Phrasing Reference Questions

Do you ever wonder how to ask a question or phrase it so that you will be understood?  Growing up it terrified me to talk to people on the phone.  I did not know how to say what I needed to say.  Actually, if I pause a moment, it seems that my terror or "deer in the headlights" experiences were mostly involving talking with an adult or asking an adult for something. 

Moments like these were tough, and my mom came to my rescue, prompting me with just the words I would need to supply while holding that rotary phone to my ear.  (I'm not sure when we switched to a cordless phone, but I look back on the rotary phone with fondness and nostalgia.  My dad still has one out in his shop.)

Anyway, Mary W. George serves or functions as the mom/mentor for college students who need to approach the reference desk.  It can be intimidating to approach strangers behind an imposing desk.  Knowing how to phrase some questions or which words to supply in order to obtain the desired result can be quite useful.  In her book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know, she dedicates two or three pages to this endeavor.

One column contains the title "What You'd Like to Know (and can't figure out on your own)," and the second column reads "Example of How to Ask a Reference Librarian about It (Be ready to explain what you have already tried.)"  Let me provide just a few questions:

-Background information on your general topic

• Can you recommend a subject encyclopedia that deals with [your topic]?

-Where to identify articles on your topic

• What database would you suggest for popular and scholarly articles about [your topic]?  Does it include newspaper articles, or is there a different database for those?

-What other sources the library may have related to your topic

• I have already explored the online catalog and [name of article databases(s)].  What other approaches would you suggest for sources on [my topic]?  Are there relevant materials in special collections or in nonprint formats that the library owns? (118-20)

ISU Library Reference Desk

Granted, a good reference librarian ought to be able to ask follow-up questions if a patron does not phrase a question just right (in library speak should we say?), but trying out some of the suggestions George offers might really yield some great results. 

Idaho Health Sciences Library: Reference Desk

Finding Primary Sources for U.S. History Papers

Where can you go if you need primary sources for a research paper in your history class?  As a reference librarians, sometimes it is challenging to help students looking for primary sources.  Wikipedia defines a primary source like this:

 Primary source is a term used in a number of disciplines to describe source material that is closest to the person, information, period, or idea being studied.

The University of Maryland Libraries also explains the differences between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources in more detail, offering useful examples.  Essentially an item or document created by a single person at the time of the event can also be considered a primary source, so primary sources could be any of the following:

• Letters between individuals
• Diaries or personal journals
• Speeches written and given at an event
• Newspaper articles written at the time of the event
• Original studies published in peer-reviewed journals
• Books reviews of titles that are recently published (Some people may argue that any book review is a primary source as it recounts the recent event of someone's experience or reaction to reading a book, whether it is a new book or not.)

 Milestone Documents of American Leaders: Exploring the Primary Sources of Notable Americans. Ed. Paul Finkelman.  Dallas, TX: Schlager Group, 2009.

This four-volume title contains many primary documents of well-known Americans, beginning with colonial figures like Abigail Adams and George Washington while also including more recent figures like Sandra Day O'Conner and George W. Bush.  Yes, this could be one of the best places for finding primary sources.

The first entry in volume #4 features Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (1908-1972), who was a U.S. Congressman in the 1940s through the 1960s.  His entry commences with these life details, plus mention of the three primary sources associated with him:

• Speech on Civil Rights (1955)
• "Black Power: A Form of Godly Power" (1967)
• "Black Power and the Future of Black America" (1971)

Each entry holds to the same structure: overview, explanation and analysis of documents, impact and legacy, key sources, further readings, essential quotes, questions for further study, and, last of all, the primary documents themselves.  The overview about Representative Powell's life provides specific details about his life that are relevant to the documents in question.  In the pages that explain and analyze the documents there appears a timeline of his life, noting significant events mostly related to his political life.  A glossary explains words, contextual references, and may give an entire person's name when a partial one is given in the text.

Each of the entries include a large, full-page photo on the page before the article begins.  Use the subject index at the end of the fourth volume if you need to find where certain persons or ideas are mentioned within the four-volume set.  Placed before the index is a list of documents by category:

• Correspondence and Diaries
• Essays, Reports, and Manifestos
• Interviews
• Legal
• Legislative
• Military
• Presidential/Executive
• Speeches/Addresses (looks like the lengthiest section)

Each volume contains a "Contents" section at the beginning for the whole set, listing all the individuals in alphabetical order.

All in all, this appears to be a great resource for anyone looking to find primary sources of American leaders.  Take a look in your library's catalog to see if they have this reference set.  If your library does have this title, they may also have the E-book version that you could access online.  Look for a link to access the E-book.

Following is one of the "Essential Quotes" from Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.:

Tremendous changes are taking place in our country eradicating the concept of second-class citizenship.  Yet the United States Congress has done absolutely nothing in this sphere.  We are behind the times.  We are a legislative anachronism.  In an age of atomic energy, our dynamic is no more powerful than a watermill.  (Speech on Civil Rights, 1955, p.1740)

Scholarships for Undergraduate Students

Earning and maintaining scholarships can be a full-time job.  Students should treat their college studies as a full-time job.  The benefits can be huge.

