Trainer script for Career/Business Class
Midwest Collaborative for Library Services, MeL Training Materials
Revised April 2012 SR
Contents |
CLASS DESCRIPTION
Use MeL to find career and job information for students who are preparing for their first careers or for adults who are changing careers. Get tips on SIRS Discoverer, see tests and tutorials in LearningExpress Library. Review how to use General Reference Center Gold to find full text journals. Learn how to guide your patrons through Jobs and Career Accelerator. Learn to use Business and Company Resource Center for very specific business research and articles. Become familiar with Small Business Resource Center. Try MeLCat as a convenient means of borrowing books within Michigan and briefly explore the MeL Business and Jobs Gateway for Internet sources.
Career awareness is a curriculum focus in the K12 curriculum in Michigan. Please see:
PREREQUISITE: None, but please be aware that the goal of this class is to highlight specific information within the databases listed, so some familiarity with searching MeL is desirable.
Trainer – this is a good opportunity to point out the other MeL classes we have available.
NOTE: Library of Michigan has a page with workforce development links and information that libraries can use on their own websites:
[[1]]
http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,4615,7-140-54504_18668_58063---,00.html
TYPICAL REFERENCE QUESTIONS
1. Ask each person to give one reference question they might get regarding careers or business.
If you have a really quiet group, these are actual reference questions collected at one library over a week:
- I need to make a resume, and I don't know how. Can you help me?
- I am recently divorced. I am Korean, and I don't speak English very well (written in a note to us). I am a seamstress, but I will do anything. Where are the big employers?
- Do you have practice tests for ACT, ASVAB, CLEP, GRE , GED?
- How can I find the best pre-dental programs?
- Do you have stuff on SWAT teams or bomb squad people? What they do? (from a 6th grader)
- I am starting a cleaning business. Do I need a business plan? Can you show me one? Is there money for me to start my business? Do you have books that give tips on how to run a cleaning business? What if I hire people…how do I pay taxes? Do I need insurance? Do I have to register somewhere? Are there licenses?
- Where are job listings on the Internet?
- How do I apply for a job on the computer? This company says that you can only apply online for a clerk job (at a sporting goods store). After looking into it, the librarian discovered that the person applying had to have an email address to apply for this just-over minimum wage job. The patron (50 plus man) was an experienced sporting goods salesman with no computer experience.
- I am looking for an internship for the summer in politics or public policy.
SIRS DISCOVERER DELUXE
1. Go to mel.org, then to MEL DATABASES. Scroll down and click on SIRS DISCOVERER DELUXE.
2. SIRS Discoverer is a database for students (generally thought of for grades K-9), and it provides a lot of career information. Suggest that SIRS Discoverer might also be useful for patrons with language or reading difficulties; staff may want to consider printing articles for them because the reading levels will be easier for them to handle compared to some of the other sources in MeL.
3. Go to the HOME PAGE and click on SCIENCE in the Subject Tree (middle of the page). Point out the topics/subtopics on the right side of the screen and have the class click on CAREERS IN SCIENCE. Look at the results list. Pick an article and click on the title to get to the text. Point out the email box at the top left. Patrons would use the Print icon underneath the email box to print the article. Point out the yellow apple icon for SUBJECTS.
GENERAL REFERENCE CENTER GOLD
General Reference Center Gold (GRCG) is taught in detail in our Essentials A class, so please mention that. Today, we are just going to remind folks of what types of material they will find in it. GRCG is a good database for most users and will provide magazine, newspapers, and reference results. For patrons who want more results or higher level journals, suggest that they use Academic OneFile. The search techniques are the same.
Click on GENERAL REFERENCE CENTER GOLD. Point out that the default is to Keyword search. Have the class type urban farming in the search box, then do the search. Point out the list of related terms on the left side – depending on the search you do, sometimes that list is helpful, sometimes it is not.
Have the class click on BROWSE SUBJECTS (up to the left in the banner), then type jobs in the search box and do the search. Now look at the list of formal subject headings that displays, with the “see” reference to Occupations. Have the class click on OCCUPATIONS. Point out the small plus mark to the left of Occupations. Have them click on that PLUS SIGN to break out the subdivisions. These are very helpful for patrons who need to focus a search. Have the class scroll down and click on FORECASTS AND TRENDS. Give them a few minutes to look at the results list.
