Getting the Most From Your Local Treasure Trove!

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Getting the Most From Your Local Treasure Trove!

• Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
• Where is the knowledge we have lost in
  information?
• Choruses from The Rock, 1934
• T. S. ELIOT

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Objective

• Increase your information literacy.
• Raise your comfort level with libraries and
  librarians
• Direct you to resources at your own local
  libraries.

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Agenda

• Explode myths
• Cover research basics
• Save your research budget thousands

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Word Association Game
What comes to mind when I say Library?
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Word Association Categories

• Intangibles
• Services
• Emotional response
• Physical
• Too crowded
• Not enough materials

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Information Literate Thinking

• Why the library?
• Free web vs. paid database
• web site affiliation
• Electronic vs. paper
• Paper vs. microfilm
• Web-based database vs.CD-ROM

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Library Lingo

• Card catalog
• Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC)
• Reference Desk
• Stacks

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Library Lingo 2

• Classification
• Dewey Decimal System (DDC)
• Library of Congress (LC)
• Subject headings, thesaurus
• http//www.wcsu.edu/library/odlis.html

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ExplodingLibrary Myths
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Myth Explosion 1 - Nothing Relating to Prospect
Research

• Terminology - help your librarian be creative
• Uses of standard reference material in a
  non-traditional way

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Myth Explosion 2 - Everything is Too Old, or not
Old Enough

• Most standard reference resources are ordered
  annually or bi-annually
• ILL (Inter-Library Loan) process for older
  material
• Working with collection development librarian

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Myth Explosion 3 - Only Paper Resources

• 95 of public libraries have web access many
  have electronic databases
• Web based
• CD-ROM
• California Digital Library, Library of
  California, POWER Project

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Myth Explosion 4 - Librarian Doesnt Have Enough
Expertise

• Extensive training in providing reference
  services
• May have additional degree in specific subject
  matter
• Expert in finding material, regardless of topic

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Myth Explosion5 - Too Complicated to Find
Anything Quickly

• Email reference, telephone reference, fax on
  demand
• Overwhelmed by librarys size
• 85 of college students experience anxiety
• Dont know where to start

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Overcoming Library Anxiety

• Walk through first
• Note signage
• Note location of stacks, esp. special stacks
• Find the reference desk and the circulation desk
• Is there anything unusual about the library?
• Locate card catalog or OPAC terminals
• Locate the photocopier

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Research Basics

• Define your need
• Is it a fact or statistic?
• Is it a lengthy article?
• Use appropriate indexes
• Use subject headings effectively
• Automobiles instead of cars
• Carcinoma instead of cancer
• Where is it?

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Pointers

• Hungry rats and library noise
• slow down, look for cues
• Seek assistance
• ask for directions, how to use system
• Sign up for a class

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More Pointers

• Reference interview
• Sources checked
• Whats needed
• Why its needed
• Important not to presume pre-think

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Even More Pointers

• Handouts
• Bibliographies
• Selected Bibliography of Biographical
  Dictionaries
• Excerpt from Guide to Business History
  Resources
• Cheat Sheets
• Call Number Cheat Sheet
• Locating Books

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Question Break
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Public Library Treasure Troves

• Free electronic resources
• Inter-Library Loan
• Genealogy/history
• Larger business sections

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Academic Library Treasure Troves

• Free electronic resources
• Large business section
• Local experts
• Historians
• Librarians

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Review

• Information literacy
• information smarts
• Library myths
• replaced negative associations with more accurate
  realities
• Research refresher
• anxiety can be easily overcome
• FREE resources at libraries
• librarians are your free consultants

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In Closing

• Page of URLs
• Bibliography of Works Consulted
• Questions, discussion