LSU LibrariesSEARCHING THE ONLINE CATALOG (Information in this section is representative quic khelp. More detailed information can be found on the online catalog HELP screens accessed from the catalog toolbar and under Research Tools - Tutorials at http://www.lib.lsu.edu/instruction/tutorials.html.)
Try both keyword and subject searches. If your search results in too many citations, use more specific terms. If you have too few citations, use broader terms. Look at subject headings in records resulting from a key word search and search again using the most appropriate subject heading. Also, consult Library of Congress Subject Headings at the Middleton Library Reference Desk. A few representative subject headings are LIBRARY SCIENCE, INFORMATION SCIENCE, LIBRARIES, LIBRARIES-AUTOMATION, and LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION.
Try combining data wells (boxes) with operator words for advanced searches. Operator words are AND, OR, XOR, (either, but not both), and NOT. Within the word or phrase data well use positional operators such as NEAR, ADJ (adjacent), etc. Put the operators in capital letters. Example: "NEAR libraries."
Try truncating search terms or substituting letters. A search term can be shortened by using "$" at the end of the word. Example: librar$ will retrieve library, libraries, librarian(s), librarianship. Use "?" to replace a letter within a word. Example: wom?n will retrieve woman or women. Also, useful when unsure of the spelling.
When searching by words or phrase do not use stop words (A, AN, AS, AT, BE, BUT, BY, DO, FOR, IF, IN, IT, OF, ON, THE, TO), or if part of a title, omit or enclose each stop word in double quotation marks. Example: "And" Now Miguel. A set of terms can be marked as a single phrase by enclosing in single quotation marks. This will be matched in the catalog exactly as typed. Example: "library buildings."
LSU Libraries uses the Library of Congress classification system. Library and information science books will be found in the Z's, primarily Z662-Z996. Related resources may fall into other call number ranges. For example, Z1035-37 covers resources about books for the young; QA includes library automation. However, the young people's collection which contains representative examples of the literature for preschool through grade 12 is arranged according to the Dewey Decimal Classification system. The Z's are located in 241 Middleton (stacks), and the young people's collection is in 227 Middleton (Education Resources).
Reference books (encyclopedias, handbooks, statistical sources, etc.) are located in Reference Services, 141 Middleton under the same call numbers noted above. Most are located on Ref-LIS shelves and index tables in the northeast corner of the department. Readers' guides to a variety of genre, also located in this section, are classified according to subject. Some reference books are located at the Middleton Library reference desk and are so noted. Reference books pertaining to school libraries and children's literature are located in the Juvenile Reference section in Education Resources, 227 Middleton. Check the catalog for exact locations.
Current journal issues are located in 126 Middleton; older issues are bound and shelved in the stacks. Some are available in electronic format. Check the online catalog and/or Journalfind to determine call numbers, exact locations, or online access.
Reserve materials are housed at Circulation/Reserve, Middleton lobby. Reserve information can be accessed under Reserve Desk on the online catalog toolbar.
The LSU LIBRARIES WEB PAGE at www.lib.lsu.edu covers resources, hours, policies, services, etc.
Passwords: Databases require an ID and password for off-campus access. Access requirements are described with connection choices. Most require entering a university ID number (no hyphens). Your password is "changeme" until you change it. Some require a special ID and password which are listed on the LSU PAWS page under Library Resources, Off-Campus Access.
Searching Using Boolean Logic: Most database searching is based on Boolean logic; the computer creates sets of information based on the way you tell it to combine terms. The two most commonly used connectors or operator words are "or" and "and." To devise an effective search statement, select key words or major concepts, then create a search statement by connecting them with Boolean terms. Connecting terms with "or" (between synonyms or like concepts) will broaden the search and increase the number of records retrieved. Connecting terms with "and" (between differing concepts) will narrow the search and decrease the number of records retrieved. Information on operator words and search strategies is included on help screens for the databases.
Searching EBSCO Databases: EBSCO tutorials can be accessed at http://support.epnet.com/custsupport/Tutorials/Tutorials.asp. Advanced Search with Guided Style, How to Create Search and Journal Alerts, and My EBSCOhost are especially helpful. They include information on search strategies, search history and alerts, and personal accounts.
Capturing Information in EBSCO Databases: You can mark records to print, save, or e-mail during individual sessions or you can set up a My EBSCOhost account (see information under Sign In at the top of the screen) to save searches for a specific period, and create alerts for designated searches.
Searching Multiple Databases: EBSCO allows you to simultaneously search more than one EBSCO database. From the LSU Libraries home page, click on Indexes and Databases, click on "E" under Search Databases by Title, then choose EBSCOHost Databases. Select appropriate databases, then click Continue. You can also add databases by clicking on Choose Databases from an EBSCO search screen. Multiple searches can also be conducted with Webfeat. See the link near the top of the Indexes and Databases web page.
A Journalfind search allows patrons to determine if a specific journal is available in electronic format. Information includes the name of the database(s) and the years covered in each. The Journalfind search form can be accessed from either Electronic Journals or Indexes and Databases under Research Tools on the Libraries' web page.
Availability: To locate journal articles cited in indexes, databases, bibliographies:
To locate books cited. . .
Tutorials/Instruction: LSU Libraries offers a variety of tutorials and instruction opportunities described under Research Tools - Tutorials at http://www.lib.lsu.edu/instruction/tutorials.html. Contact the education liaison (See page 5.) to arrange tours and class presentations.
