5+Support+System

Gale- A According to Gale’s informational PowerPoint they provide “authoritative cross-curricular reference content.” Though cross references are not provided within the articles, Gale provides a list of __subject terms__ with each performed search that help refine the search and gives alternative ideas to the searcher. Additionally, when an article is selected to be viewed a __related subjects__ list is provide to help cross reference. Gale – B Gale appears to be updated daily. Though this is self advertising, at the bottom of the __Student Resource Center__ they post how many articles are included in the database and when it was updated. Every time I logged onto the database the number grew and the date it was updated was within a week of the day I was accessing the database. Additionally I performed a basic search on a recent event (Iraq AND Surge) and found a good variety of articles that were added recently. At the end of the Informational PowerPoint they listed several additions to the database in 2006/2007. The list was impressive, I am curious to see the 2007/2008 list. Gale- B This is a difficult question to answer because each district has slightly different curriculum needs. Even within a district, curriculums are tweaked to meet individual building and teacher needs. Therefore, I am answering this question using my knowledge of Jefferson County’s middle school curriculum. No, I do not feel the database needs to be updated. I was impressed with the generic subjects and material offered in the science, literature, and U.S. history areas. Every topic or subject that we cover appears to have a good amount of relevant information. I was somewhat disappointed with the breakdown of the geography section. In seventh grade we focus on world geography and regions. The topic trees provided was “nation” based. However, the culture section was awesome. I was also discouraged by the fact they only have periodical back files to 1980. Gale- A Gale provides 24/7 support through email and over the phone. At the building level, the librarian is given an admin login which allows them to change many settings in order to meet the schools individual needs. For example the number of results per page a student receives when searching can be altered. Gale’s technical support can also alter these settings if the librarian does not feel comfortable altering themselves. They also provide free widgets that librarians can add to their website to help streamline and accelerate searching. They also provide free training via webinars to help train staff. Gale’s database has an extensive help section for the searcher. This area lists and gives answers to commonly asked questions, gives various tips, and provides some tutorials. In “preferences” you can set the browser language for English, Spanish, French, or Portuguese and articles can be translated into these and a few other languages. For students I like the topic tree search and for teachers I loved the standards search. Yes, the standards are based on Colorado Content Standards but many district standards were drafted from these standards and relate without problems. I also liked that Gale has the ability to search by Lexile reading levels. Gale- A It depends. The library has the option to make the database accessible only through certain IP addresses. For example, it can only be accessed through the computers in the library. If this option is desired the database recognizes the IPs and no password is required. If you want students to have access off campus an authentication process must be performed by the searcher (they must login) before they can search. Gale- A They do not charge for remote access. Gale- A Yes and no. There is some overlap with other databases administered by Gale; however, searches are not performed out of the company’s realm. The Junior edition is limited to titles that they have access to the full text version of the article. The logic being middle level students will not use abstracts. Currently that is 337 journals. I did notice the ability to quickly augment your multimedia search with google and Discovery Education while on the Gale site. Gale- A Gale’s cost is determined by the population of the school (for building access) or the district (for district wide access) and it is unlimited. Agreements are made with the traveling sales representative. Once a product is purchased an internal representative can add or help you change services. Gale- A Gale had a typical phone tree that allows you to make selections for different services. They had a selection for technical support which included trouble accessing. I talked with the sales department and found them to be knowledgably, friendly, and helpful even after I explained that I was not interested in purchasing and was only conducting research. Newsbank- B Yes, Newsbank provides information from many sources. In the Middle School edition this includes newspapers, wire services, TV/Radio transcripts, periodicals, and maps. Newsbank- A Because it pulls from many newspapers and periodicals, Newsbank provides extremely current material. Again a search of Iraq AND Surge returned many articles from the past two days. Newsbank- C What a wealth of information! The Newsbank data bases we get to preview (America’s Historical Newspapers and Access the World) meet different needs than Gale’s product. It is difficult to compare Newsbank and Gale’s product. Gales seems to be an all in one database that includes reference collections, journals, and periodicals. Newsbank appears to focus on newspapers, periodicals and not so much on classic reference material. For example, if a student wanted to know about Asian Literature and find some examples Gale’s Student Resource Center would be the place to go because of its classic reference material. A Newsbank: Access World News search for Asian Literature is only going to provide news stories that mention the topic. Unless a great news article is published explaining Asian Literature a student will have a difficult time discovering what it truly is and would need to look elsewhere. Newsbank does not answer the “what is” questions well and would need to be updated to meet a variety of curriculum needs. I can see it being a great tool in social studies. I would like to sample the Newsbank: Middle School Edition. That database is probably more like Gale’s: Student Resource Center. Newsbank- A Newsbank does offer email and phone support. They also had a training and support section that would come in handy if you were selling the product to an administrator or staff. Included was advertisement information and training information for staff and students. Newsbank also has a Big6 Resource Center which could be useful if employed in a research guide. Newsbank- C The database can be accessed from school and home and the user must login every time it is accessed. Newsbank does not have the ability to remember IP addresses like Gale. Newsbank- A No, an extra cost is not applied for outside access. Newsbank- B Much like the Gale’s line of products, a search will overlap with other products that Newsbank manages but will not search through another companies databases. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Newsbank- A Because it is for academic purposes, agreements can be made at the district or school level and cost depends on fulltime student enrollment. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Newsbank- C If I already had a product I may have received better support but I got the feeling because I was conducting research that I was not a priority. I seemed to get transferred from place to place and finally got a hold of a sales rep on the road that was willing to chat. