Beyond Boolean: Effective Web Reference Strategies
Web-based (Moodle) course - Register to work -at-your-own-pace anytime
The following three activities are inter-related. Please complete them in this order. Be prepared for discussion in course forums.
Learn to use advanced Web search strategies including subject specific databases, directories and electronic library collections, as well as Web-search engines. Basic search skills will be reviewed and discussed. Advanced search skills will be introduced and practiced.
The Web-based activities provide practical experience in comparing and evaluating subject specific databases, directories, e-libraries, and Web search engines in terms of their value in answering real-life reference questions.
This course is intended for people who want to learn to more efficiently use the Web as an information source. It is specifically designed for reference staff who will be using the Web to assist with reference questions.
Participants should know how to use e-mail and a current standard Web Browser, e.g.,Mozilla/Firefox, or Internet Explorer -- current versions are best..
Free but Registration is Required - Register anytime to work-at-your-own pacewith a Web teacher through e-mail, chat and Moodle. Available in 2008
Diane K. Kovacs is President of Kovacs Consulting - Internet & Web Training. She has more than 15 years of experience as a Web Teacher and Consultant. Diane has been designing and teaching Web-based MLA Approved CE Courses since 2001. She also designs and teaches Web-based courses for UIUC GSLIS LEEP, the ACRL, and other organizations.
The Virtual Reference Handbook: Interview and Information Delivery Techniques for the Chat and E-Mail Environments by Kovacs, Diane K. Neal-Schuman Publishers (2007) published concurrently in the United Kingdom by Facet Publishers (2007) The Kovacs Guide to Electronic Library Collection Development: Essential Core Subject Collections, Selection Criteria, and Guidelines by Kovacs, Diane K. & Robinson, Kara L. was published in 2004 by Neal-Schuman Publishers.
Genealogical Research on Web was published in 2002 . How to Find Medical Information on the Internet: A Print and Online Tutorial for the Health Care Professional and Consumer (2000) (Library Solutions Press) and Building Electronic Library Collections: The Essential Guide to Selection Criteria and Core Collections (Neal-Schuman) were both published in 2000.
Diane's first book The Internet Trainer's Guide , was published in 1995. The Internet Trainer's Total Solution Guide was published in 1997. She has also co-authored with her husband Michael Kovacs, Cybrarians Guide to Successful Internet Programs and Services which was published by Neal-Schuman in 1997.
Diane Kovacs is the 2000 recipient of the "Documents to the People" award from the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association. She was also the recipient of the Apple Corporation Library's, Internet Citizen Award for 1992 and was the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science Alumni Association's first recipient of the Leadership Award in 1996. Since 1990 she has been the editor-in-chief of the Directory of Scholarly and Professional Electronic Conferences.
Diane received an M.S. in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois in 1989 and an M.Ed. in Instructional Technology from Kent State University in 1993. She has a B.A. in Anthropology also from the University of Illinois, 1985.
