C.O.D. Library ESL/ABE/GED Faculty Newsletter April 2011
Resource of the Month
http://www.britannica.com
Britannica Online is more than just an electronic version of the multivolume Encyclopedia Britannica that students have used since the 1700s. Of course, the excellent introductory articles on innumerable topics are still there, but they are enhanced online with multimedia, Web links and useful related resources such as eBooks, primary sources and journal articles. Content you won't see in the print Britannica includes a blog that puts the encyclopedic content in social or historical context; a Wikipedia-style workspace that allows users to create and submit articles; and Advocacy for Animals, "a source of information, a call to action, and a stimulus to
Databases Made Easier The Library's database collection is extensive, providing access to millions of articles, images, streaming media and more. We have 8 major categories of database subjects, each with another half-dozen subcategories. Click on a subject and you'll see a dozen or more suggested resources. With so many choices and so many options, it's a wonder our students are overwhelmed by our electronic resources! You, too, may not be sure where to start when it comes to pointing your students to databases. The ESL and ABE/GED Research Guides can help narrow the perspective when it comes to selecting a database. The Research page (ESL|ABE) on each Guide has only three links-- one to our Newspaper databases, one to Discovering Collection and another to our Databases by Subject page. If you're looking for the one, best place to direct your students, I would recommend Discovering Collection. Discovering Collection is database designed with inexperienced researchers in mind. Students can see many popular topics displayed prominently on the front page-- people, places, history, health and hotbutton subjects. Searching is straightforward, too and requires nothing more than typing a topic into the search box. Below the search area are "core curriculum area" buttons: Cultures, Geography, Literature, Science, U.S. History and Science. A click on one of these buttons brings students to "Topic Trees"-- popular topics in any of these subjects.
Results in Discovering Collection are organized by type of source: Reference, Creative Works, Primary Sources and Multimedia. Because of the limited scope of this database, students won't be overwhelmed by irrelevant material or complex academic journal results. Instead, the first things they see are encyclopedic articles from Gale's popular Junior Reference Collection.
thought regarding humanity’s relationship with nonhuman animals". Research Tools included in BOE allow students to browse through topics, view interactive timelines, scan a rich multimedia collection and much more. A unique geography tool makes country comparisons easy and fun, while a World Atlas and World Data provide facts and important information. The Britannica Online Encyclopedia is available on the open Web as well as via the Library's databases.
All resources are full-text and coded by content level, making selecting an appropriate entry even easier.
Within any selected source, students have several options which make reading easier. There is a translation tool which will provide a "machine translated" version of the text; the option to download the article as an MP3; an option to hear the text read aloud while the student reads on the page; or the ability to highlight a word or phrase and hear that selection read aloud. There are many other built-in bells and whistles in Discovering Collection. Some will be useful to any student (a dictionary tool available from every page) and others make the databases relevant to advanced students doing higher level research. Discovering Collection's target audience is middle school and high school students, but I don't doubt that our adult learners can benefit from its content, whether they are studying for the GED, doing research, practicing reading or pursuing their own interests.
Your Librarian Jenn Kelley Reference Librarian Office: SRC 3043A Phone: (630) 942-2383 E-mail: kelleyj@cod.edu Library Website: www.cod.edu/library Find me on Facebook
Smart Readers and Steady Readers In addition to working as the liaison to ESL and ABE/GED, I also get to purchase audio books for the library. Recently, we've been making an effort to replace cassettes in our audio book collection with CDs. In doing so, I came across a misshelved collection of Steady Readers and Smart Readers from Recorded Books. Each book (classics, adaptations and some original titles) contains the recorded reading, a copy of the text and comprehension questions. Steady Readers are recorded at 10-15% slower pace than traditional audio books. Smart Readers are highinterest/controlled level texts - recorded at two speeds: "one significantly slower than normal conversation (40%), and another recorded at a moderate reading pace, still slightly slower than standard Recorded Books." I would like to replace these cassette readers with CDs, but would love to get your feedback as well! Do Steady Readers or Smart Readers address a need that you recognize in your students? Are there particular titles you would like to see added to our collection? Please take a moment to follow the above links and view the titles included in Steady Readers and Smart Readers. Let me know what you think! I look forward to hearing from you!