Information in libraries comes in several different formats, which
usually means it is presented, processed, shelved, and stored in
several different ways. Books, for example, are usually shelved in
specific areas, away from most issues of magazines, copies of
videotapes, or microfilmed materials. If library researchers want
to use a library to maximum effect, they should begin by finding
out what materials are available there, and in what form; what
clientele they were meant for; where materials are held in the
library; how to use library tools to access them; and how to
utilize the materials effectively.
Library materials include print and non-print formats. The formats
have evolved from primarily print materials, such as books and
periodicals, to include multi-media materials (e. g. videotapes,
audiocassettes, slides) and, more recently, electronic resources
such as CD-ROM and Internet-based databases. No matter what the
format of the information happens to be, however, it always has to
be made accessible to the researcher.
Accessibility is usually achieved in one or more of four major
ways, or access points: by who wrote or compiled it (author);
by what it is named (title); by what it is about (subject);
or by an important word or words that appear somewhere in the
document (keyword).
Formerly, before widespread digitalization of library materials,
the "group-concept" access points of authors, titles, or
subjects were virtually the only access points. Then computers
made it possible to search by a key word or words instead of by a
group concept. Keyword searching allows for searching by
one or more meaningful words, in documents of sometimes many
thousands of words, in the hope of making the search more specific
and customized, and therefore more likely to produce the desired
results.
Libraries have books, periodicals, multi-media, and electronic
materials. Some are in print or electronic form, or on storage
material such as microfilm. Because of their different forms,
natures, and intended uses they are usually shelved separately and
sometimes accessed separately. Today, most libraries have much of
their materials in print, media, and electronic format.
Sometimes beginning library researchers
confuse the function of a library resource or tool with its format.
This is understandable, but it gets in the way of efficient
searching. A library resource or tool’s function is defined by its
intended use and/or content. Materials and equipment in a library
include both information resources, and the tools used to access
them. Books and periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and journals)
are the mainstays of most libraries, and library users are all used
to seeing them in their customary paper formats. But some books are
on audiocassette or in computer form. Some periodical issues are
also in electronic form, or on microfilm. Yet these items are no
less books or periodicals because they are not in paper form.
The library tools used to access library
materials or information about them can also be in different forms.
The reference tool in libraries which helps users locate books is a catalog.
It doesn’t matter if it is in card, book, or computer form; if its
job is to tell users which books the library owns, and where they
are located, the resource is a catalog.
Similarly, a library reference tool
called an index allows users to search for periodical
articles on wanted topics. Indexes specify exactly which issues of
periodicals, with dates and page numbers, contain articles on a
given subject. It doesn’t matter if the index is in book or
computer format, it is an index because of the function it
performs.
Many library users fall into the trap of
defining a tool or resource by only a quick glance at its format,
instead of looking to see which function it performs. Take the time,
as you begin research in a library, to find out which resources are
available and where they are located. Begin with finding the two
most constant access tools in libraries, the catalogs and the
indexes, which respectively tell researchers how to find books and
periodical articles.
Books
Books and periodicals still comprise the main kinds of print
materials in most libraries. Access to information in or about
printed books is afforded through a library’s catalog. Every
library has one: it could be a card, book, or computer catalog,
though most contemporary libraries now have the latter type. The
SMC
Library Catalog is a computer catalog, or
OPAC (Online
Public Access Catalog). The principal job of a library catalog is
to tell the library user which materials the library owns, where
they are located, and how they are made available. Typical library
holdings listed in catalogs include books, periodicals, media
materials, and other items the library owns.
In most libraries, books are placed on bookshelves, which are
often called stacks, by subject areas. These areas are
coded according to a formal classification system. A
classification system is a standardized set of rules for labeling
and identifying books according to their subjects, authors and
other distinguishing information. Each book is given a call
number, which is the code that represents: the classification
system used; the subject, author, and/or title of the book; and
further identifying information. It also serves as the
"address" for placing and locating the book on library
shelves.
In each of these systems a set of numbers, a set of letters of the
alphabet, or configurations of both stand for subject areas.
In Dewey libraries, books on mathematics
and science are placed in the 500 section. Specific sciences are
given specific areas within the 500s range. Human Anatomy and other
biology books, for example, are in the 570s area. The same book in
an LC library, where works on mathematics and science are in the Q’s,
would be in section QM, since those are the call letters for works
on Human Anatomy. And in an NLM library ,the same book would be in
section QS.
Books are placed on bookshelves by
subject, and beginning researchers might think that the fastest way
to find what they need is to simply go directly to (for example) the
science section and browse there to see what was available. Using
this method might net one or useful books. But this kind of
hit-or-miss research rarely suits the purposes of serious students,
scholars, and other researchers. They need the most proficient,
specific, and time-saving means possible to locate needed
information to write their papers or study for exams. So they have
to take the time before beginning research to learn the ways of
efficiently accessing the information they need.
