LexisNexis

My Search:

I did an advanced search for ‘Public Libraries and communities’. Under advanced options, I used the calendar to select my date rangers: November 18, 2013 to November 18, 2014. I select 'all' for my content type, since I’m not really sure what results I may get. I’m guessing that there will not be many company profiles and law reviews on my topic. I still want to see if I get any retrieved, so I don’t deselect any of them.

I get 998 results.

This is a lot, so I decide to edit my search and change my date range to the past six months: June 18, 2014 to November 18, 2014.

I get 994 results! It’s still a lot, but before I make anymore changes, I decide to scan through them and see what I can find.

My Best Result:

What I learned, Content:

Not too far down on the result list is a news article “Whyall Public Library’s Knitted, Crochet and Sewn”

It’s a very short article about an Australian public library that collected handmade poppies from its patrons. They are using these poppies to create an Anzac Day (like the US Memorial Day) memorial. This is a neat, meaningful way for a public library to get involved in their community!

What I Learned, Searching:

Searching LexisNexis takes time. I think users should take plenty of time to become familiar with the database before they even attempt a search. Users should also be prepared to edit their searches. Luckily, there is a link on the results page that lets users to just that.

Reflection:

LexisNexis was not my favorite database to search. It seemed a little awkward to use. I didn’t feel like I was familiar enough with it to go beyond what I was comfortable with when I was doing my search. I got a lot of results and I was too timid to try and narrow them down further. It could be that my topic doesn’t lend itself well to LexisNexis. Even after playing around with the database, I still struggled to use it.

LexisNexis. 2014. LexisNexis. Denton, TX: Texas Woman's University, TWU Libraries