SIRS Discoverer

Midwest Collaborative for Library Services, MeL Training Materials

SIRS Discoverer

reviewed 7/09 SR

Since we teach this database in our MeL for Kids class, we are just going to remind people here that it is very appropriate to use with Teens and well as with younger students. The reading/Lexile levels are very useful, especially for students who may struggle with reading and comprehension.

Most librarians are probably familiar with it, but for today, just have them open it from the databases list. If they are not, explain that the layout and functionality of the search page is very similar to Renaissance, which they will see next. If they want more information, point them to the wiki page for the Kids' class.

(http://www.mcls.org/wiki/index.php/MeL_Databases_for_Kids)

Point out the search box, the Subject Tree for browsing a topic, WebFind, and the Database Features section, which should not be missed.

Give them 5 minutes to play with the database. No exercises for this one.