Research Blog : Online resources

Red Cross Heat Wave Safety Checklist

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:22:00 GMT

With the hot, hot weather we've been having recently, I've been wondering about first aid for heat-related health problems. I've had first aid training in the past, but I wanted to make sure I'd know what to do now if someone near me seemed to be having trouble with the heat. I went to http://www.redcross.org/ and typed HEAT into the search box. I found a Heat Waves checklist with information about the symptoms and care for heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. There is even a one-page PDF Heat Wave Safety Checklist that is perfect for printing. I hung one on the refrigerator in the room where staff members here take breaks.

Link for Heat Wave Safety Checklist easy to print PDF

You'll find more information like this on the Preparedness Fast Facts page.

Did you know February 14th was National Donor Day as well as Valentine's Day?

SuDocQueen@evpl — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:24:00 GMT

You can learn more about it at http://organdonor.gov/. The longer I thought about it, the more I vaguely remembered learning about the day long ago -- it struck me as apropo to celebrate giving the gift of life on the day famous for celebrating love -- but it was so long ago that I had essentially forgotten until I received an email about it from www.usa.gov. And that's one of the things I love about usa.gov. They offer email updates on over a hundred different subjects followed or supported by the US Government. You can sign up to get emails, or in some cases RSS feeds, on subjects like climate and weather, child support or child care, elder care, government benefits/grants/financial aid, environmental resources...the list goes on and on. My advice? Go to the website click on 'receive updates by email,' follow the instructions on the next page (all you need is an active email address), and then scroll through the looong list of topics you can keep updated on.

Expanded coverage in Literary Reference Center

googler@evpl — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:37:00 GMT

We recently expanded our online literary resources when EBSCO upgraded Literary Reference Center to Literary Reference Center Plus. This new database offers additional reference works, literary journals, new contemporary literature titles, full-text literary study guides, audio content, and videos. This additional content, blended with the specialized and easy-to-use, browsable interface, creates an authoritative literary tool for users.

Literary Reference Center Plus includes all of the content currently in Literary Reference Center as well as more than 1,100 full-text literary reference books and works focusing on plays, drama, poetry, and religious, children’s and Hispanic literature. LRC Plus also presents a focus on multicultural studies, folklore, mythology, Latin American literature and historical literature by offering more than 125 literary magazines and journals in these areas. Thirty-five extensive
volumes of new reference content on contemporary literature from Salem Press also contribute to this new resource relating to fantasy/science fiction, contemporary literature, world philosophy, and biographies of Nobel Literature Prize winners.

Users of Literary Reference Center Plus will also have access to 40 full-text literary study guides to help explore novels and plays in American and English literature and to better understand the characteristics of different forms of literature. The database also contains 74 literary videos pertaining to classic literary works and authors.

Like other browsable/GUI databases in the EBSCO family, this interface uses tabs. Your result list defaults to "all results," but note the tab for "literary criticism," which is what many students will be after. (I'm a little disappointed that although media has been added to the database, there isn't a tab for audio/video. Use advanced search to limit to "multimedia/study guides.") Also, keep an eye on the "full text" notation of your results. As with other EBSCO databaes, some results are available in full-text in the database, but some are citation/abstract only -- these may or may not be in EVPL's collection (but if not, they can be requested via interlibrary loan).

The databases can be accessed by cardholders via our database page, in the "Literature" category. As always, please call your branch library or Central Library Reference (428-8218) if you have any questions about using this or any database.

November is National Diabetes Month

SuDocQueen@evpl — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:07:00 GMT

Considering the prevalance of diabetes in America today, I suspect the disease has touched many, many families in the Evansville and tri-state area. It is certainly a topic near and dear to my heart since I have had family members and friends afflicted with both Type 1 and Type II. For those who have never encountered diabetes, or those newly diagnosed, it can be a frightening disease. So what better time to learn more about the disease than during the month dedicated to it?

To be honest, it had slipped my mind that November was National Diabetes Month until I got an email update from www.usa.gov talking about it -- check out www.usa.gov's website to find out about all the great email updates and RSS feeds people can sign-up for. The email included a great link to their FAQ section on diabetes. That section in turn offers several ways to get information on diabetes. They include phone, address, and email for the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse as well as several links for different websites like National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, National Diabetes Education Program, and the American Diabetes Association.

