Librarian’s Guide to Online Searching, 6th Edition
- Length: 380 pages
- Edition: 6
- Language: English
- Publisher: Libraries Unlimited
- Publication Date: 2021-06-30
- ISBN-10: 1440878730
- ISBN-13: 9781440878732
- Sales Rank: #2546212 (See Top 100 Books)
Librarians need to know of existing databases, and they must be able to teach search capabilities and strategies to library users. This practical guide introduces librarians to a broad spectrum of fee-based and freely available databases and explains how to teach them.
The updated 6th edition of this well-regarded text covers new databases on the market as well as updates to older databases. It also explains underlying information structures and demonstrates how to search most effectively. It introduces readers to several recent changes, such as the move away from metadata-based indexing to full text indexing by vendors covering newspaper content. Business databases receive greater emphasis.
As in the previous edition, this book takes a real-world approach, covering topics from basic and advanced search tools to online subject databases. Each chapter includes a thorough discussion, a recap, concrete examples, exercises, and points to consider, making it an ideal text for courses in database searching as well as a trustworthy professional resource.
Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Preface Acknowledgments 1: Introduction to Library Databases A Brief History of Information Access before Databases Progression from Citation-Only Resources to Full Text Physical Analogs Databases and Their Scope Where to Find Scope Information about a Database Scope: Dates of Coverage Scope: Materials Indexed Scope: Availability of Peer-Reviewed Content Scope: Countries and Languages Covered Scope: Breadth and Depth of Coverage Exercises References Suggested Reading 2: How Databases Work Standards within Librarianship Field, Records, and Tables Exploring Field Code Consistency Variable-Length Fields Fixed Fields Online-Database Indexing Database Updating When Databases Fail Incomplete Data Loads Incomplete or Corrupt Indexing General Downtime Defaults What Are Keywords Anyway? Control Numbers Suite of Technologies Proxy Services Permalinks Originating URLs and Resultant URLs OpenURLs Exercises References 3: Controlled Vocabularies Why Control? Kinds of Control Two Types of Subjects: Headings versus Descriptors Subject Headings Subject Descriptors Databases with Thesauri Other Kinds of Authority Control Databases with Back-Generated Indexes EBSCO ProQuest Gale Exercises References Suggested Readings Beyond the Textbook 4: The Searcher’s Toolkit: Part 1 What Searching Is All About Basic Tool No. 1: Boolean Logic AND: The Narrowing Boolean Operator OR: The Broadening Boolean Operator NOT: The Negating Boolean Operator Combining Boolean Operators in Practice Nesting and Parentheses Human Language versus Boolean Operators Basic Tool No. 2: Controlled Vocabularies When Do We Need Controlled Vocabularies? Cautions When Using Controlled Vocabularies Not All Controlled Vocabularies Are Created Equal Basic Tool No. 3: Field Searching Default Fields Field-Searching Strategies Combining Field Searching with Controlled Vocabulary Searching Read the Documentation When Field Searching Goes Away Exercises References Beyond the Textbook 5: The Searcher’s Toolkit: Part 2 Basic Tool No. 4: Proximity Searching Why We Need Proximity Searching Proximity Operators Phrase Searching Basic Tool No. 5: Truncation and Wildcards Truncation Wildcards Review of Tools 4 and 5 Basic Tool No. 6: Limits to Constrain Searches Silos and Limits Limits before Submitting Searches Limits after Results Are Presented Basic Tool No. 7: Learning from Results Terms in the Searching Lexicon False Drops Stop Words Recall versus Precision Testing a Database Exercises References 6: Database Interfaces: Vendor Features and Variations Publisher versus Aggregator Databases Databases Available from Multiple Sources Aggregator Interfaces EBSCOhost Interface ProQuest Interface Gale Interface Publisher Interfaces Common (or Sometimes Not-So-Common) Database Features Backlinking Citation Generation and Exporting Citation Tracking Command Search Cross-Searching Databases Email Alerts Full-Text Searching Fuzzy Searches Handwriting Recognition HTML versus PDF Files Limit Articles by Length Limiters/Facets Natural-Language Searching Personal Accounts Phrase Searching RSS Feeds Search History Visualization Browsing for Content Exercises References Beyond the Textbook 7: Social Science Databases Library and Information Science Library Literature Thesaurus Search Example 1: Identifying Terms Using the Library Literature Thesaurus Search Example 2: A Lesson in Problem Solving Education ERIC Thesaurus ERIC Results Other Education Databases Psychology Physical Analogs to Database Age Groups Other Special Search Fields Search Examples Combining Search History Sets Sociology A Cross-Discipline Controlled-Vocabulary Exercise ERIC Thesaurus PsycINFO Thesaurus Sociological Abstracts Thesaurus ERIC Search PsycINFO Search Sociological Abstracts Search Another Approach: Google Scholar Business General Business Databases Business Directories Industry Databases Market Research Data Additional Resources for Social Science Exercises References Beyond the Textbook 8: Government Information Databases Freely Available U.S. Government Information Portals Govinfo.gov: The GPO’s Portal Congress.gov: The Library of Congress’s Portal Catalog of Government Publications (CGP): The GPO’s Online Catalog Census.gov and Data.census.gov: Tools of the Census Bureau Other Full-Text Sources for Government Information Vendor Databases for U.S. Government Information U.S. Congressional Publications U.S. Executive Branch Publications U.S. Judicial Branch Publications A Note about the Federal Depository Library Program International Publications Official Document System (ODS) United Nations Digital Library United Nations iLibrary United Nations Treaty Collection Other International Databases Foreign Government Publications Top-Level