Inside this Issue
Search Tools
By Gillian Mayman and Theresa Arndt
Search Tools is a new portal to University Library databases, indexes, networked electronic resources, e-journals, web resources, and catalogs. It eventually will replace the University Library's
Networked Electronic Resources page and Electronic
Journals & Newspaper page.
Logging in to Search Tools allows you to take advantage of all its features, including:
- Finding databases, indexes, e-book collections, etc.
- Browsing electronic resources by subject
- Creating groups of favorite databases, saving searches, and managing your own e-Journal list
- Searching multiple databases simultaneously
To find journal article databases specifically relevant to the field of public health, click on the Find Databases tab and choose Health Sciences. Next, choose Public Health and click on the Go button. This will retrieve 30 databases covering many public health related topics, from business to environmental health to sociology.
You can use the Find e-Journals tab to identify and link to specific electronic journals available through the Library. The “Find It!” button links to the SFX services menu for a specific e-journal or article. Note that this list does not include the many print journals available on campus. The most comprehensive method of finding specific journals is the Mirlyn Library Catalog.
Another feature of Search Tools is the ability to search up to eight different databases at the same time. This cross-searching is especially useful when you are doing a preliminary search on an interdisciplinary topic. Be aware that any specialized searching features of specific databases will NOT be utilized when doing a cross-search, so it is recommended that for serious research you use the link in Search Tools to connect directly to a specific database and perform your search. Also, not all databases can be cross-searched in Search Tools.
For example, if you are just starting to look for information regarding childhood violence, you might want to do an initial cross-search of Medline, Criminal Justice Abstracts, ERIC, PsycInfo, and Sociological Abstracts. After logging in to Search Tools, choose which databases you want to search by clicking on the plus (+) sign next to each database. Only those databases with a magnifying glass icon are cross-searchable. Under the Power Search tab, you can now choose to Search in: My Databases. A single search will retrieve results from each database, which can be sorted by relevance, title, author, year, and database. You can also View Results by Database and compare how many articles were found in each database, which can help you decide which databases to connect to directly for further searching.
Search Tools is a new service of the University Library, and it is anticipated that its features and functionality will be improved over time. Comments and suggestions are welcome.
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