Instructor:Shayna Keces236-0302, ext 441 February 2002

Accessing Canadian Newsdisk, Canadian Business

and Current Affairs, and Canadian Periodical Index

from the Ottawa Public Library web page

Agenda

What is a journal index?Basic general search techniquesIntroduction to Canadian NewsdiskIntroduction to Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA)Logging on to these databasesSearching Canadian Newsdisk and CBCALogging on to Canadian Periodical IndexSearching Canadian Periodical Index Other available databases

What is a Journal Index?Index to newspapers and magazines (use keywords to find specific article)Can be automated or manualIndexing can be selective or complete or combination (eg. Canadian Periodical Index indexes the Globe and Mail but only certain sections) Full-text indexing means search mechanism searches entire text of articleFull-text database means that database will provide citation as well as text of article (may or may not include pictures)

Basic general search techniques

Think of keywords which describe the information you are looking for and which should be found in the article.

Try to be as specific as possibleThink of alternative wordsUse the word and to narrow a search and or to enlarge it

Decide if it is important to have Canadian contentThink about what forms of information would suit your needs (newspapers, magazines, TV news shows)

What is Canadian Newsdisk?

Automated full-text index and database for 14 Canadian newspapers and transcripts of many CTV and CBC television news programs

Coverage starts in 1994 to present with a 1-3 month time lag

Indexes Ottawa Citizen

What is Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA)

Indexes over 750 periodicals, mostly Canadian and includes full-text of more than 300 sources.

Is updated twice a month

Includes an index to Globe and Mail but not full text

Logging on to Canadian Newsdisk and CBCA

Go to library’s webpage (www.library.ottawa.on.ca)

Click on English

Click on Electronic Info

Click on Canadian Newsdisk or CBCA

Type in the new 14 digit library barcode in the box provided and press “Submit”

Searching on Canadian Newsdisk

Choose which sources you would like to search. Default is all but you have buttons on top which allow you to select all current sources (i.e. post 1998) or all backfiles (i.e. 1994-1998). To select just one source click on the button for deselect all and page down until you find the source you do want and click on the appropriate box.After choosing your sources, page up to top or down to bottom and click on button labelled “Go to Search Screen”

Searching Canadian Newsdisk cont.

If your keywords are very distinctive you can input them into the “Search Words Anywhere” box keeping in mind that the words will be looked for anywhere in the articleOften when searching newspapers, using the “Search Lead Paragraph” box is a better idea since the actual subject of an article should appear in the lead paragraphYou must use the Boolean terms “and”, “or”, and “and not” to separate words otherwise the words will be searched as a phrase

Searching Canadian Newsdisk cont.

For fields that have an Index button, it is usually wise to click on Index as it will give you a list of all the items in that category so you will be sure you have the right form

Newspaper/Transcript will give you a list of all the news progams which are covered by this heading

Byline/Host gives you an index of all the bylines which exist in the sources you have chosen

Searching Canadian Newsdisk cont.

At the bottom of the page you can limit by dateYou can also limit the number of hits you get (the default is 200). If your search exceeds the number of hits, you should redo the search because you have just found the first 200 not the best 200.You can also choose how the results should be sorted (publication date is usually a good choice)

View your documents

Since everything in Canadian Newsdisk is full text, to view a document, just click on the title and you will get the full text minus any picturesWhen you are finished, click on the button labelled “Back to Results” to see the rest of your listYou may then click on the buttons print or email to print or email the full textIf the results aren’t what you anticipated, you can also click on Refine Search to change your keywords

Practice

1. Find a story in the Ottawa Citizen written by Gay Cook in the past year about a Lebanese takeout called Really.

2. Find a book review for the book No great mischief by Alistair Macleod.

3. Find the name of the business which had it’s window broken during protests in Ottawa during G20 summit in November.

Hints for Practice

1. Restrict to Ottawa Citizen and use byline field.

2. Can use type of article field or use lead paragraph.

3. Restrict to Ottawa Citizen. Make sure you do not include too much information. Use date limit.

Searching Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA)

Has more items by which can restrict search. However most heavily used would be Publications Directory where you would use Index feature.

The subject index can also be useful but is not used for the Full-text business titles.

Can restrict by date range using a menu covering things like last 3 months or last year, or can specify particular dates

Searching CBCA cont.

Like Canadian Newsdisk can specify a limit for no. of results which you should try to keep high enough to get all your hits. Divides database up by Business vs. Reference and also by date. Click on boxes beside those you don’t want to turn selection off. Since CBCA has full-text as well as regular indexing, you can choose to limit your search to full text articles keeping in mind you will eliminate newspaper citations available in Canadian Newsdisk.

