Transcript Beyond CHE 205: Understanding the Information

Beyond CHE 205:
Understanding the Information
Universe
CHE 395
Honora N. Eskridge
Fall 2006
Information Discovery
• What is research?
• Changing expectations…
– Thinking in a multi-disciplinary, international way
– Using professional sources
– Print resources
– Choosing the best source
Choosing the Best Source
"The explosion of information has serious implications for
information seeking by all persons, but especially for
students. For example, in most cases there is not just
one right source of information to answer an information
need; there are likely to be a number of alternative
sources and approaches that can successfully lead to
resolution of the problem. The question becomes less,
"Can I find information on this topic?" and more "What
are my best strategies for finding information on this
topic?"
--Eisenberg, Michael B. and Robert E. Berkowitz. Information Problem
Solving: The Big Six Skills Approach to Library and Information Skills
Instruction
Flow of Scholarly Information
Which literature types do you use the library to find?
Which library tool do you use for each type of literature?
What We’re Going to Focus on…
• The role of journal articles in communication between
researchers.
• Economics of scholarly information – Why can’t Google
get you everything you need?
• Article discovery
• Article access
• Managing information
Web Search Engines –
Yahoo!, Google, Lycos, etc.
World Wide Web – Millions of web pages!
This is the surface of the Web
Web Search Engines
World Wide Web – Millions of web pages!
Web pages containing search tools
The Deep Web
Web Search Engines
World Wide Web – Millions of web pages!
Web pages containing search tools (DATABASES)
$
$
$
free!
$
free!
$
Silos of Information
$
$
free!
$
free!
Compare looking for research articles to finding and buying an airline ticket
Searching Google doesn’t work – you have
to select the right type of database (Expedia, Travelocity).
The database is free – ads pay for it.
Discovery. You are now searching a database for a specific
document – the right ticket.
Now you choose the best document for your needs,
in this case the best flight.
Access means buying the ticket.
The ‘document’ costs money!
Searching Google doesn’t work well – you have
to select the right type of database (Compendex, Inspec).
The database costs money – no ads! The library pays for it.
Discovery. You are now searching a database for specific
documents – research articles.
Now you choose the best document(s) for your needs,
in this case an IEEE article.
Now you determine if the library owns this article
Access occurs because the library bought the journal.
The ‘document’ costs money!
Discover citation in database:
-Proof document was published.
Access to document is available only because:
-The library bought the journal the article appears in.
FindText@NCSU:
-Proof NCSU owns document.
-The Library bought it.
Discovery and Access are separate functions
Economics of Scholarly Info
• Academic Information is a BIG BUSINESS
• The players:
–
–
–
–
Scholars Writing
Publishers Packaging/Selling
Database (index/abstract) companies Discovery/Selling
Libraries Access/Buying
• Big Money! http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/jcosts/
• These factors directly influence what you can read and
use in your research!!
Managing Information
Managing Information
Information
Managing
• Learn how to
– Set up alerts for new journal articles
– Use Refworks
– Use RSS (depends on your field)
• We can teach you how to manage your
information
More efficient and more organized = more productive.
Beyond CHE 205
• Advanced use of Compendex
• Databases for other disciplines
• Other information “packages”
– Conferences
– Patents
– Standards
Contact Information
Honora N. Eskridge
Head, Textiles Library and Engineering Services
515-6120
[email protected]
Scott Warren
Assistant Head, Textiles Library and Engineering
Services
515-6602
[email protected]