You can find even more online information from www.usa.gov by browsing or keyword searching from the website's main page. To browse, scroll down the main page until you see "Health and Nutrition." Clicking will take you to a further breakdown of the subject. Scroll down to "Health Topics A-Z" and click. Then click on "D" and scroll down until you get to "Diabetes." You'll see about twelve different topics on diabetes from diabetes and pregnancy to diabetic diet, kidney problems or even nerve problems. Each topic leads to great information from Medline Plus that includes additional links on things like prevention, related issues, and research as well as links to videos, tutorials, and pictures where available.

You can also do a keyword search on diabetes by typing the term into the search box at the top of www.usa.gov's main screen. You'll get a results page reminiscent of Google but without all the extraneous hits from questionable websites. The neatest part of the results page is the topic breakdown on the left-hand side of the page. The topic list is a breakdown of the search results into individual topics. The numbers in parenthesis indicate how many hits your search had under that topic, and the plus button to the right indicates that the topic can be broken down even farther. Clicking on the plus button will show that further breakdown while clicking on the topic itself will change the results list to the hits for just that topic. Also, take a look at the Agencies breakdown. If you didn't know, www.usa.gov searches state as well as federal websites. Looking at "Agencies" will give you a concise picture of the places your results are coming from. For example my "diabetes" search showed that the majority of my results came from the National Institutes of Health, but if you click to see "All" results for Agencies, you can scroll down and discover that Indiana has a page on diabetes coming from the IHS Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention.

If you're not on information overload yet, or if you prefer your information in a more tangible format, EVPL has an amazing collection of print material on diabetes ranging from books on the disease, complications, and diet to cookbooks for the diabetic. My simple keyword search using the term diabetes then limiting to books turned up over 400 books. Or, if you'd like to see magazine articles you can go back to the computer, go to our databases, and select a general database like Masterfile Premier, (see it under our list of "Popular Databases" or find it through our "Alphabetical Sequence") and do a keyword search for articles on diabetes. You can also choose "Category Sequence" and click on Health and Medicine to see a list of databases that will narrow your search to just medical journals.

Would you like to work for the federal government?

SuDocQueen@evpl — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:04:00 GMT

If so, take a look at www.usajobs.gov.

This is a great resource for people interested in working for our federal government. On their main page this morning they showed 33,530 jobs available worldwide with the United States government. Now before your jaw hits the floor and you start drooling on your keyboard, let's do a reality check and remember that none of us are qualified for all 33,000 jobs. They're sure not going to hire me as a NASA engineer. And, I don't think I want to fill a librarian position in Timbuktu - okay, when I did a search for librarian positions, I didn't see any in Timbuktu, but you get the picture. :-)

The search was easy as pie. I just typed librarian into the search box right under "Search Jobs" on the main page and hit "Run Search." 14 positions popped up. With the exception of a couple all were positions looking for actual librarians, and even the two that weren't were for positions with the Library of Congress. For example, one was for a General Engineer working out of the Office of the Librarian; maybe a position similar to EVPL's building manager?

That was the simplest search. You can customize your search by clicking on the "Search Jobs" tab on the main page. From there, you can narrow your search by choices like agency, occupation, and location, to name a few.

Say you'd like a job with the government, but you don't know what job you'd enjoy. They have an area to help you with that as well. I couldn't find a direct link from the main page, but I saw links to it from the Search page and the Information Center page. Once you're on either page, look for the Career Interest Center and click on the "learn more." From there you'll find a list of subjects that lead to interactive questionnaires that will help you figure out what job would be right for you.

What else? Too much to go over everything in what's supposed to be a "short" blog. :-) But, two last things I've got to mention before I go. Be sure to check out the "My USAJOBS" tab. You'll be able to create your own account which will allow you to post your resume (I thought I read somewhere on the site you could post even more than one), apply for the jobs online, and receive email updates tailored to jobs that you're interested in.

