic resources generally include help files
  with search help. Terms to look for are
• Help
• Questions
• ?
• FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions)
• Tips
• Hints
• Tutorials
• Others may create tutorials search tips.
• Libraries
• Publishers EBSCOhost tutorials (State funded
  databases)
• Google search tips

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Proximity Search

• Phrase or near searching
• Many databases assume a phrase (proximity) search
  when you enter terms.
• Common practice for phrase searching is to place
  quotation marks around terms.
• See help files for near searching.
• Example Soil and Water Conservation

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Truncation Marks (Wildcards)

• Symbols used to represent letters or characters.
  Common practice in electronic resources is to use
  
• to replace multiple characters
• ? to replace a single character 

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Public vs. Subscription

• Publicly available (free) electronic resources
  are generally free for the public to use.
• Subscription (fee) electronic resources are
  available when a subscription is paid. 

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Public access

• BEWARE Electronic resources that are free for
  the public to use may have extensive advertising,
  contain inaccurate material, be extremely bias
  and spy on your computer usage. Evaluate before
  using!
• Free information that is generally reliable.
• Government publications, documents
• College and Universities pages for education
• Libraries and museums catalogs and digital
  archives
• Some publishers

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Subscription

• Electronic resources are only available when a
  subscription price is paid by someone.
• Number of users may be limited
• Access is limited to authorized users. May
  require user names and passwords.
• Place of access will be based on license
  agreements and technical equipment setups.

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Examples of free electronic resources
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Google www.google.comSearch the web for
resources
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UncleSams Google www.google.com/unclesamSearch
Government sites
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GPO Access www.gpoaccess.gov
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Minnesota North Starwww.state.mn.us Search
Minnesota
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AGRICOLAhttp//agricola.nal.usda.govSearch for
journal articles and books - National Agriculural
Library
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AgEcon Searchhttp//agecon.lib.umn.eduSearch
this digital archive for scholarly content in
Agriculture and Applied Economics
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Federal Citizen Information Centerwww.pueblo.gsa.
govFind Consumer information
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Environmental Health Toxicologyhttp//sis.nlm.n
ih.gov/enviro.htmlFind information on
environmental health, chemicals, etc
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Minnesota Courtswww.courts.state.mn.usSearch
for information on Minnesota Courts
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US Courtswww.uscourts.govFind information from
the federal courts
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FindLawwww.findlaw.comFind info on legal issues
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Minnesota Legislaturewww.leg.state.mn.usFind
Minnesota legislature information
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Thomashttp//thomas.loc.govFind federal
legislation
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Medline Pluswww.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplusFind
medical, health and drug information
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National Library of Medicinewww.nlm.nih.govSee
History of Medicine for digital books, PubMed for
scholarly journals
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LibDexwww.libdex.com Find a library or library
catalog in the world
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Concordia Librarylibrary.cord.eduWhere I work
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Map Collection linkslibrary.cord.edu/borchert/cla
sses/maps.htmExample of librarian weblinks, my
map collection links.
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Minnesota Regional Library Systemshttp//www.mini
tex.umn.edu/delivery/maps/minnesota/Search this
interactive map to find your library system.
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Examples of Subscription Databases
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ELMelm4you.orgSubscription databases purchased
by the State of Minnesota and available for all
Minnesotans.
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ELM for K-12

• Kindergarten to 5th grade
• Kids InfoBits
• Junior High and Middle School
• InfoTrac Junior Edition
• Junior Reference Edition
• Discovery Edition
• Secondary Students
• InfoTrac Student Edition
• Discovery Edition

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ELM

• All levels
• Proquest Newsstand Complete
• OCLC WorldCat
• netLibrary eBooks
• General Public and Students
• MasterFile Premier
• College level
• Academic Search Premier
• Professional Collection

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ELM special collections

• Spanish speakers
• Informe Consulta
• Business Professional
• Business Source Premier
• Regional Business News
• EBSCO MegaFILE
• Search 4 ELM databases from EBSOC as one.
  MasterFILE, Academic Search, Business Source and
  Regional Business News.

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MnLink GatewaySearch Minnesota Library Catalogs
or sign in to search ELM
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Sign in with your library card
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Lake Aggasiz Regional Libraryhttp//larl.org/Exa
mple of public library page
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Online ResourcesDatabases available from LARL
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Login Screen for LARL
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Academic Search PremierState funded ELM database
for academics
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WorldCatSearch worldwide library catalogsState
funded ELM database
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ProQuest, NewspapersElectronic resource
full-text newspapers search by topic
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