Electronic Library Resources

What is Electronic Library Resources?

Electronic Library Resources is a link to a collection of academic research materials. It includes access to the PHSC Catalog along with other research tools. These include access to the A-Z Databases provided by the State of Florida electronic databases (a collection of data organized in a way to find specific information in the contents – may be created either in hard copy or electronic) and e-journals. 

For the most part, the Electronic Library Resources consist of electronic versions of newspapers, magazines, books and journals that were originally published in hard-copy versions. They are delivered through subscription services.

The Electronic Library Resources also includes online encyclopedias such as Funk and Wagnall’s New World Encyclopedia and a number of online only resources.

Databases such as America’s News and Academic Search Complete are made available through subscription services such as EBSCO and Newsbank.

Some databases collect articles from various publications. America’s News has articles from various newspapers around the country. 

Once you have selected a source it is important to understand exactly what you are looking at. In the Electronic Library Resources, there is an A-Z list of databases along with the subscription service that provides them.

When you are doing your Works Cited or other bibliography if using a different style such as APA, you will need to know the author, title of the article, name of the magazine, newspaper, or journal it was originally printed in, the publication information or URL and date.

All PHSC students have access to our electronic library resources. There is a direct link from within Canvas. From the Modules page, click Electronic Library Resources on the left sidebar. You then click on the blue button that says "open on another page."

Working with the Electronic Library Resources can be challenging until you get used to it. The different subscription services have different search engines.  It is important to see how the Search page is organized to properly filter prospective sources. Become familiar with the organization of the Electronic Library Resources.

The subject list is a good place to start to search all databases that might have information on your topic. Look carefully to see what information is asked for on the page. Use the little arrows to scroll for choices where indicated.

Be sure to check "Full Text" when available. Not all databases have the full text of the article.

Be sure to limit the dates of sources to get the most recent information when appropriate. Information on some topics could easily be outdated very quickly.

Keywords may be different in different databases. Be sure to use limitations and specifics when possible. For example, a search for the keyword "Atlantis" could result in sources on the resort and the movie in addition to the legend of the lost continent of Atlantis. A better keyword might be "Plato’s Atlantis" or "Lost Continent of Atlantis." While some search systems anticipate a range of possibilities, others require some trial and error searching.

The use of quotation marks tells the search engine to find both words together. For example, a search of the keywords Egyptian mummies could yield sources for mummies from South America and elsewhere, but “Egyptian mummies” should give results only for mummies that are Egyptian.

Remember that a Boolean search could be helpful. Boolean words are AND, OR and NOT. Note that they are capitalized. Some search engines will automatically insert the Boolean AND when there are two keywords entered, but sometimes you could try to include them on your own. If you wanted information on all mummies except Egyptian mummies, you could search mummies NOT Egyptian.

Filtering is critical to find sources both in the databases and in any internet research.

Remember that the Electronic Library Resources are set up so that you can search by specific database listed alphabetically, by category in the Subject list and also by database type (i.e. digital or video databases, etc.)