Using the catalog is the most
efficient way to zero in on needed books. The listing for each book
in the catalog is called the record (or entry) for the
book. The record or entry gives not only the call number, but also
other important identifying and describing information, such as
author, title, city of publication, the publisher, and the copyright
or publication date of the book. These basic components of a book’s
description usually comprise a basic citation for the book,
because they include the most fundamental descriptions needed to
identify or describe accurately a specific book. Citations are
useful for both locating materials and for documenting them in notes
and bibliographies.
Citations are standardized according to
a set of rules called a style, which dictates how entries are
arranged, put in order, punctuated, and written out. There are many
styles that students use in completing their academic research
compositions. Two of the ones most widely used in colleges and
universities are the MLA
(Modern Language Association) and the APA
(American Psychological Association) styles. There are also other
widely-used styles. Professors usually choose one and instruct their
students to use it when writing required papers.
Periodicals and
Periodical Indexes
Access to information in periodicals (magazines,
newspapers, and journals) is provided by indexes (or
indices). A periodical index differs from a catalog, which is
usually set up by each library to reflect only what that specific
library or library system owns. Indexes, however, are generally
published by outside companies who choose which periodicals they
feature, and who then sell their indexes to libraries on a
subscription basis. Generally, libraries don't have a direct voice
in selecting the periodicals that the companies use. Therefore,
though a library might subscribe to a particular index, such as General
Science Index, the library probably won’t own all the
journals and magazines used in the index.
Indexes allow users to look up a subject
and discover exactly which issues of periodicals have articles on
that topic. The topic listings under which the articles are found
are called subject headings. Searching in this way eliminates
aimless browsing, guessing, and loss of valuable time. Indexes
customarily provide the title of each article, its author's), the
title of the periodical in which the article appears, the date of
the periodical and the volume, issue, and page numbers of the
article. This information comprises a basic citation for an article.
The citation includes the most fundamental descriptions needed to
identify accurately a specific article, just as similar appropriate
information identifies a book. A correct periodical citation enables
researchers to check their library’s holdings to find out whether
the library owns the needed periodical and issue, whether in
electronic or print form. If so, researchers can then retrieve the
issue and find the article.
Indexes that include summaries of the
articles as well as citations are called "abstracts". Biological
Abstracts, for example, is an abstract and one of the most
useful titles for biology students.
Electronic
Resources
Most SMC Library books and periodicals are still in print format.
So are some of our indexes to periodical articles. But, in keeping
with most other libraries, SMC makes considered but timely
transitions from traditional formats to electronic ones as often
as feasible. This is because of the greater capacity for speed,
specificity, and efficiency that electronic resources offer
library users. Digitized resources such as periodical indexes on
CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory) were the forerunners of
online databases that now come to us via the Internet.
Online indexes are web-based resources, meaning that information
comes through the World Wide Web and can be constantly added to,
deleted, or updated at all hours of the day and night, making it
immediately available in the databases.
Researchers use a browser such as
Netscape Communicator or Microsoft Internet Explorer for accessing
materials on the World Wide Web. The Web is an Internet service that
allows users to retrieve documents composed not only of words, but
also of graphics/images, sound, or video. It also allows very easy
connecting from one document to another.
In the World Wide Web, researchers use a
search engine or directory such as Alta
Vista, Yahoo, WebCrawler,
or Excite to type in their topics
and retrieve hypertext documents. Hypertext materials allow
users reading one document onscreen to use a mouse to click on
(usually) color-highlighted, underlined words in the document called
a link. This action immediately calls onto the screen the
other document that the link represents. This interconnected
"web" of documents provides a fascinating if not always
effective way to look for materials on the Internet.
Web-based search engines and databases
are usually searched by keywords connected, in a structured
search, by the Boolean operators AND, OR, or NOT. Boolean
searching is named for mathematician George Boole, and will be
discussed more fully later in the tutorial.
Web materials can be useful, but as with
all other documents from all other sources, researchers have to
evaluate each web site and web document critically. Since almost
anyone with a computer can publish on the Web, the credentials of
document creators cannot be easily verified. Finding documents
through the Internet does not give the documents automatic
authority. There are, however, several web sites that offer good
advice on how to evaluate Internet sources. Here is one from Cornell
and another from UCLA.
The SMC Library’s catalog/OPAC and
several of the Library’s academic databases are Web-based. The
OPAC represents an electronic form of a print card catalog. The
databases can also represent electronic versions of print indexes or
other reference sources. These databases are proprietary and not
found for free on the Internet. The Library subscribes to these
resources just as it subscribes to print versions of, for example,
the Los Angeles Times, so that students will have appropriate
and useful information available to them that is targeted to their
general needs. The databases are accessed on computer workstations,
but although they come to us via the World Wide Web they are not
strictly Internet documents.
Review the section above. Then:
