SEARCHING TECHNIQUES




CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY OPAC 

(Pradipta Bandyopadhyay, MLISc. Day Batch 2023-24)

The full form of OPAC is Online Public Access Catalogue. Now days OPAC is using by different libraries to digitalize their printed catalogues into online catalogues. Through OPAC, one can search the library materials of any particular library from anywhere.

In this blog, I am going to describe the searching technique of Calcutta University Online Public Access Catalogue. I am going to describe the technique step by step.
 
At first we have to visit the official E-library section of Calcutta University. The link of the website is, https://www.culibrary.ac.in/


Pic - Screenshot of E-Library section of Calcutta University

Here we can find the ‘Online Catalogue’ at the top middle section. We have to click there to visit the OPAC of Calcutta University. The website link for the above said section is,


Pic - Calcutta University OPAC
 
Now at the left hand side, there are different sections to search. There are total 17 sections. The sections are as follows-
  1. Books
  2. Medical Dissertations
  3. Peace Studies Collection
  4. A.P. Mitra Collection
  5. CAS - History Collection
  6. Anglo Indian Collection
  7. China Studies Collection
  8. Gandhian Studies Collection
  9. Theses (Ph.D.)
  10. BNCC Collection
  11. Pak & W. Asia Studies Collection
  12. IFPS Collection
  13. R.N. Tagore Collection
  14. Nehru Studies Collection
  15. Bela Datta Gupta Collection
  16. Thai Collection
  17. ME Collection
 
First we have to select any one from the above 17 sections. For Example, we are selecting ‘Anglo Indian Collection’ from the list.
 
Now come to the main interface. Here the first ‘Search in’ section is automatically selected i.e. if we selected any section from previously mentioned 17 sections, here in this ‘Search in’ section that section will be shown. I am providing screenshot for better understand.


Pic - Anglo Indian Collection selected from left side, 
automatically selected in 'Search in' section
 
Now there are three blanks to be filled up. These are Basic Search, Contains and Free-text Search.

In Basic Search, there are ten different options to be selected. These are,

Title, Author’s Surname, Author’s Forename, Corporate Author, Conference/Meeting, Subject heading, Class no., Publisher, Series and Department.  

In Basic Search first we have to select any of the above ten options and then in ‘Contains’ section, we have to write what we want to search.
For example, under Medical Dissertations, in Basic Search if I select ‘Subject heading’ and then in Contains section if I write ‘analysis’ & then click on the search bottom beside it, I can get total 23 results.


Pic - Under Medical dissertations, 
for subject heading we are searching for analysis


Pic - We have got total 23 results
 
Free-text Search is like full freedom search. Anything we write there will provide different results of all Basic Search elements. If we look the previous example, i.e. under Medical Dissertations, if we write ‘analysis’ in Free-text Search, and then click the search bottom beside there, we can get total 88 results and all of them includes different Basic Search elements such as, Title, Author’s Forename, Author’s Surname, Subject Heading. That means the Free-text includes all the elements of Basic Search.


Pic - 88 Results including title, subject heading etc.

Here one thing is there to clear. If we click the 'search' bottom beside 'Contains' section, we will get only the results of what is there selected in 'Basic Search'.
Again, if we click the 'search' bottom beside 'Free-text search' section, we will get all the results for all the elements under 'Basic Search' irrespective of the selected elements of 'Basic Search'.


Pic - Under Title, Selecting 'search' bottom beside 'contains' section


Pic - Showing total 69 results under title


Pic - Under Title, Selecting 'search' bottom beside 'Free-text search' section


Pic - Getting a total 88 results under 
Title, Author’s Forename, 
Author’s Surname, Subject Heading

Again come back to the main interface. There are three Boolean Search options. These things are there to particulate the search. There are also sections namely ‘And’ and in this part one can select three things such as, 'And', 'Or' & 'Not'. If nothing is selected, 'And' will be taken as the selection.

Pic - And, Or, Not under the section 'And'.

Here in ‘Boolean Search’ section there are total nine options. These are, Title, Author’s Surname, Author’s Forename, Corporate Author, Conference/Meeting, Subject heading, Class no., Publisher and Series.
 
For example, for Books, in title option, if we write ‘analysis’ then in And section we choose ‘And’ then we write ‘algebra’ and in And section we choose ‘Not’ and at last we write 'application' and then click the search bottom, we get total 46 results with ‘Title contains analysis And Title contains algebra And Title not contains applications’.


Pic - Selecting 'analysis and algebra not application' under Books


Pic - Showing total 46 results
 
For any result, we have the following results, such as Title, Author, Department/Corporate Body, Type of material, Location. Location includes ALP, CL, RBSP, ECO, LAW, VLC and TSP. Full form and detail location has been provided below of the webpage.


Pic - Basic details of any item
 
On clicking an item, we can find the full details of that item. For example, on clicking ‘Algebra and analysis : problems and solutions’ we have the following details –
 
 

 Pic - Details of an item


Again on the main interface, there are two other sections. These are Journals (Old issues) and EBook Catalogue.
Now under Old Issues Journals there are two sections. These are Campus and Department. For each campus different departments are there. Now clicking on each department, a 'pdf file' will open. For example, under the campus, Taraknath Palit Siksha Prangan (Ballygunge Science College Campus), on clicking ‘Pure Mathematics’, a pdf file has opened. This includes Title, Language, Frequency, Publisher, Place, ISSN, Frequency, Holdings, Note.
The first frequency tells us about the publishing frequency whereas the second one is about continuity of the journal.


Pic - Details of all journals for department of Pure Mathematics 
in Taraknath Palit Siksha Prangan (Ballygunge Science College Campus)
 
 
Now for EBook Catalogue, there are many subjects on the left side. Users can select any of them from there or can directly select the subject from the down arrow subject list at the middle. Some of the subjects are - Accounting, Agriculture, Anatomy, Bioscience, Criminology, Economics, Law, Sociology etc.

