Alt-Press Watch (ProQuest)

When seeking access to an independent news source you can rely upon ProQuest’s Alt-Press Watch. This database is offers full-text access to alternative and independent press newspapers, magazines and journals.  The ability to research a city’s weekly news publication, and access the alternative perspective on politics, government, policy and culture, ensures that all views can be presented.

The magazine and journals of the alternative and independent press provide in-depth coverage of a broad range of critical issues confronting contemporary society, including ecology and the environment, grassroots organizing, labor, indigenous peoples, public policy, genetics and more. Topics such as hunger, abuse, religion, arts, culture and the environment are also covered by this database.

Getting outside traditional media sources offers a broader perspective and often times more in-depth research into an issue of great relevance. Alt-Press Watch provides that critical view.

Regional Business News (EBSCO)

Regional Business News provides comprehensive full text coverage for regional business publications. Regional Business News incorporates coverage of 75 business journals, newspapers and newswires from all metropolitan and rural areas within the United States. This database is updated on a daily basis.

This resource is extremely useful if you need to track regional news about a corporation located in a specific area.  It can also be used for business development and marketing research. Small business owners, entrepreneurs and those interested in competitive intelligence will find great use for this gem.

TOPICsearch (EBSCO)

This is the source for current events. It allows researchers to explore social, political and economic issues, scientific discoveries and other popular topics discussed in today’s classrooms including controversial options and viewpoints.

Need students to prepare for a debate on current issues? TOPICSearch is a good reference to rely upon.

KYVL Staff, September 4, 2013

KYVL provides all Kentuckians with equitable access to library resources and to a common foundation of quality online information for lifelong learning, working and living.

If you are seeking information about introducing a new crop on your farm, use of heavy equipment or the best growing methods, this database can save you the time and effort by providing you access to the lessons learned and published.

It also includes in-depth research on agricultural issues ranging from insurance coverage for damaged crops to farm subsidy programs and the best practices of heavy equipment usage.  You will have to go and do some virtual digging to sow your own rewards.

KYVL Staff, August 20, 2013

KYVL provides all Kentuckians with equitable access to library resources and to a common foundation of quality online information for lifelong learning, working and living.

Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Agriculture_%28Plowing%29_CNE-v1-p58-H.jpg

KYVL offers access to a wide variety of general purpose and specialty encyclopedias including Encyclopedia Americana, New Book of Knowledge and Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia. The Grolier titles also include Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia and Amazing Animals of the World. Amazing Animals is designed to educate elementary school age students on the many varieties and species of animals in our world. This resource unlocks the mysteries of the world’s creatures. Providing reference and media materials on 1200 animals, the database is rich with images that anyone can use for enjoyment and learning.

Looking closer at the New Book of Knowledge we recommend it as a perfect starting point for elementary school age students as a home work reference source or fact checker. The Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia American are targeted for middle school or older students and include media-rich content, as well as newspapers from across the world and an interactive atlas.

These resources provide informative, in-depth information on a broad range of topics A to Z and everything in between. In addition to the great information in these resources, KYVL increases the usability of the data by making it easy to deepen the research. The Grolier Encyclopedias provide links to high quality, vetted educational resources and KYVL sources, making it easy for users to explore a topic more fully through current resources.

KYVL Staff, August 6, 2013

KYVL provides all Kentuckians with equitable access to library resources and to a common foundation of quality online information for lifelong learning, working and living.

Consumer Health Complete is a great resource to use when trying to get your head around a new diagnosis for a loved one. The database can also help users understand how complementary and alternative medicine can be used safely. It is designed to support patients’ information needs and foster an understanding of health related topics. It is especially good for patients and care-takers, as it offers well-vetted, trustworthy content on topics such as aging, cancer, diabetes, drugs and alcohol, fitness and nutrition.

You can search for information specific to children’s health, men’s health or women’s health. It includes information about health and wellness as well as treatments and conditions.  This resource contains resources ranging from Evidence Based reports to reference sheets  as well as  video and animations.

Another resource, the AHFS Consumer Medication Information is a bi-lingual (Spanish and English) database. It collects patient drug information from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Additional information is provided through access to CINAHL & CINAHL with Full Text from EBSCO. CINAHL stands for “Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Library.” CINAHL and CINAHL with Full Text are the go-to databases for nursing and allied health professional, including students, educators and researchers.-  Disciplines covered in this authoritative database include biomedicine, health sciences librarianship, alternative and complementary medicine consumer health and 17 allied health disciplines.  Nursing dissertations, standards of practices, audio visual content and much more useful, practical information is available through this resource.  The database offers complete coverage of English-language nursing journals and publications from the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses’ Association.

Records in this database date back as far as 1937. In the CINAHL Plus with Full Text, users can access Evidence Based Care Sheets and Quick Lessons which provide concise overviews of diseases and conditions and outline the most effective treatment options. It is a one stop-shop for practical, educational material for nursing and more.

These databases are extremely useful for every citizen of the Commonwealth, from caretaker to practitioner. For the highest quality and most reliable medical and pharmaceutical  information using resources that help you avoid the confusion of unknown sources and unreliable or outdated information is critical.  The  resources included within the KYVL library of sources are rich with high quality, vetted, current content that can help consumers and practitioners make good decisions for medical and treatment options,

KYVL Staff, July 16, 2013

KYVL provides all Kentuckians with equitable access to library resources and to a common foundation of quality online information for lifelong learning, working and living.

