OSLIS Resources

OSLIS Resources

EBSCO (need to put in anchors for these three!)

Newsbank Oregonian

L-Net

About EBSCO

The EBSCO suite of databases was upgraded to the "Premier Package" which provides over 11,000 periodical titles with the full text of articles, along with more reference books, maps, and other information resources in electronic format (i.e. 1000 Essential Documents of American History and the Encyclopedia of Animals).

EBSCO databases will only be available through the OSLIS website. Link directly to the elementary or secondary OSLIS ?How to? page from your school website.

Statewide access to EBSCOhost for ALL Oregon K-12 public and private schools is being provided with funds granted to the Oregon State Library under the Library Services and Technology Act, and funds from the Oregon Department of Education.

Databases have been selected and organized for the appropriate user group, but anyone can access any of EBSCOhost databases including those available at the university level. Various database options exist for English language learners with translation features and a Spanish language database.

Individual schools will have limited access to EBSCO admin. Schools will not be able to change the userID or password and will not be able to change the database order, but will be able to view usage statistics.

About Newsbank's Oregonian

The Oregonian database available from Newsbank provides access to complete full text content of local and regional news articles from1988-current. OSLIS is making the Oregonian available to all Oregon K-12 schools again this year through LSTA funding by the Oregon State Library.

Oregonian articles include community events, schools, politics, government policies, cultural activities, local companies, state industries, and people in the community. Paid advertisements are excluded. Copyright law precludes reproducing wire service stories (i.e. UPI, AP).

On December 21, 2004, NewsBank updated its Oregonian subscription with several enhancements, making it easier to locate, review and use news articles. The more intuitive interface features include:

• The ability to browse by date and section, making it possible to read the electronic newspaper content much as you would a print version.
• "Quick links" on each article page for instant searches by author, page, section or date without starting a new search.
• The option to search within a specific newspaper section.
• The ability to view an unlimited number of search results. Previously, a search could return a maximum of 200 results.
• New Search History and Saved Articles functionality which tracks recent searches, lists them so they can be easily reviewed and consolidates all selected articles so each is only a click away.
• Search History, Saved Searches and Saved Articles tabs have been integrated as links into the left navigation area for more intuitive navigation.
• A new Source Groups option that allows you to create a customized group of titles (e.g., Southern California, Upstate New York, Eastern Europe, Local Newspapers, etc.).
  

About L-net

L-net, Oregon's statewide digital reference service, began in January 2003 as a pilot project called Answerland. The idea for the pilot project came from the Oregon State Library's 2002 E-reference task force and the Oregon Library Association's Vision 2010 Call to Action.

The premise for the service is that Oregon's libraries can serve our communities well by connecting Oregon citizens directly to reference librarians online. L-net is staffed by librarians from all over Oregon and collaboration ensures that reference services are provided efficiently and effectively.

Patrons can ask any genuine question. Students with a homework question will be helped in finding resources, but will not be given the answer to the specific question. Students should be reminded to be courteous and patient since they are chatting with a live librarian who may be busy chatting with other people too.

L-net is made possible with funds granted by the Oregon State Library under the Library Services and Technology Act and by the collaboration of Oregon's libraries. The fiscal agent for the pilot project is Multnomah County Library.

For access questions and technical support see OSLIS Site Help