Perspectives on Inquiry MTU Library Resources

Perspectives on Personal Wealth UN1001, Section R08 K. Paterson

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

 

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.

Current Biography - CT 100 .C9 REF

Facts on File D 410 .F3 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:

 

ABI/Inform - Covers a wide range of business and management topics.

InfoTrac

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

General Reference Center Gold Covers general, news, and business periodicals.

General Business File ASAP - Covers industry and company information, management, economics, and politics.

Biography and Genealogy Master Index - Enables users to locate biographical entries contained in more than 1,000 volumes and editions of important current and retrospective biographical reference sources.

FirstSearch

WilsonSelectPlus Full text articles from over 1400 periodicals covering a broad range of subject areas.

Biography Index - Index to biographical information in books and periodicals.

Wilson Business Abstracts - Indexes over 300 leading business publications.

Readers Guide Abstracts - Indexes popular periodicals.

WorldCat - comprehensive database for all types of material cataloged by OCLC member libraries. This does NOT index periodicals at the article level.

FirstSearch also includes databases covering the professional and scholarly literature in specific areas. Some examples are Applied Sciences & Technology Abstracts, Education Abstracts, and Social Sciences Abstracts.

LexisNexis Academic

General News - Full text coverage of national and international newspapers, periodicals, and other news sources.

This collection also includes legal, medical, and business information in full text.

 

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
ABI Inform Global database accesses citations and articles from business/industry periodicals.	AND, OR, NOT	Phrase is system default. W/n either order within n words of one another Not W/n separated by at least n words PRE/n first word precedes the second by n words	.. use with a phrase of 3 or more words ? any no. of characters * one character .. exactly as typed	Some	E-mail, Print, PDF
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