Exploring Online Electronic Information Choices

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Exploring Online Electronic Information Choices

• By
• Spring Lea Boehler
• Emporia State University
• Class of Colorado V

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Feeling too much of this?

• Emc2
• Four score and seven years ago
• www.overload.com
• Pork bellies up 1
• DNA cloning.
• Revised Colorado Statutes.

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And not enough of this or that?
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Lets see if we can find some balance...
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Dialog.com offers...

• Great breadth of subjects
• Exact searches once you know the language
• More than one source on the same subject

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Dialog.com has some limitations

• Time to learn search language
• Time to sort through all the databases and all
  the articles in each database
• Cost of access is very high
• Some ambiguity about what content you might be
  getting (i.e. full text vs. abstract)

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Users most likely to benefit from Dialog. Com are

• Information brokers
• Corporate librarians
• Some law librarians
• Academic librarians
• A few public librarians
• Special librarians

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What users might be better served with other
online information sources?

• School librarians
• Public librarians
• Law librarians
• Medical librarians

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The following sites were visited and evaluated
based on how well they met the criteria for each
of the four library types
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• Uncover
• CNN Interactive
• NewsLibrary
• Midnight at the Internet Café
• Pub Med
• Food and Drug Administration Home Page
• Center for Disease Control Home Page
• American Medical Association Home Page
• Colorado Revised Statutes Online
• Legal Resource Section at ACLIN/Marmot

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School libraries see a lot of the following needs
from students

• Science questions, especially on types of
  experiments for Science Fair
• History questions, especially around the time of
  History Fair
• Current biographies on famous personalities like
  Oprah or Kate Winslet.
• Current hot topics such as abortion, anorexia
  nervosa, or euthanasia.

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And the winner is...

• Uncover!
• Free searching and abstracts.
• Document delivery costs money.
• Available through ACLIN.
• Http//www.aclin.org

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This is the main command page for Uncover Article
Access.
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Search results for abortion
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Search results for Oprah
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Public libraries see the following needs for
their patrons

• Information about current hot topics in world and
  local news
• A wide range of reference materials
• Genealogy documents
• Local and state laws
• The ability to get materials they do not have in
  house

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And the winner is...

• Midnight at the Internet Café
• Available through ACLIN or as printed booklets
• Http//www.aclin.org/other/community/maic/midnight
  .htm
• Completely free!

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This is the front page for MAIC
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MAICs Reference Categories
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Law libraries need...

• Information about current bills being debated
• Information about recent court decisions
• Easy access to local and state laws
• Information about older court cases

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And the winner is...

• Government sources in Marmot
• Available through ACLIN/Marmot
• Completely free!
• Some ILL may be necessary

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Government Publications available through Marmot.
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Colorado Legislature Information Available at
Marmot.
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Medical libraries need

• Information about current drugs and procedures
• Information about current laws that affect the
  medical field
• Information about current research developments
• Information about diseases

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And the winner is...

• The FDA page!
• Free access
• Easy to navigate
• Very current information
• Http//www.fda.gov

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FDAs front page
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One of the many pages available inside the FDA
site
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For full text reviews of each of the sites, visit
the Colorado V Home Page atHttp//www.literata.co
m/co5/
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Thanks for your attention!!!