Point out the Translate function that is available while viewing the full text of an article. Let the class select one of the eleven languages from the drop down menu and view the translated article. You may also want to point out the Citation Tools function.
LEARNINGEXPRESS LIBRARY
revised April 2012 SR
Click on LEARNINGEXPRESS LIBRARY.
LearningExpress Library provides hundreds of practice tests, ranging from elementary skills development to AP tests, to graduate school entrance exams, to civil service, to licensing exams of various types. LearningExpress Library also contains ebooks and tutorials. We teach LearningExpress Library in more detail in Essentials B. The ACT is popular with K12 audiences!
It is very important to understand and explain to patrons that LearningExpress Library requires users to set up a personal account, called My Center. This is because personal test data is stored for future completion and review. There is no way around this. Period.
Please recommend that patrons set up their My Center account with their complete email address as the username and the email password as the password.
Example:
username: superpatron@bestlibrary.org
password: reader
Do not have people set up accounts using a library barcode, even if it prompts for that. It just doesn’t work for MeL. If patrons forget what username/password they set up, we cannot retrieve the information for them; they will just have to set up a new account and start over (that’s OK to do, but they will not be able to access previous test data).
If a library purchases tests beyond what is available in MeL, we recommend that the patrons set up accounts while at the library, which will then link the personal account to that larger list of tests.
Explain that we are not going to take time to complete an entire test in this class; we are going to quickly demonstrate how to navigate the site and talk about some troubleshooting tips for library staff to work with patrons.
NOTE: THIS SECTION IS UNDER GOING REVISION 4/2012 sr
To see what is available, have the class members select the CLICK HERE TO BROWSE THE COMPLETE LIST OF LEARNING CENTERS link in the middle of the screen and give them a couple of minutes to look things over. Point out again that there are tests for K12 students and for many different adult information needs, including U.S. Citizenship, English as a second language (listed as TOEFL iBT Preparation under College Preparation), Civil Service, many Skills Improvements, AP, GED, GRE, and various licensing exams. There is also a group of “eBooks” which are in PDF format (we will not stress those in this class, but people can look at them later).
Have each person click on the GED PREPARATION section and select one test that seems like something a patron in their library would be able to use. There are usually at least 2 tests offered. Click on ADD TO MY CENTER. Point out that the screen has text explaining the next steps.
More than one person at a time may use a specific test.
If a person has tried tests in the past, a record shows up of what they have completed. People can ignore the expiration dates. Have the class click on START THIS TEST NOW, then point out that there are more directions/instructions to review and another START to click. For today’s purposes, have each person answer just one question.
If a library has time limits on computer use, please point out that a user can pause a test and come back to finish it later by simply clicking on FINISH LATER at the top of the page.
Look for the SCORE MY TEST button at the top. Point out how many times they have to click the Score My Test button to finally get it to be scored. Keep going until the test is scored.
Explain that once a user really finishes a test, the results displayed in My Center will make more sense than this example today. Look at the blue results box.
Point out the VIEW ANSWERS button at the bottom and have them click on that. This is where users can really learn what they did right or wrong – the explanations of the correct answer are very helpful.
Have the class members find the LOGOUT link at the top and log off. If users don’t log off after each session, it can leave annoying and complicating temporary cookies and other bothersome files that may interfere with future access. Signing out is an important step to remember, please.
JOBS AND CAREER ACCELERATOR (JCA)
revising April 2012 SR
SMALL BUSINESS RESOURCE CENTER
SMALL BUSINESS RESOURCE CENTER (GALE) revised April 2012 SR
Description from Gale: Search this database to learn how to start, finance or manage your small business. Resources include sample business plans, how to guides, articles and websites.
With the current economic climate in Michigan, the emphasis on entrepreneurship, and business start-ups, this should be a very useful database. Its interface is clean and intuitive to use.
Point out the statement on the bottom of the screen that indicates how many articles are being searched and the last date this was updated.