Today I attended an open forum on scholarships.  The presenter talked about finding them, applying for them, and offering thanks for them.  The ISU Scholarship Office put on this forum.  They suggested that students talk with parents and grandparents to see if their workplace offers scholarships to their children.  Additionally, students can ask their departments of scholarships of which they may know of already. 

Many scholarships can be found on the internet.  Again, the Scholarship Office updates a list of outside scholarships, or rather websites that focus on searching and finding all kinds of scholarships available to anyone and everyone.  If you are a college student, consider a visit to your college's scholarship office and dedicating an hour a week to researching and writing scholarship applications.

In the library, you might look for The College Blue Book (LA226 .C685) to see what it can tell you about scholarships, grants, and fellowships.  This titles gets updated yearly and usually resides in a reference collection.  For this book there were two subject headings that looked relevant to this topic:

• Scholarships --United States --Directories.
• Student aid. 

Other titles worth considering:

• The College Board scholarship handbook.
• College student’s guide to merit and other no-need funding
• Scholarships, fellowships, grants and loans.

The library provides books that can help you write a good application as well.

Embedded Librarians in Course Management Systems (CMS)

Bernd W. Becker's article "Embedded Librarianship: A Point-of-Need Service" defines "embedded librarian" in the following terms:

Embedded librarian describes any librarian that takes an active role inside the online CMS classroom (237).

CMS stands for "course management system," which I have also heard as LMS or "learning management system."  These two acronyms describe the same thing, as far as I can tell.   Becker states: "The CMS provides a structure in which a librarian can become a part of the course" (237).  Using Moodle or Blackboard has become a more common method for reaching out to students for librarians.  Becker lists five reasons why the embedded librarian has been a bit more successful.  He argues that "this approach is addressing many of the learning style characteristics of the current generation of students," including the fact (Reason #1) that

1. "students start their research by looking on the Internet"
2. "library resources are typically remotely accessed"
3. "students expect library resources on the Web to be ranked"
4. "students are more likely to use a database if it is made familiar to them, and"
5. "students and faculty are interested in a point of need, practical approach to library research" (238).

I am working to embed myself in a few English composition classes this semester.  With the instructor's permission, I have added a research forum where students can ask me questions to get help with their research.  In the past, this has not inundated nor swamped me with requests, but typically there are one or two students who contact me for assistance, which has been very manageable.

In some sections I have proactively worked with students, offering suggestions on what they might do with their topic and which resources might prove useful.  In this instance, the instructor asked students to post a paragraph with complete sentences that described what they might be interested in writing about.  Knowing their topics, allowed me to conduct some preliminary searches in the catalog and sometimes in the databases.  Suggesting sources or potentially useful keywords for searches can be well received by the students.

Below is the full citation of the article:

Becker, Bernd W.  "Embedded Librarianship: A Point-of-Need Service."  Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian 29.3 (12 August 2010): 237-40.

"Sokollu Mehmet Paşa Camii" by Bradamant on Flickr.com

Finding Government Contact Information

At the reference desk we have a great resource for those looking to find contact information to government agencies, Congress, and a few nongovernmental organizations.

Washington Information Directory 2009-2010: The Definitive Source for Finding and Making Contacts at U.S. Government and Nongovernmental Organizations in Washington, DC.  Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2009.

Like many good reference resources, the directory includes a useful section on "How to Use This Directory" toward the front of the book. It interprets the various elements of an entry, telling which part indicates the parent organization alongside all of the contact information.  When no city is listed, the directory says to assume Washington, DC, so if any mail needs to be sent to a particular agency, the sender is advised to write Washington, DC before the zip code.  They do this to save on space within the directory. "Departments and agencies generally have their own zip code" (xi).  For example, the Senate's Office Buildings have the zip code 20510, and the House's Office Buildings have 20515 as the zip code.

They recommend that individuals with questions "first" call the toll free numbers whenever those are available.  "Often you can get the answer you need without searching any further.  If not, an explanation of your query should put you in touch with the person who can answer your question."  The directory provides fax numbers in case persons want to share more complex information that way, rather than over the phone.

Internet and e-mail can be effective means for communicating with government offices.  Lots of information can be found via government websites; however, the directory offers the following disclaimer if you will:

If you have Internet access, try the Web site, but bear in mind that this approach is not always faster or better than a phone call: connections can be slow, menus can be complex or confusing, and information can be incomplete or out of date. (xi)

Three indexes at the end of the book can prove helpful in locating information more quickly:

1. Name Index
2. Organization Index
3. Subject Index

Organizational charts appear throughout the volume, particularly for the larger agencies.

