Thursday, July 22, 2010

Hey... what happened to Database StartSearch?

If you're accustomed to using Database StartSearch to search multiple databases at once, you're probably wondering what happened to it.

The software we were using, dbWiz, was developed by the library at Simon Fraser University. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, they have decided not to continue developing this software, and it will not longer be available for use in the very near future.

But the news is not all bad...

We are in the process of upgrading our current Guides to Research, as well as developing a number of new ones, using software (called Libguides) that allows us to integrate database search boxes directly into the guides. We can configure these search boxes to search several databases at once, and the benefit of this is that the databases you're searching are the ones that are most relevant to the topic or discipline covered by the guide. Some of these new guides are available now, and all of our current Guides to Research will be converted to this new format and software by September.
As always, we are here to help you with your research ... just Ask a Librarian.

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