There are different publishers too. Users can select any of them. The list of publishers has been given below. Some of the publishers are - Oxford, Springer, Wiley, McGraw-Hill, Cambridge etc.
 
Besides these, there are also two sections. First one is Title search option and the second one is Author search option.

For example, if we select the subject 'Economics' and publisher as 'Cambridge', we can get total 242 results.


Pic - Economics EBook of Cambridge Publisher

If we specify more, like providing the author, we can get more accurate result.


Pic - only one result for Ariel Rubinstein's ebook 
on economics in cambridge publisher.

On clicking on 'details' in Action, all the details of the journal have been provided. I am providing some screenshots for better understanding.


Pic - Basic details of the journal, 'Economics and Language'


Pic - Information about the Journal


Pic - Content of the journal


Pic - Content of the journal (continue)


Pic - Metrices of the Journal

There is also option for Institutional Login. If Institution subscribes the journal then any student of that institution can read the journal through the Institutional log in id. User can read only summary without subscription. There is an option to copy or download the citation of any article of the journal.

We can find Publisher, Online Publication Date, Online ISBN, DOI, Subjects, Series of the journal from the home page.

These are all the searching technique of different items of Calcutta university Library database through Calcutta University OPAC.


*** Reference ***


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 SciFinder: searching mechanism 

(Madhabi Rani Bijuli, M.Lib.I.Sc., day batch, 2023-24)

Introduction :

 SciFinder is a valuable resource for scientists and researchers, especially in the pharmaceutical, academic, and health sciences sectors. It is provided by Chemical Abstract Service. It serves as a comprehensive database for chemical and bibliographic information, aiding in literature searches and providing background details on various substances. The transition from desktop software to a web version expanded its accessibility in 2008. 

SciFinder covers a diverse range of content, encompassing not only journal articles but also detailed information on chemical structures, properties, and reactions. The three distinct search sections for references, substances, and reactions likely make it a versatile tool for researchers across different domains. 

Searching mechanism :
  • General searching policy 
SciFinder's reference search section provides versatile sorting options, allowing users to organize results by publication date, author name, and title. The analyze, refine, and categorize tabs search are several search filters. In the analyze tab, users can create subsets based on criteria like author name, streamlining the search process. The refine filter tab enables result limitation by factors such as language, publication year, and document type. The categorize filter tab allows users to apply CAS index terms from various subject categories to the result set, adding depth to the search capabilities. It can refine search results by removing duplicate MEDLINE records and offers various options for analysis of bioactivity indicators and filtering in different sections like isotope-containing substances or metal-containing substances and reactions searches. 
SciFinder simplifies the search process in the reference section by automatically mapping keywords to synonyms and incorporating truncation, making it user-friendly for those less familiar with complex search construction. The option to specify up to three synonyms within parentheses provides a flexible way to target specific terms. Additionally, the absence of Boolean operators in favor of prepositions aims to assist in identifying the main research concepts in the search queries. SciFinder allows users to organize references by adding tags and offers flexibility in exporting them to various file formats. The ability to save search history is a user-friendly features. The interoperability of the three search sections, allowing seamless transitions between reference and substance searches. The direct search capability in the substance and reactions sections adds versatility to the platform. 

How to search 

1. Preliminary search 
SciFinder has a preliminary searching option. In the references: research topic, if one search by the topic in ‘single ion magnets’, he/she may search it normally, then it will be a preliminary search. 

2. advanced search
  • Reference Search 
This has an advanced search option also. If anyone click on always show advanced search then he/she may get the option of publication year, he/she may put here a specific year or a range. Then he/she have to put the document type, the types are biography, book, clinical trial, commentary, conference, dissertation, editorial, historical, journal, letter, patent, preprint, report, review. Imagine somebody tick on a ‘journal’ and ‘review’, he/ she can get the result refining that option only. The output of searching result is short 
 Anybody may select the language ‘English’. There are other language options like Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian etc.
Advanced Reference search 

One may mention the name and surname of the author’s if he/ she want to get specific articles on that topic. Otherwise there will be shown all articles which have been uploaded in that site. Someone can mention the name of the company from where the author is from or from where the paper is published.
After search

Then he/she can get 62 references on that topic and 322 papers on that related concept. One have to select all or any one of that then get references. Then he/ she can export any pdf and may get 3 options named analyse, refine and categories. 

Searching results
  • Substances search 
If anyone want to search for the chemical structure of substances option, he/she have to draw a structure then he/she will get the name related to the structure he/ she have drawn before. You get here exact structure, substructures and similarity options. If someone want to get the exact structure he/ she have to click on that option.

Substances search 
  • Reaction search 
In the reaction section, one may get another option of limited results by reaction role. There are many options like product, reactant, reagent, reactant or reagent, catalyst, solvent and any role etc. Here anyone may get an analyse option. Somebody may get reaction details, links too. 

Reaction search 

Some features of searching mechanism 

  • Initiate searches with two or three concepts, refining as needed to manage result size. Adding a fourth concept or using Advanced Search can help narrow criteria. SciFinder can search 7 concepts at a time.
  • It doesn't need Boolean search but it need to put preposition in proper way in searching term. Employ prepositions to separate concepts, ensuring a more accurate SciFinder search. Avoid using "and" or "or" and enter phrases as phrases, e.g., "acid rain."
  • Utilize Analyze and Refine tools for enhanced specificity. Categorize for Topic searches and employ Sort and Group for reaction answer sets to focus results.
  • Leverage automatic truncation and plurals for efficient keyword searches. Enter terms in singular form, except when using pluralized index terms.
  • Leverage scientific indexing by using standardized Concepts/index terms in SciFinder for more comprehensive and relevant search results. Incorporate these terms as synonyms in your queries.
  • Enhance searches by adding up to three of your own synonyms for each concept. This is particularly useful for ensuring specific terms are treated as synonyms, even if not conventionally recognized as such.
  • Optimize results by conducting multiple searches and combining them. Save answer sets, then merge them using the References Toolbar or the Saved Searches tab to create a more refined and comprehensive active answer set.
  • Choose relevant keywords related to your topic. Consider using synonyms and variations to capture a comprehensive range of results.