Here's a sample entry among the thousands listed:

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), 4330 East-West Hwy., #519, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 504-7908. Fax, (301) 504-0399. Nancy Nord, Chair (Acting); Patricia Semple, Executive Director. TTY, (800) 638-8270. Public Affairs, (301) 504-7908. Congressional Relations, (301) 504-7903. Product safety hotline, (800) 638-2772.

General e-mail, info@cpsc.gov

Web, www.cpsc.gov

 Establishes and enforces product safety standards; collects data; studies the causes and prevention of product-related injuries; identifies hazardous products, including imports, and recalls them from the marketplace.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission fits under the large umbrella of "Consumer Protection."  Other agencies and departments under this tent include but are not limited to:

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC)
• Transportation Dept. (DOT), Aviation Consumer Protection
• Consumers Union of the United States (This is a nongovernmental group aka NGO.)
• Comptroller of the Currency (Treasury Dept.)
• National Injury Information Clearinghouse (Consumer Product Safety Commission)
• Cosmetic Ingredient Review (This is an NGO.)
• Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)

 This directory includes a list of all the U.S. representatives and senators in the 111th Congress as well as all of the congressional committee assignments.

"Take Time by the Forelock"

Ever wondered how authors think of certain phrases, know how to make allusions to just the right legend, or how they find a word that perfectly matches their meaning while still being obscure, fresh, or interesting? Perhaps they find great reference books and while away afternoons searching for that nebulous idea or concept that they can vaguely imagine until they find the crystal-clear concept.

If I were an author looking for a phrase to match my novel, then I don't think I could go wrong in consulting Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable. This lengthy tome lists a plethora of entries worth looking at. For example, the Times Square entry describes the "garish heart of Manhattan, New York City, famous (and infamous) for its lurid neon advertisements, its theatres and cinemas, and its prostitutes and pickpockets." It tells how this well-known site grew out of the commercial district there and received its name after the New York Times built its building close by in the early 1900s (1331).

Another example tells what the phrase "Take time by the forelock" means:

Seize the present moment; CARPE DIEM. Time, called by Shakespeare 'that bald sexton' (King John, III, i (1596)), is represented with a lock of hair on his forehead but none on the rest of his head, to signify that time past cannot be used, but time present may be seized by the forelock. The saying is attributed to Pittacus of Mitylene, one of the WISE MEN OF GREECE. It is also suggested that the statue of Opportunity by Lysippus inspired the phrase. (1331)

Terms or words in all caps have their own entries in other parts of the book.

Other entries that caught my eye:

• Timbuctoo or Timbuktu
• Wars of the Roses, The (1401)
• Waltzing Matilda (didn't know that this phrase meant "carrying or humping one's bag or pack as a tramp does," although I believe I had heard A.B. "Banjo" Paterson's name in connection with the phrase, which he made famous (1399).)
• Wandering Jew
• Wearie Willie and Tired Tim (1408)
• Weasel words (1408)
• Wedding anniversaries
• 1st anniversary = paper
• 7th anniversary = woolen
• 30th anniversary = pearl
• 35th anniversary = coral
• 45th anniversary = sapphire
• 50th  anniversary = golden
• 55th anniversary = emerald
• 75th anniversary = diamond (1409)

• Werewolf (1413)

This photo was taken by thisisbossi and can be seen on Flickr.

 In short, this dictionary has been around a long time and seems to be quite a gem.

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, 18th Edition.  Ed. Camilla Rockwood.  Foreward by Philip Pullman.  Edinburgh: Brewer's, 2009.  Call number: PN43.B65 2009.  We keep this one at our reference desk.

The New York Public Library: Desk Reference

We continue to publish a bathroom newsletter. Here are some blurbs I have submitted:

Ever wanted to learn how to compost, build a fire in your fireplace, or understand what should be on a baby-sitter's checklist? Find this information, plus countless other things in The New York Public Library's Desk Reference. Also contains lists of great books, tables of winners/losers of major sporting events, animal highlights of the most popular national wildlife refuges, historical tidbits, and more.

Amazon lists the 4th edition for just $25.00. Sound like a great deal, although it is almost ten years old now.

Or:

Did you know that the Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge is noted for such wildlife as the white-faced ibis, blue- and black-crowned night heron, snowy egret, Franklin and California gulls? For a list of wildlife refuges see The New York Public Library's Desk Reference (see their travel section), or see the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Learning About Holidays, Customs, and Symbols

I found a fun book in our reference collection today titled Holiday Symbols & Customs.  Our Library has the 3rd edition.  Here's a sample entry:

Easter Lily: The flower commonly referred to as the Easter lily was brought to the United States in the 1880s from Bermuda.  Although it was not originally associated with Easter, it was so named because it flowered around this time of year.  Lilies in general were a symbol of purity in medieval iconography, and the Bible mentions them frequently as representative of beauty, perfection, and goodness.

