6+Final+Summary

 In our push to teach and reinforce sound 21st-century skills, the database is the heart of streamlined reference collections that allow superior access to high quality information. However, like other reference sources, databases are only useful if the information they compile and organize is relevant, accurate, originates from reputable sources, and is effortless to access. Because of their increasing significance in reference collections, our group was excited to scrutinize three popular databases that are often employed at the middle school level - ProQuest elibrary, Newsbank, and Gale.

Our first task was to decide on criteria to use as the basis for our assessment. We quickly turned to Kay Bishop for criteria that we summarized and expanded to form the foundation of our assessment. We divided the criteria into four general groupings and assigned each member of the team a grouping. We reported our findings and conveyed our thoughts. We decided on which database was the best considering our criteria, established summary tasks and met again to add the finishing touches.

A database must be staff friendly if you want it to be used. While all three databases provided some sort of training modules or webinars, standards based content, quick citation generators, and a way to save searches, ProQuest has the added benefit of “carts” so that teachers can save resources to a cart that students can quickly access and Gale has bread crumb search navigation which makes searching easier. While I think ProQuest’s carts make it more staff friendly, I think Gale’s training modules and webinars are ultimately superior and make Gale easiest to teach to staff and get staff to use.

User friendliness criteria shows that all three online databases commonly have index tabs, multiple searching options, help for narrowing a topic, and fairly easy navigation. Newsbank is friendly for a seasoned researcher who knows how to further scan/sift through primary sources, however, clearer directions are needed to navigate this site visually and a citation generator would help to update this resource. Proquest allows searchers to “Jump to the Best Part” or “Why Don’t you Try…” to help narrow a topic. The graphic icons are visually pleasing and make navigating a breeze. The citation generator is engaging yet simple to use. Gale has all the positive user friendly qualities for Proquest plus provides a Read Speaker to help assist with the reading level of the findings and a translator that functions for eight other languages. Color coding and a consistent screen layout throughout the research process is an invaluable attribute for navigation purposes. Directions are unmistakably listed on the side margin and Gale keeps track of each step for easy return throughout the process. To evaluate the content of our three databases, I began with the same keyword searches on all three sites: Salem witchcraft, the Emancipation Proclamation document, Sir Isaac Newton’s Theory of Gravity, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Australian Wildfires of 2008-09 and looked at the other features on the site, such as maps or other links. For Literature specific searches, I looked for Nathaniel Hawthorne, and for History searches, I looked for the Magna Carta.  ProQuest eLibrary provides Lexiles and dates on the results page, which is helpful, but many of the results have high Lexiles (1200 or more). Many keyword searches lead the searcher to another link and possible further links beyond that, making it difficult to get back to the original search page. Some search results are vague, so it can be difficult to tell exactly which results are more relevant to the topic. NewsBank has original newspaper documents that are hard to read and the language would be very difficult for many middle school kids. Newspaper articles are primary sources and so often contain the biases of the time in which they were written and the number of results can often be overwhelming. Gale is easy to use with a large variety of applications. With broad keyword searches, the site offers helpful search recommendations to narrow the topic in the direction that is most relevant. An alphabetical list of popular search topics is helpful for students researching common topics. There is a large variety of sub-databases covering a wide scope of topics from ancient times to current events. The results are classified as “basic”, “advanced” or “intermediate” to provide options for readers with different abilities, though the basic level is generally more suited to average or advanced readers or older middle school students (8-9 graders as opposed to 6-7 graders). Gale searches offer results in a variety of formats – books, articles, images – and a note at the right side of the result tells what type of material it contains – an essay, a topic overview, a narrative biography, etc. Many of the results also contain a list of additional sites for “Further Reading” or “Related Media Files”.    It is difficult to find negatives to report when analyzing all three databases. ProQuest elibrary, Newsbank and Gale all score well when considering support and systemic value. All three provide cross-curricular referenced content which is updated regularly. Likewise, all three provide good service with only slight differences. ProQuest offers a wide range of training modules including streaming video, podcasts, and webinars. Newsbank comes with a Big6 resource center. Gale supports four browser languages and provides translation for most content and has a speech program that can read content. When evaluating access all three scored well with only Newsbank taking a minor hit because users must complete an authentication process even when using library computers. Likewise, cost for all three is determined by the population of the school (for building access) or the district (for district wide access) and is unlimited. The big question became does some or the entire database need to be updated for curriculum needs? While investigating this item we see Newsbank fall behind. Gale and ProQuest seem to be all in one resources that include reference collections, journals, and periodicals. Newsbank focuses on newspapers, periodicals and not so much on classic reference material. Ultimately, all three rate well but Newsbank would need to be updated to meet a variety of curriculum needs.

Bishop, Kay. __The Collection Program in Schools: Concepts, Practices, and Information Sources Fourth Edition (Library and Information Science Text Series)__. Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 2007.