Database Searching -- Information Literacy for Library Technicians

Finding "something quickly," in each case, proved to be seriously misleading to their overall comprehension of the subject.

In a very similar way, Google searching leaves remote scholars, outside the research library, in just the situation of the Blind Men of India: it hides the existence and the extent of relevant sources on most topics (by overlooking many relevant sources to begin with, and also by burying the good sources that it does find within massive and incomprehensible retrievals). It also does nothing to show the interconnections of the important parts (assuming that the important can be distinguished, to begin with, from the unimportant). six blind men and an elephant, by ben vershbow ideas from the famous Librarian, Thomas Mann: The Oxford Guide to Library Research. (see also) (Six blind men) is a parable that has crossed between many religious traditions and is part of Jain, Buddhist, Sufi and Hindu lore. Read more

See holy stages and See Also holy rules of Database Searching, in "Inside a searcher's mind: the seven stages of an online search," by Barbara Quint, Online 15.3 (May 1991): p13

Library and Information Science Search Engine (over 208 sites now have been included, including the latest Blogs and Open Access eJournals); Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts™ (LISTA) is available FREE to any library.

Database Searching in Library environ is not the same as Googling. It is not any ways close to a Google search and hence, not the same as Google results.

Database Searching requires some understanding of fundamental concepts (e.g, information seeking behavior or information needs), essential resources (e.g., primary, secondary), search techniques (what to search, where to search, how to search), etc. In short, it is going beyond Google (in order to find relevant, accurate, current, reliable, dependable, and verified content).

Textbooks:

Computers in Libraries (2006), Chapter 8 (OPAC) pages:109-110, 116-110; Chapter 10 (Information Searching) pages: 137-143

Cases in Online Search Strategy by Bruce A. Shuman

Searching Skills Toolkit by Caroline De Brún

The Information Specialist's Guide to Searching and Researching on the Internet and the World Wide Web, by Ernest C. Ackermann

Finding it Online (2004), 'Framing Your Search Strategy,' 73-77

Guide to Becoming Library Technician (2005) 'Developing Search Strategies' 158.

Librarian's Guide to Online Searching, Suzanne S. Bell

The Library Instruction Cookbook, Ryan L. Sittler - see chapter on "The Art of Database Searching by Dawn Eckenrode"

Reference and Information Services in the 21st Century: An Introduction,
by Kay Ann Cassell & Uma Hiremath. Chapter on "Finding the Answer: Basic Search Techniques"

Search Patterns: Design for Discovery, by Peter Morville [Summary: This book explores design patterns that apply across the categories of web, e-commerce, enterprise, desktop, mobile, social, and realtime search and discovery. The authors cover topics such as relevance ranking, faceted navigation, multi-touch, and augmented reality together with a practical guide to help us make search better today--Derived from p. [4] of cover.
Contents: Pattern recognition -- The anatomy of a search -- Behavior -- Design patterns -- Engines of discovery -- Tangible futures.]

Issues in Online Database Searching (Database Searching Series), by Carol Tenopir

The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know by Mary W. George

Understanding Information Retrieval Systems: Management, Types, and Standards, by Marcia J. Bates [see chapter on "Information Searching and Search Models by Iris Xie;" sections are on: MANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS, TYPES OF INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS and STANDARDS FOR INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS]

Humor and Information Literacy: Practical Techniques for Library Instruction, by
Joshua Vossler, Scott Sheidlower

Magic Search: Getting the Best Results from Your Catalog and Beyond by Rebecca S. Kornegay [showcases how to increase the power of Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) subdivisions to produce astonishing results from your searches.]

The Medical Library Association Essential Guide to Becoming an Expert Searcher (Medical Library Association Guides), Terry Ann Jankowski

Research Strategies: Finding Your Way through the Information Fog, by William Badke

Online Retrieval: A Dialogue of Theory and Practice, by Geraldene Walker

Techniques and Tools, How-To, What-to:

Compare Databases - Academic Database Assessment Tool (ADAT)  (includes: Bibliographic Databases and Fulltext Databases)

Planning a Search Strategy

Seneca's Guidelines on how to find an article

Research Success Tutorial

SELECTING & EVALUATING YOUR SOURCES , (includes: Recognizing a Scholarly Article) Dawson College

Basic and Advanced Operators (Boolean, Truncation, WildCard Chart)

Develop own information literacy skills

Information Literacy and the Contributions of Library Technicians in the Academic Library Dorothy Gagnon and Cyndi Smith, Reference Library Technicians, Georgian College.

