Introducing Prospector - The Latest
in Library Research Portal Technology
By Carlos Rodriguez,
Director, Library Information Systems
On August 29 the Library launched
Prospector - a research portal which provides access to the Library’s
databases and electronic resources through a single interface. Prospector includes
many search and personalization features not currently available. It will eventually
replace the current Journal Locator List and Database and Periodical Index page.
Members of the Sac State community will continue to easily find e-resources
and e-journals in ways that they always have from the Library web site, but
now Prospector offers some important enhancements. Prospector allows you to:
- locate resources by name, keyword,
or subject
- locate journals by subject, title
and ISSN
- search across the content of
multiple resources ("cross searching") with a single search
- save and manage search results,
resource sets, and lists of favorite journals and resources
- click on "Find It”
buttons for all search results to locate items online or on the shelves at
the CSUS library
Prospector is available to users
from the Library web site or directly at http://prospector.csus.edu.
However, to take advantage of Prospector’s personalization options, users
are encouraged to log in using their SacLink username and password at the beginning
of each session.
Prospector consists of five research
modules:
Quick Search
- Find articles on a topic by searching
within multiple resources in broad subject areas recommended by CSUS librarians.
Find Resource
- Find and access article databases
and indexes, e-book and e-journal collections, digital collections and many
other electronic resources.
- Search or browse by resource
name, keyword, or subject.
- Connect to the native interface
of the resource when you want to take advantage of the unique search capabilities
of the resource.
- Find and add favorite resources
to your personal lists in the "My Research" module.
Find Journal
- Find and access individual print
and e-journals.
- Search or browse by journal name,
subject or ISSN.
- Find and add favorite journals
to your personal lists in the "My Research" module.
Cross Search
- Find and select up to 10 electronic
resources and search them simultaneously using a common search interface.
- View cross search results by
individual resource or sort by date, author, title and rank.
- Search previously saved sets
of resources in the "My Research" module.
My Research
- Access saved lists of favorite
journals (My Journals).
- Access saved customized sets
of resources (My Resources).
- Access saved links to articles,
books, and other items (My Citations).
- View past searches (Saved Searches).
- Create email alerts that will
run searches automatically and alert you by email when new results match your
search.
- In an increasingly complex and
rich online environment it becomes important for the Library to provide easy-to-use
yet powerful research tools. Prospector is an important next step in the evolution
of online research tools.
The Library will be offering workshops
on using Prospector during the Fall 2005 Semester. Times and dates will be posted
on the Library web site
8/26/2005