This week’s spotlight is on Academic Search Premier. Academic Search Premier is an excellent general database that covers all academic subjects including biology, chemistry, environmental science, and coastal science. It indexes almost 8000 scholarly journals. But what makes it particularly useful is that it includes the full text of more than 4000 of those journals. Althought the coverage in specific subjects may not be as comprehensive as elsewhere, this is an excellent place to find full text articles in the coastal and environmental sciences.

Academic Search Premier is on the EBSCO platform, which allows up to 3 terms in more than 15 fields combinable by AND, OR, or NOT. It also allows you to limit your search to full text only, publication date range, or to a specific journal. Searches are saved in the search history and can be combined. ESBCO also allows you to set up email alerts that will notify you when a record is added that meets your search criteria.

This week’s spotlight is on the National Science Digital Library. The NSDL was created by the National Science Foundation as a resource for educators from Kindergarten all the way up to University level. It consists of a one-stop-shop for web resources in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, allowing for a simple keyword search returning materials from other digital libraries, NSF funded project websites, and outside sites reviewed by the NSDL.

A link on the main page takes you to the subsection specifically for University faculty. In adition to the search window, this page includes a resource spotlight, top picks, research articles on the role of digital libraries in education, and contact information. It also provides an events calender, with links to conference web pages, and a list of science related RSS Newsfeeds.