Electronic Library Resources:  Going beyond our Library Buildings

Besides the physical items found on our shelves (printed books and periodicals, CDs, DVDs, Videos, etc.) the library also gives access to electronic online information.

The library subscribes to the following four databases:

  1. EBSCO Academic Search Complete and EBSCOhost eBook Collection;
  2. Emerald; and
  3. Weblinks Online
  4. Skillsoft

Access to the EBSCO, Emerald and Weblinks Online databases from any computer connected to the MCAST server requires no login details.  Users are automatically logged in.  Access from home or anywhere else, however requires a Username and Password.  These login details, together with those for the Skillsoft database, are only available to registered library users, and can be accessed either by asking at the circulation desk or else, by getting in touch with the library at llrc@mcast.edu.mt.

Some other useful free websites are the following:

  1. Teach With Movies
  2. Hairdressing Training 
  3. eLibraryUSA 
  4. DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals)
  5. Google Scholar 
  6. DART-Europe 
  7. A+ Research and Writing 
  8. Electronic Content to In-house Subscribed Periodicals in Print Form 

Brief Information about the Subscription-based Databases

EBSCO Academic Search Complete is the world's most comprehensive, scholarly full-text database for multidisciplinary research.  It contains over 13,780 indexed and abstracted journals; 9,000 full-text journals; full text for more than 7,850 peer-reviewed journals; PDF content dating back as far as 1887; and searchable cited references provided from more than 1,400 journals.

EBSCOHost eBook Collection consists of around 3,300 e-books which can be read online.  Note that at present the e-books available are general ones. In time study related e-books will start becoming available.  To access these two powerful database go to search.ebscohost.com

 

Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The MCAST library subscribes to around a hundred journals, mainly in the field of management, from a portfolio of around 300 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes.  Abstracts for the other approximate 200 journal articles are available for viewing.  In addition, the Learning Zone web page provides useful resources for students; helping them develop their study and management skills and thinking.  The Teaching Zone web page on the other hand, provides useful resources (ideas, case studies, etc.) for lecturers involved in teaching business and management.  All this content can be accessed from https://www.emeraldinsight.com


Weblinks Online is a searchable online database of thousands of teacher-reviewed, approved and annotated websites useful for College students and lecturers.  This can be accessed from here

 

Skillsoft  is MCAST e-Library Services Portal providing 23,000 full text e-books at pre-University and University Levels.  This can be accessed from here.

Brief Information about the Free Websites


Teach With Movies provides lesson plans and learning guides based on movies and films; full length and snippets (video clips) for classes in English, Health, Science and the Arts.  This can be accessed from here.


Hairdressing Training provides step-by-step guidance videos, self-evaluation tests, worksheets and guides relating to hairdressing styles and techniques; the service is also mapped to the NVQ Hairdressing curriculum. Hairdressing Training is a service funded by JISC and provided by Mimas, an organisation of experts which is based at the University of Manchester.  This can be accessed from  http://hairdressing.ac.uk/


eLibrary USA provides access to a wide range of information, articles and essays on various topics.  It is a "virtual library" through which you can access more than 30 major databases via the Internet; whether working from the office, home or mobile phone.  The complete list of databases can be accessed from http://elibraryusa.state.gov/resources.html. The Department of State provides individual access to users or patrons of the Information Resource Center (IRC) of the U.S. Embassy in Malta. To become a patron of the Information Resource Center, send an email to IRC at ircmalta@state.gov; stating your first and last name, institution and/or profession (Please quote MCAST Library for faster processing), and email address (which will be your username for the eLibraryUSA).



DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) is an online directory that indexes and provides access to quality open access, peer-reviewed journals.  It aims to be comprehensive and cover all open access scientific and scholarly journals that use a quality control system to guarantee the content.  The directory can be accessed from https://doaj.org/


Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature.  From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other websites.  This can be accessed from here.



DART-Europe is an E-theses portal that provides researchers with a single European portal for the discovery of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs).  Dart-Europe is a  partnership of research libraries and library consortia who are working together to improve global access to European research theses.  It can be accessed from http://www.dart-europe.eu/basic-search.php 



A+ Research and Writing provides tips on how to research and write assignments.  The website has now closed permanently and it will no longer be updated.  However, the content is still available for use.  It can be accessed from http://www.ipl.org/div/aplus/ 



Electronic content to in-house subscribed Periodicals in Print form. The MCAST Library subscribes to approximately 200 periodical publications in print form.  Electronic content, either as full-text or summaries of main articles of many of these publications can be found on the respective websites.  The MCAST library online public access catalogue (OPAC – Search Our Catalogue page) provides a direct link to these websites.  Click on the 'Advanced Search' of the OPAC and choose 'Shelf Mark' from the 'Search In' field and type 'P' in the 'Search Terms' field.  The search can then be further restricted by choosing any of the other fields:  Library, subject, class, etc.  Once the periodical required is identified, click on the title, and the 'MCAST Library-View Item' web page is displayed.  Clicking on 'Digital (www)' will display the respective periodical website from which the electronic content, if any, can be accessed.  


Last updated:  27th May 2016

 

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