E-Resources for Ontario Public Libraries

Ontario public libraries now have FREE access to a growing number of electronic databases which are being made available through the initiatives of Knowledge Ontario as well as the $15 million investment from the Ministry of Culture.

Resource Ontario, one of six projects of Knowledge Ontario, provides all publicly funded libraries in Ontario with access to a core suite of digital products. The resources and materials in these databases go beyond what is available on the Internet by offering full text of newspapers, magazines and books. 

These are five suites of databases available through Resource Ontario as part of collection of Databases of Resources Licensed to Residents of Ontario (.pdf)  To keep up-to-date on the new developments at Resource Ontario or to participate in the conversation, visit or subscribe their Wiki.

• Canadian Points of View Reference Center and Auto Repair Manual (EBSCO) Note: From 2007-March 2009, libraries had access to the Canadian Reference Centre from EBSCO.  It is no longer available for free through Resource Ontario.

• Gale Cengage Databases.  This includes Gale’s OneSearch plus Gale’s five other databases: Health and Wellness Resource Center, Junior Edition - K12, Student Edition - K12, Kids InfoBits, and National Newspaper Index, giving access to more than 17,000 titles.  (Formerly called Thomson Gale or INFOTRAC)

• CareerCruising. This is a fully bilingual database from Career Cruising which has been designed to help students and others plan their future. Take a Virtual Tour o f the Canadian version. There are assessment tools, occupation profiles, and post-secondary education information pages. Users can access hundreds of detailed occupation profiles – everything from Actuary to Zookeeper.

• Eureka.cc - L'Actualité Francophone Plus. (CEDROM) The content in this set of databases corresponds directly to the French-language titles identified by the French Advisory Committee as being of primary importance to their community. The titles included in this collection of well-known francophone resources are available as text or PDF files. The resources are updated daily and contain 20 years of archives. The collection includes national and international newspapers, news wires, audio capsules and radio/television transcripts.   It also includes a list of local Ontario newspapers.  Search the contents at http://nouveau.eureka.cc/WebPages/Sources/SourceSearch.aspx    

• Teen Health and Wellness (Rosen Publishing)

Other free databases and resources available to Ontario public libraries:

• Ancestry Library Edition (from $15M investment)

• Overdrive E-Books (from $15M investment)

Registration

• Public Library Authentication for Ontario public libraries registering for the use of free databases

• Register for Access to EBSCOhost Resources.  Please note that if your library had previously registered for access to Canadian Reference Centre via Knowledge Ontario, then the new databases will automatically be added to your EBSCOhost profile. Additional registration is not necessary.

• Register for Gale Cengage Databases. There is no need to register if you are already registered to use the Gale databases.

• Register for Career Cruising  by emailing  heatherp@careercruising.com

• Register for Teen Health and Wellness

Promoting e-resources on your website

• Best Practice Guide for Maximising the Use of State-wide Databases in NSW, 2008.  (State Library of  New South Wales, Australia). This study has very valuable information for all public libraries striving to promote the use of their e-resources from their websites. The secret: dedicated public library web sites, minimal number of clicks, and multiple access points.

Examples of public libraries' online resources pages. See the different approaches, different titles for these pages.

Alphabetical listings

• Milton Public Library Databases @ a Glance Uses an alphabetical list – but at the beginning of the list, has highlighted some of the new databases.  They also made a decision to use titles only and not the icons for the product.
   

• Perth and District Public Library. Online Databases and Research No icons used. Note that the credit for the databases is shown at the bottom of the list of databases.

By type of documents

• North Grenville Public Library. Online Newstand. Note the tabs approach to different ways of searching.

By Subject

• Stratford Public Library. WebLinks and Databases. With use of icons. They have listed the various databases by subject and used the icons for each.  If it was part of the Knowledge Ontario databases, then it is marked as KO on the right side.  You will also notice that they mark it to show whether you can use it in the library or from any location.  I’ve provided the introductory piece and the first actual entry.

Training options

• EBSCO Publishing. Support and Training page.  Offers a variety of training tools including online tutorials, help sheets and user guides.
  

  • How do I add my library's branding to EBSCOhost?

  • How do I embed an EBSCOhost search box on to my website?

  • How do I set up direct links to EBSCOhost databases?
     

• Eureka.cc

  • Formation virtuelle   Afin de faciliter vos recherches et mieux servir vos utilisateurs, nous vous proposons une série de formations qui vous aideront à maximiser votre utilisation de ce service. À vous d’en profiter! Ces formations sont offertes gratuitement à l'aide de la technologie WebEx. Vous suivez alors la formation par conférence téléphonique, face à votre ordinateur ; c'est comme si notre formateur était assis à vos côtés ! Une fois inscrit, vous aurez plus d'information sur le déroulement de la formation.

  • Virtual Training   To facilitate your searches and help you better serve your users, Eureka.cc proposes a series of virtual training sessions to coach you on how to get the most of the service Eureka.cc offers. The free training sessions are available using WebEx technology, using a conference call and enabling you to watch the session in front of your computer. It's like having a trainer sitting right next to you! You will get more information about the training session once registered.
     

• Gale Cengage. Support Page and Training calendar  Gale offers on-going, free on-line training as well as Tip Sheets and Navigation Guides.
  

  • Direct Product Access Information

  • Remote Patron Authentication  (April 2008)

Usage

• Retrieving Statistics from EBSCOadmin (.pdf)

• Usage Reporting (Gale)