REFERENCES

1. Schwall K, Zielenbach K. SciFinder a new generation of research tools. Chem Innov. 2000 Oct;30(10):45–50. < http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/archive/ci/30/i10/html/10ziel.html>. [Google Scholar]
2. Chemical Abstracts Service What is SciFinder? [Internet] Columbus, OH: American Chemical Society; [cited 30 May 2018]. < https://www.cas.org/products/scifinder>. [Google Scholar]
3. Chemical Abstracts Service. References - Caplus - worldwide coverage of many scientific disciplines all in one source [Internet] Columbus, OH: American Chemical Society; [cited 30 May 2018]. < http://support.cas.org/content/references>. [Google Scholar]
4. Chemical Abstracts Service. CAplus core journal coverage list [Internet] Columbus, OH: American Chemical Society; [rev. 16 Feb 2018; cited 30 May 2018]. < http://support.cas.org/content/references/corejournals>. [Google Scholar]
5. Chemical Abstracts Service. CAS coverage of patents [Internet] Columbus, OH: American Chemical Society; [cited 30 May 2018]. < http://support.cas.org/content/references/patentcoverage>. [Google Scholar]



                  

Emerald insight: Search technique 

 

Abdul Ejaj Gazi, MLISc., 2023-24

The purpose of this study is to explain the search technique of Emerald insight. Emerald insight is a sub website of Emerald Publishing. It would be safe to say that Emerald insight provides searchability for all content published on Emerald Publishing. Emerald Publishing is the world's leading digital publisher, considered the scholarly publisher of journals and books. It was founded in 1967 by Keith Howard. Its headquarters are located in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.

Content coverage: It offers wide range of journals, books, case studies, Earlycite article and Expert briefing as well as open access facilities.

Subject Coverage: Available subject are Business, Management, Accounting, Education, Engineering, Health and social Care, Information & knowledge management, Librarian & information Science, Marketing, Logistics, Environmental management, Criminology, Tourism & Hospital Management and more.

Service offer: It offer dedicating publishing and licensing service for author, editors, librarians, reviews and researchers.

Some statistical information of Emerald Publishing is as follows:

Source: Emerald insight
Fig. A : Emerald Publishing statistical info.

Search Technique 

Emerald Insight provides two types of search techniques, Quick Search and Advanced Search, to retrieve information. In this case, MarkLogic powerful technology is used for data search, which helps to display the correct results in front of the reader very quickly. It is used to maintain flexible data models. MarkLogic uses a distributed, scale-out architecture to help handle billions of documents and billions of terabytes of data. It was founded in 2001 by Christopher Lindblad. Its headquarters are located in San Carlos, California, United States. MarkLogic Server is currently widely used in publishing, finance and other sectors. The latest release of MarkLogic Server is 10.0 which was released in 2019. MarkLogic usually provides data searching facilities through Boolean logic, stemming, wildcards, case & punctuation sensitivity. Quick Search and Advanced Search are discussed in detail below.

Quick Search:

Quick search technique is discussed below with screenshots.

Source: Emerald insight
Fig. B : Emerald insight home page.


1) Enter the search query in the search box and click the search icon on the right (There is a facility to search by title, author, keyword, ISBN, DOI and more). Example: Green library.

Source: Emerald insight
Fig. C : Quick search result.



2) The search query is reflected in the above search bar and the search bar is always ready for any new search perform.

3) The number of results retrieved from the database. (Database about Green Library has retrieved 13000 contents.)

Filters by:

Filter options are discussed in the following screenshots.

Source: Emerald insight
Fig. D : Filters option.


4) Default comes with ten content per page, twenty (20) and fifty (50) content per page options are also available.

5) Sorted by relevance is provided by default, but "Newest to Oldest" and "Oldest to Newest" options are also present.

6) There are two options (for content access) available first is " Only content I have access to" (this shows only the content that can be used) and second is "Only open access" (this shows only the content that can be used for free).

7) Various filtering facilities are available according to the year.

8) Filters by different content type such as article, book part, case studies, earlycite article and expert briefing etc.



Advance search:

Quick search technique is discussed below with screenshots.

Source: Emerald insight
Fig. E : Emerald insight home page.


1) Clicking on Advanced Search option will open a separate window for Advanced Search.

Example: Open access journal articles on Green libraries or Global library management published between 2010 to 2023.

Source: Emerald insight
Fig. F : Advance searching 


2) There are various types of content selection options available to search here.

3) Enter the keywords to search.

4) Select the required field (like, All, Title, Abstract, Contributor or DOI) from the drop down box.

5) In this case bullion operator like 'AND', 'OR' or 'NOT' can be used. Which is very important in the accurate search.

6) To search with the help of Boolean operators, keywords have to be enter here.

7) Through this, multiple keywords can be searched at the same time.

8) Here the time range of the required content can be determined.

9) From here content access type can be selected like 'All Content', 'Only Open Access', 'Only Content I have access to'.

10) Click on this option to search.

Source: Emerald insight
Fig. G : Advance search result.


In this case, based on the above query, the search results obtained from the database is 423.

11) It displays a summary of 'Access', 'Year' and 'Content type' used by advanced Search.

