Perspectives on Inquiry MTU Library Resources

Leadership in Daunting Times UN1001, Section 13 & 30 D. Eubanks & D. Woodruff

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

 

For Assistance - For individual assistance or instruction from a librarian, visit the Reference & Information desk on 2^nd floor, phone 487-2507, or use e-mail or instant messaging by clicking Ask a Librarian on the Library's website.

 

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.

 

Reference Collection - 2^nd Floor - The Reference Collection is a good place to find 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.

 

Most biographical resources in the reference collection begin with call number CT; some biographies are integrated into the collection by subject. General encyclopedias are shelved under call numbers beginning with AE.

Current Biography CT 100 .C9 REF

Dictionary of American Biography CT 101 .D5 REF

American National Biography CT 213 .A68 1999 REF

Encyclopedia of World Biography CT 103 .M27 REF

Dictionary of American History E 174 .D52 1976 REF

Facts about the Presidents E 176.1 .K3 1993 REF

Congressional Quarterlys Guide to the Presidency JK 516 .C57 1996 REF

Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy E 183.7 .E52 2002 REF

Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography U 51 .D87 1992 REF

 

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

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) To request material not available at the JRVP Library

To request books and articles from other libraries, complete an Interlibrary Loan Request Form, available by selecting Interlibrary Loan on the Library's website or visiting the Circulation desk.

 

JRVP Online Catalog Contains records of materials owned by the MTU Library, including books, periodicals, videos, CDs, maps, government publications, and microformat materials. Two search interfaces, Basic and Keyword, allow the user to search for items by author, title, subject, call number, ISBN/ISSN, or keyword(s). Use the Location, Status, and Call Number information to find an item in the Library collections.

• To search for information about a person, search Subject, entering the last name first.
• To search for a periodical article, search by Journal Title for the title of the periodical (sometimes called the "Source"), rather than searching by article title or author.

 

Locating Books & Periodicals

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

Periodicals in 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): Older volumes in print format.

MICROFICHE & MICROFILM AREA (2nd Floor, west): Older volumes on microfiche or microfilm.

Electronic journals are found under E-Journals on the Librarys web page.

 

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

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

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

 

Citation style guides: http://library.concordia.ca/help/howto/citations.html

 

Government Information 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.

Databases (Periodical & Newspaper Indexes)

To find citations to articles from journals, conference proceedings, and other publications, go to the Librarys website and select Databases. The resulting screen offers four options for finding databases:

(1) "Search for Databases" to search database titles and/or descriptions,

(2) "Databases A-Z" to browse an alphabetical list by title,

(3) "Search by Subject Headings" to view databases grouped by subject, and

(4) "Search by Providers" to view databases grouped by publisher/provider.

 

To select the databases that best meet your needs, look at the database descriptions and consider

Topics covered (General news? Engineering? Social sciences? etc.)

Time period covered (1980-present? Most recent year? Last ten years? etc.)

Types of publications indexed (Periodical articles? Newspapers? Books? etc.)

Levels of publications indexed (Popular/news? Academic/research/scholarly? Trade/professional? etc.)

 

For Database Keyword Search Tips such as using truncation and Boolean & proximity operators, go to http://www.lib.mtu.edu/reference/tutorials/databasekeyword.aspx or select Tutorials on the Library's website.

 

Many databases include some articles in full text. If you're viewing an article citation from a database and see the Husky Fetch symbol , click on it for options for locating the article. Most of these databases may be accessed by MTU students/faculty/staff from off-campus by entering your ISO/Husky Mail user ID and password.

 

Here are some databases recommended for this course:

 

Thompson Gale

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. This index contains citations that point to over 15 million biographies on nearly 5 million people, living and deceased, from all time periods, geographical locations, and fields of endeavor.

General Reference Center Gold - A general interest database that integrates a variety of sources in one easy-to-use interface. Use to find articles from newspapers, reference books, and periodicals, many with full-text and images.

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

 

FirstSearch

Biography Index - Cites periodicals and books, including individual and collective biographies, and juvenile literature.

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

Readers Guide Abstracts Abstracts of articles from popular magazines.

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

Humanities Abstracts - Covers English language periodicals in all areas of the humanities.

Newspaper Abstracts - Indexes and abstracts U.S. and regional newspapers, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and USA Today. The Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition) is indexed beginning Jan 1, 1990.

Social Science Abstracts - Covers periodicals in anthropology, economics, ethics, geography, law and criminology, political science, social work, sociology, and international relations.

Wilson Business Abstracts - Provides complete and accurate indexing and abstracting of 345 leading business magazines.

 

LexisNexis Academic Wide range of business, legal, medical, and current affairs information. Extensive U.S. newspaper coverage in full text. The Reference search includes a Biographical Information database.