Librarian's guide to online searching

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Where to find it

Information & Library Science Library

Call Number
ZA4460 .B45 2012
Status
Available

Authors, etc.

Names:

Summary

Librarians and students at every level of experience will benefit from proven strategies and tools for efficient online searching in this guide to commonly available subject databases and the principles of effective searching.

This is the third edition of one of the breakthrough books in the field of library and information science. No other text before it, or since, has provided such relevant, timely, and practical techniques for online research.

Librarian's Guide to Online Searching, Third Edition explores the fundamentals of online searching, including database structure, searching tips, and plenty of exercises and questions for practice. This guide includes representative databases covering social sciences, science and medicine, bibliographic, humanities, and numerical data. The revised and updated edition of this popular work introduces information on new interfaces, includes updated screenshots, and features a new emphasis and new material on scholarly databases that are freely available on the Internet.



* Content is based on commonly available databases

* Sample exercises and questions to test searching skills are based on real-world problems

* A range of different vendor interfaces are covered

* A companion website offers multimedia demonstrations, updates, and a blog

Contents

  • Acknowledgments p. xiii
  • Preface p. xv
  • 1 Database Structure for Everyone: Records, Fields, and Indexes p. 1
  • Historical Background p. 1
  • Indexing and Abstracting Services p. 1
  • From Printed Volumes to Databases p. 3
  • Database Building Blocks p. 4
  • Fields and Records p. 4
  • Quick Recap p. 5
  • Beyond Fields and Records p. 6
  • Field Indexes p. 6
  • Quick Recap p. 11
  • Examples of Indexes p. 12
  • Exercises and Points to Consider p. 17
  • Suggested Reading p. 18
  • Notes p. 18
  • 2 The Searcher's Toolkit: Part 1 p. 19
  • The First Basic Tools p. 19
  • Basic Tool No. 1: Boolean Logic p. 19
  • Quick Recap p. 24
  • Basic Tool No. 2: Controlled Vocabulary p. 25
  • Basic Tool No. 3: Field Searching p. 26
  • Terms in the Searching Lexicon p. 27
  • Quick Recap p. 29
  • Applying the Tools p. 29
  • Master FILE Premier: Notes and Search Examples p. 29
  • Exercises and Points to Consider p. 35
  • Notes p. 38
  • 3 The Searcher's Toolkit: Part 2 p. 39
  • Completing the Toolkit: Basic Tools 4-7 p. 39
  • Basic Tool No. 4: Proximity Searching p. 39
  • Basic Tool No. 5: Truncation p. 43
  • Quick Recap p. 46
  • Basic Tool No. 6: Limits to Constrain Your Search p. 46
  • Basic Tool No. 7: "Pearl Growing," A Useful Search Strategy p. 47
  • Quick Recap p. 48
  • Your Mental Toolkit p. 48
  • Summary and Advice p. 49
  • Exercises and Points to Consider p. 49
  • Suggested Reading p. 50
  • Notes p. 50
  • 4 Social Science Databases p. 51
  • Introduction to Subject Databases p. 51
  • Library Literature & Information Science p. 52
  • Background and Coverage p. 52
  • Notes and Search Examples p. 52
  • Quick Recap p. 56
  • ERIC on the Web p. 56
  • Background and Coverage p. 56
  • Notes and Search Examples p. 57
  • Working with Results: The Clipboard p. 64
  • Quick Recap p. 66
  • Psyc INFO from Ovid p. 66
  • Background and Coverage p. 66
  • Notes and Search Examples p. 68
  • Working with Results p. 75
  • Additional Feature: The PsycINFO Thesaurus p. 76
  • Quick Recap p. 76
  • Exercises and Points to Consider p. 77
  • Beyond the Textbook Exercises p. 79
  • Notes p. 80
  • 5 Databases For Science and Medicine p. 81
  • PubMed and MEDLINE p. 82
  • About MEDLINE p. 82
  • PubMed: More than MEDLINE p. 83
  • Introduction to the PubMed Interface p. 84
  • Notes and Search Examples p. 85
  • Output in PubMed p. 94
  • Quick Recap p. 95
  • The Web of Science and the Citation Indexes p. 96
  • History of the Citation Indexes p. 96
  • Web of Science Content p. 97
  • An Index Focused on Citations p. 97
  • Additional Differences in Available Fields p. 98
  • Searching the Web of Science: Main Search Interface p. 99
  • Cited Reference Searching p. 106
  • E-mail, Print, Save, or Export Results p. 111
  • Advanced Features: Advanced Search and Analyze p. 112
