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    Comparison of Agricultural Database Subject Overlap
    (2018-05-15) Ritchie, Stephanie
    Agricultural researchers and science librarians must understand which research literature databases provide the most comprehensive coverage of agricultural subjects to support research inquiries. Once the domain of a few specialized databases, agricultural research literature is now covered by broad, multidisciplinary databases. The purpose of this study was to determine the most comprehensive database(s) for agricultural literature searching in terms of the scope of agricultural subject content provided by each database. We compared eight databases that cover a sample set of agricultural research literature for a range of agricultural sub-topics to determine how much overlap exists and which database(s) best support discovery of agricultural research literature. We found that the multidisciplinary databases provided the most comprehensive coverage and that one of the agriculture specific databases matched the coverage provided by the multidisciplinary databases. This study will help researchers and librarians determine where to invest their effort and resources when looking to find agricultural research content.
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    Comparison of Agricultural Database Subject Scope Overlap
    (2018-02-15) Ritchie, Stephanie
    Technology to provide access to research literature in the sciences is evolving at the same rapid pace as most information technology innovations. Once the domain of a few specialized databases, much research literature is now covered by broad, multidisciplinary databases. In this changing landscape, how do researchers and librarians know which existing and new tools best serve information needs? A study to determine the most comprehensive database(s) for agricultural literature searching, in terms of the scope of agricultural subject content provided by each database, was developed to help answer this question for the agricultural and related sciences. We compared eight databases that cover a sample set of agricultural research literature for a range of agricultural sub-topics to determine how much overlap exists and which database(s) best support discovery of agricultural research literature. We found that the multidisciplinary databases provided the most comprehensive coverage, but also that one of the agriculture subject specific databases matched the coverage provided by the multidisciplinary databases. In addition to comparing the subject coverage of each database, we explored data visualizations tools developed for other disciplines to determine if they could be used to display associations between the eight databases. A couple network visualizations tools including Cytoscape, helped produce figures to illustrate the connections between the sample set of literature and each database, as well the databases relative to each other. This study will help researchers and librarians determine where to invest their effort when looking to find agricultural research content.
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    Can Google Scholar Give Us Everything We Need? Evaluation of Research Literature Databases for Subject Scope and Search Retrieval in the Sciences
    (2017-06-08) Ritchie, Stephanie
    Prompted by changes to the creation and indexing of scientific literature and those databases that compile this literature, an evaluation and comparison of eight databases (AGRICOLA, AGRIS, BIOSIS, CABI, FSTA, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science) for their breadth of subject scope and effectiveness in search result retrieval for the agricultural sciences was conducted over the past year. In one study, we evaluated the databases for subject scope in agricultural literature. Thirty citations from three large literature reviews in different domains of agricultural science (agronomy, animal and meat science, and human nutrition) were randomly selected and searched in each database. In a second study, we evaluated the quality of the search of these eight databases by conducting a series of searches for the three domains of agricultural research to test the retrieval of content and examine the first 100 results for relevance. A reexamination of the subject scope and search quality of the major agricultural sciences databases will help determine which of these database tools are most useful for agricultural research.
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    Science information literacy and the role of academic librarians
    (Chandos Publishing/Elsevier, 2015-07) Baykoucheva, Svetla
    Teaching information literacy is a major responsibility for subject/liaison librarians, but advances in information-retrieval systems, such as improved natural language searching and Semantic Web, could significantly change the role librarians play in this area. This chapter examines the future of information literacy and how librarians could redefine their role by expanding it to include management of scientific information and research data, different instruction formats, and new approaches for assessing student learning. This will make library instruction a much more appealing, engaging, and useful experience for students and researchers. Responding to the needs of a generation born into a digital culture will require that librarians learn new skills and play new roles in supporting the educational and research goals of their institutions be redefined.
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    Selecting a Database for Drug Literature Retrieval: A Comparison of MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science
    (Routledge, 2010) Baykoucheva, Svetla
    Three widely used databases—MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science—were compared for their relative ability to retrieve the largest number of articles within the drug literature, using three search terms: two for specific drugs (atorvastatin and olanzapine) and one for a major class of drugs (statins). These drugs and the class of drugs were chosen for their longevity and continued high clinical and scientific interest, as indicated by the many articles concerning them published in scholarly and professional journals over the last two decades. Significant differences were observed in the journal coverage and the number of documents each database retrieved, with Scopus significantly outperforming the other two databases in these respects. Based on the results from this limited but by no means atypical study of comparative strengths and degree of coverage, the best option for retrieving the largest numbers of articles on a particular drug in the literature would be to use both Scopus and Web of Science, as these two databases complement each other with respect to the journal coverage. MEDLINE retrieved much smaller numbers of documents in all searches and should be used only when the other two databases are not available.