Video Tutorial: Evaluating Websites

From the same shelf (Blog):

Podcast of information literacy information from Curtin University of Technology Library and Information Service

Information Literacy (for all) - A useful gateway

Information Literacy Tutorial - Kognito

Finding a journal article is like hunting for a needle in a haystack

What the Information Professionals Read to Keep Up to Date, A list by Professor Karen M. Drabenstott, @ University of Michigan

Evaluating Selected Full-text Databases for Collection Development, by Karen Whisler, Marlene Slough, Nackil Sung and Barbara Cressman, Illinois Periodicals Online, 1998.

Library Research Project 101

Things to think about as you approach a research project

@Ann the Librarian

"I’ve been playing around with making a worksheet to use when I’m working with students who are just starting a research project. “Research” in this context refers to library research to find relevant articles, books, documents, etc, about a topic.
So here’s my first draft:

1. What discipline or disciplines am I working in?

2. What type of literature or information do I need?

3. How and where will I search for the information I need?

4. How will I access the information that I find?

5. What keywords or terms will I use to describe my topic?

6. After running a few searches: What results am I getting?

7. What refinements should I make to my search in light of those results?

8. How will I use the results that I’ve found?

9. What am I missing?

22 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Get for Free

"Conventional wisdom holds that you only get what you pay for, but the real free geek knows that with the right knowledge (and maybe a charming smile) pretty much anything, even the good stuff, can be had for less or in the best case scenarios nothing at all. Despite this, there are a number of things out there that don’t seem to scream “free” majority of the time (MIT being one). Here’s a list of a few free things that might surprise you."

The list includes:

• Classes at MIT offers a majority of its curriculum
• Language Lessons @ BBC
• Business Education @ Local business centers
• Computer Classes @ offer workshops
• 411 Service @ (800-FREE-411)
• Used Books @ PaperBackSwap or Title Trader
• Comic Books @ free comics
• CPR Courses @ online
• Much more...
  

info cortesy: http://www.davelafferty.com

Top 10 Obscure Google Search Tricks

Best comment for those who love to look outside the box:

"Even your librarians learned something new from this article on the lifehacker web site:

10. Get the local time anywhere

9. Track flight status

8. Convert currency, metrics, bytes, and more

7. Compare items with "better than" and find similar items with "reminds me of"

6. Use Google as a free proxy

5. Remove affiliate links from product searches

4. Find related terms and documents

3. Find music and comic books

2. ID people, objects, and foreign language words and phrases with Google Image Search

1. Make Google recognize faces

Info courtesy: Dr. John Archer Library

On the same shelf:

18 expert tips which every Googler must know

Blog Search Contestants 1 and 2

Blog Search Revisited - Google vs Technorati vs Techmeme Andy Beard (Feb

Compared blog search at Google and Technorati, and explained why he starts at Techmeme.

Identifies some of the ranking factors at Google: title, order of words in title, keyword occurence in the text, site authority metrics.

He found Technorati fresher and with less spam. Ranking is really according to relevance, rather than the giving the user the ability to define an "authority threshold". continue reading [info posted by Gwen @ Internet News]

The Librarians - an Australian ABC Comedy Series

The Librarians Interview


[Info courtesy: Michelle McLean @ Connecting Librarian]

See also:

Criticism and Interpretation: 'The Librarians'Blog 2007

ABC TV TURNS A NEW PAGE IN COMEDY

The Librarians - an Australian comedy - in review

Google it

Bigotry by the book, The Age

Seneca Library Holiday Song

The Technique of Song and Sound Visualization: Blogga Song of Librarians

Silence Please: Mr. Bean, The Library

+ Practical Ideas You Can Use to Improve Your Library Program

Text from the AASL 2001 Annual Conference Session

Title of presentation: 101+ Practical Ideas You Can Use to Improve Your Library Program.

Presented by: Gene Hainer, Colorado State Library and Su Eckhardt, Cherry Creek School District.

(c) 2001, Colorado Educational Media Association and Colorado State Library. Permission to duplicate for educational purposes only, with proper credit to the above authors and organizations. All other rights reserved.

The following ideas were gathered from many sources or personal experience. Some you may want to do now. Others you may never want to do. There may even be things you know about that aren't listed here.

While reading, take a moment to commit yourself to doing something--anything--to improve your library, work life, collection, PR, communication, collaboration, instructional practices. Anything. Then take that first step and try it! If that's successful, try something else. You (and your program) will be better for it.

Categorized by the elements presented in Principles of Information Power: Building Partnerships for Student Learning.

LEADERSHIP

1. Realize that you do not have time to do EVERYTHING. Decide what is important and do THAT....

LEARNING AND TEACHING

45. Start curriculum mapping of the classroom content. Work with teachers to sketch out the major curriculum areas or units that they will be working on throughout the year. These can be displayed on poster board (if first laminated, can be written on, erased, and changed as needed during the year). It also reminds teachers that you and the library are there to help with instruction.

PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION

55. Post copyright restrictions. Place on copy machines, VCRs, reproducible notebooks that request permissions, etc.

Continue reading the 101+Practical Ideas You Can Use to Improve Your Library Program

Enhanced Speed Reading

PS. Interesting application news @ Factiva's "Researcher", info courtesy: Daniela Barbosa and Daniela says: "As promised on Lou's original post, Greg writes about some of the tools that he has been experimenting with which provide capabilities that he is calling 'enhanced speed reading'. His thoughts are based on conversations with information professionals and researchers about how to effectively manage the ever increasing volume of information they need to read."

The following is from Greg's blog:

Concorder Pro: This tool is a bit buggy but I still use it to navigate mini text archives using concordance to browse by words alphabetically or by count. Once you get beyond stop words, it gets very interesting. This app was last updated in 2003 and for OS X mac only. Concordance provides the word counts for every word my mini archive.
Other tools that are also very interesting include:

DEVONagent
Concept Q
RefVis

When considering the professional researcher we not only talk about expert search strategies but how the results are really used. Who scans, reads, annotates the ever-increasing overload of relevant information.

Yahoo Answers on the Street

See also: Yahoo's New Reality Show:

ALA Tool Kit for the Expert Web Searcher

Developed and maintained by Pat Ensor

Tired of endless lists of Web search tools that give you no guidance as to which ones to use? Or that were last updated when Gophers were alive? I'm inviting you to look over my shoulder and use what I use every day for Web searching in an academic library. I keep up with this stuff so you don't have to! continue reading

Top Ten Facebook Apps for Librarians

Part One @ iLibrarian & OEDb

Librarians are experimenting with a wide range of Facebook Apps ranging from the productive such as the 30 Boxes Calendar, Meebo, Twitter, and Zoho Online Office to the silly with Zombies, Likeness, My Aquarium, and SuperPoke. Here are the first three Facebook Apps designed for the librarian in all of us:
Books iRead – With nearly 200,000 users, this handy app claims to be the most popular book application on Facebook. .



LibGuides Librarian – For those of you using Springshare’s LibGuides subject guides maker for libraries, you’ll be pleased to see this new app which lets you display your guides in your Facebook profile and also provides a search of your library’s catalog.


Librarian –This virtual librarian service provides links to books, scholarly sources, and reference resources which the community can add to and vote on. Those who access this application can access an “Ask a Librarian” service, as well as customize and build their own widget based on the original. Continue reading

The 6th Annual Ohio Library Support Staff Institute August 5 – 7, 2007

at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio

Just added to the agenda:
“The Library Degree: Is It For Me?”
a discussion with Michael Bradshaw, 2006 OLSSI Chair
and Doug Morrison, OLSSI Founder
Keynote Address by Neal Semel of Diversity Matters - "Multiculturalism and Respect"

Classes include:
3-Dimensional Picture Book Art: Movable & Pop-Up Books
Assault Prevention and Self-Defense
Basic Animation Techniques in PowerPoint Presentations
Book Repair
Creating Original Records in WorldCat
Creating Your Own Blog...Hands- on Training
Etiquette and Greetings Around the World
Multicultural Communications and Holidays in a Diverse World
Sexual Harassment: Working With Respect
The Elixir of Librarianship. ..Maps
What A Difference A Generation Makes
Yoga for Stressed Library Staff
This year’s grand prize is an Amish Heartland Package for two at the Inn at Honey Run in beautiful Holmes county.
SPACES ARE FILLING QUICKLY! Register at: http://www.olssi.org [librarian-wannabes]

- posted by Rachel @ Beyond the Job

Reference Books Bulletin: Is Print Reference Dead?

in ALA Annual 2007: Day 4: June 24: Is Print Ref Dead?

Extracts:

Reasons why print is dying:

• Catalog information for p-titles is limited to title in most cases
  e-ref is very browsable online--TOC, indexes, etc.


• Preferences of contemporary users who expect 24/7 access, searchability, full text delivery.


• P-content is invisible


• Print indexes are too hard to use


• MLS/MLIS students are not required to take reference. Most get out of school with only one (or fewer) ref classes


• Print is....print. E-resources offer interactivity and multimedia. Many resources are dynamic and frequently updated

Continue reading

Who is Reading Books (and who is not)

PS. This is a quote posted by Bill @ Faith Commons: A Chasm Is Growing Between the Knows and the Know-nots

58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.

42% of college graduates never read another book.

80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.

70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

--Jerrold Jenkins via Dan Poynter's ParaPublishing

Finding a journal article is like hunting for a needle in a haystack

I have an excellent powerpoint presentation on information literacy. This was originally designed as an online tutorial.
Available on request.

