Oregon School Library Information System (OSLIS)
Are your students searching for information on the internet? If so, be sure to point them to the Oregon School Library Information System (OSLIS), which has a link to the EBSCOhost subscription service. This service has been paid for, over the past several years, with funds granted to the Oregon State Library under the Library Services and Technology Act, and funds from the Oregon Department of Education.
EBSCOhost, unlike the free internet, provides access to popular periodicals (e.g. Time, Newsweek) and is available to all of Oregon's public school students.
OSLIS includes two main areas:
- Elementary — Contains Searchasaurus (K-2), Kids Search (3+), Student Research Center (5+), The Oregonian Newsbank, Citation Maker, and related tutorials.
- Middle/Secondary — Contains EBSCO Databases, The Oregonian Newsbank, Citation Maker, and related tutorials.
These resources are also available to students at home, but a username and password are required.
Contact Information: 726-3430 or by email for further information.
In general, EBSCOhost databases use traditional search criteria as listed below. However, there are differences in how Searchasaurus (K-2) and Kids Search/Student Research Center (3-12) work.
| General Info | Searchasaurus |
Kids Search/Student Research Center |
| Default Search | When two or more words are entered into the search box, Searchasaurus searches for a phrase. This will provide you with limited search results. | When two or more words are entered into the search box, Kids Search/Student Research Center searches for documents that contain both words. This will yield the same as if you put AND between the words. |
| Singular vs Plural | Searching for singular terms provides both singular and plural forms of the word. Searching for plural terms provides only plural forms and will limit your results. |
Searching for plural terms provides only plural forms and will limit your results. |
| Search Tools (Boolean Operators) | Searchasaurus |
Kids Search/Student Research Center |
| AND | Use AND to indicate you are looking for information that contains multiple words.
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Not required; AND is the default search when more than one word is entered. |
| OR | Use OR to indicate you are looking for information that contains at least one of the listed words.
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Use OR to indicate you are looking for information that contains at least one of the listed words.
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| NOT | Use to indicate you want to omit information that contains certain words.
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Use to indicate you want to omit information that contains certain words.
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| Quotation Marks | Not required; searching for phrases is the default search when more than one word is entered. | Use quotes to indicate you are looking for a phrase.
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For detailed information on how to use the EBSCOhost databases, see the online help on the EBSCOhost site.
When you find articles in the EBSCO database, the Lexile Rankings information will help you to determine whether your students are accessing materials at their reading level. You will see this information near the bottom of each citation. Click on it to view a chart that interprets the lexile ranking.
| Grade 1: 200-350 Grade 2: 350-500 Grade 3: 500-750 Grade 4: 620-910 Grade 5: 730- 960 Grade 6: 800-1030 |
Grade 7: 880-1090 Grade 8: 910-1140 Grade 9: 1030-1160 Grade 10: 1080-1210 Grade 11: 1130-1260 Grade 12: 1180-1300 |
You may also want to have them learn how to cite where they found their information. Two online forms will create a bibliography for the students once they have entered information such as author, title, etc. (Be sure to have them enter the sources in alphabetical order by author's last name.)
- Citation Maker for elementary students
- Citation Maker for middle/secondary students
