LIRN is the Library Information Resources Consortium, which is a group of colleges and universities, who pool their funds to offer a greater range of research materials at a lower cost.
LIRN offers articles in periodicals and academic journals from over 40 databases in various disciplines and professional fields. LIRN provides periodical resources from two major vendors, Gale (InfoTrac) and ProQuest, as well as Credo Reference, and additional resources.
The LIRN periodical articles supplement Google and other major Internet search engines. LIRN provides a greater pix of non-commercial sources, fewer biased sources, and many research articles which have been reviewed by professional colleagues in the authors' academic fields.
You can access LIRN through the Library site in Moodle, through the library web page, or through LIRN's web site on the Internet.
1) After you have logged in to Moodle, you may connect to LIRN, without entering a code, at the Library site in Moodle.
2) You may also go to the library web page, www.lac.edu/library, and click the "LIRN (Periodicals)" link.
3) You can also access the LIRN website the Internet, at http://www.lirn.net/services/classic.
You will reach the LIRN login page. LAC students and faculty may enter the LAC password for LIRN. Press "Submit."
(If no search box to enter a password appears, press "Member Database Access" link near top of LIRN Internet page.)
This is part of the main LIRN menu you will see, after entery to LIRN. To access resources, click on the grey buttons (ie "Connect to Gale InfoTrac," "Connect to ProQuest," etc.), or click on the small "+" links.
II. THE LIRN ARTICLE RESOURCES FOR EACH MAJOR:
You may see the following PowerPoint presentations:
If you can not view the MS PowerPoint presentations, you can review the list posted below or enter LIRN and browse the InfoTrac menus and ProQuest menus in LIRN to decide which resources to use.
1) Business Management
InfoTrac
Business and Company Resource Center
Business Economics and Theory Collection
General Business File ASAP
Newsletters ASAP
ProQuest
ABI/INFORM Dateline
ABI/INFORM Global
ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry
2) Criminal Justice
InfoTrac
Criminal Justice Collection
LegalTrac
3) Health Care Management
4) General Education databases (The relevant resources are listed here.)
5) Reference
The LIRN Internet web site, as well as the InfoTrac and ProQuest database menus each describe each database in more detail.
You may use "LirnSearch" for convenience, to select several resources in LIRN to search at once.
InfoTrac
Health & Wellness Resource Center and Alternative Health Module
Health Reference Center Academic
ProQuest
ProQuest Health and Medical Complete
Nursing & Allied Health Source
ProQuest Research Library
Health Module
InfoTrac
Academic One File
Communications and Mass Media Collection
Custom Newspapers
Environmental Studies and Policy Collection
Expanded Academic ASAP
Fine Arts and Music Collection
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Home Improvement Collection
Informe!
InfoTrac One File
Legal Trac
Literature Resource Center
Opposing Viwpoints Rsource Center
Popular Magazines
Psychology Collection
Student Resource Center Gold
Tourism, Hopitality and Leisure Collection
ProQuest
National Newspaper Abstracts - Includes New York Times
ProQuest Psychology Journals
ProQuest Research Library (In the new platform, modules now appear by subject area.)
Research Library Core
Arts Module
Children's Module
Education Module
General Interest Module
Humanities Module
International Module
Law Module
Military Module
Multicultural Module
Psychology Module
Sciences Module
Social Science Module
Women's Interest Module
eLibrary (NOT Ebrary-- eLibrary is a ProQuest product accessed in LIRN
as a separate item, as eLibrary, in the LIRN menu)
(Reference sources, maps, pictures, newspapers, and transcripts of broadcasts)
Credo Reference
- (Reference Sources Online)
Gale Virtual Reference Library - (Reference sources online)
Use your mouse to place check marks into the little boxes next to several database resources you would like to search. Enter your search terms, and press "Go."
To search inside just one specific database in your field, you can press the "+" button on LIRN's menu.
When you press the grey "Connect to Gale InfoTrac" button, you can search all Gale InfoTrac resources in LIRN, when using "PowerSearch."
As well, when you press the grey "Connect to ProQuest" button, you can search all ProQuest resources in LIRN.
Most LIRN resources use search engines to look for articles on the subject or keyword, which you specify in the search box, such as this one, Academic One File, an InfoTrac resource in LIRN.
Whenever a search page offers an option to place a check mark in "full text," be sure to do it! This way, you can ensure obtaining a complete article, that has enough information to consult for your research reading.
Most of the following examples show searches of ProQuest resources in LIRN, but the procedure is similar to Gale InfoTrac resources in LIRN.
Suppose you have been assigned a research project on the topic,
capital punishment, its legality under the U.S. Constitution, and cruel and unusual punishment.
