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/
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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
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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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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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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