For a person who doesn’t do a lot of database researching, the four buttons on the right side of the screen will very helpful:
Business topics Business types Sample business plans How to….
Click on each one of these in turn to show what can be found.
First, Business topics. Perhaps I want to know more about e-commerce. Click on that topic to show what type of results can be found. Point out the tabs that organized results by “type.” Point out that each resource has basic citation information. Point out that there are related subject terms on the left: each of these would execute a new search. We will look at some full text resources later.
Find the small link for Basic search in the top left corner and click on it to get back to the main screen. Next click on the Business types button. Perhaps I want to open a gift shop and need information on that type of business. Click on Gift shop in the list. Point out that the results look just like our previous results screen.
Again, get back to the main screen, then click on Small business plans. This is VERY important for any small business owner or anyone hoping to start a business. Many do not have a plan, and this is a great place to find many samples. Point out that these are drawn from a reference book, Business Plan Handbook, but they are “real” plans from many different types of businesses.
Finish this section by going back to the main screen and clicking on How to. This is another great section where small business owners (or “wanna be’s”) can find really helpful information. If I were the one organizing the page, I think I would even put this button on the top. Show what topics are available, then click on any one of them to show what’s in it.
Get back to the main page so we can demonstrate more detailed searching features.
The Basic Search defaults to a keyword search. This is probably the most useful search for most users, but there are radio buttons to switch to Subject or Entire Document. The full text box is not checked, so we probably want to have most users check that since full text is the most popular limiter.
There are also options to limit the search by date range using the drop down menus, a radio button to limit to resources with images, and a box to limit to a specific publication.
We are going to do a simple search.
Type SAFETY in the search box and check the box for full text, then do the search. Have the class look at the results screen with things divided into tabs according to type of resource. Let them look at the types of resources behind each tab. You can take a few minutes doing this. This is a good search because all types of resources are found.
After looking at each tab, go back to the Overviews tab and click on the article on Employee Rights. Point out that our search term, safety, is in red so that we can easily find the most pertinent sections of the article.
Finally, point out the gold bar on the left with many different related subject headings. Each of these would execute a new search, and it is a helpful way for users to find related information if the start out with a simple term. For example, since we searched just for the word “safety,” we might be interested in clicking on the related search for “Safety Shoes.”
Now, we’ll do a Subject search. From anywhere in the database, we can simply look for the pale blue bar across the top and click on Subject Guide. Once we have that page, type “concession stand” in the box and do the search. Point out that the guide helps us by showing us the precise subject heading we should use, Event Concessions. Click on that link.
Our results for this search are limited in number, but the articles are quite good. Click on each tab to show what we found.
Then look on the left side of the screen and point out that there are 3 buttons for broader, narrower, and related terms. In this case, one button is grayed out, but explain that this would be another way for a user to expand or narrow a search.
Finally, let’s demonstrate a publication search. Someone starting up a business may not know the title of a specific journal, but would definitely want to know about marketing techniques, so just type “marketing” in the search box and do the search. Point out the list of sources that have the word marketing in the title. They are not all journals – some are handbooks, some are one-time reports, etc.
Click on Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, then show how to use the drop down menu to select a year. Next, select an issue and show the table of contents. If you want to, you can show the full text.
Ask if there are any questions about Small Business Resource Center.
BUSINESS AND COMPANY RESOURCE CENTER
1. This is a huge database that “bundles” a great deal of information for our users.
BCRC does not yet use the PowerSearch platform. (Eventually all the business databases from Gale will migrate to PowerSearch, but for now we will teach what we have).
There are some optional modules that libraries can purchase for BCRC, but MeL did not purchase them. MeL will not have PROMPT, nor will it have InvestextPlus.
MeL’s BCRC will have the basic Investext, which we will explain and demonstrate during the class.
2. Gale describes BCRC this way:
“Business and Company Resource Center is a fully integrated resource bringing together company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies, and periodicals. Search this database to find detailed company and industry news and information.”
3. So what does this mean for MeL? Basically, this is the largest business database we have. Even though General BusinessFile ASAP is on an old platform, it does allow the advantage of the cross-search options from Gale, but BCRC has broader and more detailed coverage.