Wildcards features: 

There are mainly two types of wildcards used for search, they are:

Question mark (?): It is used to search for a specific character in a word. For example 'C?ll', result back with Collection, Collaboration, College, Collective and more. Example is shown in the screenshot below

Source: Emerald insight
Fig. H : Advance search with question mark.


Asterisk (*): It is used to search for multiple characters in a word. For example 'Bio*s', result back with Biopolitics, Bioethics, Biographies and more. 

Source: Emerald insight
Fig. I : Advance search with asterisk.




Content preview:

Content preview is discussed in detail with screenshots below.

Source: Emerald insight
Fig. J : Content preview.

1) It present Access type.
2) It present content type.
3) It present content publication date.
4) Content Title.
5) Author names.
6) A small summary of abstract.
7) HTML and PDF (size) for quick access.
8) The number of times the content has been downloaded.
9) Show the altmetrics preview.
10) Click here for some content summary and detail.

Source: Emerald insight
Fig. K : Content details.

11) Full abstract of content is given here.
12) Some content related details like journal name, type, DOI, ISSN is available from here.
13) Content related keywords are given here.
14) Click here to revert back to the previous state.
15) Click here to reach the top of the page.


Download citation: 

Discuss the download citation with screenshots below.

Source: Emerald insight
Fig. L : Citation download option for a content.


1) To download any content citation click on the check box top left to the content.
2) Click on 'download RIS' option to download the RIS file of the citation.

Source: Emerald insight
Fig. M : Citation download option for multiple content.


3) Click this check box to download citation files of multiple content at once.


Search saving option: 

There is also a facility to save the searched content here. However, this opportunity can be enjoyed only by registered users.


Emerald Inside's search technique is very enhanced and its search interface is user friendly. Here performing search is easy as well as retrieval rate is very high. To perform the search, click here.


References:

1. https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/who-we-are/about-us
2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Group_Publishing
3. https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/explore-our-content
4. https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/explore-our-content/our-subject-areas
5. https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/our-services
6. https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/insight-search-tips
7. https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/how-do-i-search-content-emerald-insight
8. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MarkLogic



********




IndCat

                           (Bhaskar  Mondal, MLISC Day Batch - 2023-24|)

 

IndCat is a free online Union Catalogue of Books, Theses and Serials of major university/institute libraries in India. The IndCat contains bibliographic information, location and holdings of Books, Theses and Serials. https://indcat.inflibnet.ac.in/index.php/main/index


IndCat data is accessible through searching option with different parameters i.e. Title, Author, ISBN, Place, Publisher, Subject & Year of Publication.

 Search technique

Here various types of search technique exist. This are :-

1>           Simple search

2>           Advance search

3>           Exact search

4>             State wise search

5>           North-East search

 

Indcat provides three types of database search. This are :-

1. Book Database

2. Theses Database

3. Serials Database

 

Books search

1.simple search




2.Advance search

Here use Boolean logic. This means OR geat, AND geat,NOR geat.


 Theses Search


            Here exist Free text,Full text search

  
   Serials search

             Here exist Quick search and advance search. 

  
  Quick search

   

  

Advance search

In  advance search ,use Boolean logic. This means OR geat, AND geat,NOR geat.

     


  Features & Functionalities

1.Supports simple and advanced searches using Boolean operators

2.SOLR-indexed based faceted search

3.Serves as a virtual catalogue for universities by restricted the search to a single university

4.By default, a typical search is covers entire union catalogue; searches can also be restricted to a group of universities or universities in a state

5.5Browse interface facilitates users to explore the union databases 6.alphabetically by subject category, by name of the university or chronologically by years

7.Link to full-text theses in Shodhganga.

8.Download records in standard bibliographic format i.e. MARC in Book database.

References:

 




        JSTOR

                                                                                    (Deep Das, MLISc. Day Batch 2023-24)

 

JSTOR stands for “Journal storage “. JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals , books and primary sources . JSTOR was conceived in 1994 by William  G. Bowen . JSTOR help to the university and college libraries provide adequate space for an ever increasing amount of published primary sources.

First of all we search JSTOR and go to this website  https://www.jstor.org

Then we scroll down and click About  then we know all about JSTOR.

JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million journal articles,  books, images and primary sources in 75 disciplines. JSTOR is a part of ITHAKA , which is not for profit organization that helps the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways.

Libraries may choose to subscribe to individual archive collections , current journals, and may purchase books from JSTOR . All of the content licensed or purchased by a library is cross -searchable  on JSTOR.

 

The Basic search form

Use quotation marks to search for exact phrases : “ Library Management ”. In left-hand side you can filter the search results also .


Use Boolean operators to construct a better search like ‘AND’ , ‘OR’ , ‘NOT’ , ‘Near 5’, ‘Near 10’,


·         Use field codes to search for Titles and Authors : au. ‘’ G. G. Chowdhury ‘’; ti. ‘’ Introduction  to Modern Information Retrieval’’

 

We can also Advance  search here.  The search results pages offer for sorting and reviewing by many features.

 Use the button at the top of the search results list to filter results to specific type of content ( Journals, Books , Pamphlets) . Researchers may access the full text of an primary sources from the search results page.

·       Use the “Narrow Results” options to search only articles, include/exclude book reviews, search for content published during a particular time frame, or in a particular language.

·         JSTOR supports full-text keyword searching across all of the content on www.jstor.org. This includes images and content from articles, books, and pamphlets from cover to cover. 

·         The search bar on any page allows students to get started quickly and then refine their searches in the sidebar. After conducting a search in JSTOR, students can look at the highlighted words in the brief snippets below each result and consider refining their terms. They can also explore the options available in the sidebar on the search results page. This can help students narrow and refine their searches. 

