Britannica Digital Learning. (2015). Britannica school high [electronic database]. Retrieved from http://school.eb.com/
Availability: Request quote from Encyclopedia Britannica (text-to-speech option is an upgrade for middle school and high school levels)
URL: http://school.eb.com/ (school ID and password required)
Britannica School High is included in the whole Britannica School package which offers K-12 resources. It was a 2015 Bett Awards winner, a 2013 AEP Golden Lamp winner, 2014 AEP DAA Winner, and was named in School Library Journal’s 2009 10 Best Digital Resources. It also received a strong review in School Library Journal’s April 2014 issue. The home page for the high school version is a portal with access to various features including current news updates from the New York Times, Recommended U.S. Primary Sources, and a direct search to the biographies section. The search box is at the top of the screen and offers suggested searches. The articles offer a through outline each topic along with multimedia, suggested websites, and related articles. Many of the articles are available in three reading levels, but when the user changes the level the interface looks the same. This is particularly important for ICSB with its many English language learner students and its focus on providing services to students with learning disabilities.
Its many features, along with the ability to accommodate the various reading levels, makes Britannica School High an excellent choice for the ICSB library when helping students beginning their research projects and for keeping up with world news. The authority and long endurance of the Britannica name is something that will help it gain credence with the faculty.
EBSCO. (2015). Explora secondary schools [electronic database]. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/
Availability: Request a quote from EBSCO
URL: http://search.ebscohost.com/ (user ID and password required)
Explora is EBSCO’s new interface for elementary school, high school, and public libraries, which will be replacing some of their older interfaces, such as Student Research Center. The Explora Secondary Schools home page is clean looking with a search box, image carrousel, and portal with suggested topics. Many of the subjects have a topic overview which appears on top in the when the results are sorted by relevance. This helps students gain a general understanding of their topic before they go deeper into their research.
The interface serves as a portal to specific EBSCO databases to which a library subscribes. For ICSB this includes MAS Ultra: School Edition, Health Source: Consumer Edition, Newspaper Source, and Topicsearch which are part of the student section of the UltraOnline package. Together these databases provide a comprehensive overview of the subjects high school students study. The authority of the databases connected to the interface and its content come from EBSCO which is a well know provider of databases, compiled by the company and outside sources. MAS Ultra: School Edition particularly has many well known and respected magazines available in full-text, such as National Geographic (with 3 month delay), Science News, and Time Magazine.
Explora provides the quality, up-to-date information that ICSB high school students need. It can be used to answer in-depth reference questions one-on-one in the library, as well as for classroom instruction when teaching students how to research for their assignments. Explora, when used appropriately by the librarian and teachers will help prepare the students for researching once they reach post-secondary education.
ProQuest. (2015). SIRS issues researcher [electronic database]. Retrieved from www.sirs.com
Availability: Request quote from ProQuest
URL: www.sirs.com (user name and password required)
SIRS Issues Researcher is one of four databases searchable through the ProQuest SIRS Knowledge Source portal. Issues Researcher provides access to pathfinders on hundreds of controversial issues that are of interest to high school students. Laid out in an easy to use format this database makes browsing for topics easy by having four different access points to the information, including groupings by themes and visual browse. Each pathfinder contains a topic overview, pro/con issues that are related to the topic, editorially selected articles, and related subjects. Some subjects have related graphics and links to outside multimedia such as Joshua Goodman’s video “How to Make U.S. Schools Better” on 92 Y On Demand. The full-text articles provided in Issues Researcher come from well-known newspapers and magazines such as the Washington Post, New York Times, and the Economist.
For ICSB students who are researching controversial issues Issues Researcher is the go to source for finding current information in an easy to use format. Yearly, the 9th grade English class is given an assignment to write an argumentative paper on a controversial issue. Issues Researcher is a great place to direct these students to help them discover a topic which they are interested in and provide them with the resources they need in one place without struggling to find appropriate sources using Google.
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