And the other "thing," be sure to play around with the "Information Center" page. Among the many services it offers, it provides help in understanding the convoluted federal hiring process. You can get help creating your resume. There's also an area where you can find out about the top agencies hiring, the most popular jobs, the areas in the country looking for the most jobs, etc.

The Health Care Reform Act turmoil

SuDocQueen@evpl — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:33:00 GMT

Opinions and concerns abound about this issue, sometimes to the point that the facts get obscured. Can I separate all the facts from the fiction? Nope, I can be duped and sucked in as easily as the next person. But I can tell you where to go to form your own opinions undiluted by anyone else with an agenda. Thomas from the Library of Congress is an excellent site for following legislation and the workings of Congress. As a matter of fact, Thomas has made it easy for people right now. You don't even have to search for the House's health care bill. They've put up a direct link on the very front of their website. From that link, you can then read a summary of the bill, see what Committees it's been referred to, see who is sponsoring it, and read the bill word for word yourself. Be warned, the bill's over 1,000 pages long and very dense to read! That doesn't mean I think it's not worth reading; I'm just saying don't expect to skim through it on your lunch hour unless you belong to Mensa. :)

You can also get some very useful links from Congressman Brad Ellsworth's "Online Office." He has the PDF of the full bill, just as Thomas does, but he additionally has links to the committee work being done on the bill.

And while we're talking Congressmen, if you want to share your opinion, do you know who to share yours with? Indiana's Senators are Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar, while Evansville's Congressman is Brad Ellsworth.

Lastly, here's on other place I like to go when I'm inundated with opinions, http://factcheck.org/. They appear non-partisan to me. They've debunked pro and con statements surrounding the health care debate. And, their website/services don't exist solely for the health care debate (it just looks that way right now :). Take a look at their Archives or Ask Factcheck to see some of the other political issues they address.

Cash for Clunkers…or the CARS Program: what you should know before you walk into a dealership

SuDocQueen@evpl — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:15:00 GMT

I was listening to the radio this morning when one of the announcers started talking about the great deal you could get by trading in your old gas guzzler for a new more fuel efficient car. It’s great that they’re helping to get the word out, but I don’t think they had enough time to go into the important details. And those details are great to know before you start talking to a car salesman.

For example, the announcer said the rebate is $4,500 but that’s only partially true. The rebate will be either $3,500 or $4,500. Which amount you get will depend on the difference in the fuel economy between your old car and the new one. Go to the FAQ section of the CARS program and look under “What is the value of the credit for the purchase or lease of a new…” to understand how the amount is figured. A $1,000 can be an important distinction when you’re counting your pennies.

The main page of www.cars.gov gives you a quick rundown of the most pertinent info you need to know about the program. From there you can click through to the questions that will determine if your car meets “clunker” status, you can peruse the above mentioned FAQs for more in-depth info, and you can find out which dealers are taking part in the program.

Happy car shopping to those who qualify!

$8,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit…

SuDocQueen@evpl — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:33:00 GMT

There’s a lot of information out there about this credit, but I always like to get my information straight from the horse’s mouth, so I went to www.usa.gov and found this nifty little question and answer page from www.irs.gov. It does a great job of explaining the current $8,000 credit and the previous $7,500 credit and includes additional links for people who want to know even more.

Www.usa.gov also offers a great page for homeowners and prospective homeowners that’s full of helpful links, from how to avoid foreclosure to useful tips for current homeowners and how to protect yourself and your belongings when hiring movers.

If you checkout the RESOURCES FOR HOMEOWNERS or MORTGAGES – FEDERAL PROGRAMS, ETC be prepared to be taken to new pages with tons more helpful links!

Speak your mind…opinions welcome, wanted, and appreciated

SuDocQueen@evpl — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:11:00 GMT

Hello out there to everyone in EVPL blogland,

I have a dilemma that I could use your help with. Every year I sit down to plan a workshop on useful government documents and websites (more websites than actual documents now-a-days) and every year I get overwhelmed with the glut of information I could offer… Do I focus on how to find useful health and nutrition information? Or on how to find those interesting statistics you always hear quoted from the Census and Labor Departments? Or what about consumer safety information? Or how to navigate Social Security’s website? Or how about following legislation? The list can go on and on. So, I’m opening the floor to all of you, the people that the government is trying to reach with all of this information. What do you most want to know about? What do you need help discovering? Let me know how best to help you.

