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LIBR 2100 Course Materials [ORIGINAL]]

Overview of Novanet Discovery

What is Novanet Discovery?

Novanet Discovery is the library catalogue shared by all the Novanet libraries (University and NSCC libraries across the province). Novanet Discovery provides a simple way to broadly search for all kinds resources held by all of the Novanet libraries. From one place, you can search across many disciplines, libraries and sources: books, videos, articles, theses, book reviews, conference proceedings, technical reports, and more.

Advantages of Novanet Discovery

Benefits (Pros) include:

  • searching a broad range of disciplines and all the Novanet libraries in one search
  • search using natural language (unlike databases); Novanet Discovery is very good at matching long strings of text
  • advanced searching using the AND, OR, NOT Boolean operators (just like databases)

Disadvantages of Novanet Discovery

Disadvantages (Cons) include:

  • showing results from all libraries means a lot of results; these can be overwhelming at first and must be narrowed down using limiters
  • the advanced search is not complex (limited to 3 fields)
  • content from other Novanet libraries is included in the results but may not be available to Mount users. This is particularly the case for e-books to which the Mount may not subscribe. (Though you can request chapters via document delivery.)
  • not all content from all Novanet libraries is included in the results

Video Overview: Finding Books Using Novanet

Simple Searching in Novanet Discovery

If you don't have a well-developed idea or question, you can search very simply in Novanet Discovery. Just type one or more words you are looking for and click the Search button. Novanet assumes you are searching for all the words you enter.
 
In this example electric cars
Screenshot of Novanet discovery tool. With a simple search, Novanet will find results containing all the words you enter

On the wireless network or off-campus, you will be prompted to login using your Mount credentials (the same as for Moodle)

This is the least sophisticated search in Novanet, so expect lots of results.

 
By default, Novanet Discovery returns results from a wide variety of sources (books, articles, videos, newspapers, dissertations, even microform). By default Novanet Discovery sorts the results by relevance. A complex algorithm, or formula, determines the best matches and lists them first.
Screenshot of 28,688 results for a simple search "electric cars" ranked by relevance in a variety of formats

Natural Language Searching in Novanet

Visit the Mount Library website. The default search on the main page is Novanet Discovery.

Our sample research topic is What is the environmental impact of electric cars?

You can search Novanet Discovery using natural language, using words as they are spoken or written, such as the full sentence.

Screen shot of natural language searching using the question: What's the environmental impact of electric cars?

Natural language searching is possible in Novanet Discovery, but is really a starting point to determine if there are materials available on a topic. Using phrase and subject searching may be more efficient, as shown in the next lessons.

Be sure to login using your Mount credentials when prompted (i.e. if you are on the Mount wireless network or off-campus); this enables you to view the articles that are gathered from Mount Library databases and shown in Novanet Discovery.

By default, Novanet Discovery returns results from a wide variety of sources (books, articles, videos, newspapers, dissertations, even microform). By default Novanet Discovery sorts the results by relevance. A complex algorithm, or formula, determines the best matches and lists them first.

Screen shot of natural language search: sorted by relevance and including a variety of formats

Video: Natural Language Search in Novanet

This video shows an example of natural language searching (entering sentences as spoken or written) in Novanet Discovery.

Natural language searching is possible in Novanet Discovery, but is really a starting point to determine if there are materials available on a topic. Using phrase and subject searching may be more efficient, as shown in the next lessons.

The sample research question for these examples is What is the environmental impact of electric cars?

 

Phrase Searching in Novanet

To search for a phrase (words in the exact order), put quotation marks around the phrase. It's possible to combine words and phrases in a Novanet Discovery search. If you do not use quotes, Novanet Discovery will find items that contain the individual words, but not necessarily in the order you specified.

E.g.,

global warming finds the words global and warming anywhere in the items

"global warming" (with the quotation marks) finds only items containing the exact phrase in that order.

