Perspectives on Inquiry ~ Library Resources

Our National Parks - History and Ideals

Instructor: Mark Gleason

Librarian: Joan Goodbody, 487-2698, goodbody@mtu.edu

 

 

 

MTU Library Catalog:

Use the catalog to find items that the library owns: Searchable by author, title, subject or keywords. Also after using an index to find a paper/article that you want, youll need to use this catalog to determine whether we have the journal that the article appeared in. Articles from journals we do not have or books we do not have can be ordered through Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Many of the databases now have a direct ILL link.

 

Reference resources:

The reference collection is a good place to begin exploring an unfamiliar subject. The encyclopedias and dictionaries found here can give you definitions of terms and background information on your subject. Along with help identifying specific issues within your broad subject area to explore in more detail.

CQ researcher (issues): H35 .E2. REF: This is a multi volume (by year) publication that is put out to help the members of congress and their staff understand public issues. There are some on the Parks, Saving the Parks, National Forests, and Museums. Index is in the front of the newest notebook. The Index is also available at: http://library.cqpress.com/researcher_index.pdf

International handbook of national parks and nature reserves: SB481 .I565 1990 REF [note date]

National forest guide by Len Hilts: E160 .H54 1980 REF [note date]

National park guide by Michael Frome: SB482.A1 F7 1984 REF [note date]

Parks directory of the United States : a guide to 3,700 national and state parks, recreational areas, historic sites, battlefields, monuments, forests, preserves, memorials, seashores, and other designated recreation areas in the United States administered by national and state park agencies: E160 .S65 1992 REF

 

Databases: E-Resources :

Access to electronic indexes/abstracts, online books, e-journals and selected websites. From the E-Resource menu select listings by alphabet, topic or collection (e.g. FirstSearch or InfoTrac.) E-Resources are also searchable by name or keyword(s.) Use the index databases to locate journal articles, newspaper articles, or reviews on your topic. Some indexes or collections of indexes especially useful for research in this course include:

FirstSearch: This database provides access to over 60 databases. They include:

Worldcat, a comprehensive database for all types of material cataloged by OCLC member libraries. This does NOT index periodicals at the article level;

Wilson Select Plus, A full text database comprised of articles represented by selected citations from Readers' Guide Abstracts, Social Sciences Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, General Science Abstracts, Education Abstracts, and Wilson Business Abstracts.

 

 

 

LexisNexis:

Academic provides full-text documents from over 5,600 news, business, legal, medical, and reference publications with a variety of flexible search options. 

Congressional provides a comprehensive online resource from Congressional hearings, public issues, legislation, history, and legal research.

 

Infotrac: A comprehensive multi-index database including:

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

Expanded Academic ASAP:Gives access to arts and the humanities to social sciences, science and technology scholarly journals, news magazines, and newspapers - many with full text and images!;

LegalTrac,Use this database to find articles in all major law reviews, law journals, specialty law and bar association journals and legal newspapers.

 

ABI/Inform: Covers a wide range of business and management topics, including information on over 60,000+ companies. Citations to articles come from more than 1,500 U.S. and international periodicals. For articles that provide full text, ProQuest allows you to select from full text (ASCII), full text + graphics, and page image options.

 

Websites: Use of websites can be very useful. There is a listing of good ones in the syllabus for this class. Evaluations of websites is essential.

One of the best sites on evaluating information found on the Internet is produced by Cornell University Libraries Research Skills department. See:

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

 

Firstgov.gov: www.firstgov.gov This is the official government site that searches over 87 million sites. Can search for just federal, federal and a specific state, federal and all states, all states, or a specific state. Advanced search gives the most flexibility.

Department of the Interior: http://www.doi.gov : This is the homepage for the Department of the Interior. Many documents in full text are available on this site.

National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov: This is the homepage for the National Park Service with many links to PDF files and reports and information on parks.

 

 

Note: Due to the CILIT Construction, all the government documents are currently offincluding the paper version of Monthly Catalog, which includes information on publications before 1976to access government documents information on parks, please contact the government documents coordinator or submit a reference request so that a search can be done. Government Documents Coordinator:

Joan Goodbody, Email: goodbody@mtu.edu, Phone: 487-2698

 

For Assistance

For individual assistance or instruction from a librarian, visit or phone the Reference/Information Desk (487-2507), e-mail instrlib@mtu.edu,