Vacation on a budget...

SuDocQueen@evpl — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:38:00 GMT

Nowadays everyone’s talking about staycations. This reminded me of the wonderful vacations my parents took me on even when we had to watch every penny. How’d we do it? By visiting our National Parks and State Parks (and camping, but that’s a whole ‘nother story). Most parks have entrance fees for an entire passenger car that are cheaper than an individual ticket to Disney World.

Starting in the winter my parents would send away for scads of pamphlets and maps of parks like the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, and Slide Rock State Park. Planning early is still a good idea but now it’s even easier. All you have to do is go to www.nps.gov. From there you can learn about every national park in the country. They have a great search tool on that front page. Just click on the state you’re interested in visiting and you’ll get a list of all the parks in that state. But what if you know the name of a park but not what state it’s in? No problem. Click on the “Advanced SearchTool and Map.” From there scroll below the map and you’ll see a great browser tool that will let you pick your park by name, location, preferred activity, or even topic (like mountains or volcanoes or coral reefs).

But what about state parks? Well, if there’s a site out there that pulls all state parks under one “roof” I haven’t found it yet, but putting “state parks (insert the state name of your choice)” into Google does a terrific job of pulling up each state’s website.

And, if you’re at Central Library stop by and take a look at some of the books and pamphlets the National Parks Service still puts out. We have a whole series of pamphlets on the Blue Ridge Parkway trails. Just ask one of us about Call # I 29.149. Or if you’re interested in the historic details of sites, you might want to take a look in our I 29.88 area. Those are historic structure and site reports on places like Fire Island Lighthouse, the Eleanor Roosevelt Historic Site, and Antietam National Battlefield.

Ladies and Gentlemen Start Your Engines

wag.mado@evpl — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:18:00 GMT

Central Library’s Lobby Display starting next week will be featuring circulating materials about car racing and automobiles. With the Indianapolis 500 being this weekend, and NASCAR racing in full swing, it seems a good time to pull those items off the shelf.

If you like fiction, we have plenty of books and movies about the world of automobile racing.

There are biographies about race car drivers too.

We not only have car racing resources, but also materials regarding the history of automobiles, customizing, and maintenance/repair manuals on almost every make and model for the past 20+ years. If you cannot find the right manual, you can access our Auto Repair Reference Center database from your home computer and search for repair/maintenance instructions and diagrams for your specific auto.

Maybe you're not in “love” with your car like most Americans, but just want to know how to be a more responsible owner. In that case, we have books with information on saving gas, living greener, cutting back on the use of your car, and much more.

Visit your favorite library branch to take a look - and don't forget to buckle up!

Explore Issues of Global Importance with New Database

Bufkinite@evpl — Sat, 16 May 2009 16:56:00 GMT

Need up-to-the-minute information on child labor? Want to have an idea about current world opinion regarding the US military's use of torture? Are you concerned about nuclear weapons in failed states falling into the hands of international terrorist organizations? Are you confused by the proliferation of different and conflicting information about global climate change and sea-level rise?

Information on all of these issues and much more is available through a new database called Global Issues in Context. Available through the EVPL database page, this resource offers global news and perspectives on issues and events of international importance, like the ones outlined above, and provides background information on them, placing them in the proper sociopolitical, religious, and cultural context.

Searching Global Issues in Context can take place in a variety of ways, starting with simple keyword searching in a single search box. There is also a clickable world map, where choosing a particular country then links to issue portals where that country is mentioned.

Global Issues in Context has a great deal of multimedia components, including extensive audio and video clips from such places as NPR, PBS, CBC, and NBC news; interactive maps, and links to world newspapers.

TEACHERS AND EDUCATORS: Global Issues in Context's conten is aligned to state and national social studies and science standards and is up to date. Thus it can be used across the curriculum. It also encourages and develops critical-thinking skills by providing students a variety of pertinent global perspectives on the issues.

Check out this resource; it will broaden and deepen your understanding of current events and issues affecting countries and people around the world.