Americans were quick to attribute symbolic value to the fact that this particular plant produced its impressive white flowers at a time that more or less coincided with the celebration of the resurrection of Christ.  And because it grows from a bulb that is 'buried' and the 'reborn,' it serves as a perfect emblem of the death and rebirth of the Savior.  With their trumpet-shaped blooms suggesting the angel Gabriel's horn, lilies herald both the coming of spring and the celebration of the greatest Christian feast.  They can be seen decorating homes and churches throughout the Easter season.  (168-69).

This source also includes information about customs and symbols associated with holidays across the world, including Bastile Day, Carnival, Chinese New Year, Feast of the Dead, Fourth of July, Ganesh Chaturthi, Gion Matsuri, Hola Maholla, Indra Jatra, Janmashtami, Miss America Pageant, Naadam, Pitra Paksa Festival, Plough Monday, Saturnalia, Tanabata, Teej, Ute Bear Dance, Vesak, Waso, Yaqui Easter Ceremony, and many, many more.

Holiday Symbols & Customs.  3rd Ed.  Edited by Sue Ellen Thompson.  Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics, 2003.  Call number: GT3930.T48 2003.

Follow Up on Native American Research Post

In my searching for Shoshone/Bannock tribal treaties, I discovered another resource worth mentioning. Handbook of North American Indians published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. is a bit dated, but still contains lots of information worth looking at with regards to the North American Indians.

This twelve-volume title dedicates a volume to each major region. Volume 11 highlights the Great Basin Indians, which includes the Shoshone/Bannock tribes. Chapters focus on the prehistory, history, ethnology, and special topics of individual areas within the region. Black and white photographs show art, tools, and contemporary individuals. For example, photos include bows, arrows, cradleboards, salmon-skin bags, woven carrying bags, and historical figures, as well as winter and summer dwellings.

The chapter titled "Northern Shoshone and Bannock" provides 29 pages of details about their language, environment, external relations, territory, population, culture, and history. A short history talks about their prehistory, but another chapter goes into greater detail where that is concerned. Multiple authors collaborated to write each chapter, and they include descriptions of their sources with author and date details. The full bibliography appears at the end of each volume, as well as a detailed index and a list of illustrations.

Shoshone Indians (1871). Photo by William H. Jackson. Courtesy of National Park Service.

Finding Native American/Indian Treaties

Last week I presented to my colleagues some updates to the Resources by Subject: Political Science page. In that presentation I pointed out one of our resources Public Documents Masterfile, which can aid researchers in finding government documents. Essentially, it serves as an index of other indexes. Therefore, this database does not provide full-text access, but it refers you to other sources, when can then refer you to the actual items with the full-text documents. Welcome to the world of government and legal research.

As an example, I showed how to find treaties between the U.S. government and the Shoshone/Bannock Tribes. A search for Shoshone Treaty brings back these results:

Selecting the first option with four records bring up this
"page:


Copying and pasting these titles into our catalog will help you find where they are located in our Library.  Actually, the following title Descriptive Catalog of the Government Publications of the United States will return a negative search, because the physical volume in question spell catalog like this: catalogue.  Whenever a title search does not work for me, my next step is to conduct an author search, which happens to be Poore, Benjamin Perley: .

The author search worked, and I found a call number but could not locate it on the shelf, so our government documents librarian helped me find it.  The numbers after the colon "963" and "991" seemed to refer to page numbers.  Nothing on page 963 seemed to refer to the Shoshone Indians, but there was something on page 991:

Report on the Shoshone and Bannock Indians.  See Columbus Delano.  Jan.22, 1874.  House Ex.Docs., No.61, 43d Cong.,1st sess., Vol.IX  2pp.  Transmitting information in regard to articles of convention concluded with the chiefs and headmen of the Shoshone and Bannock Indians for relinquishment of a portion of their reservation in Wyoming Territory.

Then my government documents colleague directed me to the CIS US Serial Set Index: 35th-45th Congresses 1857-1879 (Part II). Part II are "Finding Lists," so if you know what you want, that's the volume you need. If you are looking for documents according to their subject take a look at the two subject indexes on those sessions of congress.

Now we looked up the 43rd Congress, 1st session, which we found on page 1540. (Incidentally, this volume started on page 1293.) We found the title of House Executive Document 61: "Articles of convention with Shoshone and Bannock Indians for relinquishment of portion of their reservation in Wyoming Territory. Yes, we already had that information, so the most important thing at this point was the Volume and Serial numbers for the Serial Set. These were Vol. 9 Serial 1607.

We hiked up to the third floor, and, of course, the government documents librarian knows where the Serial Set is located, so I just followed. It turns out that we lack Serial number 1607. 1606 and 1608 sat on the shelf, but no 1607; however, someone had photocopied House Executive document 102, inserted it between a hard cover, and placed it on the shelf. This one did not relate directly to the Shoshone Bannock Tribes, but it did relate to Idaho: "Reservation for Indians of Colville agency, and for Coeur d'Alene Indians, of Territory of Idaho.

