Now that we have a basic understanding of how the AVL is organized, we can take a closer look on using it for research. As we have seen, the AVL has a rich collection of databases, and choosing the right one for your research all depends on the user’s age and topic. For example, a parent of a 1st grader who is creating a weather poster about tornadoes would want to go to Student Resources - Elementary School - and Pebble Go to locate articles that are perfectly written and structured with multimedia to hold their child’s attention and help them learn. Additionally, they can use the citation feature to prove their information came from a reliable source. Ethical use of information through citing sources is important even for young children!

A middle schooler learning about the history of Ellis Island would choose a different path. Middle School - Britannica Middle School - and a quick search about Ellis Island would give them various articles from which to choose on this topic. Once opening an article, the student could adjust the reading level to their unique preference by clicking the purple 1, 2, or 3 at the top. They can also easily generate a citation by clicking the check box icon at the top of the article.

A high schooler writing a persuasive essay about anything from drones to the effects of fake news on social media can also find what they need right here on the AVL. They would want to go to Student Resources - High School - Opposing Viewpoints, and search for the topic of their choice for a great list of articles to assist them in writing their paper. Citations are included in every article on the AVL, so we like to tell teenagers that using the AVL makes their life a lot easier!

As you can see, using the age divider and database titles helps anyone using the AVL find just the right resource for their information needs.

For adults, this process is even simpler. Oftentimes nurses in hospitals and doctor’s offices around Alabama need access to current research in the medical field. They can access these for free by going to Adult Resources - Career Resources on the left - and Health Source to search for quality research to inform how they interact with and take care of their patients.

The Adult Resources category includes databases specific to nurses, but also have information to assist people who are studying gardening, best practices in small business ownership, or are working on a home improvement project. There are magazines available online by clicking this button, and there are additional resources at the bottom of the Adult Resources page to help Alabama citizens seeking employment or contemplating a career change.