Do you want to become more familiar with the advanced features of search engines, or with online searching more generally? Do you want to be able to find the information you need more quickly? Consider taking the “Super Searcher: Enhancing Your Online Search Super Powers” course, sponsored by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. Through a series of hands-on activities, participants will learn how to compare databases and search engines in order to determine which ones will work best for finding the specific information one needs. Search strategies appropriate for either landline computers or mobile devices will be covered. Participants will also learn techniques for searching not just “active” websites, but archived versions of older ones that are no longer managed. In addition to searching for books, students will learn how to find online media (images and videos, across different file types). Through all of these activities, participants should know, by the end of the course, how to identify the most current trends in online searching. More importantly, the strategies that students explore will help them search any type of database, regardless of the subject area covered by that database.
The class will take place from March 28 to April 22, 2016. (Registration is not open yet.) The class will be worth four hours of continuing-education credit from the Medical Library Association. For more information on the course, including the materials that students will use, such as presentation slides and class exercises, click here.