Guide to OSUSTECH E-library and E-resources
Website: http://library.osustech.edu.ng
E-mail: library@osustech.edu.ng
Contents
•Overview on E-library
•What is E-resources
•Available E-resources in OSUSTECH Library
•What You can Find on the Library Website
•Search Techniques
•Basic and Advance Search Techniques
•Practical Demonstration of Search Techniques
Overview on E-library
Electronic library is the concept of remote access to the
contents and services of libraries and other information
resources, combining an on-site collection of current
and heavily used materials in both print and electronic
form, with an electronic network which provides access
to, and delivery from, external worldwide library and
commercial information knowledge sources
(Tiwari, 2008).
Walters
(1998)
defined
digital
libraries
as
‘organizations that provide the resources including
the specialized staff to select, structure, offer
intellectual access to, interpret, distribute, preserve
the integrity of and ensure the persistence overtime
of collections of digital works so that they are
readily and economically available for use by a
defined community or set of communities.’
Bird (2011) succinctly put it thus ‘digital libraries are organized on
computers, accessible over a network, and employ procedures to select,
organize, make available, and archive information. Bird affirmed that
digital libraries are originally made for scientific and technical research’
What is E-resources
An electronic resource is any information source that the library provides
access to in an electronic format. The library has
subscribes to many
electronic information resources in order to provide you with full access to
them free of charge. The e-resources in OSUSTECH library include e–
Journals, e-Books, online database, CD-ROM database, subject gateways and
audio books, among others. the rich research contents which these eresources possess; the portability and the easy access mode made them an
invaluable education resources to support your research and academic
activities.
Available E-resources in OSUSTECH Library
Online Based Resources
• ARDI
•AGORA
•AJOL
•ALUKA
•EBMCENTER
•EBSCOHOST
•HEPSEU
•HINARY
•JSTOR
•JSTOR PLANT SCIENCE
•OXFORD JOURNAL
• OARE
•NUC VIRTUAL LIBRARY
Offline Based Resources
•TEEAL
•CD-ROM Database
•OSUSTECH Digital library
AGORA
(Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture)
Provide access to major scientific journals in
agriculture and related biological,
environmental and social sciences.
AJOL
(African Journals online)
This is the world’s largest and pre-eminent
collection of peer-reviewed, African-published
scholarly journals.
ALUKA
This is a part of JSTOR. It is an international,
collaborative initiative saddled with the responsibility
of building an online digital library of scholarly
resources from and about Africa. The content areas
include: African cultural heritage and landscapes as
well as struggle for freedom in South Africa
EBMCENTER
This is one of the online databases published by
European Book which specializes in the supply of
trade/export directories to academic institutions, schools
and colleges, trade/export development centers,
chambers of commerce and industries.
EBSCOHOST DATABASE
EBSCOhost is a powerful online reference system accessible via
the Internet. It offers a variety of proprietary full text databases
and popular databases from leading information providers.
The database types range from general reference collections to
specially designed, subject-specific databases for public,
academic, medical, corporate and school libraries.
It Provides valuable and comprehensive scholarly, multidisciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text
periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals on
all discipline.
HEPSEU Database
(Higher Education Programmes & Scholarships in European Countries)
This is the only and overall European source of information and
reference directory covering the information on more than 100 000
higher education programmes (Bachelors, Masters, Doctorates) in
European Countries and on more than 1.5 million scholarships,
grants available for these programmes. However, students, faculty
members, researchers, graduates who are interested benefit from
these facilities available to them in European Countries.
HINARI
Access to Research in Health Programme
provides online access to the major journals
in biomedical and related social sciences to
local, not-for-profit institutions.
JSTOR
This is an online archive and research platform that supports
the use of scholarly materials by a wide range of audiences
and users. Through JSTOR, faculty, researchers, students,
and others are able to discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content including over 1,000 academic journals, as
well as conference proceedings, monographs, and other
scholarly content.
JSTOR Plant Science
JSTOR Plant Science is an online environment
that brings together content, tools, and people
interested in plant science.
NUC Virtual Library
The National Virtual Library Project is an online digital
library hosted and managed by the National Universities
Commission (NUC). The goal is to ensure that user
(subscribers) have the latest publications of the highest
calibre in their respective fields (the Arts, Medical
Sciences, Pure Science, Social Sciences, Technology,
etc...) to facilitate teaching, research and
Access to Research for Development and Innovation (ARDI)
This is a program coordinated by World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) together with its partners in the publishing
industry with the aim to increase the availability of scientific and
technical information in developing countries
The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library (TEEAL)
The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library (TEEAL) is a searchable, offline, digital
library which contains mainly agriculturally focused reference journals, as well as
coverage in related subject areas:
•Agricultural Engineering
•Agriculture
•Animal science/Veterinary Medicine
•Biology
•Biotechnology/Applied Microbiology
•Chemistry/Biochemistry/Biophysics
•Economics/Social Science/Development
•Entomology/Pest Control
•Environment/Ecology/Natural Resources
•Fisheries/Aquatic Science
•Food Science/Nutrition
•Forestry
•Human Medicine/Physiology
•Plant Science/Soil Science
It contains a growing number of prestigious full-text journals that leading publishers such
as Elsevier and Taylor & Francis have gifted to TEEAL users.