·         Here user can save images and articles to revisit, organize your saved item with folders, export presentation, reference lists or share a link.( in workspace option )



How JSTOR is different from Google :

On JSTOR students can access peer-reviewed content, research reports, and primary sources that help support scholarly investigation .

 

Reference:

        1. www.jstor.org



ELSEVIER

A REPOSITORY OF JOURNALS & ARTICLES

By, Santanu Chowdhury ; MLIS; Roll No.-08

Elsevier is a renowned Dutch publishing company that specializes in providing scientific, technical, and medical content to researchers, academics, and professionals around the world. The company was founded in 1880 and has since become a leading force in the global publishing industry, particularly in the field of scholarly literature.

Key points about Elsevier:

  1. Scope of Publications:
    • Scientific, Technical, and Medical (STM) Content: Elsevier is best known for its vast collection of STM content, covering a wide range of disciplines such as medicine, physics, chemistry, engineering, computer science, and more.
    • Journals, Books, and Databases: The company publishes a significant number of academic journals, books, and databases, making it a comprehensive resource for researchers and professionals.
  2. Peer-Reviewed Journals:
    • High-Impact Journals: Elsevier publishes many high-impact journals that are well-regarded in their respective fields. These journals often feature peer-reviewed articles presenting the latest research and advancements.
  3. Online Platforms:
    • ScienceDirect: Elsevier's online platform, ScienceDirect, provides access to a vast repository of scientific and technical research articles. Researchers and institutions subscribe to ScienceDirect to access a wealth of scholarly content.
    • Scopus: Elsevier's Scopus is a multidisciplinary abstract and citation database that covers a broad range of academic disciplines. It is a valuable tool for researchers to track and analyze scholarly literature.
  4. Controversies and Criticisms:
    • Open Access Debate: Elsevier has faced criticism for its approach to open access publishing. The company's business model, which often involves subscription fees for access to articles, has been a point of contention in the scholarly community.
    • Price and Access Issues: The high costs associated with accessing Elsevier's publications have sparked debates about the affordability and accessibility of scientific knowledge.
  5. Innovations and Partnerships:
    • Technological Innovations: Elsevier has embraced technological advancements, incorporating features like online submission systems, digital publishing, and enhanced search functionalities.
    • Collaborations: The company collaborates with various academic institutions, researchers, and organizations to advance scientific knowledge and promote collaboration within the global research community.
  6. Global Presence:
    • International Reach: Elsevier operates on a global scale, serving researchers and professionals worldwide. Its publications are available to institutions and individuals in various countries.

In summary, Elsevier plays a significant role in the dissemination of scientific knowledge through its diverse range of publications and online platforms. While it has been a key player in advancing research, it has also faced scrutiny and debate regarding issues such as open access and subscription costs.

SEARCHING INFORMATION IN ELSEVIER-----

Elsevier provides various searching techniques on its platforms, primarily through ScienceDirect and other related services. Here are some key techniques for effective searching:

  1. Basic Search:
    • Use the basic search bar to enter keywords, author names, or article titles.
    • This is a quick way to find articles related to specific terms.
  2. Advanced Search:
    • Utilize the advanced search features for more precise queries.
    • Narrow down results by specifying criteria such as publication date, document type, authors, and keywords.
  3. Boolean Operators:
    • Employ Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to refine search queries.
    • For example, using "AND" narrows down results by requiring both terms to be present.
  4. Phrase Searching:
    • Use quotation marks to search for exact phrases.
    • For example, searching for "renewable energy" will retrieve results with that specific phrase.
  5. Truncation and Wildcards:
    • Use truncation (e.g., "environment*") to search for variations of a word.
    • Wildcards (e.g., "wom?n" for woman or women) can be used to account for variations in spelling.
  6. Field-Specific Searches:
    • Specify search terms in specific fields (title, abstract, author) to focus results.
    • For instance, you can search for articles where the keyword appears in the title only.
  7. Filters:
    • Utilize filters to narrow down results based on criteria such as publication date, document type, or source title.
    • Filters help refine search results to meet specific requirements.
  8. Sorting Options:
    • After obtaining search results, use sorting options (e.g., by relevance, date) to organize the list based on preferences.
  1. Alerts and Notifications:
    • Set up alerts for specific search queries to receive notifications about new publications matching your interests.
    • This keeps you informed about the latest research in your field.
  2. Saved Searches:
    • Save your search queries for future reference.
    • This is useful for recurrent research or to track updates on a particular topic.
  3. Scopus for Citation Tracking:
    • Use Scopus, Elsevier's abstract and citation database, for citation tracking and to identify influential papers.
    • Scopus provides insights into an article's impact and citations.
  4. Semantic Search:
    • Some platforms may incorporate semantic search capabilities, allowing for more contextually relevant results based on the meaning of the query rather than just keywords.

Remember that the effectiveness of your search depends on the specificity of your query and the relevance of the chosen keywords. Experimenting with different search techniques and adjusting parameters can help you refine your results and find the most relevant information on Elsevier's platforms.

EXAMPLE OF SEARCHING IN ELSEVIER------










WorldCat 

         (Ananya Ghosh, MLISc Day, Batch 2023-24)  

WorldCat gives people the ability to view library collection from anywhere in the world, giving them access to a reach assortment of information much deeper than what can be found through a basic Internet search. WorldCat makes library collections find able and accessible around the world.

Here I am going to describe the searching technique of WorldCat. Let's start :

1. Search WorldCat :

                             WorldCat official website window

WorldCat has a basic search on the front page & just click the tab for the type of item you want and the entire the title author or keywords you are looking for.

