Fort Bend County Libraries
Fort
Bend County Libraries ADDS Community Information Database TO WEBSITE
Fort
Bend County Libraries has added to its website a Community Information Database,
a much-needed resource for county residents. The database provides information
currently on almost 600 Fort Bend County-area community resources, including
community-service organizations, social-service agencies, civic organization,
social clubs and other not-for-profit organizations. The number of resources in
the database will continue to grow.
Providing information about local community resources has long been a
public-library service, but Fort Bend County Libraries has just made getting the
information easier and quicker by compiling it into the new database.
Information available from the database includes the organization’s name, a
description, contact information, hours, services, its subject headings for
searching, a funding note, when it was last updated, and a link to the
organization website, if it has one.
The
database is easy to use. Just go to the library’s homepage at
www.fortbend.lib.tx.us.
Click on “Catalog,” then click on the “Community Information” tab. Begin at the
Basic Search, which is very helpful for browsing. A pull-down menu at that page
will permit searching by general keyword, organization, or subject; searching
can also be done by “organization that starts with ...” or “subject that starts
with …” if you don’t remember or know all of either.
The
general keyword alone is pretty powerful; for example, type in “food” to find
organizations that distribute food, or Missouri City to see what organizations
are based in Missouri City. “Dancing” brings up a list of the area dance
groups; “health” will result in a list of both health- and mental-health-related
organizations. A search for “boy scouts” by general keyword gave five results;
the same search by organization and by subject gave four results for each.
The
advanced search tab is useful for trimming a list down when a lot of results, or
“hits,” come up. It combines searches for general, organization, and subject
keywords (using Boolean “and”), so to search for food pantries in Missouri City
only, use both “Missouri City” (general) and “food” (subject) to narrow the
hits.
With
the “My List” function, a temporary list of items from search results can be
created, which can be either emailed or saved. Items can be added, removed,
sorted, or moved from one list to another. Go to the “My List” icon at the top
right of the Community Information pages to get the details. Don’t forget the
“Help” icon, either. It not only gives instructions on how to use the basic or
advanced search functions, but also gives good tips for searching.
The
database is available from library computers during regular library hours, but
from a computer at home, it is available 24/7. Try it out -- community
information, a traditional resource from your library, is now at your
fingertips!
For
more information, call the Public Information Office at 281-341-2611.