In our example, let's compare the difference between searching for electric cars versus "electric cars"

First, conduct a simple search for electric cars in Novanet Discovery:

Screen shot for Novanet Discovery search for keywords: electric car

There are over 28,000 results.

Screen shot of simple keyword search showing  over 28,000 results

Next, conduct a New Search and search for "electric cars" in quotation marks.

The New Search link is at the top of the Novanet Discovery screen.

Screen shot showing the New Search link at the top of the Novanet Discovery screen

screen shot of Novanet Discovery search of the phrase "electric car" in quotes

Now there are just over 2,500 results.

Phrase searching is a way to make your searches more focused. Note that its success depends on knowing the correct phrase to use!

Screen shot of search for the phrase "electric car" showing 2,543 results.

Video: Phrase Searching in Novanet

This video demonstrates the difference between simple searching (a couple of words) and phrase searching (words must be in a specific order) in Novanet Discovery.

Subject Searching in Novanet

When examining a list of results in Novanet Discovery, using subject headings (more formal, controlled terms to describe something) can be a way to refine your search.

Here is an example from a search for electric cars

Screen shot shoing Novanet Discovery keyword search for: electric cars

The basic Novanet Discovery search simply finds both words anywhere they may appear. How do we know the materials are truly about electric cars? By examining and using the subject headings. There are two ways to do this:

1) In the list of results, scroll down to view the Subject list on the left of the screen. Selecting a subject will narrow the results to fewer, more focused, results. In our example, Electric Vehicles is a subject term for electric cars. We might not have thought of that!
 

Screen shot showing subject heading filters in the left column of the Novanet Search results

2) Examine the details of an item in the results list:

  • Viewing the item in the list, select "Details" to see more information
Screen shot showing the Details link to learn more about the item
 
 
  • In the new window that opens, note the subjects that have been applied to this item. Use those subjects in future searches.

Screen shot showing the subject headings assoicated with item located on the Details tab

Clicking on these subject headings will take me to materials that have the same subject heading applied.

However, in Novanet Discovery, using the Advanced Search is the best place to enter a subject search:

  • At the top of the screen, choose Advanced Search

Screen shot showing the location of the Advanced Search link next to the search bar at the top of the Novanet screen

  • Use the pull-down menu to search Subject contains...and the subject you noted

Screen shot showing the Subject drop down menu on the Novanet Discovery Advanced Search screen

Now the list of results will be greatly reduced, but more relevant to the topic.

Finally, a note that subject searching in Novanet Discovery is weaker than in Library databases, but it can be used to start refining your search results.

Video: Subject Searching in Novanet

This video takes the example of a search for "electric cars" and refines the search using subject terms that have been added to Novanet Discovery.

Books Only in Novanet Discovery

Sometimes you want to find only books about a topic (particularly if you need background reading, or your topic of study is the book itself).

There are two ways to limit Novanet Discovery to books.
 
  1. Use the Resource Type filter (or "facet") to narrow the results to books.

 

  • In this example, beginning with a phrase search for "electric cars" in Novanet Discovery:

Screen shot showing phrase search for "electric cars" in Novanet Discovery

  • In the results, use the Refine My Results area to select Books

Screen shot demonstrating the Refine My Results area to select Books

Now only books will display. This will be a mixture of print books and e-books. You can choose e-books by selecting "Full Text Online" and select Mount Library and Novanet locations using the Library

Screen shot demonstrating the options to select "Full Text Online" and select Mount Library and Novanet locations using the Library

Or, the second way you can find books only:

2. Use the Books & Videos search from the Library home page.

Screen shot demonstrating the location of the Books & Videos search from the Library home page.

A list of results appears. Remove the videos from the list by closing the Audio-Visual button.

Screen shot showing the location of  the Audio-Visual button which can be closed to show only books

And further refine as described above.

Video: Books Only in Novanet (using resource type)

This video is the first of two which show different methods to limit the search to books only in Novanet Discovery.

