Check out the new Find It Virginia web site

Check out the new Find It Virginia web site from the Library of Virginia. Find it Virginia is a collection of databases that provide free, 24/7 access to newspapers, magazine and journal articles, and reference books for all age ranges and interests.

Highlights of the new site include custom collections for high school students and adults, including the following:

• The Fine Arts and Music Collection covers arts and the humanities to social sciences, science and technology, across all academic disciplines. Access to many scholarly journals, news magazines, and newspapersincludes full text and images!
• The General Science Collection is composed of nearly 300 predominantly full-text academic journals and general science-focused magazines. It provides coverage of all scientific endeavor, including particle physics, quantum theory, advanced mathematics, and biotechnology.
• The U.S. History Collection provides coverage of the current thinking and events in U.S. History, as well as work being established in the field in over 40 robust and balanced scholarly journals.
• The World History Collection includes nearly 40 predominantly full-text journals, providing balanced coverage of events in World History, useful both to the novice historian and to the advanced academic researcher.
• The Vocations & Careers Collection offers content from over 300 largely full-text sources, providing content from general career guides to highly specialized industry journals.
• The War & Terrorism Collection appeals to researchers and students of history, social science, and current events, who will gain insight into conflicts: their causes, their impact, and how they are perceived on a global scale. Almost 100 full-text periodicals are included, with coverage beginning in 1980.

If you have any questions about the Find It Virginia web site or any other library resources, please call or visit your local branch library or e-mail ask@pamunkeylibrary.org.

A New Look for PowerSearch

Do you use PowerSearch, a great tool that lets you search for information in 12 databases at one time? Now is a great time to check it out, because PowerSearch has a new look and lots of new features, including:

• Custom profile creation, where you can modify the home page so that the topics and publications are fed through RSS feeds directly to the page when you log in. You can also name and save any search.
  
• Web 2.0 sharing tools like Del.icio.us, MySpace, Reddit, Digg, Facebook, Newsvine, Twitter and others that let you share interesting articles with others.
• ReadSpeaker (text-to-speech technology), lets you listen to each article on your computer or you can download its mp3 file to your iPod or other audio device.
• Search results that incorporate images, video and podcasts, as well as text articles
• On-demand translation of articles into 11 different languages.

Look for the PowerSearch box on our home page (under the navigation menu on the left side of the page) or visit Find It Virginia and log in with your library card number. You can also get to PowerSearch through the following databases by clicking on Gale Databases:

• Biography Resource Center
• Business and Company Resource Center
• Child Development*
  
• Computer Database*
• Expanded Academic ASAP*
• Gale Virtual Reference Library*
• General Reference Center Gold*
• Health and Wellness Resource Center and Alternative Health Module
• InfoTrac Junior Edition K-12
• InfoTrac Kid's Edition
• InfoTrac OneFile*
• InfoTrac Religion and Philosophy*
• InfoTrac Student Edition*
• Kids InfoBits - K12
• LegalTrac*
• Literary Criticism Online
• Military & Intelligence Database*
• Professional Collection*
• What Do I Read Next?
• Women in History*

* Searchable with PowerSearch

If you have any questions about PowerSearch or any of our online resources, ask a library staff member or e-mail ask@pamunkeylibrary.org.

Introducing the New eLibrary!

Seek, Learn, and Discover with the new eLibrary

Today, eLibrary introduces a new look and more interactive features. eLibrary is great for looking up articles in magazines & newspapers, audio/video clips, transcripts, maps, and much more! New features include the following:

• Essential Pages centered on the most-studied topics.
• Personal workspaces that incorporate saved lists, note-taking tools, and citation generators
• Custom study units, Lexiles, and translation tools
• Integrated timeline templates, slideshow makers, and lesson plan tools to promote online collaboration and sharing.

You can find eLibrary on our web site on the alphabetical database page (http://www.pamunkeylibrary.org/databases_by_alpha.htm) or the subject page (http://www.pamunkeylibrary.org/databases_by_subject.htm) under "General Reference" or "Magazines and Newspapers." You can also get to these pages on the home page under "Find Magazine Articles & More."

If you have any questions about eLibrary or any of our other databases, call or visit your local branch library or e-mail ask@pamunkeylibrary.org.

Introducing ReadSpeaker

Do you ever wish you could listen to articles online, as well as read them? ReadSpeaker (www.readspeaker.com), a text-to-speech web service from VoiceCorp lets you do just that. And now it's available on our Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) and Kids InfoBits databases.

Kids InfoBits

Gale Virtual Reference Library

There's no need to download any plugin or extra software. You will see a link to the ReadSpeaker player at the top of every article. Just click "Play" or "Download MP3" to hear the full text of the article read aloud. There's also a link to ReadSpeaker Help if you want to find out more about how to use ReadSpeaker or if yu have problems getting it to work. All of the text-to-speech audio is generated mechanically by ReadSpeaker - not prerecorded - and is read back to you by an automated electronic voice. The fluency and clarity of today’s text-to-speech technology sounds much more human, compared with earlier techniques that sounded more robotic.

