INSPIRE gets a makeover

INSPIRE, our statewide collection of databases, is celebrating its 20th birthday, and for a gift, we’ve given its homepage a fresh new makeover.

The new interface is powered by EBSCO Stacks and has a clean “tiled” appearance featuring some of our most popular resources, including:

• Rosetta Stone
• Consumer Reports
• Health and Medicine
• Test Preparation
• Current News
• Historic Newspapers
• Digital Collections
• Genealogy

Library users and staff can select one of these pre-selected topics and quickly navigate to that area. These databases will rotate as needed, and we welcome any suggestions you may have. There is also a scrolling menu of other subjects (e.g. biographies, business and student resources) below the tiles.

The search box and results page have not been changed, and you can easily start your search by typing in keywords in the box at the top of the homepage. If anyone prefers the previous interface, that can still be accessed here or by clicking on the TeachingBooks.net and Newspapers.com graphic on the new homepage.

Watch for new “how-to” videos, as well as an updated FAQ page, coming later this year.

INSPIRE is free for use for all Indiana residents, and is made possible by the Indiana General Assembly through Build Indiana Funds, The Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, and in partnership with the Academic Libraries of Indiana.

This post was written by Jen Clifton, Library Development Office. For more information on INSPIRE, visit here or send an email. 

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Check INSPIRE For Pre-Tests

Planning on taking the SAT / ACT / CLEP / MCAT / ASVAB / Postal test and want to practice before the big day?

Need to brush up your math / English / basic skills?

How about the US Citizenship test?

Did you know that practice tests for all of these, and many more, are available for free to residents of Indiana?

Just visit the INSPIRE home page provided by the State of Indiana, click on the button for the Testing & Education Reference Center and a world of information will open up for you.

There are over 300 practice tests and courses that you can do at your own speed – and you don’t have to worry about paying a deposit or returning a book before you are finished with it.

INSPIRE Basic Databases And Reference Centers

INSPIRE Basic Databases

A list of individual databases where you will find:

Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center:  The first complete collection of information covering virtually every hobby and leisure activity, Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center offers helpful tips and innovative concepts to meet the interests of every hobby enthusiast.  Full text is provided from leading hobby and craft magazines like Bead & Button, Creative Knitting, FineScale Modeler, Quilter’s World and many more.

AND

Home Improvement Reference Center:  A collection of comprehensive full-text content that provides detailed “how-to” information covering all aspects of home improvement/repair projects.  All of the content is organized in an intuitive, easy-to-use manner that enables instant access to the information you need.

INSPIRE-d Changes

INDIANAPOLIS (June 29, 2012) – Hoosiers premier resource for academic research, test preparation and career development has undergone a dramatic facelift. Inspire.IN.gov (www.inspire.in.gov), Indiana’s Virtual Library, now features greatly enhanced search functionality as well as an updated and easy-to-use interface.

“We believe users will appreciate new INSPIRE’s more intuitive searching capabilities that now resembles popular online search engines,” said Roberta L. Brooker, Indiana’s State Librarian. “Now is a great time for Hoosiers that have not heard of INSPIRE to test drive this complete virtual library that is accessible from their home, school or work computer.”

The reason behind the INSPIRE’s enhanced searchability is the intergration of the unique 360 Search from Serials Solutions. This technology filters data and omits search results that contain errors via its own knowledgebase and does not rely solely on the data supplied by content providers to filter searches. The new 360 Search also clusters results in order to speed up searches and better organize data. Results clustering separates search results by subtopics, dates, journals and authors so that search results are organized and easy to browse.

INSPIRE's interface has also been completely revamped to give it a fresher look and feel and make it easier to navigate. The interface has new features such as links to INSPIRE databases, an updated advanced search and a larger search bar, all designed to enhance the user experience.

“INSPIRE is not only a search engine geared towards students, it has features designed for jobseekers, teachers, health professionals, and dozens of other professional, personal and leisure interests,” said Brooker. “For example, a database focusing on hobbies and crafts, and another on home improvement, were just added to the INSPIRE suite of resources in the past 24 hours.”