Even though Halloween is over you can still get tricks and treats at the BRAIN_blog. This week we feature: 1) Safari Tech Books electronic books, 2) ProQuest Databases� new Suggested Topics, 3) reverse phone number lookup at canada411.ca, and 4) there�s more to life than Google: clusty.com
1) Safari Tech Books Online database not just for techies
Safari Tech Books Online, the Library�s online collection of hundreds of electronic books in the subject areas of computers, e-commerce and business, has more than just ultra techie books. Check out titles for the average mortal such as Absolute Beginner�s Guide to Microsoft Access 2002, Absolute Beginner�s Guide to Creating Web Pages, The Little Digital Camera Book, Mastering Digital Photography, Consumer Gadgets: 50 Ways to have Fun and Simplify Your Life With Today�s Technology�and Tomorrow�s. The list goes on and on. Click Find Electronic Books on the BRAIN home page and select Safari Tech Books Online to access these electronic books.
2) New Feature in ProQuest Databases
The Library�s ProQuest databases (CBCA, ProQuest Nursing Journals, ProQuest Science, and Wilson Applied Science and Technology Abstracts) have a handy new feature. Perform a search and then take a look at the �Suggested Topics� that appear at the top of your result list. These suggestions contain index terms to better focus your results and are useful if you have too many hits in your result list or if you are unsure what term to use when you are searching. Note that if you are using more than one search term, suggestions are for your first term only. To include your second term, click on the suggested term, then scroll to the bottom of the screen where you can add your second term back in. Coming soon to ProQuest databases: Alerts! Stay tuned to the next BRAIN_blog to hear more!
3) Reverse Lookup at Canada411.ca
You can now do a reverse look up search on Canada411.ca. Select “find a person” or “find a business” and then �Reverse Phone� or �Reverse Address� to perform a reverse search.
4) There�s more to life than Google: New search engine: Clusty.com
Our �there�s more to life than Google� column returns with a look at Clusty.com. Still in beta, this new search engine allows you to see your results in a clustered set. Viewing your results in nicely organized subject categories instead of as one long grocery list lets you hone in on the information you want and also gives you a better idea of what you�ve found without the hassle of clicking on each link in your result list. For example, if you search on �e-learning AND Canada AND colleges� your results are clustered into subject categories such as �education�, �distance learning�, �colleges�, etc and displayed in the left panel. Click on a category and the results within that category display in the right panel. There are also handy features such as the ability to display a result in a new window or in a little preview pane. Click on the �Advanced Search� link to take a look at the databases being searched. You can add sources such as BBC News, eBay and PubMed on this screen as well.
