HOW ARE THESE RESOURCES ACCESSED?

Now that you are familiar with some standard library resources, we will discuss how you can access these sources to find the specific information that you need. Just as there are a variety of sources for information, there are also a variety of ways to access the information collected in a printed work or in an online resource.

Different collections of information are organized and accessed in different ways depending on the content and format. For instance, dictionaries are collections of words that are easily arranged in alphabetical order. Textbooks, on the other hand, usually provide instruction in concepts that build on one another and therefore would not effectively be organized in alphabetical order. Format or the physical make-up of the work also influences the way the material is organized and accessed. The file structure of online resources, for instance, allow for multiple points of access and the user can often customize the search process in ways that are impossible with a print resource.

The list below outlines the most widely used methods of accessing information available from typical library resources.

library catalog
A library catalog is an organized and searchable database of all materials available in that library. The catalog provides information on the type, location and subject matter of the materials owned by the library. Today, many library catalogs are available on the Internet. SJRCC's online library catalog is called LINCC and is available to everyone on the Web. Whether the catalog is a printed card catalog or an online catalog accessed by computer, all library catalogs can be searched by title, author and subject.
LINCC also allows the user the choice to search the catalog in either a keyword or browse format:

• Keyword
Using a keyword search will retrieve a list of individual records matching your search terms. To display the full record, click on the highlighted title. If only one record is found it will automatically display in the full record screen. Keyword searching is available to search an author, title or subject using a drop down menu. The default setting allows the user to find their terms located anywhere in the record.

• Browse Organized Lists
Using the browse search option will retrieve an alphabetical listings of results that match your search terms and display the number of records available. Notice that the list will begin with the term directly preceding your search; therefore the closest match will be the second term on the list. To display the list of records, click on the underlined term(s) which best match your search. As with the keyword search, to display the full record, click on the highlighted title. If only one record is found it will automatically display in the full record screen. Browse options include “Title begins with”, Author (last name, first name) and “Subject begins with”.
Generally, when you are searching for information about a person or a specific subject a keyword search will provide the most complete listing of materials. Similarly, when you are searching for materials written by a particular author or searching for a book with a known title, a browse organized list search will yield the best results. Below, we will discuss each type of search.

• Title Search
A title search is the quickest and simplest way to locate an item. However, you must be looking for a specific title in order to use this search. To search by title, it is necessary to omit the first article (the, a, or an) when performing a title search. For example, to find the title The Sun Also Rises, search for Sun Also Rises.

• Author Search
Using an author search will locate items written by that particular author which are owned by your library. For example, if I wanted to locate all the books in the library written by William Faulkner, I would go to Browse Organized Lists and do an author search using his name: Faulkner, William. Notice when using this search method that his name is entered as last name, first name. Students often are confused by the author search when trying to locate information about a particular author. Remember that the author search locates only books written by that author. For information written about the author and his writing, you would use the subject search.

• Subject Search
The subject search is the option most widely used when locating material for a research paper. A subject search allows you to locate items in your library on a particular topic or subject. If I want to locate books on the topic of acid rain, but I don't know the title of a particular book or an author who wrote books about acid rain, a keyword subject search will list all the books available on that topic regardless of the author or title.

In the exercises at the end of this unit you will be required to use LINCC to search for items located on all three campuses of SJRCC. We suggest that you take a few minutes now to familiarize yourself with using LINCC.

• Table of Contents
  Once you find a book on your topic, consult the table of contents. This may be the organizational method most familiar to students. Books are generally arranged in sections called chapters. These chapters are listed in outline form at the beginning of a book in the section called the table of contents. Tables of contents can be a simple list of the titles of each chapter or in addition to chapter titles; they can contain detailed information about the contents of the individual chapters.
  
  
• Index
  In print materials such as books, the index is usually found at the very back. An index is a list of subjects, names, and places that are discussed in the text of the book which provides the page number(s) where the information can be found. Indexes are arranged in alphabetical order and allow for quick access to the exact location of the information we require.

online resources
Online resources are accessed via the Internet. Each resource will have a unique interface and special searching option, but they all share some similarities. To search an online database or search engine, you need to select the terms that best express your information need. Most online resources allow you to search for your terms in two ways: by entering your own keyword or by searching the resource's list of controlled vocabulary.

• Key Concepts and terms
  Usually referred to as "keywords" these are words used to search both print indexes and online resources. Key words express the important concepts of your information need. For example, to find information on "How vigorous exercise reduces stress", use the key words exercise and stress. They should consist mainly of noun/objects, using modifiers only to make your search more specific or exact.
  
  
• Controlled vocabulary
  Unlike keywords which are defined by the user, controlled vocabulary is an agreed upon list of the "best" words to express important concepts. Controlled vocabulary is most often used when searching library catalogs but many online databases offer the option of "subject" or controlled vocabulary searches. As an example, lets look at the concept "cars." Everyone knows what a car is, but there are any number of different words used in the English language to refer to these machines; cars, autos, automobiles, jalopies, SUV's, etc. It would be an impossible task for a library to categorize a book about cars under all of the different words used to refer to them, so each library classification system agrees on the "correct" term to use when looking for the subject "cars." In the Library of Congress classification system, used by most academic libraries, that word is "automobiles." Luckily for those of us who use these catalogs, when we use a term that is incorrect the system will usually direct us to search using the correct term. So that if we entered the search term "cars," the system would tell us to search using the word "automobiles."

  ONLINE DATABASES
  Online Databases generally offer both keyword and controlled vocabulary searching. Many databases provide drop-down menus that allow the user to choose the search method. Controlled vocabulary searches are sometimes called "subject" searches and are similar to the library catalog searches discussed above. A person will read the document and assign a number of "correct" terms to describe what that document is about. When you perform a controlled vocabulary search, the software searches only the list of terms assigned, not the entire document, for matches. For a keyword search, the software generally searches the entire document for a match to the words the user enters.

  Databases can also allow the user the option to search different parts of the documents, such as the Title of a document or the Author. When you choose a Title or Author search the software will search for your terms only in the Author or Title field of its collection of documents.

  Many of the online resources available to SJRCC students also offer the option of searching only for full-text documents. Those are documents that allow the user to view the entire article, often including graphics as well as text. Some publishers restrict database providers from offering their articles as full-text documents; the database will only be permitted to display the title of the article, its author and publication information and sometimes, a brief description of the article, called an abstract. Therefore it is always preferable to select the "full-text only" option when using online databases. SJRCC librarians can provide assistance if your full-text search does not provide enough relevant articles to meet your research needs.

  As we mentioned above, each online resource has its own unique search screen as well as a variety of searching options. Each database provides its own help screen and searching tips that offer valuable information on how to search that resource. SJRCC librarians can also provide assistance with any online resource questions.

  SEARCH ENGINES
  Search engines are used to search for information on the World Wide Web by allowing the searcher to enter keywords and to use Boolean search techniques (discussed in module 2) to refine searches and eliminate irrelevant material. Most search engines use a computer program called a "spider" to collect information and index Web resources. The spider returns the information gathered from all the pages of a Web site to a central database and then indexes that information. When you perform a search engine search, you are searching the database compiled and indexed by the spider. While all search engines rely on spiders to collect and index information, each performs its tasks in a slightly different way. Each search engine has its own search interface and uses different criteria for matching searches with documents. Each may also differ in terms of search speed and how it ranks results in order of relevance.

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