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Proquest e-Library- A OK, what the hell does cross reference mean? I have two different ideas of what it is and there could be a different meaning. No, I did not see any cross referencing built into the articles but you could link to more articles like the one being viewed. Proquest does not offer suggestions when viewing material like Gale. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Proquest- B The material is relevant and current. Looking at periodicals and searching Iraq AND surge brings up timely articles but not the number Newsbank did and not as recent. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Proquest- A No, it has a wealth of information. Though cumbersome to uncover, I felt Proquest had just as much information as Gale and has better research trees once I discovered them. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Proquest- B The Proquest line of products offers a wide range of video training modules that includes streaming video and podcasts. Like the others, they have phone and email support. They also offer webinars for trainings. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Proquest- A Yes, it can be accessed from home through a login procedure. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Proquest- N/R I need to call to check this out but all of these databases seem to be changing the way they price their product and outside or home access is not extra because everything is web based. I know some textbooks charge extra for online home access to textbooks but databases seem to be going away from this kind of policy. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Proquest- B Proquest has many products and they share information between all of them like the others but they only bundle with the products you purchase from them and do not link with other outside products. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Proquest- N/R Like question 25, I will check but many database companies are determining price based on the school or districts student body size. I am assuming it is the same for Proquest but I will check and add this information. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Proquest- N/R I did not call because I was sick of talking with sales reps, but I checked for the information and found the “contact us” page to be well organized and helpful. Online, they breakdown each department and you can actually get to the point where you may call someone directly without calling the main number first and work your way through a phone tree.
 * GALE: STUDENT RESOURCE CENTER **<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #c00000; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">6. Are cross references provided? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #c00000; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">7. How frequently is it updated? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #c00000; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">8. Does some or all of the database need to be updated for curriculum needs? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #c00000; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">11. What services does the vender offer? (We may need to call them for this information.) **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #c00000; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">24. Can the database be accessed at home after school by students? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #c00000; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">25. (Does #24 involve extra cost?) **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #c00000; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">26. Does this database bundle with any others to simultaneously search other databases? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #c00000; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">27. Does the cost of the database vary depending on population or access? How is the license agreement made? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #c00000; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Phone call **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #00b050; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">NEWSBANK **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #00b050; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">6. Are cross references provided? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #00b050; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">7. How frequently is it updated? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #00b050; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">8. Does some or all of the database need to be updated for curriculum needs? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #00b050; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">11. What services does the vender offer? (We may need to call them for this information.) **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #00b050; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">24. Can the database be accessed at home after school by students? **<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #00b050; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #00b050; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">25. (Does #24 involve extra cost?) **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #00b050; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">26. Does this database bundle with any others to simultaneously search other databases? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #00b050; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">27. Does the cost of the database vary depending on population or access? How is the license agreement made? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #00b050; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Phone call **<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #00b050; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #0070c0; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PROQUEST E-LIBRARY **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #0070c0; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">6. Are cross references provided? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #0070c0; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">7. How frequently is it updated? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #0070c0; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">8. Does some or all of the database need to be updated for curriculum needs? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #0070c0; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">11. What services does the vender offer? (We may need to call them for this information.) **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #0070c0; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">24. Can the database be accessed at home after school by students? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #0070c0; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">25. (Does #24 involve extra cost?) **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #0070c0; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">26. Does this database bundle with any others to simultaneously search other databases? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #0070c0; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">27. Does the cost of the database vary depending on population or access? How is the license agreement made? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #0070c0; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Phone call **