  • Quick Recap p. 114
  • Exercises and Points to Consider p. 115
  • Beyond the Textbook Exercises p. 117
  • Notes p. 118
  • 6 Bibliographic Databases p. 119
  • WorldCat: The "OPAC of OPACs" p. 120
  • Background and Coverage p. 120
  • A Tool for Many Parts of the Library p. 121
  • Notes and Search Examples p. 122
  • Quick Recap p. 131
  • WorldCat.org p. 131
  • Background: The Path to WorldCat.org p. 132
  • Notes and Search Examples p. 133
  • Quick Recap p. 138
  • Revisiting Your Local OPAC p. 138
  • Exercises and Points to Consider p. 139
  • Beyond the Textbook Exercise p. 140
  • Notes p. 140
  • 7 Humanities Databases p. 141
  • America: History and Life p. 142
  • Background and Coverage p. 142
  • Notes and Search Examples p. 142
  • Many Tools: Folder, Output Options, and More p. 149
  • Special Feature: CLIO Notes p. 151
  • Quick Recap p. 151
  • MIA International Bibliography p. 152
  • Background and Coverage p. 152
  • Notes and Search Examples p. 154
  • The Marked List and Output p. 161
  • Additional Feature: Directory of Periodicals p. 163
  • Quick Recap p. 165
  • Exercises and Points to Consider p. 166
  • Beyond the Textbook Exercises p. 167
  • Notes p. 167
  • 8 Numerical Databases p. 169
  • Finding Numbers p. 169
  • Concepts about Numbers p. 170
  • Quick Recap p. 173
  • A Comment about Searching for Numbers p. 173
  • Statistical Insight from ProQuest p. 174
  • Background and Coverage p. 174
  • Notes and Search Examples p. 175
  • Outputting Records p. 183
  • Quick Recap p. 184
  • American FactFinder p. 185
  • Background and Coverage p. 185
  • Search Modes in American FactFinder p. 186
  • Quick Recap p. 189
  • Bureau of Labor Statistics p. 190
  • Pay & Benefits at the Bureau of Labor Statistics p. 191
  • Occupation Information at the Bureau of Labor Statistics p. 193
  • Quick Recap p. 194
  • Numbers and the Reference Interview p. 195
  • Exercises and Points to Consider p. 195
  • Beyond the Textbook Exercises p. 196
  • Suggested Readings p. 197
  • Notes p. 198
  • 9 Focus on People p. 199
  • Part 1: Information Seeking Behavior p. 200
  • Some Theoretical Background on Information Seeking p. 200
  • Applied Research on Information Seeking Behavior p. 202
  • Quick Recap p. 207
  • Part 2: The Reference Interview p. 208
  • What Is the Real Question? p. 208
  • Question Negotiation in the Reference Interview p. 211
  • Beyond the Face-to-Face Reference Interview p. 214
  • Why Is the Reference Interview So Important? p. 217
  • Quick Recap p. 217
  • Exercises and Points to Consider p. 218
  • Suggested Readings p. 218
  • Notes p. 218
  • 10 Choosing the Right Resource for the Question p. 221
  • Start With the Reference Interview p. 222
  • Questions for Databases p. 222
  • Why and When to Try a Database p. 223
  • Quick Recap p. 226
  • Choosing a Database p. 226
  • Free Databases on the Web p. 228
  • Quick Recap p. 230
  • Questions for the Web p. 231
  • Personal Uses of the Web p. 231
  • Professional Uses of the Web p. 231
  • Quick Recap p. 232
  • Exercises and Points to Consider p. 233
  • Suggested Readings p. 233
  • Notes p. 234
  • 11 Evaluating Databases p. 235
  • Basic Facts and Figures p. 236
  • Initial Factual Information to Gather p. 236
  • Testing and Benchmarking p. 240
  • Testing p. 240
  • Benchmarking p. 245
  • Making a Request for Purchase p. 247
  • Elements to Include in the Request p. 247
  • Exercises and Points to Consider p. 249
  • Suggested Readings p. 250
  • Notes p. 250
  • 12 Teaching Other People About Databases p. 251
  • Teaching Principles p. 252
  • Principle 1: Teach to Your Audience p. 252
  • Principle 2: Avoid Lecturing p. 253
  • Principle 3: Wait for Answers p. 254
  • Principle 4: Less Is More p. 255
  • Principle 5: Transparency in Teaching p. 255
  • Principle 6: You Have the Right to be Wrong p. 255
  • Principle 7: Teaching with Technology p. 256
  • Principle 8: Practice p. 257
  • Database Teaching Opportunities p. 258
  • Teaching at the Reference Desk p. 258
  • Teaching an Information Literacy Session p. 259
  • A Staff Presentation p. 264
  • The Full Semester Class p. 265
  • Exercises and Points to Consider p. 266
  • Suggested Readings p. 267
  • Notes p. 267
  • References p. 269
  • Index p. 281

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