Efficacy of E-resources on Social Science & Humanities Research

Jayatunga Amaraweera

Member

The NSF National Committee on LIS

August 20, 2012 1

What is research?

• “A careful, systematic , patient study and investigation in some field of knowledge, undertaken to establish facts or princilpes” (Grinnell, 1993:4)

• It is a discovery (Rediscovery); A voyage from the known to the unknown

• An effort to be closer to the truth

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What is Research ?

• A detailed study of a subject, especially in order to discover (new) information or reach a (new) understanding. (Cambridge Dictionaries Online, 2003.)

• Systematic investigation to establish facts or principles or to collect information on a subject (www.thefreedictionary.com)

• Organized study: methodical investigation into a subject in order to discover facts, to establish or revise a theory, or to develop a plan of action based on the facts discovered (www.bing.com/Dictionary)

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Definition – Electronic Sources

Collection of Documents, Data, and other Written

material stored in Electronic “ Libraries “ or

Databases, and available Electronically.

URL: http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/kschwalm/ccguide/defs.html

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Electronic ResourcesElectronic Resources represent an increasingly important component of the collection-building activities of libraries. “Electronic resources” refer to those materials that requirecomputer access, whether through a personal computer, mainframe, or handheld mobile device. They may either be accessed remotely via the Internet or locally. Some of the most frequently encountered types are:

· E-journals· E-books· Full-text (aggregated) databases· Indexing and abstracting databases· Reference databases (biographies, dictionaries, directories, encyclopaedias, etc.)· Numeric and statistical databases· E-images· E-audio/visual resources(IFLA Guide,2012)

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Electronic Reference SourcesOff-line Ref. Sources: Most of these materials appear as CD-ROMs, on Diskettes ,VCDs or DVDs, sometimes as e-cards eg. CBSL Bulletin ; Annual Reports of Banks

On-line Ref. Sources:

Institutional & Personal Websites

OPACS & WebOPACS

Electronic Databases

E-Publications: e-books ; e-journals ; e-prints ; e-articles full-text ; e-Abstracts & Indexes ; journal Archives

Multimedia materials on-line

On-line TutorialsAugust 20, 2012 6

Internet : Surfing the Web : Search EnginesAltaVistathe fast and accurate search engine from digital produces results within seconds

Exciteconcept-based search of the web, usenet, news, and site reviews

HotBotexpansive web database complimented by advanced search capabilities

MetaCrawleroffers comprehensive and fast parallel search capability of popular databases

SavvySearchmulti-lingual keyword search of various information resources on the net

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Search enginesSearch engines Search engines are Search engines are

popular tools for locating popular tools for locating web pages, but they often web pages, but they often return thousands of return thousands of results.results.

Search of e-resources are Search of e-resources are more effective if you know more effective if you know how to talk to the how to talk to the computer systems. computer systems.

Communicating with Communicating with these systems requires these systems requires knowing certain basic knowing certain basic search techniquessearch techniques..

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Major Search Engines• Google

http://www.google.com/

• AltaVistahttp://www.altavista.com/

• allthewebhttp://www.alltheweb.com/

A Search Engine – eg. Google

(Google Search Engine) URL: http://www.google.com/

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Basic Google Search ScreenBasic Google Search Screen

Choose what to search

Enter search

terms here

Click here when ready to start

search

Can choose to search only Canadian sites

Set your preferences

Automatically takes you to the first site in results

URL- the website address

Get more help with your searching

Title of Web Page

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Major Meta-search Engines

• SurfWaxhttp://www.surfwax.com/

• Ixquickhttp://www.ixquick.com/

• Mamma• http://www.mamma.com

A sample of Meta-search Engine

URL: http://www.mamma.com/

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URL: http://www.finditonline.ws/

This Website can be used to find any information, topics related or documents in any discipline

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What is an e-database?Definition:An e-database is an organized collection of information, of a particular subject or multi-disciplinary subject areas.The information of an e-database can be searched and retrieved electronically. Coverage:Contents include journal articles, newspaper articles, book reviews and conference proceedings, etc.Update frequency:Usually updated on a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly basis.Types of e-databases: Full-text vs. BibliographicFull-text databases contain the whole content of an article such as citation information, text, illustrations, diagrams and tables.Bibliographic databases only contain citation information of an article, such as author name, journal title, publication date and page numbers.

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Online Databases

• What are online databases?

Online databases are Web-based electronic indexes that enable you to locate and retrieve articles in magazines, journals and newspapers.

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Information Gateways• Information gateway-type resources include Internet catalogues, subject

directories, virtual libraries and gateways

• Specialising in resources on a particular field

• Usually searchable AND

• Organised into hierarchical subject categories

• Compiled by people, not robots

• More focus on sifting for relevance and quality

Good For: topics that fall into a thematic area that has a subject directory, guided browsing in your subject area

Not Good For: Quickly finding information from widely varying themes

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Information Gateway Examples

• ELDIS: the Gateway to Development Informationhttp://www.eldis.org/

• Development Gatewayhttp://www.developmentgateway.org/

• World Wide Web Virtual Libraryhttp://www.vlib.org/

• SOSIG (Social Science Information Gateway)http://www.sosig.ac.uk/

A Social Science Gateway - Sosig

Social Sciences:

SOSIG:

subject coverage: Social Sciences Social Sciences Information gateway, an Internet gateway to quality resources for Social Sciences. http://www.sosig.ac.uk/

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A sample of a Gateway

(Gateway for world Libraries) http://www.libdex.com/

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URL: http://www.sshub.comAugust 20, 2012 38

Powerful Subject Gateway for Information

URL: http://www.vlib.org.ukAugust 20, 2012 39

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What is a portal?

Technically, a portal is a network service that brings together content from diverse distributed resources using technologies such as cross searching, harvesting, and alerting, and collate this into an amalgamated form for presentation to the user. This presentation is usually via a web browser, though other means are also possible. For users, a portal is a, possibly personalised, common point of access where searching can be carried out across one or more than one resource and the amalgamated results viewed. Information may also be presented via other means, for example, alerting services and conference listings or links to e-prints and learning materials.

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Sri Lanka Govt. Web Portal

[ http://www.gov.lk/ ]

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SL –Web Portal (Sinhala)

[http://www.gov.lk/gov/index.php?option=com_cat&Itemid=63&lang=si

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SL Web Portal (English)

[http://www.gov.lk/gov/index.php?option=com_cat&Itemid=63&lang=en

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Web Portal – Education in Sri Lanka

http://www.lankalinksystems.com/directory/frames/eduframe.htm

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THANK YOU

for your

PATIENCE

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