Domains (TLDs) Foreign Government Subdomains Substantive Foreign Government Publications Exercises References Suggested Reading Beyond the Textbook 9: Humanities Databases Literature Databases—MLA International Bibliography MLAIB Distinctive Features Searching MLAIB Search Example: Looking for Peer-Reviewed Articles Analyzing Death in Chinese Literature Dissertations in MLAIB MLA Thesaurus and Names as Subjects Index Browsing Indexes MLA Directory of Periodicals History Databases—America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts Distinctive Features of AHL and HA Search Example 1: Finding Book Reviews Search Example 2: Finding Material about a Topic in a Particular Period Search Example 3: Searching Cited References Historical Newspaper Databases Searching Newspaper Content Search Example 1: Japanese Americans during World War II Search Example 2: Sand Creek Massacre Search Example 3: Psychiatric Hospitals in Eighteenth-Century England Vendor Database Coverage Dates Free Newspaper Databases E-books and the Humanities From Microform to E-books Handwritten Text Recognition Archival Primary-Source Databases Nontextual Databases—Images, Sounds, and Video Image Databases Streaming Audio and Video Databases Additional Resources for Humanities Exercises Reference Beyond the Textbook 10: Science, Engineering, and Medical Databases SciFindern Web of Science and Other Citation Indexes The Scope of ISI’s Citation Indexes Source Document Cited References: Tracing Research Back in Time Citations to an Author: Tracing Research Forward in Time Book Reviews to Academic Books: A Hidden Benefit Other Citation Databases Scopus Google Scholar Citation Tracking in Other Databases Journal Citation Reports Alternative Metrics Engineering Databases What Engineers Do Analysis of Selected Engineering Databases PubMed and Medline MeSH: Medical Subject Headings Searching PubMed Search Example 1: Topic Search Search Example 2: Field Code Searching Getting the Full Text MedlinePlus and PubMed Central Other Science, Engineering, and Medical Databases Exercises References Beyond the Textbook 11: Numerical and Statistical Databases Kinds of Numbers Who Collects Numbers? Searching for Numbers as Opposed to Text Basic Statistical Starting Strategies “Who Cares?” Tool 1: Google Web “Who Cares?” Tool 2: ProQuest Statistical Insight “Who Cares?” Tool 3: ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States “Who Cares?” Tool 4: Identifying the Players—National and International Agencies “Who Cares?” Tool 5: Do a Literature Search Putting the Tools to Work Diving into Statistical Databases Data.census.gov Social Explorer Historical Statistics of the United States Statista DataPlanet Additional Statistical Mapping Databases PolicyMap SimplyAnalytics UNdata UN Comtrade Database Additional Statistical Databases, Fee and Free Big Data Exercises References Beyond the Textbook 12: From Bibliographic Databases to Full-Text E-Books WorldCat WorldCat as a Reference Tool WorldCat for Citation Verification WorldCat and Foreign-Language Searching WorldCat Search Examples Search Example 1: Finding Materials in Other Languages Search Example 2: Finding Materials for a Specific Audience Search Example 3: Finding Materials by Genre WorldCat.Org WorldCat.org Search Examples Search Example 1: A Known Item Search Search Example 2: Using WorldCat.org from within Google Books Search Example 3: Finding Musical Scores Local Library Catalogs: Current Trends Google Books and Local Library Catalogs The Weakest Link Information Access Anomaly Enter Google Books Library Catalog: Not the Best Discovery Tool HathiTrust Differences between E-journals and E-books Exercises References Beyond the Textbook 13: Web-Scale Discovery Databases Federated Searching in Libraries The “Clinic” Put On by Google The Google Age Discovery Tools Come on the Scene The Unevenness of the Search Putting Discovery Tools to the Test Testing Summon Testing Primo Testing the Merging of Summon and Primo into the Central Discovery Index Testing EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) Testing WorldCat Discovery Discipline-Specific Databases versus Discovery Tools versus Google Scholar The Despair of Depth Exercises References Beyond the Textbook 14: User Behaviors and Meeting Information Needs Users and Their Behaviors Information-Seeking Behaviors Personal Observations of Library Users Reference Resources The Reference Interview Determining the Real Question Match the Resource to the Question Dismissiveness Virtual Reference: Email and Chat Search Strategies Thinking like an Indexer versus Thinking like a Text Format-Independent Thinking Have a Brainstorming Session with Yourself Modes of Searching: Keyword, Controlled Vocabulary, Citations, Full Text When to Prefer Keyword Searching Make Databases “Your Own” A New Way to Brainstorm Keywords Going beyond Databases: Using Database Output for Citation Management Client-Based versus Cloud-Based Software Word Processor Integration Exercises References Beyond the Textbook 15: Evaluating Databases Why Evaluate? Evaluate for Subscription or Purchase Evaluate for Replacement Evaluate for Budget Cuts Evaluation Considerations Scope and Coverage User Interface and User Experience Subscription Model: Rental or Ownership Relative Cost (Value) Cross-Database Functions Peer Institution Holdings Aggregators and Disappearing Content Tools for Evaluation Perform Your Own Tests Ulrichsweb Vendor Database Coverage Tools Comparison Tools Charleston Advisor Setting Up a Trial Help from Beyond Usage Statistics Exercises References 16: Teaching Other People About Databases The Role of Teaching Teaching Databases to Groups One-Shot Instruction Embedded Instruction Teaching Databases in the Classroom Teaching Databases to Individuals Individual Consultations Teaching Databases during Consultations Remote Consultations Teaching Databases over Email Teaching Databases with Library Guides Database Teaching Tips Exercises References Glossary Index About the Author
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