Resources of the Week: Free Stuff From Pricey Database Vendors
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor

Since we worship at the Church of Free here on ResourceShelf, we thought we’d take a look at some of the gratis content lurking on database vendor websites. Know of anything good that we missed? E-mail us so we can add it to our list.

We have found that if you’re exploring vendor websites on your own, you’ll often find the good free stuff in the press/media area or possibly in a special area for librarians.

EBSCO
Free Databases
+ LISTA

EBSCO Publishing is proud to provide the Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) database as a free resource to anyone interested in libraries and information management. This world-class bibliographic database provides coverage on subjects such as librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more. Delivered via the EBSCOhost platform, LISTA indexes nearly 600 periodicals plus books, research reports, and proceedings. With coverage dating back to the mid-1960s, it is the oldest continuously produced database covering the field of information science.

+ Teacher Reference Center (TRC)

This index of over 260 titles from the most popular teacher and administrator trade journals, periodicals, and books is now also offered free via the EBSCOhost platform. This database provides coverage on key education topics such as Assessment, Continuing Education, Current Pedagogical Research, Curriculum Development, Instructional Media, Language Arts, Literacy Standards, Science & Mathematics, and more for K-12 Teachers & Librarians.

Suggested Reading

EBSCO actively researches issues that affect the professional library community. Scroll through the links below to find articles and other suggested reading materials from respected authorities.

Library Marketing Tools

The changing landscape of librarianship demands a wide selection of approaches to promote library resources. Our offerings will help librarians reach out to customers, e.g., faculty, communities, students, managers, and administrators.

–
Elsevier
Library Connect
Monthly newsletter and “Practical Assistance Pamphlets”
Selected titles:
+ How Libraries Are Training Users on E-resources: Best Practices
+ How to Design Library Websites to Maximize Usability
+ How to Get Published in LIS Journals: A Practical Guide
Also, free librarians trivia screen saver (for OS X and Windows)

–
Factiva
White Papers and Case Studies (PDFs; free registration required)
Selected titles:
+ Quality Information Finds Prospects: How to Close Deals Faster with Timely Information
+ Best Practices in Media Measurement
+ Tracking the Influence of Conversations: A Roundtable Discussion on Social Media Metrics and Measurement

–
LexisNexis (Reed Elsevier)
Featured Topics

The LexisNexis® Featured Topics provide you with the latest survey findings, white papers and web site resources provided by our company. The survey findings and white papers can be downloaded for your reference.

Selected titles:
+ Delivering ROI is Information Professionals’ Top Priority for the Future
+ Maximizing Value of Corporate Intranets and Internets
+ Identity Fraud: A Critical National and Global Threat

–
Proquest
+ Library Marketing Kit
+ Also offers free access to databases for library students

–
Thomson Gale
+ Market Your Library
Free resources aimed at school, public and special libraries.
+ Extensive glossary of literary terms
+ Thomson Gale Reference Reviews Archive

The Reference Reviews Archive includes the reviews of James Rettig, Peter Jacso, Blanche Woolls, David Loertscher and John Lawrence.

–
Thomson Healthcare
White Papers
Selected titles:
+ Harnessing the Power of Clinical Decision Support to Improve Healthcare Outcomes
+ From Information to Action: Empowering Patients with Education to Improve Outcomes
+ Increasing the Safety and Cost-Effectiveness of Medication Use Through Clinical Decision Support

–
Thomson Pharma
+ The Ones to Watch

Now, and every quarter, Thomson Scientific takes the pulse of the industry with this lively free review of the latest phase changes in the pharmaceutical pipeline.

In The Ones To Watch you’ll get expert insight into the five most promising drugs:
* reaching the market
* entering Phase III trials
* entering Phase II trials
* entering Phase I trials

+ Register to receive notice of other free content, including “news of our latest releases, expert free reports you can download, and advice on how to get the most out of your Thomson data solution.”

–
Thomson Scientific
SCI-BYTES: What’s New in Research

Each week, the Research Services Group of Thomson Scientific provides an update based on Essential Science Indicators and their Research Performance & Evaluation Tools. In addition, !QUICK SCIENCE! is a weekly quick look at a specific area of research science. Each link opens a pop-up window to read, and easily close when you finish reading.

RSS feed available

–
Thomson West
Many topical free e-mail newsletters
Selected titles:
+ Quinlan Education Law
+ Quinlan Grants for Cities and Towns
+ The Estate Planner

This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 7:09 am and is filed under Information Industry, Resource of the Week, Source File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.