The first method is to use the "Resource Type" limiter in the results screen.

Video: Books only in Novanet Discovery (using Library home page)

This video demonstrates using "Books & Videos" searching to limit results to books in Novanet Discovery.

Video: I Found Books - Now What?

This video demonstrates how to interpret the results of a book search on Novanet Discovery.

  • locating e-books to which you have access as a Mount user
  • requesting print books that are available at other locations
  • noticing document delivery options

Additional Tips for Finding Books

There are some additional tips for finding books in Novanet Discovery, available through the Mount Library's Help Guide on Finding Books Using Novanet.

See also the Library Home Page, Library Research Help.

Refining Novanet Results to Articles

In Novanet Discovery, it is possible to refine your results to articles instead of books. But it is important to note that this may not include the articles that are available in every Mount Library database

Using Novanet Discovery, find "electric cars" as a phrase search (in quotations).

Screen shot showing "electric cars" as a phrase search (in quotations).

In the results that display, on the left-hand side of the screen will appear a Show only and Refine My Results menu.

Use the Refine My Results: Articles link if you want only articles (but peer-review is not as important). Use the Show only: Peer-reviewed Journals link if your articles must be scholarly/peer-reviewed. 

Screen shot demonstrating the location of the options to show only journal articles in the Novanet Discovery results page

Video: Refining Results to Articles

This video shows how to conduct a search in Novanet Discovery and limit the results to articles, and then articles in peer-reviewed journals. The search is for the phrase "electric cars."

Video: I Found Articles - Now What?

This video demonstrates that once you have found articles on Novanet Discovery, you can:

  • use Novanet Discovery as a pointer (index) to the databases where the articles are found
  • use Novanet Discovery to submit a Document Delivery request if we don't subscribe to the particular database where the articles are found

Refining Novanet Results by Date

Once you have a list of search results, you can use the Creation date menu on the left hand side of the screen to find recently published (or older) items on a particular topic.

 

To do this, either enter the date range in the text boxes and select "Refine"

Screen shot showing the Creation Date option for finding items published within a specific date range

Or use the sliding scale to set the (published) dates you are interested in. Choose “Refine” to apply those dates.

Screen shot showing the location of the sliding scale to set the published dates you are intersted in

Video: Refining Novanet Results by Date

This video demonstrates refining Novanet Discovery results by date, using either the text boxes or the sliding scale found under "Creation Date."

Advanced Novanet Searching

The advanced search of Novanet Discovery enables you to combine search terms, such as title, author, subject.

You can also search by ISBN (though this can be searched in the basic search bar, too). You can search for a call number.

The advanced search is opened by selecting Advanced Search at the top of the screen (next to the search box) once you are in Novanet Discovery.

Screen shot of the Advanced Search link at the top of the Novanet screen to the right of the search box

Notice that the pull-down menu on the first line of the advanced search is greyed out. This line is reserved for words in Title, but you can create combinations using any of the lines.

Screen shot showing the advanced search screen

Here is an example of a search for audio-visual materials (videos) with the subject electric vehicles OR the subject electric automobiles assigned to them.

Screen shot showing an advanced search for videos on the subject of electric vehicles

Here is an example of a search for items (any type) where the title contains electric car and the author contains Howell

Screen shot showing an advanced search for a specific title and author

 

In this case, notice that the results are newspaper articles and the newspaper title is Investor's Business Daily. This tells you something about the nature of the content before you even read the article. Start to think critically about the results you see.

Saving Novanet Results to RefWorks

Once you have identified an item in Novanet Discovery that you will use in your research, you can export its record to RefWorks for your future bibliography/references list.

Select the item title link or the "Details" link to see more information about the item.

Screen shot showing the details link below the book item

From the detailed screen, select the Cite/Email link to get citation information for your bibliography.


