Lesson 10 - Bibliographies and Directories

Using the University of British Columbia Library I looked at two different directories, both with educational goals in mind. The first was the Education Research Complete. This directory allows the user to search key words and search its entire database for corresponding articles. For this search I typed in Teacher librarian. The Second article listed was Recognizing Good Information: Beyond Wikipedia, by K. Fontichiaro (2012). After clicking on the appropriate link the user has the option of downloading the entire article in .pdf format. If this option is selected, the file will automatically be downloaded to the user's computer.

The second search was with the ED/ITLib Digital Library for Information Technology and Education. This directory was much more visually appealing. The Search engine was a separate tab, and the home page was filled with information included newest e-books, most viewed, most emailed, and a join our email list option. If the user joins the email list, it allows for additional services through cite, including, but not limited to: commenting on articles and access to future ED/ITLib user-only features. On this directory I searched 21st century education, and gained access to 311 articles related to the subject.

Both search engines were straightforward to use and allowed for .pdf downloads. Both listed many resources tied to their search parameters. The ED/ITLib was more visually stimulating than the Education Research Complete, which can be beneficial to some learners, but distracting to others. Students should know what will work for them when doing searches, so as to not get side tracked when doing research.

References:

Riedling, A. (2005). Reference Skills for the school library media specialist: 

      Tools and tips (2^nd ed.). Worthington, OH: Linworth Books.