2.Access WorldCat :

  • Find the link on the libraries article database page
  • Directly go https://www.worldcat.org/

3.Advance Search:

World cat also has an advanced search with more options click right cross arrow advanced search under the search boxes on the front page. The features include :

  • Under the boxes inter keyword title author.
  • All formats are available (book, audio book, article, chapter, journal electronic, journal, microfilm etc)
  • Publication date range
  • Different type of language
  • Capitalize the Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) when using them in a search. 

4.More Discussion About The Item :
Click on the item and search the title of an item, that takes you more information about that item.
  • Showing more libraries where this item available
  • Rating and reviews the item
  • Citation information like title, author, publisher, date, content, subject ISBN and physical description.
  • Item summary if available
  • Link to similar items   
5.Libraries :


Libraries can find by location or name. Left side filtered by the type of library when you have locate a particular library then search by library name or location.Which searches many libraries at once look for books, music, videos and more and then locate it in a library nearby.

6.Available Many Topics :


If search particular topic then many topics are here. Libraries can help with a every aspect of your searching topics.
Select particular topic -available popular user searchable topic.

7.Lists :


  • WorldCat has also many more lists where current year National Book award finalists that created by the OCLC WorldCat team.
  • Popular world cat user lists

  • & recently updated list where recent updated newly item(books, journals, articals).
8.Other Sort Option Are :
  • Best match 
  • Recency Author(A-Z) 
  • Date (Newest first or Oldest first) 
  • Most widely held 
  • Title (A-Z)
It is operated by OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) is a non profit, membership, library computer service and research organisation. It representing the world's largest library community on the web. This is a global network of thousands of library location in a single search. Free access to the OCLC WorldCat catalog which searches many library at once.






DISSERTATION ABSTRACT INTERNATIONAL (DAI)



Subhashree Das(MLISc day,2023-24)


Searching mechanism helps to easy retrieval of information from anywhere in world through the internet and can furnish the knowledge more and more. Here I will discuss about Dissertation Abstract International (DAI)

About DAI :

Dissertation Abstracts International(DAI) is a comprehensive bibliographic database of dissertations from around the world, covering various disciplines and provides abstract of doctoral dissertations,accepted at accredited American institutions since 1861. Initially it was published by University Microfilms International (UMI) now by ProQuest. In 1997, ProQuest Information and Learning acquired DAI.

       Previously it was published as printed version, consisting of 3 sections, Section A, Humanities and Social Science,Section B,Science and Engineering, SectionC (formerly European Dissertations) most of them unavailable for purchase from ProQuest. As of 2008, ProQuest no longer offers Section C as a separate product. Later it changed into an online version as ProQuest Dissertation & Theses Global(PQDTG) database.

Searching technique:

If anyone wants to search the print version then it is available on World Cat, acquired by various institutions.

1. Access ProQuest:
Visit the ProQuest website (proquest.com).

2. Navigate to Dissertations & Theses Database:
 Locate the "Dissertations & Theses" section on the ProQuest homepage.

3. Login or Access as Guest:
 If you're affiliated with an institution, log in using your credentials. Otherwise, you may access ProQuest as a guest. 

Here Jadavpur University has access so I will present how one can search his desired dissertation or theses.
 

                                                  


Then click on search ,the following window will open



Here one need more conscious about what he want , either full text, doctoral dissertation or citation.Then select that.
 Here for more easy retrieval subject coverage and some searching tips also noted. Use "quotation marks" to search for exact phrases.

Separate terms with OR to find any of the words entered.

4.  Basic Search:
Use the basic search bar to enter your keywords or phrases related to your topic. Use specific keywords that are likely to appear in the dissertation user interested in.

5.  Advanced Search :
For a more precise search, click on "Advance Search" to access additional search options.Here, you can use Boolean operators,specify fields,and set limits.




Or the user can browse through his subjects or alphabetically words and numbers.

6. Refine search:

  • Field Searching: Specify the fields such as title, author, or abstract. For example, "title:education" or "author:smith."
  • Publication Date: Narrow down results by specifying a range of publication dates if user looking for recent or specific time periods.
  • Subject Headings: Explore and use subject headings related to topic. These are standardized terms assigned to articles for easier categorization.
  • Degree Information:
          Information about the academic degree for           which the dissertation was submitted.
  • Advisor:
        The name of the academic advisor or advisors who supervised the dissertation.

  • ProQuest Document ID:
          A unique identifier assigned to each dissertation entry in the ProQuest database.

  • Geographic Terms:
         If applicable, include geographic terms relevant to research to focus on dissertations from specific regions.


 7. Viewing the result :
As an example, let's search doctoral dissertation using the Jadavpur University Institution name filter in advance search with Library and Information Science subject filtration.




Then the following result appeared-



User can also filter the search if he knows thauthor name or the title or source etc.
 
8. Access:
If the dissertation is available in full text, user may be able to access and download it directly. If not,there is a option to request it through institution's interlibrary loan services. As for my example it need to visit the institution personally with proper details. 

Conclusion :
Lastly remember to adapt the search strategy based on user's specific research needs, and feel free to experiment with different search terms and filters to optimize the most valid results.


References -






                         *********

             NISCAIR

    ( Supriya Baskey, MLISc. Day batch 2023-24 )


    Full name - National Institute of Science Communications and Information Resources. 

      Year of establishment : 30 September 2002

      Headquarter : Located at New Delhi

    Parent Organization: Council of Scientific  and Industrial Research. 

        History

 >Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was set up in 1942.

 >Indian Scientific Documentation Centre (INSDOC - 1952) under CSIR, merged with the National Institute of Science Communication ( NISCOM - 1951) in 2002, transforming into the National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources ( NISCAIR).

 >‌In 14 January 2021 merger of CSIR- National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources ( CSIR- NISCAIR) and CSIR- National Institute of Science, Technology and Development studies ( CSIR - NISTADS) into a new institute CSIR- National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research ( CSIR- NIScPR), New Delhi.

