Yesterday I wrote about the Thomson Reuters ProView eReference collection – what it contains, and how you can get access to it at our library. Today, I’m going to focus on a few quick primers for using the platform, and also provide some links to even better training materials. Click on any of the images below to see them a bit bigger.
Basic Navigation Tips
When you enter into the ProView platform at the CCLA Library, you will have a huge screen containing images of all of the titles we have available in our subscription. To find a title, you can scroll through the whole page (it’s organized by subject), or you can also use the box right above the images:
Another option is to use click on the magnifying glass on the right hand side. This will open up a bigger search window, where you can search a few different parameters at once:
When you’ve found a title that you’re interested in, you click on the image and enter into a screen with just that specific book available.
The column on the left hand side will be your guide though this book. It is from here that you can browse through the table of contents, like you would a normal print book, and click on chapter headings and sections that are relevant to you.
When you’re within the book, it will be the same content as you’d find the print version of this title. Cases that are available on Westlaw will be hyperlinked in blue, so you can click through from this book, to an online version of the case in Westlaw.
When you’re reading the text, you’re also able to send yourself an excerpt. The small rectangle-with-an-arrow icon in the top right corner will let you create a PDF to take home with you.
You can also search the book (there are a few different ways to do this – here’s one). Using the magnifying glass to the left hand side, you can search for a word or phrase within the book. Your results will come up in the right hand pane, broken down by chapter and section. If you pop down the arrow for each section, you can see how the word has been used in context.
This is an incredibly brief first look at how you can use ProView. As I mentioned yesterday, this is different from both looseleaf titles that are in Westlaw, and to more traditional ebooks, but it still allows for the functionality of searching through a book for a specific word or phrase – a feature that is definitely missing from print books!
Official ProView Training Options
If you’d like to learn more about how to use this platform, Thomson has some online options available to you, that you can do from your office! One of the most appealing options might be a webinar – these are accredited by the LSUC, so not only will you learn more about using these ebooks, but you can get .5 in professionalism credits. The next webinar on ProView is March 2 at 12:30 EST. You can register for this free webinar here.
If you’d rather look at some PDF training materials, you can find those on this page. You can also find a much shorter, pre-recorded webinar on that page as well.