Since we could not locate it on the shelves, we went to the microfiche cabinets and found the microfiche that had Serial 1607, which included H.Ex.Doc.61. Today I went and refreshed my memory on using the microfiche and microfilm readers, scanned a copy of the two-page document. On one of my Google Sites pages it is the pdf document titled Shoshone Treaty.

Faster Way to Locate Native American/Indian Treaties

Yes, it does not have to take you this long to locate these treaties. Oklahoma State University has digitized many, if not all, of the treaties between the U.S. federal government and the sovereign tribes. Make sure to search Kappler's Indian Affairs:
.

Our Library does have a print copy of Kappler's Indian Affairs. Volume II on Laws and Treaties is where you would look to find the treaties. The index at the back points to the pages necessary for the appropriate tribal treaty in question. See pages 694, 848-51,859, and 1020 for treaties that mention the Shoshoni or Shoshone/Bannock Tribes. A look at our copy will show that these pages have been frequently looked at, since these are the nearest tribes to Pocatello, where Idaho State University resides.

Chief Pokatello helped negotiate the 1863 treaty; hence the name of the city here. The Shoshone/Bannock tribes live on the Fort Hall reservation.

Thank you, Oklahoma State University. Digital access takes much less time than hunting down the print copy.

Finding Full-Text Access

Students often come to ask for assistance with their research at the reference desk. One student yesterday wanted to find access to articles within particular journal titles, so I showed him how to use the A-Z Journal List, which can sometimes be a bit cumbersome. As a result I thought it might be helpful for the student if I created a quick Jing tutorial. As it turned out, I ended up creating two tutorials, so I thought I would share.

The first one demonstrates how to use the A-Z Journal list. It also shows how to search within a publication inside the ProQuest Central database.

The second tutorial shows how to use the Resources by Subject pages. These pages point students to databases which will help them with their discipline-specific research.

Information Literacy: A Practical, Everday Skill

About a month ago, a friend of mine invited me to join him in a triathlon. That sounded like a good idea, so the next morning I got up early and went to the gym to swim. Of course, I was pathetic, which did not surprise me. My swimming skill at the time was more on the level of a beginner than an intermediate. Another friend saw me swimming and invited me to train with him for this triathlon, which I gratefully accepted.

From the beginning he talked about how difficult swimming had been when he had first started a year earlier. He also mentioned that he had gone onto YouTube to learn more about swimming techniques, how useful that had really been, and even supplying some basic keywords for the search.

Now I had heard that YouTube had become more of a reference resource, but I just have not used it much for anything more than entertainment or library-related videos. Like many online search engines, when I began typing in "swimming technique" it supplied with numerous other search options, such "swimming technique freestyle," "swimming technique butterfly," "swimming technique for beginners," "swimming technique breathing," etc.

One thing I really like about these videos is that they automatically include captions, which is really nice for catching all that the "instructor" says. The audio is not always the best, considering that many of the YouTube videos are created by amateur cinematographers.

Like other social networking sites, you may add your own comments to critique or praise the video. As a beginner, I have enjoyed some of the following videos on the subject of swimming technique as found in my Delicious account under the tag "swimming."

By the way, several people think I'm crazy for wanting to compete in a triathlon; they believe I need to start practice the word "No." We have even had some mini-workshops on this skill in our core reference meetings. : )

Brief Follow-up on Jing

Thank you to everyone who has come and visited my blog in the last week. If I interpreted the Google Analytics report correctly, then 180 individuals have looked at my most recent post on Jing, which is screencast software. Honestly, that tops all other personal records as far as individuals looking at one of my posts. I must have hit on a popular topic.

I am still quite excited about Jing and its potential for demonstrating search techniques and database demonstrations, which would open up library instruction for actual information-literacy activities. I may have mentioned this in the first post on Jing, but it seems that it would be a great reference tool, particularly when working with patrons over the phone, IM, or email. It's quick and easy.

Should I use Wikipedia in my search for information?

"Don't use Wikipedia. Do not use any websites, except for .gov sites. Cite at least one print source." While teaching or helping some introductory English classes in Library workshops, I often hear these kinds of requirements imposed on the students. Instructors often have good reasons for setting these limitations. They want students to get out of their comfort zones. Students do fall back on what they know, using search engines to find their information. This may have worked well while they went to high school, but at the college level it usually does not suffice.

Typically, I like to talk about reference resources and how they can be useful for students when they begin their research. An encyclopedia article can provide background information, the kind that instructors may expect them to know already. College instructors expect more than a book report summary from college students. They want students to engage in the subject matter, evaluate sources, and analyze ideas critically. I suspect that some students rise to the occasion and begin to develop critical thinking skills when asked to look for quality sources.

