SCCC 280A, 281a, 285A and University 201
Fundamentals of Inquiry
Library Instruction Module #9
Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, etc.
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Objective:
The objective of this lesson is to convince you that the "answers to many of life's persistent questions" are available in the
reference collection of your library. We are bombarded continually with misinformation. Fight back; find the truth. Start at the reference collection.
Self-Assessment questions:
- How confident are you that you know everything?
- How important is it to you that you feel capable of getting an answer quickly and efficiently?
- How many reference books are in the room where you study?
Discussion:
In today's academic climate, the words that a librarian hears the most are, "where are the books on ....located?"
and "I need some primary articles on...." In many cases, the researchers are skipping one of the more important steps,
and I want to prevent you from doing the same.
In a great many cases, the first thing that you need to do is learn something about the topic at hand
whether it be a person, an organism, a place, a theory or whatever. Getting a lot of papers might impress a TA
for a few minutes, but they might not teach you too much until you learn about whatever it is that you are researching.
In the research book attached to this course, the author defines knowing something about the topic, is the
ability to talk non stop about it for one complete minute or more. Usually the best way to get to that point
from knowing practically nothing is to try a dictionary or encydlopedia. Sometime there are better resources
in the Reference Section. Asking a reference librarian if he or she could suggest something wouldn't be a bad idea.
It is relatively easy to describe what you might find in the reference section. Items like atlases, bibliographies,
biograraphies, catalogs, dictionaries, encyclopedias, farmers almanacs, etc are to be expected but you
will find lots of surprises. Do yourself a favor and become a reference prowler. Anyone can look for something they need;
be different and spend some time looking in the reference collection to see what's there that you never even imagined existed.
Keep in mind, that everything which we might call a reference tool is not in a place called Reference.
For a number of reasons, many dictionaries, handbooks and other materials are located within the general collection.
For that reason, while browsing the reference collection is the most interesting way to see
and touch things, using USCAN Web is probably the best way to find something.
Another resource you might not think about are the online reference tools.
Selected Internet Reference Resources will take you to many resources. If you are interested in
science material, you can go directly to the
Science Library Home Page and find pointers to many arranged by subject.
So there you have it. Reference material in at least 5 different locations:
- Main Reference
- Science Reference
- USCAN
- Online Reference
- Online Science Pages
Action Items:
- Non-science people should visit and really spend some time wandering in the Main Reference
Collection, paying particular interest to areas that interest you.
- Science people should do the same in Science Reference.
- Use USCAN Web or USCAN and try various combiations suck as "dictionary and science"
or "encyclopedia and social science" as keywords. Then try "dictionary of", "atlas of", etc. as
title words. Be creative and see what you find. Remember many will be in the regular collection
and not in the Reference Collection.
- Go to the above listed online collections and see what is there.
Questions for understanding:
- What should you think about when a new topic enters your life?
- After you have looked at the collection, what did you find that surprised you?
- Are you starting to have the feeling that library research is pretty complex involving
real things that you can touch, virtual reference tools that are online as well as the USCAN
catalog to point you to a variety of places, real and virtual, to find information?
Information Literacy Issues:
These issues are presented for information purposes. Most are straight forward. If some require
explanation, that will be provided. Use the e-mail access below if you have a question.
Standard Two (2-4)-(Access)
The information literate student
accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.
Performance Indicators: (What you need to know.)
The information literate student refines the search strategy if necessary.
The information literate student: (How you know that you know.)
- Assesses the quantity, quality, and relevance of the search results to determine whether alternative information retrieval systems or investigative methods should be utilized
Check here http://www.ala.org/acrl/il/toolkit/two/two4A.html
- Identifies gaps in the information retrieved and determines if the search strategy should be revised
In a few weeks, when we look at the
bibliographic databases, you will see that different search engines cover various periods and may very well use
different terms to describe similar or identical objects, times or concepts.
- Repeats the search using the revised strategy as necessary
Think of this like a scene in one of those old movies where the old crook is cracking a safe.
Total concentration with teeny adjustments until all the tumblers fall into place. Patience, patience.
Questions, comments or make an appointment with the Inquiry Librarian.
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