Kayla Nelms
Pers2730-IA
Mr. Wing Lee
Galileo
Galileo
is a wonderful research tool that has been established for the citizens of
Georgia. It is a virtual library that provides research for numerous types of
sources such as magazines, journals, encyclopedias, and more. Galileo stands
for Georgia Library Learning Online and the Governor and the General assembly
of Georgia have funded it since 1995. It was created for the citizens of
Georgia through the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. When
Governor Zell Miller decided to dedicate state lottery money to education,
Galileo was recognized as an educational advantage and became a beneficiary of
lottery funds. Georgia has been reported as being the only state in the country
that has a common online resource-sharing for all educational institutions.
Galileo not only serves those enrolled in
educational institutions, it also is accessible to other Georgia citizen
through a public library. The mission of Galileo is to provide digital online
resources to the University System of Georgia and public libraries in Georgia.
Galileo improves library services for all Georgia citizens and provides lower
costs and increased access to a wider range of material. Galileo was designed
for the citizens of Georgia to have access to unique and highly valuable materials. An
advantage to having an online research tool is so users can view the materials
from any computer connected to the Internet any time of day.
Participating
institutions can access over 100 databases with thousands of periodicals and
scholarly journals through this subscription-based resource. The educational
institutions that are eligible to participate in Galileo include: the
University System of Georgia, K-12 schools, public libraries, technical
institutions and colleges, and private academic colleges and universities. The
specialized databases that Galileo offers can make it a lot easier for students
to acquire the information they need in conducting research for papers or
research for general information. Galileo
has many databases and there is a database for every subject
taught in the University System. Over 2000 journal titles are provided in
full-text.
Galileo can be distinguished from other search engines such as Google or Yahoo because of the type of resources and information it provides. It provides organized and superior content through publications of recognized authority and scholarly research literature. Unlike Galileo, other search engines like Yahoo provide sites that can be created by anyone and accessed by anyone. Galileo can search through books, magazines, periodicals, scholarly journals, encyclopedias, full-text articles, transcripts, and other authoritative information instead of free Internet information. It also provides citations, documents and images on Georgia history, homework topics, and links to recommended Web sites. On Galileo the University System of Georgia has an option that allows researchers to find information about both Georgia colleges and Georgia state government including State government publications and Georgia census data. Galileo can be accessed on the web at www.galileo.usg.edu but it is not free. Users must have a password that can be obtained by students and faculty in the University System of Georgia or from a participating establishment such as a library. University passwords change several times a year, but a password is not necessary while accessing Galileo onsite at an educational institutions. The public also has the option of purchasing a password from the University System of Georgia.
Galileo offers a world of information. On the homepage, there are also seven categories at the top of the homepage that can be useful in beginning a search. The categories are Arts & Humanities, Business & Economics, Georgia, Medicine & Health, News/Facts References, Science & Technology, and Social Sciences. Placing the mouse pointer on these different categories will bring a drop menu down for more options. Nearly every article in Galileo has been written in the last 15 years and is published in a credible research journal. The most successful searches on Galileo happen when you can narrow your topic by its keywords. By pairing words together, the search engine can focus more narrowly through the databases. This is called a Boolean search. A Boolean search only will be successful if you have arranged the words in the proper order. Typically, typing the nouns before the adjectives helps. Sometimes, experimenting with your keyword order can yield surprising results. To find full-text articles on a specific topic, the two basic options on the Galileo homepage are Academic Search Premier or Research Library. These two options are on the homepage in a yellow box on the left that says, “Need Information Fast?” Clicking Academic Search Premier will allow you to search for a specific topic. Type in the topic and click the search button to view the results. To view information about the article you have to click the title, but if you want to view the actual article you click HTML Full Text or PDF Full Text. The articles that will appear could be in HTML Full Text or PDF Full Text. HTML will display the actual text of the article and PDF will display the article in Adobe Acrobat. Galileo will also give citations that will be provide further information about the document and will provide assistance in citing a research paper to give credit where credit is due.
Galileo offers an Internet Resources section that provides the ability to search a set of free internet sites that have been identified by librarians as useful for research. Links to major directory sites and search engines are also provided. However, using Internet search engines may retrieve unreliable sources of information since anyone can display sources on the internet. Information found in Internet Resources and Galileo Databases can be useful in conducting research.
Before a search is conducted,
Galileo will ask for a password. Students and Faculty at Valdosta State
University need a password to access Galileo off-campus. The password is
obtainable by going to http://gil.valdosta.edu
and clicking on “get Galileo password.” Students and Faculty must then login to
their account by typing in their social security number and last name. Once you
are logged in, the site will display the password. Galileo is a wonderful
research tool for anyone and it always provides authentic and accurate
information.
Resources
Bainbridge College, “Georgia Increases Information
Access.” Retrieved April 2, 2004
from
http://www.bainbridge.edu/bclib/gal_exp.htm
“How to use Galileo.” Retrieved April 23, 2004 from
http://ksumail.kennesaw.edu/~shagin/GALILEO.html
Online Library Learning Center. Retrieved April 20,
2004 from
http://io.gsu.edu/cgi-bin/homepage.cgi?style=&_id=0cd8cb28-1125187584-2076&_cc=1