Does this mean that students should not use Wikipedia? This ban of Wikipedia would not support appeals for critical thinking. Wikipedia, in many cases, provides background information that can be useful when starting a research project. Like other reference resources, it can inform individuals about the various aspects of the issue at hand, which can then prompt them to narrow their topic down a bit more. Additionally, its articles can bring to light keywords that would improve searching results when one goes to the article databases, or one's university catalog.

Most students are unaware of the fact that most academic libraries purchase subscriptions to online reference materials. Encyclopedia Britannica, Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, and Oxford Reference Online are a few encyclopedias for which institutions purchase access.

I just finished a great article titled "Wikipedia: friend or foe?" written by Kathy West and Janet Williamson at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. In 2007 they began a study to assess the quality of Wikipedia articles. As librarians, they had not used Wikipedia very much, preferring more authoritative sources. How did they assess the articles? "In the absence of credentialed authors, what criteria can be used to measure article quality? We suggest that articles which are objective, accurate, complete and clearly presented are quality articles" (268).

Their thorough search of the literature, conscientious methods, and careful analysis of the results deserves some praise. I appreciate that they approached this study professionally, they they did not seem to let bias cloud their perspectives. For example, they acknowledge some flaws in their methods that influenced the results. In order to do a good analysis, they captured 106 Wikipedia articles as pdfs. They did not check the hyperlinks that would have explained certain concepts, and as a result they admit that "this significantly affected our ratings of individual articles' accuracy and completeness in that it limited the ability to achieve a full understanding of the articles. [...] Had we been able to view the outward links, the completeness scores would have been substantially higher" (267).

Go read this article. They give a listing of reasons why Wikipedia may be considered a friend, according to the results of their article assessments:

• "its breadth of information including a substantial amount of unique information;
  
• its ability to cover truly current events;
  
• its ability to meet the diverse needs of both general and specialist readers;
  
• its objectivity;
  
• its reasonable accuracy; and
  
• its accessibility -- it is available 24/7 from our desktops at no charge" (269).

How might it be a foe?

• "its inconsistency--there are articles which are poorly written, contain unsubstantiated information, and/or provide shallow coverage of a topic" (269).

It appears that the authors' perceptions of Wikipedia improved as a result of doing this study. They consider Wikipedia to be improving as well. Fewer cases of abuse are occurring i.e. vandalism. "In addition, more references are being added" (269). This last point hold true in my experience. On occasion, I will go to an Oxford Reference Online (ORO) article in class, encourage students to look for background information, find keywords, and look for a list of references. Too often it seems that there are not any cited sources in the ORO or the Encyclopedia Britannica, but there is frequently a list of references in the Wikipedia articles.

Students should be allowed to consult Wikipedia as a launching point for their research project, but they need to remember not to use it as a source for their paper. Rather, they should consult the references and cite them. It is not necessary to cite background information or common knowledge. That's what researchers are expected to know already. Cite the books and articles instead. Use criteria for analyzing your sources and develop critical thinking skills.

Full citation: West, Kathy and Janet Williamson. "Wikipedia: friend or foe?" Reference Services Review 37.3 (2009): 260-71.

Maps: How People are Finding Them These Days

For the most recent bathroom newsletter, I wrote the following blurb:

If you are traveling or hiking this summer, you might consider using some of the maps or atlases available in the Oboler Library. The map collection on the third floor contains many topographic maps of the intermountain region. They can be checked out for one week at a time. Road atlases, solar system, galaxy, and star atlases, as well as lunar maps can be found and taken on night watches of the sky. Look for other kinds of maps and atlases in our catalog, some of the best reside in the Atlas Stand (1st Floor), Oversized, and Reference Collection.

In the brief time I have been a librarian, I have noticed that the maps in our map collection do not get used much. Other librarians say that they used to be checked out and looked at a lot more. I suspect that with the online availability of maps, this has changed things quite a bit. People no longer need to consult physical atlases when they can go to mapquest.com or Google Maps to print out directions for a trip.

Still, it seems that people doing any kind of field research that requires knowledge of the terrain could benefit from topographic maps. (For a good definition, take a look at What is a topographic map?.) Maybe they go directly to the U.S. Geological Survey to view these kinds of maps. By the way, they also have aerial photos available on their website. Many of these topographic and aerial maps can be bought, printed, or downloaded from their Maps, Imagery, and Publications page.

As a member of the Federal Depository Library Program, the Eli M. Oboler Library houses many government documents, including maps that are freely available to the public. The biggest drawback is making it to the physical library, but every citizen of Idaho can check out whatever they want as long as they show some government-issued form of identification. All who enter the Library can look at anything they want in the government-documents section on the third floor.

This seems to be the key change, many people can look at maps online, without having to make a trip to the library. However, if individuals want to save money, they can still come and check out our maps for free, versus the purchase options on the U.S. Geological Survey site. Then again, the U.S. Geological Survey does have some pretty cool maps, like this earthquake map that shows where the largest earthquakes have struck over a hundred-year period. At a glance, it looks to me like Africa, Europe, and the eastern coasts of the Americas are safe from most earthquakes.

