Research Simplified with Champlain’s Newest Library Tool

We know research is tough—that’s why the Champlain College Library has invested in a brand new discovery service.

Attention Champlain College Community! We know research is tough, and we know it’s difficult to sift through thousands of resources to find the one you need. That’s why we’re so excited to announce the arrival of your new research tool: EBSCO discovery service, or as it will be known on campus, ChampSearch.

“ChampSearch is the library equivalent of Google. It allows the library’s users to search for books, ebooks, articles, and streaming video within multiple databases all in one place, with one search box.” 

Jes Mattera, Emerging Technologies Librarian

ChampSearch is designed to cut your research time in half, while bringing you more relevant and recent material. Unlike Google, however, ChampSearch doesn’t collect personal data, which can affect your search results, so you are guaranteed to receive the most authentic, unbiased, and relevant research materials.

“There has been a similar service available on the library website under a link titled ‘Search books, articles, and more.’ However, this search was not as powerful and does not include all of the library’s databases,” explains Mattera. “ChampSearch includes all of the library’s databases, with the exception of GDC Vault. Additionally, ChampSearch provides resources on the search results page such as: research starters, citation generation, viewing abstracts on the search results page, and saving article PDFs to Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive.” 

“While Champlain doesn’t have many subscriptions to popular papers or magazines, we do have access to a lot of databases that open up more academic avenues for students,” said Gillianne Ross, ‘22 // Professional Writing, who also worked in the library.

The new research starter feature in particular offers an excellent jumping-off point and is even a citable source. As Mattera describes,“[It] provides overviews for hundreds of topics. When a relevant search is made, a Research Starter will appear at the top of the screen to assist.” Article abstracts also appear on the results page, so no more clicking in and backing out of unrelated sources when you’re trying to research for your ten-page Core paper due at 11:59 PM. 

“I’ve used the tool ChampSearch countless times for both myself, and for students looking for resources both on campus and remotely,” said Danni Petrilak ‘22 // Creative Media. “In searching for specific topics for research, [ChampSearch] is much improved from the past tools. We now have more access to ebooks, and more relevant keywords are connected to the titles and abstracts of each book, making it much easier to access the correct materials for your project.”

Another way to cut down research time is by using advanced search and limiters. Each will lead to more targeted results when used properly. Limiters can specify source type, year of publication, database, and more. Advanced search allows for multiple keywords, specification of material location in the catalog, and much more that we encourage you to explore.

Since ChampSearch runs on the EBSCO Discovery service, the system looks and functions similarly to EBSCO databases that Champlain provides, such as Business Source Complete and Humanities International Complete. If you have any trouble, there is a chatbox on the right side of the screen that connects to a librarian during library hours. The EBSCO Connect link at the bottom of the screen gives access to tips, tricks, and tutorials as well.

All of the amazing new features within ChampSearch allow Champlain students to feel the benefits of a large research-based university, while still having the small college experience. Our tool boasts clearly stated resource subjects, a clean design layout, and relevant results.

Many large schools’ discovery search tools are similar—if not the same—to Champlain’s EBSCO Discovery Service. However, in exploring Champlain’s version compared to a few larger universities, the subjects of each resource are more clearly stated in our tool, the design is cleaner, and the results appear far more relevant. Plus, our librarians usually respond within 15-30 seconds or less upon receiving an initial message via the chat service—another benefit of a small school with large-school resources.

“I think this tool is a great asset for Champlain faculty and students,” said Petrilak. “It makes researching material much easier and allows for anyone with a Champlain username and password to access a database of countless resources, whether you’re on or off campus.”

“Do a test search, play around with it,” says Mattera. “If there’s anything to emphasize, it’s that this is going to make your life easier.”

Want to learn more about the Champlain College Library? Visit their blog here.

Extra search tips from the library:

Don’t forget to use search operators. This tool can further tailor your search results and limit the time you spend researching, opposed to writing or reporting. Here is a list of the basic ones:

1. Type “*” at the end of a series of letters to find all words beginning with the same root. For example, “librar*” would turn up results for “library,” “libraries,” “librarian,” etc. 
2. Typing “AND” will limit the results by only pulling up materials where two terms are found together, such as, “mice AND rats.” 
3. “OR” does the opposite by pulling up materials that have one or the other term: “mice OR rats.” 
4. Lastly, “NOT” can exclude unwanted materials from your results. For example, if you are looking for Jewish temples but not Hindu temples, you could search, “Temple NOT Hindu.”