Viewing Your Documents

Like Canadian Newsdisk if you don’t like the results you can use Refine Search to change your keywords When you look at your list of results only those articles with green checkmarks under the box labelled FT have the full text of the article. To see the full text click on the title.When looking at the article you will see the citation and as you scroll down, you will see the text of the article.

Viewing Your Documents cont.

When looking at a document you will have the same choices to return to results, refine search, print or email that you had in Canadian Newsdisk.

Although you can mark items and then just email the marked items, you will only get the references and not the full text.

Practice

Find some articles on the effect of divorce on children.

Find some book reviews for Alistair Macleod’s No Great Mischief

Find some articles about judging controversies in ice dancing

Hints for Practice

Use subject index to look at subject heading dealing with children

Use article/event type to specify book review or review

Use subject index to look at subjects for skating and figure skating and use wildcard for dancing and judging

What is Canadian Periodical Index

Mainly Canadian database which indexes about 400 English and French journal about 160 of them are full-text.

Includes Globe and Mail full text minus Sports and Business sections

Has a few American journals

Logging into Canadian Periodical Index

Go to library’s webpage (www.library.ottawa.on.ca)

Click on English

Click on Electronic Info

Click on Canadian Periodical Index

Type in the new 14 digit library barcode in the box provided and press “Submit”

Searching in Canadian Periodical Index

Default is keyword search. Entering two words together will loosely be treated as a phrase where the words only have to be within two words of each other

You can also use “and”, “or” and “and not”.

You can use asterisks as a wildcard, eg. computer* for computer, computers or computerized

Searching in Canadian Periodical Index cont.

You can also use subject guide if you think you know the subject Advanced search will help you build a Boolean search You can also narrow your search by limiting it to full text articles, by limiting it to a specific year or by specifying a certain periodical (can select up to 10 at a time)Default is to search for terms in title, citation or abstract but can choose to search terms in the text of the article as well.

Viewing Results in Canadian Periodical Index

When looking at list of citations, means go to next page and

means go to last page A red maple leaf indicates that the article is full text otherwise it is a reference only and you would have to see if we had the periodical by checking our catalogue or some of our other databases.To view full text click on the blue underlined words “View text and retrieval choices”

Viewing Results in Canadian Periodical Index cont.

Once you view an article or citation (click on words “View extended citation and retrieval choices” after the article or citation you will see a list of general subject headings you may want to explore.

Below the subjects you have an opportunity to email the citation or article to someone or to reformat it for easier printing.

Practice

1. Find all the articles on skating in Maclean’s magazine and Sports Illustrated since 2000

2. Find a book review of Alistair Macleod’s No great mischief

3. Find an article in the Globe and Mail on health reform in Alberta written in 2002.

Practice hints

1. Use Browse to find Maclean’s and all issues of Sports Illustrated for the limit by journal. Limit by date. Use subject search for skating. To increase amount do keyword search using skat* to retrieve skating and skaters.2. Use subject search for phrase No great mischief.3. Put Globe and Mail in box limiting to specific journal and use keywords in entire article content for Alberta and health reform. Limit by date.

Evaluating your results

If the number of articles you get is too high you can limit or narrow them by

Adding new keywords

Limiting keywords to title, citation or abstract

Finding appropriate subject and using advanced search to specify keyword under specific subject

Limit by date

Limit to articles with text

Evaluating your results cont.

If you do not get enough hits, expand your list by

By adding keywords using the operator OR

By searching the text of the document instead of the default of title, citation, abstract

Other databases available from home

Literature Resource Center (critical essays on writers and their works)

Alt-Health Watch (database focused on complementary, alternative and integrated approaches to health care and wellness)

Biography Resource Center (Biographical information on more than one million people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas)

Other databases available from home, cont.

CanCorp Financials (Financial data on more than 12,000 Canadian Companies)

MasterFILE Premier is a large full text index to more than 1800 magazines as well as an index to another 2200 periodicals

Canadian MAS FullTEXT Elite provides full text index to nearly 190 periodicals as well as an index to another 460 magazines

Other databases available from home, cont.

Health Source: Consumer Edition provides full text indexing of nearly 160 health journals as well as indexes another 180.Novelist is a reader’s advisory tool to help you find novels on specific subjects or other works by specific author.Electric Library Canada is a full text database of more than 540 periodicals and 200 newspapers from around the world. Includes the Ottawa Sun current to the previous day.

Other databases available from home, cont.

Grolier New Book of Knowledge (children’s encyclopedia)

Grolier Lands and Peoples (encyclopedia on countries)

Grolier New Book of Popular Science (science encyclopedia)