The first examples show a basic search. Then, an example will show a slightly advanced search.
First, place a check mark for full text before doing anthing else. Then, enter your search words.
As you type your search words into the search box, you will see Google-style subject heading suggestions displayed as you type.
Gale InfoTrac resources in LIRN will have this feature soon. This subject heading feature can often benefit your search and help make it more specific. You can try it first in searches for your own topic. (Note that Google-style subject heading suggestions will only display in ProQuest when "quotes" are not used.)
In the above example, the Google-style subject headings help with pros and cons of capital punishment, but apply to a somewhat different topic and definately a different paper, than capital punishment, the U.S. Constitution, and cruel and unusual punishment. So, this time, they didn't help!
In a case like this, you can put "quote marks" around your search words, if they are an exact phrase, as shown below.
Be sure to mark "full text" again, before you start. Press magnifying glass icon with your mouse (left button) or press "Enter" on your keyboard, to activate the search engine.
Most database search engines in LIRN yield article title results, as shown below, much like an Internet search engine.
If necessary, scroll down to see more results. Use your mouse to move the scroll bar on the right side of the page down. If you do not see a relevant article, cut loose, and perform another search, which is either more specific or broader.
Below is a sample article from one of the title results shown above.
This article happens to relate to the research topic (capital punishement and cruel and unusual punishment), but it's relevant only by chance and luck.
To obtain more relevant search results for your research topic and question, add a second word or phrase to your search, as shown below.
Search this time is "Capital punishment" AND "cruel and unusual punishment."
You'll find more relevant results, after using two or more words or phrases in a more focused search on the topic.
Search yields a relevant article on the research topic.
If you want to browse or search a favorite magazine or journal instead, go here for directions.
Note: Each search interface in LIRN will not have the same exact appearance, nor arrangement.
However, each LIRN database has a place where you may print articles, e-mail articles to yourself or other students, produce citations, or perform other functions. Here is one example from an InfoTrac resource in LIRN:
Please check the following links, which are applicable for some LIRN resource databases.
Searching LIRN Databases (PowerPoint Presentation)
When you need more than one search word - Boolean searching
When you need more than one search word - Proximity searches
Wildcards - How & when to search with stars *
Do you use subject searches or keyword searches? When?
To begin a citation in ProQuest resources in LIRN, press the "Cite this" link directly above the article title.
Use the citation style required by LA College. In ProQuest resources, you can set the drop down menu to the citation style needed.
Many resources in LIRN have an application to produce citations, as shown below. This example shows a Gale InfoTrac resource in LIRN.
Set form for the citation style your instructor requires. Then, press the "save" button. Press "download" when a little window (not shown here) appears.
Citation will appear, as shown below. You can copy and paste citation into your references.
Some other InfoTrac resources in LIRN may provide a citation at the bottom of the article.
When you obtain citations from LIRN, check the citation to conform with the LAC Style Guide. Online students can find the LAC Style Guide in My Tool Kit in Moodle. The LAC Style is similar to the APA, 6th Edition.
Short notes, such as (Hudson, 2009) inside the body of the paper, still have to be created to give credit to the author(s).
Online students may see a tutorial on short notes and citations, "Citations and References Format in Microsoft Word" in My Toolkit in Moodle. Students say it has been a real time-saver!
In ProQuest resources in LIRN, you can save your articles from the tools above the article.
Either mail the article to yourself, print the article, or save the article into your own computer file.
InfoTrac resources in LIRN also allow printing articles, emailing articles, bookmarking, or sharing articles from your research.
Some InfoTrac databases in LIRN locate the functions to print and email articles at the bottom of the page.
VI. HOW TO READ YOUR FAVORITE GENERAL MAGAZINE OR PERIODICAL IN LIRN DATABASES - Step-by-step
Directions to read or browse general interest periodicals in LIRN:
1) Access LIRN at the Library in Moodle, http://lac.mrooms.net/course/view.php?id=7 (or through the Library home page, www.lac.edu/library.) Click the "LIRN (Periodicals)" hyperlink to reach LIRN.
2) To search for a general magazine to browse, find the InfoTrac icon. Press either the grey button, "Connect to Gale Infotrac."
3) For example, click on the link, "Expanded Academic ASAP." ("Academic One file" is also a good place to look.)
5) You will see a new page. Enter the name of periodical you need into the search box.
6) Name of periodical will appear.
Move cursor over the periodical title. Information on periodical will appear.
Click periodical title.
For more information and examples on the LIRN periodical and article resources, please see
LIRN PowerPoint Guide with Animated Illustrations
If you have any questions, call LAC Library at (800) 574-6428, ext. 1718, M-Th
or email library@lac.edu.
6-09-11