Database News for October 2003

Purchasedwith funding provided by the Library Services & Technology Act, the Encyclopedia Americana Online from Grolier Publishing provides:

• 45,000 articles contributed by more than 6,000 specialists
• Further Reading: Articles link to OCLC's WorldCat online union catalog
• More than 100,000 full-text periodical articles from Ebscohost
• 9,000 bibliographies
• 155,000 continually updated links to Web sites
• The Americana Journal—news from around the world updated weekly

The Grolier site also includes the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, several American Heritage dictionaries, and an atlas.

During October, the Libraries also have trial access to Grolier's Spanish-language encyclopedia, Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre en Línea.

This month, try out Communication Abstracts on CSA. Communication Abstracts, edited by Tom Gordon at Temple University and published by SAGE Publications, is a comprehensive source of information about communication-related publications on a world-wide scale. Communication Abstracts covers communication-related articles, reports, papers, and books from a variety of publishers, research institutions, and information sources.

Coverage includes not only communication literature but also literature in other disciplines that is relevant to communication researchers. CA has recently expanded its coverage to include international literature in film studies, the role of technology in human communications, risk communication, crisis communication and public opinions.

Communication Abstracts covers more than 160 journals, indexing articles published from 1977 to the present. The database is updated bimonthly.

Send your comments about Communication Abstracts to Necia Parker-Gibson, Social Sciences Librarian. You can also send comments about new resources to our Electronic Resources Survey.

RefWorks now offers an online tutorial, covering everything from setting up your personal RefWorks account to creating bibliographies and footnotes in various documentation styles. RefWorks is a Web-based bibliography and database manager that allows users to create their own personal database by importing references from text files or online databases. These references can then be organized in various project folders, and inserted into papers or articles in dozens of different citation styles, including MLA, APA, and Chicago. For more infomation about RefWorks, see our online quick guide.

Learn more about how you can search, save records, and set up personal alerts in Web of Science and Current Contents Connect. Take advantage of upcoming training sessions on the Web and in the Library.

On the Web
Check the Web of Knowledge Online Training Site at: http://www.isinet.com/isi/training/online/ for WebEx seminars on topic and citation searching, using Current Contents, and tips on personalization, saving searches and enhancements.

In the Library
A Web of Knowledge representative will be here on Friday, October 24 to present several open sessions to all interested students and faculty. Watch the Daily Headlines and the Libraries' web page for more information and schedule.

Did you know that the new ILLiad service allows you to place Interlibrary Loan (ILL) requests from many of the Library's databases? When viewing a record for a an item that the Libraries do not own, look for the button or link to "Request on ILLiad" or "Use ILLiad." You will then be prompted to enter your ILLiad login name and password and your ILL request will be placed automatically.

Databases that currently have ILLiad links include:

• many FirstSearch databases, including WorldCat, MLA, ERIC, and EconLit
  • (note that you can only request books and journals directly through WorldCat; audio recordings, video recordings, and other special formats must be requested through the ILLiad form)
• all Ebsco databases, including Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, PsycINFO, and CINAHL
• all WebSPIRS databases, including AGRICOLA, Biological Abstracts, CAB Abstracts, and Zoological Record
• CSA databases such as ASFA (Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts), Physical Education Index, and Sociological Abstracts
• many SciFinder items may be requested through the ChemPort Link
  • (look for the small computer icon)
• INSPEC on Axiom
  • (you must have a specific cookie set on your browser to place ILLiad requests through INSPEC; visit the Axiom page to acquire the cookie)

Don't have an ILLiad account? Visit our Interlibrary Loan page to create an account and read more about the ILLiad service.

Find the perfect article in ProQuest - but no full-text? Now you can check journal availability in InfoLinks without leaving your ProQuest session. Look for the "Search InfoLinks" link in ProQuest article citations. Often, the Libraries will have the journal containing your "perfect" article in paper or online from another source. Other recent ProQuest enhancements include the ability to search all dates in the database (no more "deep backfile") and links to other full-text article services, such as JSTOR.