Perspectives on Inquiry MTU Library Resources

Alcohol in America UN1001, sec. 16 A.K. Hoagland

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

 

Guide to the Libraryhttp://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 instrlib@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 Library Services, then Interlibrary Loans on 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 dated 1971 or later.

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

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

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.

 

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)

 

Reference Collection & Government Documents Core Collection - First 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 Psychology BF .31 .E525 2000 REF

CQ Researcher (1959-present) H35.E2 REF

Reports on timely issues. Provides an overview, history, impact, positions and resources for further study. A comprehensive index is available at www.cqpress.com/cqr/index.
Encyclopedia of Sociology HM 17 .E5 2000 REF

Encyclopedia of American Social History HN57.E58 1993 REF

Encyclopedia of Drugs and Alcohol HV5804.E53 1995 REF

Encyclopedia of Bioethics QH 332 .E52 2004 REF

Encyclopedia of Mental Health RA 790 .E53 1998 REF

Statistical Abstract of the United States C3.134: GOVDOC Core

 

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

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

MTU 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 at www.lib.mtu.edu and 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. Recommended databases:

         InfoTrac

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

Health Reference Center Academic Consumer health and allied health research. Includes entries from reference works as well as journals.

         FirstSearch

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

PsycFirst - Most recent three years of the PsycINFO database covering worldwide research in psychology and related fields.

         LexisNexis Academic Wide range of business, legal, 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/course/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,