Screen shot showing the location of the options for citing, emailing and more

Choose RefWorks in the drop-down menu

screen shot showing the RefWorks option on the Cite/Email dropdown menu

RefWorks will open. Choose the version of RefWorks you are using. (RefWorks Legacy or RefWorks Proquest)

screen shot showing the options to choose your RefWorks version

Login to export this citation to RefWorks.

Once you've logged in, your reference will be loaded into the Last Imported Folder. Use View Last Imported Folder to view and manage this reference in RefWorks.

The information exported to RefWorks will vary depending on the kind of item you are working with. E.g., book versus article.

 

Searching a Known Title in Novanet

One of Novanet's special strengths is its ability to use natural language and phrase searching (as well or better than many databases).

This makes Novanet very good at finding a book or an article for which you already know the title.

This means that when you look at a bibliography or references list, you can copy and paste the title of a book or article into Novanet Discovery to quickly see if the Mount Library has the book or article.

 

Finding a Known Book

In this example, find the following book:

Fletcher, Seth. Bottled Lightning : Superbatteries, Electric Cars, and the New Lithium Economy. 1st ed. New York: Hill and Wang, 2011.

Because you know this is a book title, go to the Books & Videos search from the Library homepage. You can use phrase searching because you know you want these words in this precise order.

Screen shot of the Books & Videos search on the Library home page

Novanet Discovery matches the phrase and if it finds it, returns results.

Screen shot of successful search for known title

Finding a Known Article

In this example, find the article "End-of-life (EOL) issues and options for electric vehicle batteries" by Ramoni and Zhang. It appeared in the December 2013 issue of the journal Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy.

The article title is "End-of-life (EOL) issues and options for electric vehicle batteries"

Enter the article title into Novanet Discovery. You can use quotes for phrase searching because you know you want these words in this precise order.

Screen shot of Novanet Discovery search for the title of an article

Novanet Discovery matches that exact text string and if it finds it, returns it.

Screen shot of successful search for a journal article

 

Video: Searching a Known Title

This video demonstrates searching Novanet Discovery from a bibliography, using the known title of a book, and the known title of an article in a journal.

Searching a DOI in Novanet

What is a DOI?

DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier. A DOIs is a persistent link assigned by a publisher to an individual published article/study/other online publication. They are unique to the item, a precise match. They always begin with the number 10.

Citation styles now instruct us to include DOI in our bibliographies/reference lists, because they make it much easier for other researchers to find the precise reference - simply by searching for and linking to the DOI.

Here is an example of a reference list entry which includes a DOI.

Helmers, E., & Marx, P. (2012). Electric cars: Technical characteristics and environmental impacts. Environmental Sciences Europe, 24(1), 1-15. doi:10.1186/2190-4715-24-14

The DOI in this example is 10.1186/2190-4715-24-14 and it links to the URL for the article.
 

To find a DOI in Novanet:

  • In Novanet Discovery from the Library home page
  • Enter or copy/paste the number string E.g., 10.1186/2190-4715-24-14 and Search.

 

Screen shot of searching for an item with a DOI

If Novanet Discovery finds the article via Mount Library databases, the article is returned.

 

Screen shot of successful search for an article using the DOI

 

Double check that it is the correct article; it is very rare to have either duplicate DOIs or different DOIs for the same article, but it happens.

If you don't find the DOI in Novanet Discovery, it is worth trying Google Scholar (but remember to use Document Delivery instead of paying for articles!). Finally, you can try CrossRef as a source to find articles from their DOI (with the same caution).

Video: Searching a DOI in Novanet

This video demonstrates searching for an article in Novanet Discovery by using its DOI: Digital Object Identifier. DOIs often appear in references lists. When there is one - use it!

Novanet Discovery Search Help

We didn't cover everything about Novanet Discovery in this course!

Consult the Novanet Discovery Help page for more material about Novanet Discovery and its use. You can visit this page whenever you are searching Novanet.

Screen shot shoing the location of the Help link at the top of the Novanet Discovery screen