Information Discoveries and Behavior

Today I heard about a musician I had not heard about before, so I looked first in the Oxford Reference Online resource and found nothing on this particular artist. However, I did find a good little article in the Encyclopedia Britannica on Dan Fogelberg. This led me to discover that I could share the article about Mr. Fogelberg with readers if my blog. I think this is pretty cool that Encyclopedia Britannica allows its readers share useful articles with those who do not have paid subscriptions to their encyclopedia. It makes some sense; if people see the quality articles they are writing, they might be more inclined to pay for a personal subscription themselves.

Also, I googled "Dan Fogelberg" and found a bunch of websites and videos focusing on him. The first result took me to another Google results page that listed all of his albums with links to the record labels where you could no doubt purchase individual tracks or the entire album. Perhaps this should not surprise me, because the internet really does cater to business interests. In other words it's a great place to buy and sell things and find where you can do this, which you probably already knew.

From the second results page I saw something else I had never seen. At the top and bottom of the webpage, the Google search button said "Search Music," and it was placed next to another search button titled "Search Web." These are little things, but it tells me that Google continues to make improvements to its product. They must realize the searchers like to limit their options. If they are searching for music, they don't want medical sites to pop up. Apparently, though, you have to enter your search and select what you want before this limiting function appears. In this case "Dan Fogelberg" was a big enough or unique enough name (though I don't recall having ever heard of him in all my born days before today), so that Google could tell he was a musician. The logic follows that if you want to know more about this musician, maybe you would like to learn more about other musicians.

I wonder how much information behavior has changed because of the Google algorithm. My limited understanding is that it returns results according to their popularity as determined by the number of links pointing to particular webpages. The more sites pointing their hyperlinks to a particular page, the more likely you are to find it by just surfing the internet. Anyway, something to think about.

Yeah, Dan Fogelberg definitely appealed more to the generation that preceded mine. Chances are that I've heard some of his music without learning about him--that he was the artist.

Want to subscribe to a magazine or journal?

In the last week I have recommended ulrichsweb.com to two different individuals. The first called while I was at the Reference Desk. He wanted to know how he could set up his own personal subscriptions to some education journals. The second wanted to know if we had access to Art Journal and how he might start up a subscription.

Ulrichsweb.com takes you to Ulrich's Periodicals Directory. You may browse magazines and journals, or search for a specific title. You can do a keyword search, exact title search, or keyword within the title search. For most individuals the exact title search might prove to be the most useful.

Once you find the expanded record of a particular periodical, you will be able to discover if it is peer reviewed (they use the term "refereed"), its price, number of subscriptions (circulation), its publisher, contact information, its web address, its frequency (weekly, bimonthly, quarterly, annually, etc.), its language, its editor, and so forth. It also provides the different names it has had through the years.

Some students and professors want to know for sure if a periodical is peer reviewed, so this resource provides just that. I also noticed in the EBSCOhost interface on pages that provide links to the issues of a particular magazine or journal it also say if the periodical is peer reviewed or refereed.

Reference Books About Marine Mammals

In many of the instruction sessions I teach, I like to emphasize the importance of consulting reference materials. Reading an article from an encyclopedia can help you know the basics on a given topic. Reference materials generally do not need to be cited, as they often include information that the experts in that field consider common knowledge on that topic. In several places the index finger symbol is used in close association with reference books, and rightly so, because reference books point or refer you to other sources. Near the end of an encyclopedia article a bibliography or list of sources appears, directing you to sources that contain more in-depth research/information.

Here are some more reference books worth looking at:

1. Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships: contains animal rights information, articles on anthropomorphism, and entries about humans and animals in art, biology, economics, film, etc. Useful features include cross references, side bars, list of and references.

Some may find it annoying that major topics may be split among different volumes, so a section on animals in film might start in one volume and conclude in another. Since there is no list of subheadings, consult the index to find specific items of interest. The art section appeared to be rather short.

Call Number: QL85 .E53 2007.
Volumes: 4

Note: The editor of this encyclopedia is Marc Bekoff, a founder of an animal-rights group, so the encyclopedia will be a bit slanted in that direction.

2. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals provides information on all types of ocean mammals and includes 16 color images toward the beginning of the volume. It has over 1400 pages and includes a useful index.
Call Number: QL713.2 .E63 2002

Entries give specific information on various species, such as their taxonomy, anatomical and physiological feature, population size, ecology, eating or foraging habits, life cycles, behavior, demographic parameters, and relations with humans. Maps portray their habitat ranges, black-and-white photographs give an idea of what they look like, and a list of references point to further information.

General articles talk about marine-mammal fossils, coloration of marine mammals, sociobiology, swimming, and many other related subjects.

