Text-to-Speech feature for articles in EBSCO databases

Text-to-Speech functionality benefits users in multiple ways, particularly those who are blind or with low vision. And, let’s face it – it’s just fun! Who wouldn’t like listening to an Australian accent reading the article aloud?

“Database aggregator EBSCO Publishing…has built in a text-to-speech option for all of its EBSCOhost databases. A toolbar, created by software company Texthelp Systems, allows full-text articles available in HTML on EBSCOhost databases to be read aloud to users at variable speeds.” (Library Journal, Sept 1, 2010) 

The ‘Listen’ Text-to-Speech button is set up with standard defaults, but these can be modified by individual users:

EBSCO’s Support Site – To use Text-To-Speech:

1. Locate an EBSCOhost article in HTML format which you would like read to you.
2. From the Accent drop-down menu, select an accent in which you would like the article to be read.
3. Click the Settings icon to set your Reading Speed and Highlighting Options.
4. Click the Listen button to hear the article read outloud.

 -OR-

Click the Download button to download an MP3 file of the article being read to your computer.

 Use Text-To-Speech to Hear a Section of an Article

• You may also choose to have only a section of an article read to you.
• Highlight the passage of text you would like to be read outloud. A new mini-toolbar appears. Click the Listen button on the mini-toolbar.

 Downloading Text-to-Speech MP3s

You may also download audio files of HTML articles being read aloud to your computer in MP3 format.

 To download Text-to-Speech MP3 files:

1. On the Text-to-Speech toolbar, click the Download button.
2. Select to Open or Save the file to your computer.
3. If saving the file, browse to a location in the Save As dialog box and click Save.

The MP3 file is saved to your computer.

 Minimum requirements for using Text-To-Speech on EBSCOhost – must have Adobe Flash Player 10 installed.

Micromedex 2.0 for Pharmacy & Nursing Programs

 

Red Deer College has participated in the Micromedex® Solutions Academic Program for several years now. This has been provided by Thomson Reuters to faculty and students of Healthcare educational programs. This excellent resource can be found on both the Pharmacy and Nursing guides.

Check it out:

On behalf of the Micromedex® Solutions Academic Program from Truven Health, I would like to formally welcome your new and returning students back to school for another wonderful and exciting year as they work toward the significant goal of becoming practicing clinicians. In support of this goal, we would like to remind you that your students and faculty have FREE and unlimited access for teaching purposes to the industry-leading evidence-based clinical content in Micromedex 2.0.

Our Academic Subscription provides summary and in-depth information for:

•          drug
•          disease
•          toxicology
•          alternative medicine
•          lab content

Key tools include:

•          patient counseling for medications, procedures, and conditions
•          Trissel’s 2^TM IV Compatibility
•           Clinical Calculators
•          Drug Interactions screening

Free Mobile Apps for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android devices:

•          Micromedex Drug Information
•          Micromedex Drug Interactions
•          Micromedex IV Compatibility

(See mobileMicromedex® link located at the top of the Micromedex 2.0 page)

Please help your students make the most of their learning experience by sharing this information with them.

Updates to the ARTstor Digital Library

After the sceduled update to ARTstor Digital Library, users will see some upper-level enhancements to this resource. New changes  include:

1. Password-protected folders that have been unlocked by a user will now be easily found in their own upper-level category, Unlocked Folders, instead of in the list of Institutional Folders.
2. Another new upper-level category has been introduced: Global Folders, which currently contains Featured Groups, including Art History Topics, Interdisciplinary Topics, and Travel Awards.
3. The Help button has been moved to the main navigation bar.

After this update, some users may find that they cannot see their folders or image groups; clearing the browser cache should resolve the issue. You can find detailed instructions on how to do this on our help wiki.

ARTstor’s YouTube

Video Demos
ARTstor instructional video demonstrations are available on ARTstor’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/artstor. The video series offers quick overviews of ARTstor features such as: “Registering,” “Faceted Search,” “Export to PowerPoint,” “Folders and image groups,” “How to unlock a password-protected folder,” and “Managing your ARTstor profile.”
Learn more

 

Integrating ARTstor with Blackboard

Instructors may wish to share ARTstor content with students through courseware systems like Blackboard. This guide will explain how ARTstor content like individual images, image groups, and Offline Image Viewer (OIV) presentations can be shared through these courseware systems.

Courseware guide

Offline Image Viewer quickstart guide

NEW FEATURES:

Images from the ARTstor Digital Library are now accessible through iPad, iPhone, and the iPod Touch to registered ARTstor users.  ARTstor Mobile provides read-only features such as searching, browsing, zooming, and viewing saved image groups.

Try the new Flashcard View, which allows you to test your knowledge by viewing the image without textual information, and then flipping the image to reveal the image record.

Complimentary resource from the Chartered Accountants of Canada (CICA)

Chartered Accountants of Canada (CICA) is pleased to provide students and professors with complimentary access to online tax research databases. Visit CICA’s store for more information on its Canadian tax research books, products, and services.

CICA’s Tax Suite Premium package includes Income Tax, GST/HST, and Provincial Tax databases, as well as daily news updates, and can be accessed through CICA’s educational website, available through the RDC Library and is currently being used by professors and students to access the CICA Handbook and other subscribed content.

What is ARTstor?

“ARTstor is a nonprofit digital library of more than one million images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and social sciences with a suite of software tools to view, present, and manage images for research and pedagogical purposes.”

ARTstor Tour

New collections of images are added to ARTstor continually, many through collection agreements and collaborative efforts with museums and galleries such as the Harry Ransom Center (University of Texas at Austin), the Colby College Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum,  The Samuel H. Kress Collection: Lantern Slides, the Classical Sculptures (Berlin State Museums), and many more.

Collection News:

New collection agreement: French museum collections from the Réunion des Musées Nationaux

Through a collaboration with the Réunion des Musées Nationaux (RMN) and Art Resource, ARTstor will share approximately 12,000 images of works in the permanent collections of French national and regional museums in the Digital Library.     Learn more

Now available: Additional images from The Walters Art Museum  Learn more

Now available: More art and architecture from the American Institute of Indian Studies  Learn more

Watch for more Collection News as well as information on Tips & Tools for using ARTstor images in course work and presentations.