All articles are in Portable Document Format (PDF) and open in Adobe Reader.
CD-ROM DATABASE
As part of the library’s effort to develop a complete collection of diverse format to
serve the University community better. The library has developed a CD-ROM
Collections that contains e-books, application software, video tutorials, etc.
Access to the collection is open to both staff and students. The CDs can be use in
the e-library or borrowed
OSUSTECH Digital Library
This is to make OSUSTECH library electronic information resources available and easily accessible
at the right time. However, on this platform, the information materials/resources vis-a-vis Text
Books, Journals, Research Report/Communications etc can be access offline (without internet
connection).
The collections in this library covers all the ten(10) programmes offered by the institution-Ondo
State University of Science and Technology as well as other disciplines / courses.
Access to Research for Development and Innovation (ARDI)
This is a program coordinated by World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) together with its partners in the publishing
industry with the aim to increase the availability of scientific and
technical information in developing countries
Exploring the Links on the Library Website
http://library.osustech.edu.ng
Tips on the Basic and Advance Search
Techniques
Basic Search
Advanced Search
Tips on the Basic and Advance Search Techniques
What is Advanced Search Techniques?
Advanced search techniques are techniques employed in
an online environment to help you become the fast,
effective searcher you really need to be as a student or
researcher
using online information sources. The
advanced search techniques however helps you to find the
most reliable information available.
What is Boolean Search?
George Boole, an English mathematician in the 19th century,
developed "Boolean Logic" in order to combine certain concepts and
exclude certain concepts when searching databases.
However, Boolean searches allow you to combine words and phrases
using the words AND, OR, NOT and NEAR (otherwise known as
Boolean operators) to limit, widen, or define your search.
Boolean Search is also known as ‘boolean logic’, ‘boolean operators’,
‘boolean operands’, ‘boolean definition’, ‘boolean searching’, ‘boolean
commands’.
It makes your search result more flexible or specific. It also increases
the accuracy of your searches, giving you the best results.
Boolean Search Operators
The Boolean search operators include
•AND
•NOT
•OR
The AND operator combines search terms so that each result contains all
of the terms. For example, Biotechnology AND Bioinformatics will
result in articles that contain both Biotechnology and Bioinformatics.
• The OR operator combines search terms so that each result contains at
least one of the terms. For example, Botany OR Plant Science will result
in articles that contain Botany OR Plant Science .
• The NOT operator excludes search terms so that each result will not
contain any of the terms that follow it. For example, Bioremediation
NOT Biodegradation will result in articles that contain the term
Biochemistry, not Chemistry.
How to Narrow and Broaden your Search
You can narrow your search by adding more search terms. To make sure that all the records
your search finds contain all the search terms, link them with the and operator. If you do not
wish to see records containing a certain term, you can exclude these by using the not
operator. Be careful when using this, you may miss records that contain useful information
because you have excluded too many records. With many databases you will need to use and
not rather than not,
Meanwhile, if your search returns few or no records, you might have more success if you can
think of alternative search terms. This can include: other terms related to your topic,
synonyms (words with the same meaning), different word endings (singular and plural forms,
for example), different spellings (UK versus US spelling, for example)
To broaden your search, that is searching for articles that return one or more of your search
terms, link them together with the or operator. For example, Traditional Rulers are also
known as Kings and so to get as many relevant records in your search as possible, you would
use: Traditional Rulers or Kings
Other Search Techniques
Boolean searching can be extended further by proximity, truncation and wild card
operators.
Truncation, Wild Cards and Proximity
•The wildcard is represented by a question mark (?). To use the wildcard, enter
the search terms and replace each unknown character with a (?). database will
provide results containing variations of that character set, with the “?” replaced
by a letter. For example, type academ?a to find all citations containing
academy, academic or academia.
• Truncation is represented by an asterisk (*). To use truncation, enter the root
of a search term and replace the ending with an asterisk (*). The database will
find all available forms of that word. For example, type literatu* to find the
words literature.
Proximity Search
•Allows you to specify that records found by your search contain one search
term near another. If, for example, you are interested in wireless connection, a
search string such as the near operator requires that a record has terms close
to wireless connection in the text, making it more likely that there is a
meaningful link between the terms in the record. However, you can specify the
number of nearer terms you want to appear.
Note that the closer the search terms are, the greater their relevance to each
other.
For example, you can input ‘wireless connection near10 or N10 computer
networking and the database will display a result of nearer terms.
THANK YOU
© OSUSTECH Library 2015