Perspectives on Inquiry MTU Library Resources

Anarchy: Is It Chaos or Freedom? UN1001, Sections R32 & R33 W. C. Gale

Librarian: David Bezotte (dbezotte@mtu.edu, Phone 487-3041, Library-Room 203)

 

Guide to the Library -http://www.lib.mtu.edu/about/MTU_Library_Guide.pdf

Answers your questions about the basics of using the MTU Library.

 

For Assistance

For individual assistance or instruction from a librarian, visit or phone the Reference/Information Desk (487-2507), e-mail reflib@mtu.edu, or use the Ask a Librarian button on the Librarys web page.

 

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) access to items from other libraries.

Request items using an ILL form available at the Circulation desk, or online by selecting Interlibrary Loanon the Librarys web page. Some index databases also allow ILL requests through their sites.

 

Locating Books & Periodicals

Books are located on the Third Floor in the Main Collection, shelved by Library of Congress call number.

Periodicals are shelved by Library of Congress call number in these locations:

CURRENT JOURNALS (1^st Floor): Recent issues kept here until bound or reissued in microfilm/fiche.

SERIALS COLLECTION (Garden Level): Bound periodicals.

MICROFORMS AREA (2nd Floor ): Microfilm & Microfiche cabinets located on west side of 2nd floor.

E-Journals: The Library subscribes to an increasing number of journals which provide electronic versions of their publications online. Access them under E-Resources on the Librarys web page.

 

Reference Collection - 2^nd Floor

The Reference Collection is a good place to collect background information on an issue or start your research. The collection is arranged by subject, using the Library of Congress Classification System (LCCS) call numbers. An outline of the system is available at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html.

Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics - BJ 63 .E458 1998 REF

Dictionary of the History of Ideas - CB 9 .N49 2005 REF

Encyclopedia of American Cultural & Intellectual History - E 169.1 .E624 2001 REF

American Decades - E 169.12 .A419 1994 REF

Annals of America E 173 .A793 REF

Dictionary of American History - E 174 .D52 2003 REF

Makers of America - E 184 .A1 M65 REF

International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences - H 40 .A2 I5 REF

Labor Conflict in the U.S.: An Encyclopedia - HD 5324 .L32 1990 REF

Encyclopedia of the American Left - HX 86 .E58 1990 REF

Encyclopedia of Crime & Justice - HV 6017 .E52 1983 REF

West's Encyclopedia of American Law - KF 154 .W47 1998 REF

Historic United States Court Cases: An Encyclopedia - KF 352 .Z9 H57 2001 REF

 

Resources on the Web

FirstGov: www.firstgov.gov - Portal to federal and state government information. All sites linked by FirstGov are evaluated for accuracy and authority.

 

Evaluating Information Sources - Consult these sites provided by other institutions:

Identifying Research Articles: http://gateway.library.uiuc.edu/lsx/tutorial/section3.html

Identifying Refereed Journals: http://gateway.library.uiuc.edu/lsx/tutorial/section3_1.html

Identifying Scientific Journals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_journal

Evaluating Web Sites: http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/webeval.html

 

Citation style guides: http://library.concordia.ca/help/howto/citations.html- A site on citation styles produced by Concordia University Libraries.

 

Resources on the Librarys Web Page - www.lib.mtu.edu

JRVP Online Catalog contains records of materials owned by the MTU Library.

Two search interfaces, Basic and Keyword allow the user to search for items by author, title, subject, call number, ISBN/ISSN, or keyword(s.) Catalog records include bibliographic and location information for items retrieved in your search. Use the Location, Status, Call Number information to find an item in the Library collections.

 

Periodical & Newspaper Indexes

To find citations to recent articles from journals, conference proceedings, and other publications, go to the Librarys web page and select E-Resources & E-Alerts. The resulting screen offers four search options for finding databases or electronic journals: (1) Keyword search of database titles and/or descriptions, (2) E-Resources A-Z to browse an alphabetical list by title (3) Search by Subject Headings, (4) Search by Provider. Here are some recommended databases:

 

InfoTrac

Expanded Academic ASAP Scholarly and popular research on a variety of academic subjects. Includes full text.

FirstSearch

WilsonSelectPlus Full text articles from over 1400 periodicals covering research in the Social Sciences, Humanities, Business, Education and General Sciences.

Article 1^st - contains citations for items listed on the table of contents pages of over 12,600 journals in all subject areas.

Specialized FirstSearch databases are useful for finding articles on your subject in journals of specific disciplines. Alternative Press Index, Education Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, PsychFirst, Social Science Abstracts, and Wilson Business Abstracts are examples.

LexisNexis Academic Wide range of business, legal, medical, and current affairs information. Extensive U.S. newspaper coverage. Updated daily.

JSTOR - Back issues of over 100 scholarly journals dated from with 2-5 years of the present, back to their beginnings. Research in political, social, economic sciences covered.

 

Quick Reference for Databases

For more databases, see http://www.lib.mtu.edu/reference/tutorials/databasekeyword.aspx

Collection/ Database	Boolean	Proximity/ Phrase	Truncation/ Wildcards	Full Text	Retrieve Results
InfoTrac Includes access to an academic, a general interest, and a health science periodical index.	AND, OR, NOT	Wx - same order within x words of one another Nx - either order within x words of one another	* multiple-character ! single-character ? exactly one character	Some	E-mail, Disk, Print
FirstSearch accesses about 50 databases, mostly periodical indexes with abstracts.	AND, OR, NOT	Wx - same order within x words of one another Nx - either order within x words of one another	* multiple-character # single-character + singular or plural only (s or es) ? any number of characters	Some	E-mail, Disk, Print
Lexis-Nexis Academic accesses news, business, legal, medical, and reference information	AND, OR	Phrase is system default W/n - either order within x words of one another W/p - either order, same paragraph W/s - either order, same sentence PRE/n First word precedes the second by n words	! multiple-character   * single-character	Yes	E-mail, Disk, Print
JSTOR accesses back issues of over 100 scholarly journals from within 2-5 years of the present, back to their beginnings.	AND, OR	NEAR keywords occur in the same sentence (within 10 words) or in the same paragraph (within 25 words)	+ retrieves singular or plural in English only	Yes	Disk, Print