To: Leslie Patching

From: Jessica Bannister

Date: May 13, 2019
Subject: EvCC Online Library

The Everett Community College online library is a great resource for students. It holds the
information regarding the content found inside the on-campus library (and more) which makes
the information much more accessible to students outside of campus and outside of regular hours
of the library. The online library has many features that helps the student navigate the library
content as well as conduct research, and respect copyright and plagiarism policies. It holds over
50 databases containing articles, journals, and other source content for the reader to further their
research.

The Library Catalog, also known as the Primo OneSearch, is the online catalog available to
students so that they may view the collection of reading materials available in the library and
online. These materials include books (fiction, non-fiction, medical, textbooks, audio, and
eBooks), journals, articles, images, reports, and video references. These include the items
location in the main library as well as its availability online or elsewhere. Based on my
searching, there are easily over twenty-five million database entries making it an extensive and
reliable tool for locating the necessary information needed for homework, research purposes, and
studying at home.

Within the Databases section of the online library lie fifty-eight databases holding information
related to a broad range of the disciplines offered in higher education, as well as other sections
that may be useful. Some of the databases listed included nursing, the encyclopedia Britannica,
philosophy, educational films, and news. These databases hold journals and scholarly articles
among many other things and provide more of a narrowed down version of the catalog’s
information. Once inside of a database, you can refine your search even more by using key terms
and selecting the kind of content you would like displayed. For this class in particular, the most
useful database would likely be the Business Source Premier database, which displays many
different types of articles on business communication and even examples of proposals, journals,
and reports.

In my opinion, the most effective way to search the databases is to, at the bare minimum, pick
one publication type and one keyword to search by. For example, when I opened the CINAHL
(Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature) database and search “measles” and
refine my search by searching for only the publication type “case study,” I’m presented with a
list of over two hundred case studies that involve measles. From there, I can sift through and
refine my search further with more keywords and search by a specific year. Like this, I can add
the keyword “allergic” and change my timeline to ten years (2007-2017) and my search results
have now come down to one case study touching on the connection of measles and allergies. For
a student who is unsure of exactly the kind of content they’re looking for, I’ve found that this
method works best to be able to gain a better understanding of how the databases work as well as
help find specific study materials.
The Tutorials section of the online library takes you to the IRIS website which is the Information
and Research Instruction Suite. IRIS is a database that provides info on how to research
effectively. This includes information on what type of content is best for certain kinds of
research and studying, as well as the most effective way to navigate that medium. IRIS also gives
some starting points to begin research with links to websites such as online catalogs, Wikipedia,
and Google Books (among others). In my opinion, the most interesting part of IRIS is the Quiz
section, which allows you to quiz yourself on research information and plagiarism. This brings
me to the next link presented in the Tutorials section of the online library, the Copyright tutorial.
The copyright tutorial is also located on IRIS and takes you through an entire learning module on
copyright laws and policies. This is especially important in research when using the creative
content of someone other than yourself, so that no laws are broken in the usage of that
information. The last link in the Tutorials section is to the Microsoft Imagine Academy. This is a
service offered to the Everett Community College community by Microsoft that is a free service
intended to educate in the use of the Microsoft programs and Office. For students who may not
be used to using computers in high school, students who are starting online classes for the first
time, and students who may be returning to school for the first time in many years and may not
be acquainted with computer programs, this is an amazing resource to give students (and
faculty!) the building blocks to necessary skills for successful navigation through computer
programs and documentation.

The other helpful resources I found in the Everett Community Online Library are especially
helpful for research and studying. The Research Guide section is somewhat similar to the
Databases in the sense that it breaks down sections into different disciplines and media, but
requires much less searching and narrowing down of results. The guides are presented in PDF
form and are relatively short. For anyone who may be intimidated by the daunting task of sifting
through the millions of entries in the databases, this would be a good place to start! These guides
also include instruction on how to cite correctly and how to navigate the Everett Community
College website. Along with the Research Guides are the LibGuides, which also contain
information specific to the college such as past syllabi, course information, and program
information. By clicking on any of these, it takes you to a page containing the same information
you might find in the catalog or database including even more online information readily
available. Like the Research Guides, this option also requires less digging than the Database.

It’s obvious that the Everett Community College is a worthy tool in assisting both the student
body and faculty at the college in conducting research and completing homework and studies. It
includes tons of valuable information no matter what you’re looking for and it’s unfortunate that
more students are unaware of its use—I didn’t even know how much information we had access
to until this assignment. It is my sincere hope to utilize the online library more throughout this
quarter.