3. Marine Mammals of the World: A Comprehensive Guide to their Identification is a newer volume (2008) and includes beautiful color photographs of animals in their aquatic settings. It contains a glossary of terms, an index, references, skull morphology, and a dichotomous identification key.

As the title suggests, this book seeks to aid individuals so they may "more easily identify marine mammals that they may come across during trips to sea, while walking on the beach, or when visiting a museum or other research collection" (xi). By marine mammals they mean "cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), pinnipeds (seals sea lions, and walruses), sirenians (manatees, dugongs, and sea cows), marine and sea otters, and the polar bear. [...] The term marine mammal, therefore, implies no systematic or taxonomic relationship. In fact, the cetaceans are more closely related to camels and hippos than they are to other marine mamals, the pinnipeds have more in common with bears and weasels, and the sirenians are more closely allied to elephants and hyraxes. These differences no withstanding, however, all marine mammals have one thing in common--they derive all (or most) of their food from marine (or sometimes fresh) water" (1). Not surprisingly, this book is organized by these group distinctions.

Reference Books

Periodically, the librarians who work at the Idaho State University Reference Desk meet together to talk about reference books. It gives us an opportunity to understand what we have in our collection that may be of interest to students and faculty. This post seeks to highlight some of these resources and their strengths. Look in our catalog to verify call numbers and locations.

1. The Worldwide History of Dress includes many color images and descriptions of mostly traditional and non-western clothing. Each of the ten sections focuses on major geographical areas in the world. Images portray brightly-colored costumes with ornate dragons, flowers, animals, etc. Dimensions of the articles of clothing appear next to the images.

Reproductions of historical documents also appear that emphasize the clothing theme of various cultures. Entries also detail basic histories of the peoples who have created the articles of clothing, the materials used to make the clothing, and a little bit about the process required for creating them.

It includes a full glossary of terms, an extensive bibliography, and a lengthy index. You may wish to have a magnifying glass on hand when you consult these appendices.

Students and faculty in the fields of anthropology, theater, dance, and history may be the most interested in this book. Call Number: GT511 .A63 2007.

2. For those who are more interested in contemporary clothing The Complete Fashion Sourcebook may be just what you are looking for. This reference resource shows how styles of clothing changed from year to year in the twentieth century. Unfortunately, it does not cover all of the decades of the 20th century, nor does it show all of the styles, since it focuses mainly on upper-class fashions. For the everyday styles you might have better luck searching through old Montgomery Ward or Sears Roebuck catalogs.

Again, this book shows images, includes an index, and may be most useful to students of anthropology, theater, dance, and history. Call Number: GT596 .P393 2005.

3. The Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion was another interesting resource. Call Number: GT507 .E53 2005. It has three volumes and likely fills in a lot of the gaps left by the previous two resources discussed, while it may repeat some of the same things.

While I had hoped to discuss the other books in this post, it appears I am out of time tonight. Most reference materials turn out to be interesting to me as evidence by my experience tonight. Once I open them up I end up looking at them longer than I originally intended.

Looking for a job? Are you trying to decide on a career?

Occupational Outlook Handbook

What do you want to be when you grow up? If this question still haunts you, consider looking at the Occupational Outlook Handbook, which details average yearly salaries, job duties, qualifications, educational attainment, etc. Accessible online at www.bls.gov/OCO/. Additionally, you can gain a sense for the future growth or decline of a particular career. If you want to know what kinds of jobs are available or preferred by those in specific majors, check out www.bls.gov/k12/index.htm. This site provides several career options for each school subject, such as math, reading, science, computers, and even helping people.

Did you know that an average pharmacist makes between $80,000 and $100,000 annually? If you like chemistry and math classes this might be just the career for you. Discover what other workers and professionals make from the Occupational Outlook Handbook: www.bls.gov/OCO/. This resource also provides informed estimates about those careers that will be in most demand. So you like nature, music, or sports better? Check out the following website to discover which jobs may be more suited to your interests: www.bls.gov/k12/index.htm.

What’s your favorite subject in school? If you like computers, you might be interested in becoming a database analyst, a software engineer, a support specialism, a webmaster, a hardware engineer, or a systems analyst. Throughout the country a webmaster averaged between “$49,510 and $82,630 in 2006.” Additionally, “the number of [webmaster] jobs is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations between 2006 and 2016.” To see specific subjects connected to potential occupations, look at www.bls.gov/k12/index.htm. Or take a peek at the Occupational Outlook Handbook for more detailed information and even more occupations: www.bls.gov/OCO/.

What’s your favorite college class that you’ve taken so far? Would you like to know what kinds of jobs are available for someone who likes a particular subject in school? Take a look at www.bls.gov/k12/index.htm to see potential occupations, earnings, jobs in high demand, descriptions of responsibilities, and education requirements. For more detailed information and a longer list of jobs, access the Occupational Outlook Handbook on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website: www.bls.gov/OCO/.