Through a Catalog Darkly:

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Through a Catalog Darkly Basics of Library
Research
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Through a Catalog Darkly Basics of Library
Research
Gary Handman ghandman_at_library.berkeley.edu 643-856
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The point of all this...

1. Describes organization of library information
2. Introduce selected sources for finding books and
   journal articles
3. Discuss how to develop search strategies
4. Discuss how to select article databases (and
   determine whats in them)
5. Introduce a group of basic moves and features
   common to many online catalogs and indexes.
6. Practice using these features in selected
   databases.

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The Information Universe
What Does It Contain?
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The Information Universe

• Books
• Journals (Magazines) Newspapers
• Government docs
• Maps
• Media (video, sound recording, etc.)
• Computer files (e.g. CD-ROMS, data files)
• Dissertations
• Manuscripts
• THE WEB

All things considered, Id rather be in the stacks
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The Information Universe
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Writing About Film
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Writing About Film
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The Information Universe
But how do you find this stuff?
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The Information Universe
Library Catalog(s)
Journal/Newspaper Indexes (article databases)
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Library Catalog(s)

• An inventory of what the library owns
• Search by Author, Title, Subject
• Whole books and print and electronic journals,
  NOT whats inside of those publications

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The Information Universe Books
Look it Up in Pathfinder or MELVYL by Author,
Title, or Subject
Lauder, Robert E. God, death, art, and love the
philosophical vision of Ingmar Bergman / Robert
E. Lauder prologue by Liv Ullmann. New York
Paulist Press, c1989.
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The Information Universe Finding Articles

• Article Databases (Indexes/Abstracts)
• Produced (published) by different commercial
  publishers
• Often look/act differently from one another.
• Regularly updated
• Many come in both print online
• Allow subject/author searching in a group of
  journals in a particular discipline or topical
  area.

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Choosing an Articles Database (Index)

Indexes/Abstracts come in various
flavors --from narrow discipline focus to
general/pop lit --from citation only to abstracts
to full-text --links to library holding no
links (you need to look up the journal holdings
in another catalog)
--Some journals are indexed in multiple
databases --The same journal may be full-text in
one db and citation only in another
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Choosing an Articles database (online index)

• Check out FIND INFORMATION ARTICLES BY SUBJECT
  pull-down on the Librarys HOME PAGE
  www.lib.berkeley.edu/
• For Film, also check out www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC
  /filmstudies/reviewslist.html
• Listings of subject-specific electronic resources
  on individual branch library home pages

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Where and How to Look?

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Where and How to Look?

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Garys Desert Island Film Studies List
Where do I plug in my laptop around here?

• Expanded Academic Index
• MLA Bibliography
• International Index to Film/TV Periodicals FIAF
  
• International Index to the Performing Arts

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How to Begin? Before you click THINK

• Formulate a concise, concrete statement of the
  research problem
• Formulate your search in terms of
• keywords and key phrases

The impact of television advertising and
television violence on school performance and
pre-adolesecent social interaction.
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How to Begin? Before you click THINK

• Think of synonyms for key words/phrases

The impact of television advertising and
television violence on school performance and
pre-adolesecent social interaction.

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Common Search Features

• Basic and Advanced Search Screens
• Trunction wild card that allows you to scoop
  up broader results or ? Depending on db
• --e.g. Advertis will give you
• advertise,
• advertising,
• advertisers,
• advertisements
• Search by keyword or by phrase
• Search specific fields (e.g., SUBJECT, TITLE)
• Use of AND, OR, NOT
• ltBob Dylan and Robbie Robertsongt
• lt Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteengt
• lt Bob Dylan not Bruce Springsteen gt

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Common Search Features --Save list of good
stuff --Mail Articles/Citations to yourself



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Online is Cool

• But Remember Not everything is online!!!!!
• Article Databases Generally only go back 10-20
  yrs online (some exceptions e.g. Historical
  Newspapers)
• Not every publication is indexed
• Fairly small (but rapidly growing) subset of the
  books and journal universe is currently available
  in full-text
• The sciences currently have it better than the
  humanities and social sciences

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The Information Universe

• Remember Also
• Not every topic has lots written about it,
  either in books or journal lit.
• --Research on very current topics
• --Research on extremely specific topics
• --Research on topics off the beaten academic
  track or off the pop culture radar

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The Information Universe
The Net Anarchy
Google Rocks!
LibraryLand (land of organization, control, and
sensibility)
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• What to do if too much is turning up
• Narrow your topic
• e.g. geographically, chronologically by race,
  gender, ethnic group
• Specific focus or aspect of the topic (e.g.
  ethical, social, economic, political aspects)
• What to do if nothing is turning up
• Broaden your topic / go for the more general /
  select a different angle
• Rethink your search strategy (new keywords, new
  concepts, etc.)
• Bail out and choose another topic

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Connecting from off-campus
PROXY Server!
Instructions at http//www.lib.berkeley.edu/ HELP/
CONNECTING FROM OFF CAMPUS
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Bergman Bibliography www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/ber
gman.html
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Feeling played-out by your research? Call
me Gary Handman 643-8566 ghandman_at_library.berk
eley.edu