Reference Services, 141 Middleton, provides assistance at the desk or by telephone, e-mail, and live assistance. See http://www.lib.lsu.edu/virtual/
Accessible through the Web this local page is a collection of information and sites concerning library and information science. It includes links to organizations, bibliographies, statistics, and general information.
Contains information concerning distance education (DE) at LSU. It includes information on library resources and services for DE students and links to other sites and sources.
Contains links to other reference sources including other library catalogs, current reference issues, and a variety of reference categories such as style manuals.
A reference source for library and information science professionals, faculty, students, and lay persons. Also has links to several other LIS online dictionaries.
ACCESS: Electronic databases can be accessed from the LSU Libraries web page, www.lib.lsu.edu, by clicking on the Indexes and Databases link located under Research Tools. Databases can then be selected by title by clicking on the first letter of the database title. Most are available both on and off campus. (See the section on Passwords for more specific information about off campus access.) Print counterparts are available for some electronic databases. Check the catalog for call numbers and years covered.
Contains the full text of more than 4,000 scholarly publications, and indexing and abstracts for all journals in the collection. The database covers the social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts & literature, and more.
Indexing and abstracting tool covering health, social services, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations, and education. Updated monthly. Comprehensive source of practical and professional materials.
Search and retrieval service that provides bibliographic records of U.S. Government information products. Use to link to Federal agency online resources, to identify materials distributed to Federal Depository Libraries.
Offers more than 110,000 full text reviews of children's books. Link to the Children's Literature home page at the bottom of the database screen which has information on authors, illustrators, awards, related sites, etc.
OCLC FirstSearch Electronic Collections Online brings you information from academic journals, in many disciplines and from many publishers. It gives you several ways to find the journal articles you need. Plus you can view articles online or print high-quality copies.
The most widely used index to journals in the field of education. Published as part of the U.S. Office of Education's Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) program, it provides detailed indexing for articles in more than 1000 education/education-related journals in addition to education related documents, most of which are full text online. (ERIC documents are no longer published as microfiche; the final microfiche document, ED 483046, was published Fall 2005. A complete set of ERIC microfiche is available in Room 53 in the basement of Middleton Library. Most documents published after that number are available as full text in the online database or can be purchased via the free web version of ERIC at http://www.eric.ed.gov/
A document delivery service which provides unmediated access by faculty, research staff, and graduate students to articles from periodicals not owned by LSU. Fees are subsidized by LSU Libraries. Articles delivered electronically by fax or e-mail. See http://www.lib.lsu.edu/databases/descriptions/ingenta.html for additional information. (Use 17-digit university ID to establish an LSU Patrons Account.)
A not-for-profit organization established with the assistance of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. JSTOR consists of a reliable and comprehensive archive of important scholarly journal literature.
Offers full-text online news, business, legal, legislative, medical, regulatory information. Updated daily.
Indexes more than 600 periodicals, plus books, research reports and proceedings. Subject coverage includes librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more. Coverage in the database extends back as far as the mid-1960s.
Library Literature & Information Sciences, produced by the H.W. Wilson Company, indexes articles and book reviews from key library and information science periodicals. This database contains over 242,000 English and non-English records dating back to 1980. (See Z 666 C211 for index in book form covering 1921 to present.)
Offers detailed information on over 7,100 journals, with 4,400 currently indexed in the International Bibliography. The detailed entries include editorial contact information, as well as frequency, circulation, subscription prices and submission guidelines.
A collection of over 50,000 reference, scholarly, and professional electronic books covering a variety of disciplines. These books may be checked out for four hours at a time. The full text of the e-books may be searched and printed a page or two at a time. My Favorites, Bookmarks, and Notes are featured aids.
Provides online, world wide, institutional subscription access to the full text of over 100 scholarly journals in the arts and humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.
An interdisciplinary subject index to current periodical articles, books, government publications, pamphlets, and reports relating to public issues and policy. Also available in print from 1915 forward in reference.
Provides access to the most up-to-date and accurate bibliographic information as well as current pricing structures for popular serials. This database contains over 182,000 U.S. and international titles, including newspapers, historical data for an additional 20,000 titles and data from over 85,000 publishers worldwide.
Covers the journal literature of the social sciences. It indexes more than 1,725 journals spanning 50 disciplines from 1984 to the present. SSCI is one of three citation indexes in the Web of Knowledge.
Provides access to the three citation databases (Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index, and Social Sciences Citation Index) which are multidisciplinary databases of bibliographic information gathered from thousands of scholarly journals. Includes information on where journals are cited.
Allows searching of multiple databases. See the link near the top of the Indexes and Databases page. Databases can be selected by subject areas or by individual titles. The broad subject areas listed can be further limited by clicking on the plus sign to the right of the subject. Since database search techniques vary, use the Boolean operator "or" to combine terms and symbols unique to the selected databases.
Offers records of all types of material cataloged by OCLC member libraries. Includes manuscripts written as early as the 12th century. Source of information about materials not owned by LSU Libraries.
Information dealing with the development of library and information services. Began in 1968, it is complete in 73 primary and supplementary volumes. Companion to the second edition.
Targets new and dynamic movements in the distribution, acquisition, and development of print and online media addressing recruitment, program planning in the digital era, information management, advances in digital technology and encoding, intellectual property issues, and hardware, software, and database selection and design. Companion to the first edition.