Perspectives on Inquiry MTU Library Resources

Microdevices, Nanosystems, and Society UN1001, sections 23 & 49 G. Caneba

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

 

For Assistance

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

 

Library of Congress Classification System (examples)

Q Science TA 401-492 - Materials Science TK Electrical Engineering

T Technology TJ - Mechanical engineering TK 7874 - Microelectromechanical systems

 

Reference Collection First 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 LCCS is available at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html.

McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science & Technology Q 1 .M1 REF

Science and the Future Q 9 .B78 REF

Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology Q 121 .E497 REF

McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology Q 121 .M3 REF

Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology T 174.7 .E53 REF

 

Locating Books on the Library Shelves

The Main Collection of circulating books is shelved by Library of Congress call number on Third Floor.

 

Locating Periodicals on the Library Shelves

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 or microfiche.

BOUND JOURNALS AREA (Garden Level): Bound periodicals dated 1971 or later.

MICROFORMS AREA (1^st Floor ) Microfilm & Microfiche cabinets located on the east side of the building.

STORAGE: Bound periodicals dated before 1971; request these at the Circulation Desk.

 

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.

 

E-Resources access to electronic indexes/abstracts, online books, e-journals and selected websites.

To find citations to recent articles from journals, conference proceedings, and other publications, select E-Resources, then Search for an E-Resource. The resulting screen offers four search options for finding databases or electronic journals: (1) Keyword search of database titles and/or descriptions, (2) Search by subject area, (3) Search by collection name, (4) Browse an alphabetical list by title. Here are some of the databases youll find there.

 

InfoTrac

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

Health Reference Center Academic Covers consumer health as well as nursing and allied health.

FirstSearch

WilsonSelectPlus Full text articles from over 1400 periodicals covering research in the Social Sciences, Humanities, Business, Education and General Sciences. FirstSeasrch also offers specialized databases in science, technology, and business such Applied Science & Technology Abstracts, INSPEC, BasicBIOSIS, Biological & Agricultural Abstracts, Medline, and Wilson Business.

LexisNexis Academic

Full text coverage of national & international newspapers, along with legal, medical, and business information in full text.

ABI/Inform

Covers a wide range of business and management topics.

Quick Reference for Databases

For more databases, see http://www.lib.mtu.edu/reference/course/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

 

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

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

 

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.

Cornell University Libraries Research Skills - http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/webeval.html - One of the best sites on evaluating information found on the Internet.

Internet Public Library: Subject Collections - http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/ - Good starting place for a research-oriented approach to a variety of subject areas. IPL Emphasis is on education rather than entertainment.

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

 

Guide to the Libraryhttp://www.lib.mtu.edu/about/MTU_Library_Guide.pdf

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

 

Government Publications

Due to the CILIT construction, government documents in paper are housed offsite. Forms are available at the Circulation Desk or at the Reference Desk to request them from offsite storage. For assistance with government documents, please contact the Government Documents Coordinator or submit a reference request to reflib@mtu.edu.

Government Documents Coordinator: Joan Goodbody (goodbody@mtu.edu, Phone 487-2698)