Can’t Get to the Library? e-global to the Rescue!
With the expanding availability of scholarly content online, the academic library
is evolving from a book and periodical repository to an information center where—in
addition to thumbing through books in the old-fashioned way—students can access
databases, arrange inter-library loans, and scan electronic documents. Along
with the explosion in the types of resources available, libraries are struggling
to accommodate a growing number of distance learning students who need library
resources just as much as their on-campus counterparts. To meet this need, a
number of purveyors have launched sites designed to provide one-stop solutions.
One, e-global library from JonesKnowledge.com, supplements brick and mortar
libraries with extensive online content, search capabilities, tutorials, and
databases, as well as one-on-one customized assistance from trained librarians.
Jones e-global library (www.egloballibrary.com)
is an enhanced version of the virtual library originally developed for Jones
International University, the first accredited fully online university. The
library is managed by a team of thirty professional librarians, and offers resources
in three core academic areas: humanities, social sciences, and science and technology.
The team also includes business librarians who contribute expertise in that
area. Designed primarily to support libraries at universities with a growing
number of distance learning students, e-global library is as much an online
librarian as an online library.
In order to provide substantial support to existing academic libraries, the
staff at e-global library has developed a multi-tiered approach to guiding students
through the research process. Online tutorials explain such basics as how to
use a library (both real and virtual), ways to access electronic databases,
and the ins and outs of the Internet. At the next level, research guides help
students find resources in areas that may be unfamiliar to them. Currently e-global
offers 65 guides across the curriculum, and plans to add up to 70 more per year.
The guides are topic-specific listings of the most authoritative sources online,
whether books, articles, or Web sites. Many of these sources are available in
full-text versions, and a separate Internet Resources section of the site bulks
out the research guide list, giving students broader options for online content.
e-global library boasts a vast government resources section as well, where students
can find census data, import/export figures, research results, and survey information.
Also available through the e-global site are optional features, including research
databases searchable by title, author, subject, or keyword. These are compendiums
of information on hundreds of academic and business topics. In addition, the
site offers a document delivery service that retrieves full-text documents that
are not available free of charge on the Web and a reference desk to which students
can turn for answers to specific questions. The reference desk promises a response
from a qualified librarian within 24 hours, and most requests are answered within
two hours.
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Varied Approaches
to Managing Digital Content
Harcourt e-Learning
Online Library, catering to the academic market, features multiple
databases containing entries from periodicals, public policy reports,
and other sources; thousands of articles covering the social sciences
and humanities; links to reference works, currency converters, and statistics
as well as annotated Web links; and more than 1,000 nonfiction electronic
academic books. The “Ask a Librarian” feature helps with short, factual
questions, but isn’t available for in-depth guidance. http://www.thomsonelearning.com
EBSCO Online
provides Web-based access to a vast electronic journal collection. Users
can access entire articles from more than 4,000 electronic journals, newspapers,
reference books, and other sources, searching the tables of contents,
abstracts, or full text. Library administrators can identify, acquire,
access, and manage electronic journals efficiently from the site. www.ebsco.com
Questia, a
subscription-based service for undergraduates, catalogs thousands of online
books, articles, and encyclopedias. Users can search, bookmark, highlight,
and jot margin notes while reading and use an online notepad to compose
papers. A citation feature automatically creates footnotes and bibliographies.
Questia’s model may appeal particularly to distance learning students
willing to pay for convenient access to scholarly material. www.questia.com
XanEdu ReSearch
Engine, an online wealth of newspapers, periodicals, journals, and
dissertations (no books), is also subscription-based. Along with a broad
range of academic subject areas, subscribers gain access to online extras
including Leisure Interests Channel, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Best
of the Web. Users navigate more than 12,000 topic trees to find information.
www.infolearning.com
netLibrary
focuses exclusively on books. With a target audience of libraries and
academics, netLibrary emphasizes the delivery of online scholarly and
reference content as well as textbooks through its MetaText electronic
textbook initiative. netLibrary’s collection includes more than 3,500
classic works of fiction, speeches, government reports, and other electronic
texts. www.netlibrary.com
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