The August offerings are as follows:

Business Resources including BSI and Small Business Interfaces – Wednesday, August 14 at 1:00 PM EDT

Learning about the content in EBSCO Business Search Premier and Regional Business News makes answering business-related reference questions all the easier. Join the session to learn more about company profiles and SWOT analysis, industry profiles, journal alerts and much more! We’ll be working in the Business Searching Interface and Small Business Reference Center, great for the entrepreneur and anyone exploring the basics of business and business planning.

To Register: Click Here

Curriculum Integration and Common Core - Thursday, August 15 at 11:00 AM EDT

EBSCO student interfaces helpful resources for use in the library and from home!  This workshop will demonstrate the features of the studentinterfaceswith curriculum integration. Also included are materials for teachers in the Professional Development Collection. Each session includes free resources from the EBSCO Customer Support Site including scavenger hunts, best practices and tutorials. Questions will be welcomed throughout the session!

To Register: Click Here

NoveList for Readers’ Advisory – Friday, August 16 at 1:00 PM EDT
In this session we’ll explore NoveList for Readers’ Advisory. Helping patrons find series in reading order, author and title read-alikes and reading lists is just a few of the features in this training session. Be prepared to walk away from this session ready and excited to use NoveList with your staff and patrons!

To Register: Click Here

The Image Collection of over 100,000 thousand photos, maps and flags will help enhance and enrich your presentations, as long as proper credit is provided.

This is the resource that every public library user should know about and rely upon for their research needs.

A live, online training session is scheduled for July 23, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. EST. Register here.  Remember too that the KYVL EBSCO tutorials can be quite helpful in refreshing the skills needed to make the best use of this rich resource.

KYVL Staff, July 9, 2013

KYVL provides all Kentuckians with equitable access to library resources and to a common foundation of quality online information for lifelong learning, working and living.

Let’s begin by talking about one of our favorite business resources.

The Small Business Reference Center is an electronic database provided by EBSCO. This resource offers comprehensive coverage for business owners and those exploring the idea of starting a business.  The database can be explored by categories ranging from Business Area to Start Up Kits and Business Plans.

If you need to know how to start a business in any state, this collection offers state by state access with all you need to know available through a quick series of clicks.

You can browse the collection by Business Areas.  A few are listed here to give you an idea of what you can discover.

• Business & the Internet
• Domain Names
• Internet Income: Using Amazon
• Marketing – Affiliate Marketing Programs
• Selling Your Self-Made Product Online
• Employees
  • E-Policy, Workplace Technology and Best Practices
  • Health Care Reform
  • Performance Appraisals
  • Problem Employees
• Going Green
  • Eco Labels
  • Environmentally-friendly Business Practices
  • Green Computing
  • Take Back Programs

As you can see from these few highlights, the resources are well defined, easy to find and easy to access.

Training tutorials are available at: http://www.kyvl.org/tutorials.shtm. Remember to save the date, August 14, 2013 at 1:00 pm EST for an live, online training session on this valuable resource. You can see the training schedule and register for your seat here.

KYVL Staff, July 2, 2013

KYVL provides all Kentuckians with equitable access to library resources and to a common foundation of quality online information for lifelong learning, working and living.

The July offerings are as follows:

Features and Functionality of EBSCOhost – Tuesday, July 16 at 11:00 AM EDT

This workshop emphasizes searching in EBSCOhost and demonstrating the features and functionality of the EBSCOhost interface, including how to narrow and expand your searches, how to set up personal folders and custom folders, journal and subject alerts, search history, note taking and citation features.

To Register: Click Here

Overview of Medical Databases - Tuesday, July 18 at 2:00 PM EDT

An experienced medical librarian will lead this session on EBSCO’s medical databases available through KYVL. CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Health Source Consumer Edition, and other products will be reviewed during this one-hour training. Learn about database content coverage and keys to searching medical databases including subject headings and limiters to refine results for more highly relevant content.

To Register: Click Here

Best of MasterFile and EBSCOhost  – Tuesday, July 23 at 11:00 AM EDT
MasterFile Premier in the EBSCOhost interface is designed specifically for public libraries reference work. This database contains full text for nearly 1,700 periodicals, 500+ reference books, a huge image collection, and much more. Questions will be welcomed throughout the session. A brief look at the EBSCO Support Site (http://support.ebsco.com) will also be presented to show tutorials, marketing tools, trainer guides, and much more!

To Register: Click Here

KYVL has been promoting our resources with Lexile for nearly 15 years to K12 and our Adult Education colleagues, even before Kentucky was an official MetaMetrics partner. During this time, our vendors Grolier/Scholastic and EBSCO have added or increased the content that has Lexile assignments and have also implemented Lexile as a search option. Kim’s video is a wonderful corroboration of all these efforts, in addition to being a wonderful resource in and of itself.

More Kentucky-centric Lexile resources:

• Lexile Measures Help Kentucky Fight Summer Reading Slide – by Kathy Mansfield, a former KDE consultant now back in Shelby County Schools.
• Lexile Find a Book Kentucky
• KDE & Summer Reading support

Until they have established the 2013-14 funding formula, we recommend using the current fee with a 5% increase for an estimate.  Use a higher percentage increase if your finance office or other fiscal authority will not allow an invoice for an amount greater than the estimate.

Kentucky Virtual Library relies on its volunteer experts and workgroups to fulfill the goals and objectives set out in the strategic plan.  We hope to complete this activity as quickly as possible.