Pathfinder For Patrons

This booklet offers useful info and pointers to guide patrons along as they seek resources and materials through the library.

By Brooke P. April 25, 2010

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Table of Contents
Books and other materials3 Audiovisuals.5 Reference Resources6 Databases..10 Website resources.... .17

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Books and other materials

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search for library books and other materials. The catalog enables you to search by author, title, or keyword and narrow results by material type, language, year, and branch location. Note that you can select Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) from the drop-down menus on the Advanced Search screen.

Note also on the catalog are links enabling you to renew books, review your library account information, and request books from other branches or through Interlibrary Loan.

In addition, Worldcat.org is a great online resource for

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searching for books available at other libraries.

Audio-visuals
The library offers a wide variety of audio-visual materials. You can search for these materials by title, keyword, and author using the librarys catalog.

Remember to narrow search results by material type (VHS, DVD, juvenile DVD, audiobook on CD, audiobook on cassette, music CD, etc.) using the dropdown menu next to type on the Advanced Search screen.

Reference Resources

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When using the catalog to search for reference resources, remember to narrow results by material type (reference book, reference CD-ROM, and reference DVD-ROM) using the drop-down menu next to the word type on the Advanced Search screen.

Here are examples of reference resources available at the library (for in-house use only). These materials are located in the reference area next to the computer center:

REF 025.54 WYATT The Readers Advisory Guide to Nonfiction (2007)

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REF 650.03 ENCYCLOP V.1 Encyclopedia of Business in Todays World (2009) REF 912 ATLAS Atlas of the World 14th ed. (2007) REF 031 NEW The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind Rev. and expanded 2nd ed., 2nd U.S. ed. (2007) Also, there are reference resources that can be accessed by clicking the Research tab and the Databases A-Z link on the librarys website. Below are examples of useful reference databases:

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CQ Researcher (It features in-depth reports on topics ranging from technology to health.) Gale Virtual Reference Library (It offers full-text versions of reference resources on various topics such as science and history.) Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center (It offers articles that delve into major issues in society and contains articles that explore both sides of an issue.) Reference Universe (It indexes citations to thousands of reference works such as handbooks and encyclopedias.)

Databases

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Again, the databases are listed on the libraries website. Just click the Research tab and the Databases A-Z link, and youll see the full list of databases. Some of the databases require that you enter your library card number and PIN number.

Various databases are available to suit your needs if you are seeking information such as the following:

Health Information Health Source: Consumer Edition (It features health articles from reference books, magazines, and pamphlets available in full-text.)

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Business Information Business Source Premier (It features many journals and publications available in full-text containing articles on various business topics such as accounting and marketing.) Legal Information Legal Collection (It features publications that are peer-reviewed and available in full-text and features articles on legal matters such as federal law and ethics.) Education Resources ERIC (It offers content from various educational publications. Many articles are available in full-text.) Here are useful tools for searching these databases (Note that the use of these

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tools may vary from database to database): Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) Use AND in the search area to retrieve records that contain both search terms. Use OR in the search area to retrieve records containing at least one of the search terms or both search terms. Use NOT in the search area to retrieve records that dont contain a certain search term. Proximity Operators (w/# and n#) This tool helps you to retrieve records in which the search terms are within a certain distance from each other. For example, if you entered child w/2 nutrition in the search box, you would retrieve

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records in which the terms child and nutrition are within two words of each other. Phrase Searching () This tool enables you to retrieve records that contain the exact phrase that youve entered into the search box. To perform phrase searching you might put quotes around the search phrase. Truncation (* and $ and !) By placing a truncation symbol at the end of part of a word such as educat* you can retrieve records that contain words such as educator, educational, educate, and education. Wildcards (* and ?) Wildcard symbols can be used in place of a letter in a word. For

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example, if you enter ta*lor into the search box, you may retrieve records with the terms tailor and Taylor. Controlled Vocabulary Using controlled vocabulary terms in your search can be helpful, especially when you want to retrieve articles that contain synonyms of a term. Check to see if a database features a list of subject headings and controlled vocabulary terms that you can use in your search. You may end up using a different approach when searching each database since the databases interfaces, features, limiters, wildcard and truncation symbols, proximity operators, and other tools may differ.

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Be sure to check the databases Help pages to find out exactly how searches should be performed in each database.

Website Resources
Be cautious when retrieving information from the web since some resources may or may not be very reliable.

Follow these tips to help you navigate the web effectively and choose the proper web resources:

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Check to make sure the web resources creator is reputable and trustworthy. Check the date of the web resource to make sure it is upto-date. Make sure the web resource does not contain biased and inaccurate information. Here are a few web resources that you may find particularly useful:

Bookshare www.bookshare.org (It offers visually-impaired users access to digital books.) Project Gutenberg www.gutenberg.org (It features thousands of ebooks.)

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PubMed www.pubmed.gov (It features in-depth healthrelated content and many articles available in full-text.) FedStats www.fedstats.gov (It offers statistical information from many government agencies.) The National Center for Education Statistics http://nces.ed.gov/ (This is a good resource for education-related statistics

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pertaining to schools and libraries.) U.S. Census Bureau: American FactFinder http://factfinder.census.gov (It features profiles of communities throughout the U.S.) Federal Trade Commission www.ftc.gov (It offers information on matters ranging from identity theft to customer complaints.)