bigchalk Library Elementary PowerPoint Presentation Notes

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1 These notes have been provided as a means for the user to follow along with the presentation slides. For a trial account, contact a representation at Slide 1 Welcome to bigchalk and the engaging and easy-to-use new database for your elementary reference needs bigchalk Library Elementary. Slide 2 Why Utilize This Database? This is what schools have told us Slide 3 Why bigchalk? Slide 4 Do any of these needs sound familiar? Students are required to have more than web site references for their reports and projects. All schools need access to a reliable magazine, book, picture, map, transcript, and newspaper resource for these research needs. Let s take a look at how valuable a resource bigchalk Library Elementary is for your students, teachers, parents, and you! Slide 5 Everything you need to begin is on the first screen. The engaging interface has been designed for ease-of-use by young students. The tabs in the top navigation bar are the most frequently used, therefore they are the largest and easiest to find: Search Topic Search Reference Desk The smaller tabs include links for other useful features: My List Bookcart Help For quick help, students can click the red question mark icons any time they appear on the page. Fun eyeball icons represent different source types by which students can search for content. Students can begin simply by using Natural Language Searching or they can type in keywords and use Boolean operators to construct a more focused search. Advanced Search will allow them to be even more specific in their searching! Slide 6 Students can type a question, phrase, or keywords to begin a search. They can also decide what type of sources they would like to search for their information. bigchalk Library Elementary offers 7 source types: Newspapers Magazines Books Maps Audio/Video Pictures TV & Radio Transcripts To begin a search we ll type the following question: What is a volcano? Note the check marks below all of the source types. The default search scans all media types for results. We ll click the start icon to begin searching. 1

2 Slide 7 This is our Results List. bigchalk Library Elementary is a completely FULL TEXT database. Your students will find the full text of the articles they need, when they need them! You can sort the results by Relevancy, Date, Size, Reading Level, or Title, by using the drop down menu. The default is Relevancy. bigchalk Library Elementary assigns relevance values after evaluating how closely the words in each document match your search query. The closer the match, the higher the relevance. We ll click the first article on the title to see the full text. Slide 8 Once viewing the full-text article, photo, transcript, audio/video, or map you have the following options. Skip to the best part! -- Once in the article you can quickly scan the text by using the Skip to the best part button. It will take you to the area where your search question or key words were found. The word(s) are bolded for ease of use in identifying if this article is giving you the information your assignment requires. Document Info -- Takes you to the bottom of the page where you will find the rest of the citation information. Print button -- Eliminates the graphics for ease of printing. Helps save on toner and paper! button -- Opens a form to fill out to the article to another computer. If your students run out of time in the library or just simply want to continue working with this document from another computer or to share this document with another student, they can the document. Add to My List -- Allows you to add this article to your running list of up to 25 documents/articles. We ll click the button to demonstrate this feature. Slide 9 1. To the article, simply type the address(es) you wish to send the article to. 2. Type in your address in the From box. 3. Give the a subject. 4. Type an appropriate message. 5. Click the Send button. 6. Click Close once the confirmation is shown. Slide 10 We ll click ADD TO MY LIST. This function will then save this article to a list. Next, we ll begin a new search. Slide 11 Let s say a student needs help with a word definition. We ll highlight the word lava. bigchalk Library Elementary has the capability to instantly look up any word by simply highlighting the text and then clicking the Reference Desk tab! Slide 12 The definition appears. What an invaluable tool for your students as they read independently to comprehend the variety of sources available in bigchalk Library Elementary! Notice the various icons representing the source types: dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, almanac, atlas, and other. Let s add the definition to our list by clicking the + icon. Next, we ll try a different search. Slide 13 We know the Boolean operator AND defines a search and OR expands a search. Let s see how using NOT narrows the search. We ll click the radio button beside Boolean Operators, and type the search Volcano NOT Hawaii in the field. Here we are narrowing our search to articles that have specific information we need for this assignment. Taking out the keyword Hawaii by using the NOT Boolean operator will eliminate any articles with that keyword included. 2

