The University Libraries are currently looking at two federated search products. (Federated searching allows you to search several databases at once.) Since we are only trying out these products, they are set up on a smaller scale – these products currently only search across 12 databases and our catalog. If we decide to purchase either one of these products, we will have many more databases included in the search. These trials are available until April 22, 2007.
We are also considering three databases:
- ERIC. We currently subscribe to this database through FirstSearch – this database trial is through CSA. The interfaces provided by each company differ, so try it out and let us know how you like the CSA interface. This trial is available until April 23, 2007.
- Foundation Search and Big Online are two grants resources we are considering. While the content in these databases is similar to that found in the Foundation Directory, they include several unique features such as visual analysis tools that show the number of grants awarded by category/area, the number of grants by grant size, and year by year giving patterns. These two trials are available until May 4, 2007. You will need a username (grandvalley) and password (demo) to use this resource.
We would love your feedback – please send us e-mail here with your thoughts.
