Thanks to the New Jersey State Library, Mercer County Library patrons can now use their Smartphones, iPhones and iPads to access the EBSCOhost suite of databases:

Academic Search Premier; Biography Collection Complete; Business Source Premier; ERIC; GreenFile; History Reference Center; Literary Reference Center; Science Reference Center; NoveList+; NoveList+K-8; Points of View Reference Center; Referencia Latina

The address for the EBSCOhost Mobile site is http://m.ebscohost.com. (You will need a username and password to logon to this site; please visit the reference desk at one of the Mercer County Library Branches to obtain this information.)

After you logon, the List of Statewide EBSCO databases will appear:

Under the Search Options, it is easy to limit or expand your search results. You can choose from one of the available Search Modes and depending upon the databases you have chosen, you may see the ability to limit a search by Full Text articles, Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals, or a particular publication that you enter in the field provided.

Enter your search term(s):

Your result list is displayed. From the result list, you have the following options:

• To view an article’s detail page, click or tap the article title.
• If available, you can view the full text of an article by clicking the HTML Full Text or PDF Full Text link.
• To refine your results further, click the Search Options link below the Find field, apply additional limiters, and click Search.

From an article detail page, you can e-mail the article to yourself, along with any available full text by clicking or tapping the E-mail icon near the top of the page. To view the full text, click the HTML or PDF full text icon.

HTML view of article.

At this time, the only app available for EBSCOhost is an iPhone app. Apps for Droids and other Smartphones should be forthcoming.

The EBSCOhost iPhone app is available through the App Store. Just search for “ebscohost.” It’s free.

The EBSCOhost iPhone app has received positive reviews from iPhone users. Currently there is not a version specifically for iPad, although the iPhone version can be used on that platform.

Below is a screenshot of the EBSCOhost iPhone app welcome screen. Note the instructions on the screen to configure the app when using it for the first time. After getting your key, touch “Try EBSCOhost as a guest” to log in. You will be asked to login to the service one time only and your login will be saved for future uses. You will use the key that you were emailed in this process:

[To get the key from your mobile device, go to EBSCOhost Mobile at http://m.ebscohost.com. Logon to EBSCOhost Web:

At the bottom of this page, click the "New: EBSCOhost iPhone/iPod Touch Application" link:

This action will bring up the following dialog box:

Enter your e-mail address and the instructions on how to get the key to the app will be sent to you. You must follow the link for the keep in the browser on your mobile device for that device to gain full access to EBSCOhost.]

The first screen you will see after logging in will show your recent searches as well as saved search and article links.

To start a new search, just type your search terms in the Search field. Here we will search for articles on New Jersey by typing in “New Jersey.”

Your results will be listed on the next screen. Below is a screenshot showing 105 articles found. Note the PDF icon for full text results:

Tapping one of the results leads you to the screen depicted below, which shows you an abstract for the article. It also has buttons you can use to save the article, read the PDF on your phone and e-mail the article:

The full text PDF, shown below, is fully scalable on the iPhone:

Downloading a full text article PDF to your iPhone is quick and easy:

The Settings screen allows you to fine tune your results. Here I have elected to search just for articles available in Full Text:

You can get to your most recent searches by going to the Recent screen. You can then tap on the line to bring up the results of that search:

Available to all NJ Library Card Holders: