National Guideline Clearinghouse

Today I looked at the National Guideline Clearinghouse database for healthcare professionals. The objective of the database is to provided healthcare providers with information, guidelines and even purchasers. The database is put together by a board of health care professionals. Healthcare providers can submit guidelines that are then reviewed by the board and even annually reviewed to insure that the information is up to date and still relevant. The database is user friendly but does not have alot of bells and whistles. There is a download option where users can open documents in other programs like word. One really neat option is the compare guidelines button. A patrons can select two or more guidelines and then hit the compare button and the database will line the guidelines up next to each other and compare the two against one another in each catagory. The database provides articles, guideline sheets and expert commentaries where users can comment.
After reviewing this database, I will say that it seems like it was not intended for people with little or not medical background. The information is cery technical and I can honestly admitt that more often than not I had no understanding of what I was reading. I think it could be very helpful for healthcare professionals or students that are at the end of their degree program, but probably not the beginners or someone in lets say, education. It did seem to me that there was alot of information. So for the right users I think it could be very helpful.

Family and Society Studies Worldwide

Tonight I looked at The Family and society studies worldwide database. The database includes articles about culture, families, education and much much more. This is an Ebsco Database so everything is pretty straight forward and easy to use. There is the basic search and then the more advanced search. One search i don't remember ever seeing before is the visual search. Users type a subject into the search bar and a search map appears. It breaks the results down into subheadings and even those subheadings have subheadings. You can limit just a few times and be down to one or two searches. Once you find a few that you may be interested in users can click it and see a summary at the side of their screen. It saves a little time going in and out of article pages that may or may not be useful. It is a really easy and visual way to narrow searches, and it is great for students who work better visually. One thing I did notice that makes browsing this database much easier is hitting the full text option on the side. My first search returned tons of results many being articles that i could not view. After limiting only full text articles the results were much more manageable and I actually found things worth my time. I also came across a few things that seemed a little amateur in their nature or just full of opinions so I think for class purposes it would be wise for patrons to also click the peer reviewed limiter. I think this database is a really great resource. It is easy to use and has a lot of information that could really be helpful to patrons.

Environment Complete

today i looked at the Environment Complete database. It is an Ebsco product so the screen is very clean and easy to understand at first glance. Users can choose to search using boolean or other search methods like "find all my search terms". There is also a limit option where users can choose to limit their searches by references held by swosu or full text results and others. I did a search on the Lynx. 36 results were returned which is pretty good, not too overwhelming. then i limited my search even more by cutting the publication date down to things published within the last ten years. I could have limited more by publication type, geography, or theasaurus terms. Once a user finds an article that intrests them they can open it and navigate their way through it using the "inside this work" bar to the left. By clicking the headings users can go right to the paragraph that may be useful to them. Users can print save and share articles right from the article page. there is also a folder and export system. This database is really easy to use but its not really too exciting, just useful :)

OYEZ: US Supreme Court Media

Today I looked at The Oyez Database. This database is a collection of court cases and information about the supreme court. I did a search on church vs. state and tons of results came up. When results are returned cases are displayed by title and then a little snippet is also displayed beside it. The snippet is just a little overvue of the case. When a user finds a case they may be interested in the can read the facts of the case along with the conclusion and the how many votes were given for each side. Users can also listen to an oral argument or download the mp3 of the audio. You can also look at all the details of the case like date and which justices were on the case. There is also a cite option at the bottom of the page that sites the case for you. Users can also browase through different courts and the justices that serve there. One super cool thing this database offers is a virtual tour of the supreme court buliding and some of the judges chambers. Users can navigate their way through doors and rooms and get to view what the building looks like...its almost like you are there in real life. The tour is my favorite part of the database. I think this database is easy to use and could really be helpful to someone needing court information or maybe someone writing a historical paper like i had to in comp II.

Ethnographic Video Online:

Today i looked at The Ethnographic Video Online Database. This database is a collection of documentaries. There are over 1000 videos in the collection spanning from the earliest video in 1922 to today. The videos cover all things to do with culture and people. Topics include things like, Religious Practices, Cultural Body Language and Gender Roles. I found that the search for this database can be a little tough. I typed in something pretty general in the search bar on the home page and returned no results. Then I went to the refine search page and included keywords and geographical location then I got a few results back.One thing i thought was very neat is that every documentary has a transcript that is right beside the video. As the video plays the transcript highlights the dialogue as it is being spoken. It does this throughout the video. Users can also click anywhere in the transript and the video will skip ahead or go back to that exact spot. I think browsing by subject is a really great way to use this database but users can also browse by date, ethnographer, cultural group and others. With every video there is a release notes link. this link just gives a little explanation of the video and anything the maker wants you to know or remember while viewing it. There is also an embed option as well as a print transcript option. Videos range in length. I found one that was 27 minutes and another that was 54 seconds. I remember when i was in a speech class and had to have 1 video resource for my speech. i think this database could have really come in handy. it is easy to use and video instead of reading is sometimes nice for a change!

Nursing Reference Center

Today I looked at the nursing reference center. this database seems to have it all. On the home page there is a search bar. When a patrons is searching they can search by assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation, or they can just do a general search. Users can also browse through a basic search or searches that are a little more specific like disease and conditions, patient education, and drug information. The home page also has a Spotlight section that highlights key features if the database. there is also a nursing news section that highlights all the new and updated news in the nursing world. There is an advanced search option as well. Users can limit by document type, publication date and expand by related words. When search results are returned users can even put the results in to catagories like legal cases, evidence based care sheets, and quick lessons or they can just view all returned results. When a users finds a publication they find useful there is a folder system. They can also print, export, or email the source. The site does offer a citation button and at the bottom of each entry there is a Reference section that lists all the sources the author used. I think this could really come in handy for students writing papers needing more sources. The thing i liked about this databse the most was that the entries were understandable. Many times i get on a pharmacy database and I have NO IDEA what they are talking about. This website is really easy to read and understand while still being very very educational. I read a few articles about Epidurals and i feel very informed :) I think this database is pretty great!