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IU Bloomington Libraries increase access to electronic resources, full-text journals
March 6, 2000
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Need five articles for the outline of your English paper, but it's the middle of the night? Wish you had government statistics to beef up a presentation due in two hours, yet there's no time to visit the library? Professors, need help searching for a citation while you're overseas on sabbatical?
The Indiana University Bloomington Libraries are pleased to announce that nearly 100 databases -- extensive online indexes of full-text articles, citations, and abstracts -- are now available via its World Wide Web site to IU Bloomington students, faculty and staff anywhere, at any time.
Unlike free resources available via the World Wide Web, these databases are available because the IU Bloomington Libraries pay for subscriptions to them -- just as they do for printed journals or magazines.
Until recently, many of the databases were restricted to use on campus. But over the past few months, staff members at the IU Bloomington Libraries have renegotiated licenses and configured technological security to allow for access by authorized IU students, faculty and staff regardless of location.
The databases provide access to more than 18,000 full-text popular and scholarly publications. Databases include the Associated Press photo archive, the Oxford English Dictionary and the Periodicals Content Index, which includes an entry for each article appearing in the table of contents of more than 3,000 humanities and social sciences journals. Some of the issues date back to the 1700s.
This expanded access for authorized remote users is a boon to research and learning at IU. "We're responding to what students and faculty need today," said Martha Brogan, associate dean and director of collection development. "With computers in most homes and offices, remote access is rapidly becoming an essential component of library services."
Although some of the databases have been available at remote locations through Telnet connections, the Web-based versions are often easier to navigate and operate. Among the most popular are Academic Universe, Web of Science, PsycInfo, ERIC and Congressional Universe.
"This has empowered our users to get access to information in ways unimaginable just a year or two ago," said Lou Malcomb, a librarian with 30 years experience and leader of the team that negotiated the changes. "It's the best thing that's happened since e-mail."
In the past two years, the IU Bloomington Libraries have increased the number of computer workstations that provide access to the World Wide Web from 50 to 175 in the Main Library and campus libraries.
To access these databases, an individual must have a valid network ID. To view a list of the resources, enter through the IUB Libraries home page, search "IUCAT and other databases," and then click on the alphabetized list of databases. The complete list can be found on the Web at http://www.indiana.edu/~libfind/alphalist.html
(Eric Bartheld, 812-856-4817, ebartgek@indiana.edu)