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Explore the Web @ your library® • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Introduction | Web Sites | Online Databases | VIVA VIGNETTES | Students During November we are "reeling you in to explore the Web @ your library™." Judging from all the activity in the library, ranging from research on Othello to current science articles, students are already "reeled in." Some of this research involves using websites. To assist students in choosing reliable websites, we discuss website evaluation and provide access to quality website which have been selected on the basis of reviews and recommendations on the Library website. Aspects of evaluation are stressed in our bibliographic instruction classes. Much
of student research involves using subscription databases. Most
of our access to subscription databases is though our membership in VIVA,
the Virtual Library of Virginia. This is a consortium of the libraries
of the 39 state-assisted colleges and universities (at 52 campuses) within
the Commonwealth of Virginia. This includes: 6 doctoral universities,
9 comprehensive institutions, and 24 community and two-year branch colleges.
In addition, 32 independent (private, non-profit) institutions and The
Library of Virginia participate as full VIVA members. Through VIVA our students have access to 165 databases with FULL TEXT access to millions of articles and more than 5,000 full text journals and newspapers, as well as nearly 10,000 full text works of poetry and verse drama and over 700,000 other full text scholarly materials (e.g. statistical reports, company financial reports, and pamphlets). As an ongoing feature in the school newspaper we have been running VIVA VIGNETTES in order to highlight databases that we feel would be most useful to our students. Following are two of these VIVA VIGNETTES. VIVA VIGNETTESVIVA Vignette: Dow Jones Interactive Following the Terrorist Attack on September 11th, many of us followed newspaper and television coverage in order to keep up with the latest news. Through VIVA, Richard Bland College students have access to an online database that not only will help you keep up with the latest news, but will also allow you to search for news items from past issues of newspapers. This database is called Dow Jones Interactive. You can access this by going to VIVA/Collections/Dow Jones Interactive or just look for the direct link to Dow Jones Interactive from the library home page. When using this database to keep up with current headlines click on "Newsstand." You will get today's headlines from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Globe and Mail, The Wall Street Journal - Europe and The Asian Wall Street Journal. You can also browse the entire paper or search for specific sections of the paper. If you want to search all newspapers for a particular topic for a research paper, then you want to go to "Publications Library." Here you can search for a subject and retrieve newspaper articles with full text. This "Publications Library" indexes 8,000 publications in 22 languages from 118 countries. This would be a good source to look at a current event from the perspective of people in another country. When using this database be sure to click on the button indicating you want to search "all publications." You can also search for a specific newspaper by using "sn=" and the name of the newspaper. Example: pollution and sn=richmond times-dispatch would find articles on pollution that appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. This database can also be used to search for information on businesses and companies. VIVA Vignette: Congressional Universe If you'd like to find out how your local senator or congressman has voted or the status of a current bill, this is the resource for you. Congressional Universe provides access to information published by and about Congress. Search here for bills, congressional members (including voting records), committees, regulations, laws and publications. Bill tracking reports are available from 1989 forward. You can search bills by number or subject and find the text of a bill, debate on a bill (Congressional Record), the chances of a particular bill becoming law, and where the bill is in the legislative process. Try the "Hot Topics" link. Here you will find information on bills under consideration or recently enacted - for each bill you will get tracking reports and articles from major national and regional news sources. The "Inside Washington" link provides access to Section A of the Washington Post, which reports in depth on Congress and domestic and foreign policy, The Roll Call, which provides a semi-weekly coverage of Congress and The Hill, which is a weekly newspaper covering Congress. For easy access be sure to check out the "How do I?" link and the Site Map. Congressional Universe can be accessed by going to VIVA/Collections/Collections/Congressional Universe.
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