Partly it will depend on the assignments your teachers give. Our most
heavily used database is Gale's Literature Center, because our English
teachers insist the students look up literary criticism. We also use the
Gale history centers - especially U.S. - because our juniors all have to do
a research paper on U.S. history. They select various topics from 1880 on
and sometimes we get easy ones, sometimes difficult. But with over 400
juniors, that is a lot of U.S. history. Our upper division teachers love
Jstor, but students need to know how to limit searches when they use it as
it can return many hits. Opposing Viewpoints also gets a fair amount of
use. You might try asking teachers for their assignments, get trials, and
then search as if you were a student completing those assignments.
Everyone seems to be willing to do trials, and to extend them if you are
still deciding. There are no perfect solutions! We can only do our best!
On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 9:11 AM, Laura Mauler <lauramauler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I'm a newbie librarian trying to build a good selection of databases for
our students, but the sheer number of databases available is overwhelming.
Our most popular one is ProQuest (Research Library and National Newspapers
Core), but that's probably because it's the one I've used when teaching
research strategies. When I ask my faculty they all just say JSTOR - every
single one, across all departments - which I'm reluctant to buy since we
can get it for free from the public library.
So I'm turning to you all and your collective wisdom. What databases do
you recommend, and what ones get the most activity from your students?
Thanks!
*Laura Mauler, MLIS*
*Librarian*
Drew School
2901 California Street
San Francisco CA 94115
415.430.3718 (direct)