Two New Databases Emphasize U.S. & World History

Bufkinite@evpl — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:47:00 GMT

History buffs now have two new resources at their disposal 24 hours a day through the databases page at the EVPL web site. The History Resource Center: World and History Resource Center: U.S. are easy to navigate, rich resources.

History Resource Center: U.S. was named a "Best Reference" by the New York Public Library, and provides a easily searchable interface to a unique combination of primary and secondary sources. The most extensive online collection of historical information available today, History Research Center U.S. delivers:

- comprehensive coverage of the most-studied topics in U.S. history, including the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the post-Cold War era
- a "roll-over" chronology that features a graphical, annotated timeline of significant events spanning pre-Columbian prehistory to today's headlines
- more than 5,000 primary source documents, including more than 9,000 commentaries
- over 350,000 periodical articles
- over 130 reference books
- thousands of downloadable images, maps, charts, and flags

Whether you're a student in high school, college, or a life-long learner, History Resource Center: U.S. delivers unmatched pinpoint results and reliable sources, allowing you to establish the context within the content.

History Resource Center: World was named a "Best Reference" by Library Journal, and offers students and researchers access to more than 5,000 years of world history, including 15,000 pages of primary source material, more than 50 encyclopedias and compendiums, more than 150 academic journals, more than 1,600 maps, atlases and other images, hours of video content, and daily podcasts from NPR, CBC, and other reputable sources, and annotated Web links to history-specific academic and news information sites.

Featuring extensive coverage of the 20th century, this resources also features coverage of teh Ancient Mediterranean, Ancient Near East and Asia as well as the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the modern Middle East and Latin America. Other highlights:

- Asian history recounts the events from Bronze Age China to modern India
- African, Indian, and Latin American history includes the end of colonization in Africa and India as well as the social and political movements in Latin America
- the same kind of "roll-over" timeline as the one featured in History Resource Center: U.S.

Both of these resources feature a very simple search tool, which allows you to search either one - or both - resource centers with one search by clicking the appropriate radio button. An example of the search box can be seen below. You can also search by a person or by a subject, and there is an advanced search option that allows you to limit by document type, historical date ranges, date of publication of the resource, and to use Boolean operators.

How to find how-tos on the web

googler@evpl — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:20:00 GMT

The "Webware" blog at CNET has an excellent post about finding how-to-do-it information on the web. For a variety of sites such as eHow, Howcast, and Instructables, the author assesses the quality of the instruction, the level of expertise and authority, and is especially concerned whether there are accompanying videos. You can learn how to do just about anything on sites like these, from tying a tie to installing weather stripping to making sure you follow proper etiquette in China.

While you're at CNET, check out their vast collection of product reviews. This is one of the premier sites for recent consumer-oriented ratings and reviews of all sorts of electronics and high-tech products.

Small business resources, free and online

googler@evpl — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:12:00 GMT

Indiana BizCafe is a free service that matches entrepreneurs, investors, mentors, and others with business opportunities. Much like a social network, a user's matches are based on a self-created profile. The system continues to find matches as the database grows.

Stats Indiana is a comprehensive database of statistical demographics for the state of Indiana and is a useful resource for studying potential markets for your business.

Indiana Economic Development Corporation oversees Indiana’s statewide business attraction and development efforts, coordinates state programs and incentives for companies looking to grow in Indiana, and provides technical assistance, business expertise and funding to Indiana entrepreneurs and high-tech start-ups.

INDURE (the Indiana Database of Research of University Expertise) was created by the State of Indiana to help transform university-developed technology into money-making businesses. The site is an online searchable database of Indiana researchers, intellectual property and on-going sponsored research projects available for further development or for integration into new products or services.

SCORE (the Service Corps of Retired Executives) provides general business advice to existing small business on everything from how to write a business plan, to cash flow management, to developing a marketing plan. The phone number of the Evansville office is 426-6144.

Small Business Development Center - The small business development corporation offers useful tools and information for businesses operating in Indiana. The phone number for Evansville's office is 425-7232.

SmallBizU features 24 free online courses that teach entrepreneurs the three Ms: money, management, and marketing.