      Activities 

  activities are -

1) Publication Of 17 Primary And 2 Secondary Scientific/Research Journals

2) Publication Of CSIR News And CSIR Samachar

3) Raw Material Herbarium And Museum

4) Popular Science Magazines

5) Popular Science Books

6) Information Services

7) Developing And Maintaining Specialized Databases

8) Electronic Publishing

9) Human Resource Development

10) Information Resources

11) Sales And Marketing

NOPR (NISCAIR Online Periodical Repository )

 NOPR is an online periodical repository of NISCAIR. It is only for periodicals. NISCAIR Publishes 17 primary and 2 secondary scientific journals. NISCAIR built NOPR using DSPACE for electronic access to all those journals. 

         Search Mechanism
> At first we have to visit the officials website of NOPR. The link of the website is https://nopr.niscpr.res.in/

   Pic : Welcome screen of NOPR (NISCAIR Online Periodical Repository)

NISCAIR Online Periodicals Repository

User can access full text articles from research journals published by NISCAIR . Presently full text facility is provided for all of the, 

seventeen research journals are-. 

1‌. Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research (JSIR) 

2‌. Indian Journal of Biochemistry & Biophysics (IJBB) 

3‌. Indian Journal of Biotechnology (IJBT) 

4‌. Indian Journal of Chemistry, Sec A (IJC-A) 

5‌. Indian Journal of Chemistry, Sec B (IJC-B) 

6‌. Indian Journal of Chemical Technology (IJCT) 

7‌. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology (IJEB) 

‌8. Indian Journal of Engineering & Materials Sciences (IJEMS) 

9‌.Indian Journal of Fibre & Textile Research (IJFTR) 

1‌0.  Indian Journal of Marine Sciences (IJMS) 

1‌1. Indian Journal of Pure & Applied Physics (IJPAP) 

1‌2. Indian Journal of Radio & Space Physics (IJRSP) 

1‌3. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge (IJTK) 

1‌4. Journal of Intellectual Property Rights (JIPR)

1‌5. Natural Product Radiance (NPR) 

1‌6. Annals of Library and Information Studies (ALIS) 

1‌7. Bharatiya Vaigyanik evam Audyogik Anusandhan Patrika (BVAAP)

      It also facilitates browsing by issue date, author, title, and subject also. 


NISCAIR publication collection group contains sub- collections. It contains

-‌ Newsletter‌

- natural products repository,

‌- Popular science magazine and

-‌ Research Journals .


 https://nopr.niscpr.res.in/handle/123456789/1


    Pic : browser through NISCAIR publication

    https://nopr.niscpr.res.in/simple-search?location=%2F&query=&rpp=10&sort_by=score&order=desc

    Pic : we have got search result all of NOPR item

  > Enter the subject in the search for box and click the "go" icon on the right.  

    Pic : getting total 11248 results shown in    NOPR for "human health " 

   Here we get collecteion name IJBB Bol. 46 (1). And 11248 results with Title, Author, Source and page no. 


     >Here the list of items hase been given. We can select any one of them.


           Pic : full Information about journal


        Conclusion:

       Research communities including students not only in India but all over the world are being benefited by open access of NISCAIR journals. This will also help in enhancing the accessibility, visibility and subscription base of NISCAIR journals at National and International level. 

   Reference:

  https://nopr.niscpr.res.in/

  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institute_of_Science_Communication_and_Information_Resources

http://www.netugc.com/national-institute-of-science-communication-and-information-resources-niscair



E



EBSCOhost


By Penaki Sharma (MLISC Day 2023-24)

 EBSCOhost research interfaces offer several options for creating targeted searches. Although powerful filters allow users to refine searches from the results page, these strategies can be used at the outset.


1. Boolean Operators - Boolean logic defines relationships between search terms. Boolean Search Operators — AND, OR and NOT — are used to create a very broad or very narrow search. You may wish to use more than one Boolean Operator in a search. To avoid getting unexpected results, it’s important to know the order in which the operations are performed. Never mix Boolean Operators without using parentheses. Grouping search terms within parentheses allows you to force the ordering of Boolean Operators. Without parentheses, a search of cats OR kittens AND dogs OR puppies would process kittens AND dogs first.

Here are examples of correctly formatted search strings: (cats OR kittens OR felines) AND (dogs OR puppies OR canines); (“global warming”OR “climate change”) AND (“alternative energy” OR “renewable energy”)

Tip: Use quotation marks when searching exact phrases, such as  “climate change” or “Nobel Prize.”

 


 

2. Advanced searching - EBSCOHost research interfaces allow users to conduct advanced searches using searchable fields. These fields assist you in creating a more targeted search.


 

You can search by article title, author, subject headings, source (i.e. publication title), and more. You can also select AND, OR, and NOT from the drop-down boolean menu to create a search spanning multiple search fields. To add more fields to your search click on the + button. When using Advanced Search you also have access to additional search options, or expanders.Expanders let you broaden the scope of your search. They do this by widening your search to include words related to your keywords or by searching the actual text of full-text articles (by default, EBSCOhost only searches publication metadata such as title, author, subjects, and author or publisher supplied keywords).


 

Limiters let you narrow the focus of your search by filtering out results that don't meet specific parameters or values of interest. You can use multiple limiters at one time and apply them either before your search using the Advanced Search menu or after your search on the results page using the left sidebar menu.

Common limiters include:

Full Text – Limits results to articles with full text available

Peer Reviewed – Limits results to articles from peer-reviewed journals. Peer-reviewed journals are publications where articles have been reviewed by a selected panel of acknowledged experts in the field of study covered by the journal

Dates Published – Limits results to articles published within a date range or before or after a specified date.

