Beyond Boolean: Effective Web Reference Strategies

OverviewAudienceWeb Teacher Tuition & Registration

Web-based (Moodle) course - Register to work -at-your-own-pace anytime

Lectures & Discussions:

The following three activities are inter-related. Please complete them in this order. Be prepared for discussion in course forums.

Return to top

Web-based Readings:

Overview

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.

Audience

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..

Registration & Tuition

Free but Registration is Required - Register anytime to work-at-your-own pace with a Web teacher through e-mail, chat and Moodle.

Return to top

About the Web Teacher
Diane K. Kovacs Picture

Diane K. Kovacs is President of Kovacs Consulting - Internet &Web Training.She has been a Web Teacher and Consultant for nearly 20 years. She designs and teaches Web-based and in-person courses for organizations and individuals including UIUC GSLIS LEEP, ACR, MLA, NEO-RLS, NTRLS, SEFLIN, WNYRLC, and others. Diane has been designing and teaching Web-based and in-person MLA Approved CE Courses since 2001

Her most recent book is The Kovacs Guide to Electronic Library Collection Development: Essential Core Subject Collections, Selection Criteria, and Guidelines, 2nd Edition (2009) Neal-Schuman Publishers. The Virtual Reference Handbook: Interview and Information Delivery Techniques for the Chat and E-Mail Environments Neal-Schuman Publishers (2007) was published concurrently in the United Kingdom by Facet Publishers (2007).

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.

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.

Return to top