Using Harris County Public Library As A Resource

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Using Harris County Public Library As A Resource
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Agenda

• Basic Search Tips
• HCPL Databases
• Other Library Resources
• Questions

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www.hcpl.net

• Click on Articles More to find the list of
  databases
• Databases are organized by topic (e.g. business,
  law, literature) and alphabetically

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General Reference Center

• Located in the list under Magazines and
  Journals
• Search techniques available
• Boolean operators
• Truncation
• Proximity operators
• Restoration marks

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Boolean Searching

• OR expands a search (cat OR dog)
• AND narrows a search (cat AND dog)
• NOT narrows a search further
• (chocolate AND chip NOT cookie)
• OR, AND, and NOT are all stop words, meaning that
  the database will not include them as part of a
  search phrase.

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Truncation

• If you do not know exactly how a word will appear
  in an article, and you want to expand your
  results, you may truncate the word.
• E.g. fish will find results containing the words
  fish, fishes, fisher, fishing, fisherman, etc.

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Proximity Operators

• Proximity operators allow you to search for words
  located near each other in an article.
• Wn the second term must occur exactly n words
  after the first term.
• Nn the second term may occur n words before or
  after the first term.

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Restoration Marks

• Restoration marks allow common stop words to be
  included in a search phrase.
• e.g. sink or swim to make sure or is included
  as part of the phrase, use quotation marks.
• Sink or swim - now the database will include
  the word or in the search string.

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Other Search Tips

• the word must be included in the result
• - the word must not be included in the result
• This search method is not available in the
  General Reference Center, but you can use it in
  most search engines.

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Trouble with your search?

• Each database and search engine uses different
  searching strategies, so read the search tips
  before you perform a complex search.

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Health Source Consumer Edition

• Found under Health and Medicine
• Contains
• Medical Dictionary
• List of Publications
• List of Subjects
• Image Search

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Medical Dictionary

• You may use this feature to research the
  definition of a medical term.
• When you type in the word, a list of possible
  terms and their definitions appears on the
  screen.
• You may stop with the definition, or you may
  place a check by the term and search for articles
  that contain that word.

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Searching

• Use Boolean searching to find articles.
• If you cannot find articles about a subject,
  begin with general terms and gradually make your
  search more specific.

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Limiters and Expanders

• You may limit your search to full-text articles
  only.
• You may expand your search in 2 ways.
• Choose to search for keywords that appear in the
  full text of the article as well as the title and
  abstract.
• Search for words that are related to the keywords.

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Image Search

• Photos of People
• Natural science photos
• Photos of places

• Historical photos
• Maps
• Flags

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Valueline Investment Database

• You may look up company information, such as
  stocks, timeliness reports, etc.
• The Valueline reports are updated every few
  months to provide a fairly accurate picture of
  the companies.
• Valueline is not available through remote access
  you must visit the library to use this database.
  
• The library will be receiving the print version
  of Valueline in January.

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Look Up Company

• On the main page, go to Look Up Company.
• You may search by ticker symbol, industry, or
  company name.
• You may view your results in PDF or html format.

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Survey Issues

• The most popular of the Survey Issues is the
  Summary Index.
• The Summary Index is updated weekly and
  provides analysis of stocks based on factors such
  as timeliness.
• You may print out certain reports, or the entire
  issue.

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Reference USA

• Allows you to search for business, residence and
  healthcare addresses and phone numbers.
• Custom Search allows you to choose different
  search values, such as ZIP Code, city, phone
  number, SIC code or yellow page heading.

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Residential Searches

• You can use as little or as much information as
  you like to locate a person.
• You can also retrieve a list of the persons
  neighbors.
• The database does not contain information about
  people with unlisted telephone numbers.

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Heritage Quest

• Allows you to search census information and book
  references.
• Census information is available for the decades
  of 1790-1820 and 1860-1920.

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Other Library Internet Resources

• FindIt! Subject Guides
• Internet Links
• netLibrary eBooks
• Books and Reading
• Links to online book clubs
• Links to book recommendation websites
• Links to book review resources, such as Booklist,
  the Houston Chronicle, and New York Times.

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Computer Resources

• Wireless Internet Access
• Laptop Computers for Checkout
• 29 Computers
• 21 Public Computers
• 5 Catalog Machines
• 2 Print Stations
• 1 PC Reservation Station

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Visit Freeman Memorial Library

• Monday 1 pm 9 pm
• Tuesday 10 am 6 pm
• Wednesday 10 am 6 pm
• Thursday 10 am 9 pm
• Friday 12 pm 6 pm
• Saturday 10 am 5 pm
• Sunday 1 pm 5 pm

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Wireless vs. Laptop Checkout

• Wireless Network
• Bring your own laptop to use in the library.
• Have a wireless network card set to the 802.11b
  standard.
• Library Laptop Checkout
• Check out a laptop for 2 hours to use in the
  library.
• Use Microsoft Office programs, Internet access,
  and send documents to the HCPL printers.