Yes, we're here

A staff member sent me this link Libraries Shine In Tough Economic Times : NPR Nice story. It was very nice to be thought of!

I went looking in Lexis Nexis, where I used to look for NPR transcripts and I did find this particular story very easily:

GALILEO
..Databases A-Z
...L
....LexisNexis
......General Search
........I copied and pasted the entire title
........I limited the search to TV and Radio Broadcast transcripts
........I limited it to the previous week
Search and there it was!

I admit I first tried a general search in GALILEO without success. Lexis Nexis isn't one of the options.

You may access current TV and Radio Broadcast transcripts through LexisNexis in GALILEO.

You know you may get the current password to use GALILEO at home from your Georgia librarian!

-kls

Looking at the new interface

Ebsco is trying to make their interfaces "friendly". This came out on July 29th from NoveList:

We are continuing to hear from our users with suggestions and comments concerning the new version of NoveList. We encourage and welcome this feedback, as it helps us to make the changes that mean the most to you in your libraries. As a result of your feedback, we have released the following enhancements which now available in NoveList:

* Quick Print has a new display that is designed to reduce the
amount of paper needed to print your results. Each title or item
has been reduced to a two or three line display, with only the
most valuable information.
* The citation that displays above NoveList articles and lists is
shortened, so you will not need to scroll down as much to find the
content that you are looking for.
* When you select links to feature content, you will no longer see
the search string ("PD 430716," for example) in the Find box.
* The Clear button at the Find Similar Books page now clears all
boxes of their checkmarks, instead of returning to the default page.
* The Search History will now be available at the Basic Search, as
well as at the Advanced Search.

I like the effort to listen and "fix" for the patron.

Stupid is as...

The ALA Information Literacy list is discussing how best to teach students the skills to find the best information. Many instructors let students settle for "good enough" resources found with a Google search.

Leonard Pitts noted in his article Not voting for stupid 07/27/2008 the difference between ignorance and stupidity.

Ignorance is a lack of information. We're all ignorant in one way or another.....I'm talking about stupidity, which I define as an inability to analyze, draw conclusions from, or otherwise "use" information even when one has it.

We just finished Day 5 of SCT 100. That's where we show students the resources available. We deal with the ignorance by demonstrating the resources. There's no time to walk through the thinking process on how to differentiate what is useful (accurate) and what is not.

GALILEO offers a page of FAQ's on how to find a database or an article. This deals with the ignorance factor.

I want ways to teach the thinking process, to deal with the stupid factor:

I selected Browse by Subject
...I selected Education
......I selected Colleges & Universities
.........The only database noted is Career & Technical Education. I decided that wouldn't do.
......I selected Education and the search list has 7 databases that seemed reasonable (including ERIC)
I typed in critical thinking, limited to full text, 2008-2008 -
A nice selection came up with some titles pointing to specific curriculum.

I think I'll go and read a bit!

-kls