English 102
The Research Process Part II
Finding Books, Government Documents, and Audio-Visual Items Using the Library's Online Catalog.
The next step in the research process is to use the most significant or defining keywords from my list to search our online catalog for books, government documents, and audio-visual materials.
For my search of the catalog, I'll type in bully or bullying (two defining keywords from my list). By using the word "or" with these two terms, I am expanding my search.
I'll leave the default setting to All to include AV-Library, Central and West. I'll click search everything, since I want all indexed fields to be searched for these words.
12 records are found. I scan the list of records. Most seem to be appropriate for the topic. However, one stands out as completely wrong - #10 - The Bully Pulpit: Quotations from America's Presidents . Any record with either of the words bully or bullies in any of the indexed fields will come up. (so sometimes, as in this case something unrelated to the topic appears - and you thought libraries were completely serious places!)
Notice too, that some juvenile titles appear on the list - records 7 and 12. These are located in our special juvenile collection.
Since record #3 appears to be on target, I'll click the view box to bring up the full record.
In addition to the call number which serves as a locator for the book, and important publication information, there are subject headings at the bottom of the record - these are called hypertext links. If I click on one of these, I may discover other useful titles.
So, if I click on aggressiveness in adolescence I get two records - the original, and a title which did not appear on my original result list. - #2 And Words Can Hurt Forever.
I might also want to search on the word "bullies" even though it is not on my keyword list since it's possible that the word "bullies" could be included in one of the indexed fields of a record. I see that record #1 was not included in my earlier search.
The word "bullies" appears in a contents field that lists the chapters in the book.
Using a wordstem truncation symbol (it's a $ in our online catalog) I can conduct a faster and more efficient search that will find variations on the word bully.
So, the search bully$ or bullies results in 17 items. Of course, And Words Can Hurt Forever is included in the results of this search.
Scanning down the list I see that there are also audio-visual items and one government document on the topic.
Where would you find these items? All items are located by the call number they have been assigned.
Books are given a Library of Congress alpha-numeric call number. Books beginning with the letters A-HE are located on the upper level, and books beginning with HF to Z are located on the lower level. So the book we located would be shelved in the lower level of the Library since its call number begins with LB. The audiovisual library (on the upper level) and the government documents section (on the main floor) have their own special call number schemes.
Now that I've searched the Library's online catalog for books, government documents, and audio-visual items on my topic, I'm ready to search the databases subscribed to by the Library.
