Thing 17: ELM Productivity Tools

ELM Productivity Tools: http://elm4you.org/

For the researchers out there, or just the incessantly curious, the search alert tool could be a real time saver. Just for fun, I set up an alert in my Google Reader to let me know about "free applications." Just as the other tools bring information to the user, this one works nicely to bring research to the researcher. Maybe I'll discover some new tools along the way.

EBSCOhost also offers an alert. It does allow the user to store searches in a folder, and it does actively connect the user/reader/researcher/patron with incoming research.

Challenge: Finding articles in the multimedia format was a serious challenge. Trying a dozen different search terms, I came up empty every time. Apparently, one must be lucky to find other formats.

How are these tools useful? First, if the librarian/media specialist is aware of them, his role as a resource/consultant becomes more vital to patrons/teachers/colleagues/students. It's sort of like knowing inside-baseball and will be received excitedly by at least some folks. Second, using these tools helps streamline the research process, also making it more in-depth, thorough, and, ultimately, more gratifying and credible. I know that when I do research I feel an underlying anxiety about leaving significant sources out of my discussions and analysis; and if others feel the same way, then I can play a role in alleviating some of that anxiety. Of course, the anxiety of writing a 25-page paper will probably never completely disappear. Nor should it.

Creating a personalized EBSCOhost folder and Web page: "We're sorry, but the My EBSCOhost personalized folder feature is temporarily unavailable, in order that we may perform a system upgrade. We apologize for any inconvenience." I'll try again later. Although not able to access it, I watched the video demonstration of the page maker and thought that it would make a good storage place for information and research.

ProQuest Newsstand Complete? I did not find that feature. What am I doing wrong?

Reference:

• Minitext Webinars
• Minitext Reference Service