3. Subject Headings - Subject headings are a form of metadata that can be used to retrieve publications in a database. Instead of providing basic bibliographic information about a publication – such as title, author, and date published – subject headings describe the topics or subjects of a publication.

Subject headings are a type of controlled vocabulary, meaning they are not just a random collection of keywords but instead come from a standardized set of terms and phrases that are consistently used and applied.Recall that subject headings are consistently used and applied. This consistency helps to reduce ambiguity when searching because only one authoritative term (the subject heading) is ever used for a given concept.

However, it's not always easy to know which subject headings will be used; terms or phrases that are intuitive and commonplace to you may not reflect the choices of subject indexing providers.



To discover which subject headings are being used in EBSCOHost research databases, click on "Subjects" in the top navigation menu and choose a database (either Sociology Source Ultimate or the Nonprofit Organization Reference Center).

4.  Truncation * - Use an asterisk (*) when you want to search for results containing various forms of a word. Example: A search for environment* will find results containing environment, environments, environmental and environmentalism.

5. Proximity operators -  Use wildcards (? or #) in searches to account for alternate spellings. ? stands for one additional character, but not for zero characters. # stands for zero or one character. Within operator (w#) a w# search requires that words appear within a certain distance of each other and in the order you type them in. For example, a  search of colo#r will find results containing color or colour. Near operator (n#) searches for words that are near each other, regardless of what order they are found in. For example, a search for wom?n will find results containing woman and women.

6. Field Searching - Advanced Search (Guided Search) presents several rows of search boxes with pull-down menu selections that allow the user to tell the database which fields to search. These fields include Title, Abstract, Subject Terms and All Text. Users can also use Boolean Operators to combine keyword/field code entries.


 

7. Other options  - The EBSCOHost research databases support searching by geographic location, but a dedicated search field only appears in the Advanced Search interface when searching on one (not both) databases. When you are only searching on either Sociology Source Ultimate or the Nonprofit Organization Reference Center, you will see additional search fields available to you, including search by Geographic Terms.


References :

https://connect.ebsco.com/s/article/EBSCOhost-Searching-Tips?language=en_US

https://www.epsnj.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=7675&dataid=31759&FileName=searching%20tips%20EBSCO.pdf

https://www.ebsco.com/sites/g/files/nabnos191/files/acquiadam-assets/Top-Five-Searching-Strategies-Handout.pdf
 




 ***********



GOOGLE SCHOLAR



Mousumi Dam (MLISC Day,2023-24)

 

Introduction : Google Scholar searches for scholarly literature in a simple, familiar way. You can search across many disciplines and sources at once to find articles, books , thesis and content from academic publishers, professionals society, some academic websites and more.

 It is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or meta data of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines.


Google Scholar home page

 Features :

1.      Search all scholarly literature from one convenient place
2.      Explore related works, citation, author and publications.
3.      Locate the complete document through your library or on the web.
4.      Keep up with recent developments in any area of research.
5.      Check who’s citing your publications , create a public author profile. 


Find a article at Google Scholar :

  •          Go to Google Scholar, enter the article title , and click search.


For best results, put quote marks around the title



  •         If available, your article should appear as one of the first few results.

  • First few result


  •         If you click an article title, you may be taken to a publisher’s site that will ask you to pay for full text. Instead look for a PDF or HTML link to the right of the article this is a free, full text copy.


Methods of searching :

Basic Searches :

1 .Go to the Google Scholar webpage

Open your preferred internet browser and go to http://scholar.google.com to visit Google Google Scholar. You will see a webpage that looks much like the Google Scholar page, with the Google Scholar logo and search box underneath. 


2.sign in to your google account :

Access some of Google Scholar service and features, you will want to be logged into your Google account .



3.Sign into an institutional or library account if you have one :

Click “settings” at the top centre of the Google Scholar webpage , then “Library Links” on the left menu bar.


4.Enter search terms :

In the search box , type the key terms for the topic you are searching for. Then click the search button to pull up results.


5.Get citation information :

A search in Google Scholar may return a variety of results : academic articles , books, dissertations and thesis etc. pay attention to titles , author names , publication dates , and other information that Google Scholar will supply Keep an eye out for results that seem interesting or relevant to your topic.




6.Go to the full text ,if possible :

Some results found via Google Scholar will be full text , meaning you can click on the title of the result and go directly to read the full article , book or other sources via your web browser .Many academic sources , however have restricted access and do not allow the general public to see the full text.



Advanced Searches :

1.Try an advanced search

These option allow you to do things like search for results within a certain data range, find results in a certain language , order the results from most recent to oldest, and look for articles written by a particular author or published in a particular journal.

2.Use Boolean search connectors :

Google Scholar like the regular Google search engine, is designed the key terms of what you are interested in. However you can run a more precise search by coupling your search terms with Boolean connectors. For instance :  Entering a minus sign before a search term will eliminate it from the results.By typing OR between search terms, Google Scholar with retrieve results containing either term.

 


 

 

3.Restrict your search using other commands :

Google Scholar allows users to run more precise searches by entering other text instructions into the search bar. Familiarizing yourself with these can help you find more relevant sources.

4.Check the “Related articles” to find similar results :

If you find a sources that you find interesting or relevant to your topic , clicking the “ Relevant articles” link at the bottom of a sources citation information will return results that are connected to that source.

5.Click “cited by” to get a sense of a sources impact :

Sometimes you want to find high impact sources that are cited by many other sources. Google Scholar will track certain instances when source generates citation in other works.

6.Find content by an author :

Add the author’s name to the search, or use the “author:” operator.


 

Reference :













Comments

  1. Dr. Avik Roy29 November 2023 at 10:28

    Points to note:
    1. Do not copy from other websites;
    2. Your blogposts should be licensed under Creative Commons licenses:

    ReplyDelete

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