Transcript purohit101 - Mercer County Community College

ENG 101
Using the library & finding
information
Martin Crabtree
MCCC Library
Agenda
• Finding books
• Important places in the library
• Electronic searching
• Databases available fro the library
• Database Info ≠ Web Info
Finding Books
• Books are put on the shelves grouped
by subject.
• You may be familiar with the Dewey
Decimal System which is used by
many school and public libraries.
• MCCC, like most colleges, uses a
different system called the Library of
Congress (LC) system.
• The LC system used both letters and
number. For example:
PZ3.D55 T3
Finding books in the library
Using the online card catalog
•
The catalog is available
online. Used to find books,
videos and other materials
both in the MCCC collection
and the Mercer County Public
(MCL) libraries.
•
You can have materials from
MCL brought to the college.
Deliveries arrive Tuesday and
Friday afternoons. (DVD’s not
available from MCL)
•
You will need to have your
student ID card to borrow
books or use the computer
lab in the library
Link to the catalog is on the library’s web pages.
Getting Around in the Library
Important Places in the Library
The Reference Desk
The Circulation Desk
The Stacks
The person at the reference desk will
help you find what you need
The Reference Librarian will help you to:
•Do database searches
•Find books, periodicals and other materials
•Find useful web resources
At the Circulation Desk
You can:
•
•
•
•
Check out book here.
Get textbook for use in the library
Get videos & current newspapers here.
Get materials (books, journal articles, etc.)
that your professor has set aside here
• Ask for help in your research
There are 2 kinds of stacks
• The Reference stacks:
– Holds the reference books
– These books do not
circulate
• The General Collection
Stacks
– Holds the books that you
can check out
We have computers too!
The library’s computer lab
• To use the computer lab you need to sign in
& have your student ID with you.
• You can use the computers for research as
well as for email, writing papers, spread
sheets, etc.
• Bring you own disks, CDs, thumb drives, etc.
to save your work.
The library’s computer lab
• Anything saved on a computer’s hard drive
will be erased once the computer is turned
off.
• Printing costs 10¢ a page (you can also email
articles to yourself).
• There is a lab assistant there to help with
computer usage questions.
• You’ll need to go to the reference desk for
research questions.
Searching Electronic Resources
Starting An Electronic Search
Keywords
• Keywords are used when searching electronic databases and
web search engines.
• With a possible topic in mind, generate a list of words
(keywords) that describes or would commonly be used when
discussing your topic. Write this down if it helps.
• For example:
– Ozone
– Layer
– Depletion
– Atmosphere
– Hole
Starting An Electronic Search
Boolean Searching/Logic
• Boolean searching - Connecting keywords with the
terms
– and
– not
– or
• For example
– eagles NOT football
– (car or automobile) and exhaust
• More Terms = Fewer “Hits”
Searching More Than Just Keywords
Phrases & Truncations
• To search for a phrase, use quotation marks
– “survival of the fittest”
• Truncations allow for searching related words
all at once
– The * is usually used (! For Academic Universe
databases) . For example:
• child* would include: child, children, childhood,
childproof, etc.
Searching More Than Just Keywords
Field Limiters
• Database field limiters allow you to specify
your search within varied parameters for
example:
– Only full-text articles
– Only peer reviewed (scholarly) publications
– Date (or date range)
Let’s take a quick look at how
Boolean searching can help
Electronic Databases at the
Mercer Library
Electronic Databases
In General
• Over 60 databases available
• Not every article is available full text though
many are
• Abstracts (summary) is often available when
full text is not
Electronic Databases
In General
• Accessible at any computer on
the MCCC/JKC campus
network
• Most are available off campus,
though you do need to use a
password.
• Can print/e-mail/download
articles
Accessing Databases Remotely
• You can access most of the databases from
any computer with internet access.
• Use your student ID number (no dashes) and
your last name to log into the databases. i.e.
• If you are already using a library issued
password and ID number, they are still valid
too.
Remote Login Screen
Use your student ID
number & last name
Use your previously issued
User ID & password
Some Useful Databases
• New York Times Historical – Covering 1851- 2003
• Literature Resource Center – Criticisms, Biographies,
and other info about authors and their works.
• Biographies Plus – Biographical info
Let’s take a look…
More Databases
• A number of subject specific databases are
available covering:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Business (ABI/Inform)
Newspapers (Academic-Universe: News)
Criminal Justice (Criminal Justice Periodical Index)
Architecture (Architectural Index)
Education (Proquest Educational Journals)
more
• Also other resources
– Encyclopedia Britannica
– Oxford English Dictionary
– AP Photo Archive – News & historical photographs
Database information vs. web
information
What is a databases?
• A collection of electronically searchable
information (frequently, but not limited to,
periodical articles) that is accessible via the
internet
• Access to this information is by paid
subscription only (paid by the library).
• It is accessible via the internet, but it is not truly
web information.
Database info ≠ Webpage info
• Though both use a browser (like Netscape or
Explorer) the information is not the same.
• Database info comes from known sources of
information such as Newsweek or The New
York Times.
• Web information can be put up by anyone
hence the quality of this information varies
greatly from site to site.
Database info ≠ Webpage info
• Accuracy: Editors & fact checkers insure this for
periodicals, can’t tell if it’s done for many websites.
• Authority: Articles are written by experts or people
who have researched a subject, with web info it can
be hard to tell if the writer is an expert.
• Objectivity: Periodicals strive to give an unbiased
presentation of information, some websites can be
very opinionated
Database info ≠ Webpage info
• Currency: Periodicals always have a given
date (i.e. Spring 2002, January 2005), often
you can’t tell how old web info is.
• Coverage: Periodical articles, especially
journals cover their subject thoroughly
(though sometimes it can be very narrow),
web info tends to be abbreviated (20 page
journal articles are common, 20 page web
pages are not).
Now it’s your turn…