Punchline:
"Unfortunately, database searching techniques are rarely taught inelementary secondary education and college and graduate education may often see little increase in this nil level of instruction. Hence information literacy in academia is perhaps the most neglected area of erudition and is after all only that minor aspect of scholarship that involves the methods one uses in electronic sources to find the
publications and documents that are on topic for research and specific subject learning." David Dillard


See also other PowerPoint presentations:

• Blog As A Teaching Tool
• The Six A’s for Evaluating Web Content

Quote of the Day - Good Library is ....

"The closest we will ever come to an orderly universe is a good library." Ashleigh Brilliant

Thanks to Gwyn Raven @ Myrddin Wandering for this quote, and for linking all my blogs.

PS. See more quotations on Library, books, readers, and reading habits @ my blog: Library & Information Science Quotations

Seneca Library Holiday Song

See also from my blogs:

Funny you should ask: Humor at the Reference Desk

Unusual Reference Questions - Globalism Visited

Silence Please: Mr. Bean, The Library

The Technique of Song and Sound Visualization: Blogga Song of Librarians

Funny you should ask: Humor at the Reference Desk

"A short time after returning to librarianship after some years away, I was working at the reference desk . . . When I looked up . . . a young man (approximately college age) was standing there. I asked if I could help him and he said, "Do you have anything on eunuchs?"

A sample from "Funny You Should Ask: Baffling, Bewildering, and
Bizarre Questions from the Reference Desk" (Thomson, 2005) (a weekly e-mail column from Gale.com)

Janis Test of the Abilene Public Library contributed this:

"Somewhat taken aback, I decided to use my reference interview skills (however rusty) and began asking questions such as "Do you have any particular time period in mind?" and "Are you more interested in harem culture, or castrati?"

When I noted that he was looking at me as if I were from another planet, I sighed and fell back on the tried and true, "How do you spell that?"

He rolled his eyes and said patiently, "U-N-I-X." I said, "Oh, exactly," looked it up in the online catalog and directed him to the appropriate part of the library. Once he had gotten out of range, I began laughing and almost literally fell out of my chair. So much for the reference interview." [source: "Al Reynolds" ]

True Library stories

"Humor is allowed in reference desk answers"

Librarian Humor in Classroom and Reference

See also: Google

Unusual Reference Questions - Globalism Visited

Information Seeking Behavior - Quote of the day

"In early days, I tried not to give librarians any trouble, which was where I made my primary mistake. Librarians like to be given trouble; they exist for it, they are geared to it. For the location of a mislaid volume, an uncatalogued item, your good librarian has a ferret’s nose. Give her a scent and she jumps the leash, her eye bright with battle" Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973), U.S. biographer.
source: http://www.librarysupportstaff.com/infoseek.html

see also related post from my other blog:

Information Seeking Behavior of the Believers

more Library & Information Science Quotations

Blog Taxonomy

Annoyed Librarian Library Blog Taxonomy

Walt Crawford is preparing his new study of library blogs, and that got me to thinking about the wonderful world of bibliotekblogging. Inspired by his example, I thought I would come out with my own taxonomy of library blogs. I'm sure his study will be thorough and insightful, because he likes to work hard and do useful things for the profession. I, of course, don't. So what follows is my exhaustive analysis and classification of library blogs, arrived at by carefully scrutinizing Walt Crawford's Bloglines subscriptions for about 10 minutes.

[view these taxonomies]
Library Blog as Personal Diary
Library Blog as Personal Diary Written by Andy Rooney
Library Blog as Professional Therapy
Library Blog as Personal Cry for Help
Library Blog as Pathetic Cry for Attention
Library Blog as Counter-Librarian Blog
Library Blog as Professional Self-promotion
Library Blog as Serious Library Report
Library Blog as Witty Library Report
Library Blog as Book Review Medium
Library Blog as Book Free Zone
Library Blog as Librarian Cheerleader
Library Blog as Cynical Library Critic
Library Blog as Informative Library Analysis
Library Blog as Unpaid Technology Advertising
Library Blog as Informative Technology Selection Tool
Library Blog as Future Manifesto
Library Blog as Business Manifesto
Library Blog as Left-wing Propaganda
Library Blog as Right-wing Propaganda
Library Blog as Fair and Balanced Political Analysis
Library Blog as Inoffensive Satire
Library Blog as Offensive Satire

BoleyBlogs! » A Taxonomy of Legal Blogs

A Taxonomy of Legal Blogs

My previous posts:

Citing a Blog, Wiki - Style for bibliographic notes and references

Blog As A Teaching Tool