Don’t forget to have your library card handy when you use the Gale Virtual Reference Library and Kids InfoBits databases from work, home, or school. If you have any questions about any of our online databases or library services, please e-mail ask@pamunkeylibrary.org.

Spotlight on: Teen Health & Wellness

Developed with teens' concerns and perspectives in mind, Teen Health & Wellness provides students with comprehensive curricular support and self-help tools on topics including diseases, drugs, alcohol, nutrition, fitness, mental health, diversity, family life, and more. All content is reviewed by leading professionals in medicine, mental health, nutrition, guidance, and career counseling.

Go to Teen Health & Wellness (you'll need your library card number to log in outside of the library) or check out our other informative online databases.

"New" links to online databases

The library has 36 online databases and resources that cover a wide variety of of subjects from genealogy to health, student research to reader's advisory, and so much more! Getting to these resources just became a little easier.

Previously, for some of our databases, you've been asked to go through Find It Virginia when you're at work, home, or school. Now you can go to the database directly just by entering your library card number when asked.

If you have any questions about our online databases or any other library service, please call (804) 365-6211 or e-mail ask@pamunkeylibrary.org.

Two Exciting Announcements about our Databases

Get in the Games with Biography Resource Center!

With the Summer Olympics just around the corner, you may be looking for information on medal winners and athletes. Did you know Biography Resource Center (BRC) has some great things in store, including:

• Beginning August 8, the opening night of the Beijing Games, the Spotlight on the home page of BRC will focus on Dara Torres, returning to the Games for a record-setting fifth time!
• A new category browse list of Summer Olympic Athletes from the past and present. This list is one click away in the Top 5 Topic box at the upper left of the BRC home page, and includes more than 90 athletes spanning sports and countries. More than a third of those listed are international!
• Updated athlete biographies as medals are recorded.

If you have questions about China, the Games’ host, BRC is your source for biographies of notable Chinese too, from singer A-Mei to 19th century empress Zhi Xi!

The Biography Resource Center is available in the library or from work, home, or school at Find It Virginia.

Consumer Reports – Now with no waiting!

If you are a regular reader of Consumers Union publications on General OneFile and Business & Company Resource Center (in the library or at work, home or school), you may have noticed that you had to wait 90 days before you could read content from the latest issue. Now you can now read current issues as soon as they are released!

Consumers Union (CU) is an expert, independent, nonprofit organization, whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers. Consumers Union publishes Consumer Reports, Consumer Reports on Health, Consumer Reports Money Adviser, ShopSmart Magazine, and Consumer Reports Annual Buying Guide.

Spotlight on eLibrary

eLibrary

Search for magazine articles, newspaper articles, pictures, maps, book excerpts, audio/video clips, and TV or radio transcripts. You can also search by subject heading and search different reference sources by keyword. You can also create bookcarts and quizzes and save search items to lists.

eLibrary is available in the Library and from Work, Home, or School through Find It Virginia.

Spotlight on: Testing and Education Reference Center

Search thousands of college and graduate school entries, identify scholarships, take on-line practice tests and use test prep eBooks, and much more! Now featuring the Postal Worker online practice exams, several Real Estate broker, appraisal, and diagnostic exams, and the new, upgraded Undergraduate College BASIC SEARCH.

Go to the Testing and Education Reference Center (TERC) in the Library or from Work, Home, or School.

See our many other Electronic Resources!

Spotlight on Encyclopedia Britannica Online

Search more than 118,000 articles, updated and revised by Encyclopædia Britannica editors and contributors. Contains over 14,000 illustrations, including photographs, drawings, maps, flags, and video & audio clips. Find more than 215,000 definitions, pronunciation guides, and word histories from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus. Use the Workspace feature to gather material for reports and projects. Get breaking world news and headlines from respected news sources like the BBC and the New York Times.

Go to EB Online in the Library or from Work, Home, or School (You will need your library card number).

Also available: Encyclopedia Britannica Online for Kids, designed for middle school or elementary students and up. You can search the chosen encyclopedia as well as magazines, web sites, and videos. You can also explore learning materials, a dictionary & thesaurus, atlases, timelines, and other features... all at the appropriate grade level.

Go to EB Online for Kids in the Library or from Work, Home, or School (You will need your library card number).

Spotlight on: Health and Wellness Resource Center

Health and Wellness Resource Center

Search for information on fitness, pregnancy, nutrition, diseases, public health, occupational health and safety, substance abuse, prescription drugs, alternative medicine, and more. Included are links to diet, cancer, and health assessment sites, as well as government databases. This resource is intended for informational purposes only. To get to the Health and Wellness Resource Center, go to the library's Electronic Resources page, click on Health, and select either Library or Work, Home, or School. If you are going to this database outside of the library, you will need you library card number to log in.

A New Look for NoveList!

The latest version of NoveList, a reader's advisory database for fiction, includes a fresh, new interface and several exciting features, including a handy single search bar. The link for Novelist is located in the "Books and Literature" section of our Electronic Resources page. You will need your library card, if you are at work, home, or school.

And don't miss the upcoming debut of NoveList Plus, offering all of the features and content you enjoy in NoveList, including non-fiction titles and tools.