BCRC has industrial encyclopedias, industry overviews, Business Rankings Annual, Market Share Reporters, and both SIC and NAICS code searches for companies and industries.
Most users will probably find more information using BCRC than in the other business databases.
4. Point out the features of the home page:
- The simple search box which defaults to a Company Search (the drop down menu also has options for Industry Description or Articles searches, like the large buttons).
- There are also helpful text links in the dark top banner.
- The four large buttons offer specific search options with more limiters possible than the simple search box offers. We will demo those in a bit.
5. Type Meijer in the simple search box, leave it set to the default of COMPANY SEARCH, and do the search. You should have several companies listed. Point out that only 2 tabs are lit up at this point. Click on the MEIJER GREAT LAKES L.P. in Grand Rapids.
Point out the type of information found for the company in this entry: address, business names, SIC/NAICS codes with active links to related resources, statistical information, contact information, officers.
6. Next,look at the tabs at the top. These will vary from company to company, depending on what content is available for Gale to use. Click on RANKINGS. Show the types of information available to compare Meijer to its competitors. Click on the first entry and review the information on this page. Point out the Print and E-mail buttons in the top left corner.
7. Find the small button just below the banner and click on the COMPANY button. This will bring up a search screen with more limiters available. Type pop tarts in the Product/Brand Type box, then do the search. Let them look at the types of articles listed.
8. Click on the COMPANY button again, just below the banner. Type LEA in the box for Company Name or Ticker Symbol (LEA is Lear Corp’s trading symbol), and do the search, then click on LEAR CORP., which should be the first entry. Let them look at the entry. Point out the text links along the left side (we won’t take time to look at those right now, but know that they are available and that they break the material into subcategories). Next, point out the tabs that are now active at the top. Click on HISTORIES and scan the long article that displays.
9. Next, click on the FINANCIALS tab. There are four tabs and three radio buttons for the knowledgeable searcher to select. Searchers can also change the date of the information using the drop down menus. At the upper right, there is an Export button.
10. Click on the ADVANCED SEARCH tab at the top near the banner. Point out how many limiting options are available on this page.
The first box has a drop down menu to select the type of resources (Content Area) searched. Let them look at the types of choices, then change it to FINANCIALS. Type GOOG in the box and do the search. (GOOG is the ticker symbol for Google).
Show the type of information that can be viewed by clicking on various tabs. Give the class a few minutes to view what you are showing. Remind them that, as library staff, we are not giving financial advice, but we can certainly find solid information for patrons to use!
Point out the wide variety and depth of information about business and industry that we have seen while working in the BCRC.
MELCAT
1. Go to mel.org, then click on the MELCAT link. If you are teaching a group from MeLCat libraries, you don’t need to spend a lot of time talking about this because they already know what a great resource it is. However, we should demonstrate it for those who have not yet realized how much is available if they join.
Do a Keyword search for employment interview* (be sure to include the *). Let the class look through the results list to see the wide variety of materials available.
2. Explain that if a library has questions about joining MeLCat, the Director can contact the MeLCat Implementation staff at MCLS. Email melcathelp@mcls.org or go to:
MEL GATEWAYS
1. Have the class go to mel.org, then click on BUSINESS AND JOBS GATEWAY.
2. Have them click on JOBS AND CAREERS. Give the class a few minutes to look at some of the sites in this section.
Have them go back to the BUSINESS AND JOBS GATEWAY and click on BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DATA. Again, give them some time to look at the types of site located in this section.
We expect that the Business and Jobs Gateway will be one section of MeL that is going to grow significantly because MeL is committed to supporting the business community in these tough economic times. Explain to the class that they can look forward to more links in this gateway.
WRAPPING UP AND EVALUATIONS
Have the class quickly look back through the list of questions you collected at the beginning of the class and decide if they now have sources to help patrons answer most of those questions.
Point out other MeL classes that are free for Michigan library staff at:
Remind the class about MCLS workshops and special programs:
Point out how to contact the MeL Databases support staff at MCLS:
Point out the group email for:
- meldatabaseshelp@mcls.org
Remind the class to sign up for the MeL Databases listserv:
Have the class fill out the evaluation form.
