Sample Searches

Professional Collection Sample Searches

Professional Collection is a custom database of more than 300 full-text journals for educators, covering the areas of arts and humanities, child and adolescent pschology and development, drug and alcohol abuse, health/nutrition/fitness, learning disabilities, literature, school law, science and technology, social sciences and sports/athletic training.

Search 1:

A reference librarian from the Williamstown Public Library was trying to help a patron locate an article from The Banker dealing with the subject of a cashless society. The patron was certain that the article was published sometime between 1999 and 2003.

Solution:

1. Opened Professional Collection and went to the "Advanced search" page.
2. Entered "(su econom*) and (ke cashless)" in the entry box.
3. Limited search by checking the "to articles with text" box, entering "1999-2003" in the "by date" entry box and entering "The Banker" in the "to the following journal(s)" entry box.
4. Clicked on the "Search" button and retrieved the desired article:

Do we need a cashless society? (Brief Article) Graham Newall.
The Banker (ISSN: 0005-5395) Nov 2000 v150 i897 p7

Search 2:

A library school student using Professional Collection wanted to find some full-text articles on the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) published in 2003.

Solution:

1. Opened Professional Collection and went to the "Keyword search" page.
2. Entered "CIPA" in the entry box and searched for words "in title, citation, abstract".
3. Limited search by checking the "to articles with text" box and entering "2003" in the "by date" entry box.
4. Clicked on the "Search" button and retrieved 15 articles.

Search 3:

A high school librarian using Professional Collection wanted to find articles dealing with the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Solution:

1. Opened Professional Collection and went to the "Keyword search" page.
2. Entered "Second Amendment" in the entry box and searched for words "in title, citation, abstract".
3. Limited search by checking the "to articles with text" box.
4. Clicked on the "Search" button and retrieved more than 20 articles.

Search 4:

A student majoring in political science was working on a term paper about the social aspects of political correctness. She wanted to find some articles in Professional Collection to help her get started.

Solution:

1. Opened Professional Collection and went to the "Subject guide search" page.
2. Entered "political correctness" and limited search by checking the "to articles with text" box.
3. Clicked on the "Search" button and retrieved more than 30 articles.
4. Clicked on the "Narrow" button and then the "social aspects" button.
5. Retrieved were five articles that fulfilled the search request.

Search 5:

A user of Professional Collection wanted to find full-text, refereed articles dealing with biometric identification.

Solution:

1. Opened Professional Collection and went to the "Advanced search" page.
2. Entered "(ke biometric*) and (ke ident*)" in the entry box.
3. Limited search by checking the "to articles with text" and "to refereed publications" boxes.
4. Clicked on the "Search" button and retrieved seven articles that fulfilled the user's search request.