3 Let s further narrow our search by deselecting books, maps, audio/video, and transcripts to meet the teacher s assignment for current information. Slide 14 Should students need help in using Boolean Operators, a help dialog box appears when clicking the red question mark icon. We ll click the START button to begin the search. Slide 15 In our list of results we now have 23 newspaper articles, 21 articles from magazines, and 6 pictures. When we click the icon representing pictures, it rearranges the list by placing the Archive Photos at the top of the results list. Let s take a look at An eruption of Mayan Volcano. Slide 16 This Archive Photo can be printed, copied, cut and pasted, and/or ed just like text articles. We ll add this photo to the list we ve started by clicking Add to my list. Now let s do a topic search. Slide 17 TOPIC SEARCH For students who may may have better luck browsing through broad subject to narrow their search. The bigchalk Library Elementary Topic Tree matches the HomeworkCentral Topic Tree available at bigchalk.com! Topic Search works much like web topic searches, but with these big advantages: It lists the most commonly researched school subjects. It's quicker, because all Topic Tree terms link right to content in bigchalk s enormous database. It's constantly updated with the most recent search queries launched by you and millions of other bigchalk members. We ll drill-down into the Science topic. Slide 18 The leaf icons following some search terms alert you that clicking that word or phrase will result in a list of bigchalk Library Elementary articles and editor-selected web sites. Those words and phrases without the icon go into further topic trees. We ll click Geology. Slide 19 Click Volcanoes. Slide 20 Click Pinatubo (Philippines). Slide 21 Results List now appears and works as in other searches we have done. These articles are very specific to the topic node at the top of the list and therefore terrific articles for your assignment. Also notice that clicking TO BOTTOM will jump to the bottom of the page where you ll find a group of Editor's Choice websites relating to Pinatubo. We ll click the + icon for the third article, which will add the article to our list. Now let s take a look at the list we ve created. 3

4 Slide 22 MY LIST: This is our list of the sources added to My List as the searches have been done. Once students have finalized their source list, they can print My List to create a bibliography to go with their report and/or research. You can now : or print a copy of this list Open and work with or print the full text of any document Remove any of the documents no longer needed Clear the complete list in one easy step the full text of all the articles in one easy step Return to the latest Results List Now that you ve seen some of bigchalk Library Elementary s basic search functions, let s take a look at advanced searching for older kids. Slide 23 To begin an Advanced Search we ll click open on the home page. Slide 24 From this window, you have several options and a great opportunity to teach students lifelong research skills. You can search: Within a date range Document Title Source (Publication) Title Subject And more: Author s Name, Image Caption, Company/Organization, Geographical Name, Personal Name, Library of Congress, Dewey Decimal, or ISBN/ISSN We ll perform the following search: 1. Type in volcano in the field at the top of the page. 2. Under Date Range choose Last Two Years the dates will automatically appear. 3. Under Document Title type in Hawaii. 4. Uncheck Books, Maps, Audio/Video, and Transcripts because we only want results from Newspapers, Magazines, or Pictures. 5. Click the Start button. This search will return results about volcanos that contain Hawaii in the title all published within the last two years. Slide 25 An ADVANCED SEARCH is more narrow and specific. As the students learn to use more search parameters, they develop their search skills. Search results in bigchalk Library Elementary will also display a list of Reference Desk Picks and Subject matches for topics. Now that we ve seen the diverse content in bigchalk Library Elementary, let s look at the BookCart feature. Slide 26 BOOKCART: The BookCart features allows teachers and librarians to create special reading lists or mini libraries on a specific research topic. Examples: Olympics, countries of the world, planets We ll click Trains, Planes and automobiles to view that BookCart. Slide 27 The educator pre-selects relevant publications, articles, pictures, or multimedia, and 4

5 next slide to scroll down... Slide 28 and selected web links All will support the topic to be studied. Slide 29 Scrolling back up, note the Search box that allows the student to perform searches within the BookCart resources listed. We ll click Help at the top of the window. Slide 30 CONTEXT-SENSITIVE HELP bigchalk Library Elementary s Help is specific to the page you are currently working in. This helps get answers quickly and easily, right when it s needed. Slide 31 Please contact your bigchalk sales representative for further information. Happy Searching! Slide 32 Why upgrade to bigchalk Library Elementary? Numerous additional features of bigchalk Library Elementary give your students more options for searching and finding focused content that fits their needs. Audio/Video content new A/V content includes animations, film reels and audio clips Integrated web results context specific web sites included in results in topic browse/search BookCart allows teacher/librarian to create a special collection for specific classes/subjects Topic Search user can opt to navigate a topic directory instead of searching by query Reference Desk highlight and click words for quick reference results Local Configuration numerous configuration options allow user to customize bigchalk Library Elememtary Browse Publications view table of contents for a publication, browse contents Search by Reading Level users can limit searches by reading level 5