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New databases, bird flu, and you! 

Bird flu! It’s in the news.  

Maybe your patrons are wondering about it. Maybe they’ve already transformed into giant chickens themselves! That’s what bird flu does right? I read that somewhere on the internet.  

Just kidding! When I go looking for information online, I start with library databases. I love Wikipedia dearly, but sometimes it will lead me astray. Just look at this link! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_Flu. 

Luckily for me, POWER Library has provided two new databases that can help with health information and much more: Health and Wellness and Academic OneFile Select, both from our pals at Gale. As with other Gale products, they look almost the same but contain different information aimed at different audiences. 

Health and Wellness contains full-text articles from medical publications and reference works, but also from more popular, general media outlets with a focus on health information that is approachable for a general audience. Here are the results for a search for “bird flu” with a publication date limiter of the “past month.” 

Notice that it leads with four audio clips from various NPR programs. Health and Wellness is for a general audience looking for reliable information that doesn’t get too deep into medical jargon. 

However, if your patrons do want jargon, we now have Academic OneFile Select! 

This resource is geared toward students, researchers, and curriculum-based learners. It provides access to full text articles across many disciplines, not just health, as well as also vocational/technical training material for students who are studying the trades. A nice complement to BlueCareer! 

But back to the chickens. If I do the same search for “bird flu” with that “past month” time limiter, I get results that may not be appropriate for a lay audience but will definitely help with a college student’s research. 

These new resources provide information for a variety of different types of patrons and are now live on the eLibrary website. Check them out! 

-Mary, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh 

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AllMusic Can Help You on Your Holiday Hunt

Do you have a music lover on your holiday list? Are they a music buff that you just cannot keep up with? Never fear AllMusic is here! You can search for artist here to learn more, look at their staff picks, or even look through specifics genres to see more artist your music buff may like – the musical learning is endless.

You can even search through their database of musical information to find that specific holiday song you just cannot remember the title of if it is just eluding you. Find more musical information with AllMusic!

-Adrianne, Northland Library

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Research with POWER Library

School is back in session, which for many students means homework. The library is here to help with resources like POWER Library. Free to anyone with a Pennsylvania library card, POWER Library offers access to many databases on various subjects.

Helping students navigate a research project and look for information? Check out the Gale research databases! There are ones specifically for elementary, middle, and high school students.

Students can find anything ranging from articles, to images, to videos for their projects. In addition to being able to print and email content, the databases will also show students how to cite their resources.

Be sure to explore what else POWER Library has to offer.

-Erin Weaver, Bridgeville Public Library

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Do you take old National Geographics? No?

Introducing an exciting new database you can share when your patrons ask you this eternal question! Thanks to Power Library, all libraries in Allegheny County now have access to a robust run of National Geographic, featuring a collection of fully searchable issues running from 1888 –2020. This is great news for students, researchers, and anyone interested in this classic American magazine that explores the natural world, both on and off planet Earth.  

The search interface will be familiar to anyone who has used a Gale product before. We have access to lots of great Gale content! They all work in similar ways, and I’m here to point out a few exciting things I’ve found in the new National Geographic Virtual Library. 

Because I am so dorky, I always head to the advanced search page to see what it can offer. This advanced search page provides some useful options for sifting through such a large collection, including multiple keyword fields, date ranges, and content types. Yes, you can search through National Geographic content not just for the articles but also for the iconic covers, detailed maps, and even the advertisements!

I’ve been having a grand time searching through 132 years’ worth of advertisements!

The electric car won’t happen overnight in November 2002, pg. 39

An electric car from November 1914, pg. 549

I’m a fan of the dynamic reading pane, as well. Readers can flip through the pages, zoom in and out, and read in a full screen view. There are tools to adjust contrast and brightness to enhance accessibility. Here, I’ve used the “Invert” tool to create a kind of “dark mode.” 

The table of contents is also fully linked. Readers can explore content by type within the reading pane if they want a more direct, hyperlinked reading experience, as opposed to the flippable browsing kind. National Geographic is covering cheetahs, the Bronze Age, the Brothers Grimm, Y2K and more just in this issue! You can see other navigation options listed along the left side, as well, offering a rich search experience for patrons (and staff!).

Click here to get started with the National Geographic Virtual Library. Let me know in the comments what interesting articles, beautiful maps, and (especially) weird ads you find.  

-Mary Phillips, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Continue ReadingDo you take old National Geographics? No?