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

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 Scholarships, Fellowships, Grants, and Loans

Do you need some scholarship money to help pay for your schooling? Where can you go for help? If you want to search for yourself, you might try conducting some internet searches to find databases with scholarship information, such as www.scholarships.com and Adventures in Education's Scholarship site.

Another option would be to find a reference book at your library that has already compiled contact information of organizations that offer scholarships. At the Idaho State University Library there are at least two books, which might prove useful:
1. The Scholarship Book. 12th Edition. The Complete Guide to Private-Sector Scholarships, Fellowships, Grants, and Loans for the Undergraduate. It contains 4,000 scholarship sources, 400,000 awards worth over $2 billion, and awards up to $40,000 per year. Editors have organized this book by the major fields of study: art, business, education, engineering, humanities, mathematics, science, social sciences, vocational education, and general studies. Subcategories within these broad fields also appear.

Beneath the English Language and Literature section there appear various foundations with the details for eligibility, contact information, website, how to apply, deadlines, number of awards, and the amount of each award. Therefore students may write essays about any of three of Ayn Rand's books for scholarships, which would need to be submitted to the Ayn Rand Foundation for the judging process. This book is over 650 pages, so that provides some indication as to the number of scholarships available for the motivated student. Call Number: REF LB2337.2.S28 2006.

2. The College Blue Book. 36th Edition. Scholarships, Fellowships, Grants, and Loans. This title also organizes its information into disciplines of study. Like the previous title it also give contact information, sponsor of the award, title of the award, fields of study eligible to apply, level of education required, awards given, funds available, eligibility requirements, deadlines, websites, and sources of additional information.

This source would be useful not only for undergraduate and graduate students, but it would also be good for professionals in the field looking for grants and fellowships. Call Number: REF LA226.C685 2009.

Need assistance? At most colleges and universities you can find help from professionals at the Financial Aid Office. They can give advice, recommendations, point you to useful resources, and sometimes they can look over applications for you to verify you have all the required materials and that you completed it accurately. At Idaho State University, the Financial Aid Office provides the following mission statement:

"The Scholarship Office administers the University scholarship program (around $10 million in scholarship disbursements each year) and coordinates timely scholarship-related activity including scholarship announcements and advertising, application screening, selection processes, award notification, and tracking of scholarship recipients. We exist to help students find scholarship opportunities and to help donors find qualified students for their scholarships. We hope you'll find the information linked from our website useful. If you have any questions or need help, please feel free to contact us."

Some universities assign specific individuals to help students with scholarship searches. The ISU Scholarship Office can be contacted here:

ISU Scholarship Office
921 S 8th Ave, Stop 8391
Museum Building, Room 327
Pocatello, ID 83209-8391
Phone: (208) 282-3315
Fax: (208) 282-5717
Email: scholar@isu.edu

Reference librarians can also be helpful in finding scholarship information, though they are not trained to review applications or provide advice. See contact information below:

Idaho State University
Eli M. Oboler Library
Reference Department
921 S. 8th Ave, Stop 8089
Pocatello, ID 83209-8089

* Phone: (208) 282-3152
* Email: refdesk@isu.edu

Searching the Library Catalog

Finding the right book through the catalog can be a tricky thing sometimes. Recently, someone came to the Reference Desk asking for help to find a book on book binding. She had done a basic keyword search. Our catalog defaults to a "Quick Search," which automatically connects terms with the AND operator. She showed me that she had inputted "book" and "binding" into the search box. She identified just one out of twenty-nine results that satisfied her criteria, and that book had been checked out already: Books, boxes, and portfolios : binding, construction, and design step-by-step. After opening up the full record I pointed her to the subject heading: Bookbinding --Handbooks, manuals, etc. Clicking on this heading yielded six results, and these titles seemed to satisfy this particular individual.

What the student and I did not know was that "book binding" may not find you what you want, but "bookbinding" may. Who would know that it was one word instead of two? I am just glad the subject-heading strategy worked in this case.

Knowing how to use the subject heading can be rather useful. Thinking of synonyms for terms can also be helpful, although a search for book and binding or bookbinding would bring back more than 100 results. Again, once a person identifies a book that they think will match their information needs, they can look at the full record to view the subject headings available. Clicking on the subject heading may retrieve additional useful results.

How do you know if it's a scholarly journal?

Have you ever had this question? At Idaho State University a particular Biology 101 class is required to do several assignments to familiarize themselves with library resources. One of the questions asks that they find a peer-reviewed journal and make a photocopy of an article from our collection of printed journals or print out a full-text version of an article in a database. We use EBSCOHost interfaces and databases, so it can be easy to tell students just to check the box that says "Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals" when they begin a search or click on the link that says "Academic Journals" once the computer returns its results.

I am never quite satisfied with that answer, because it seems that students may find a book review within an academic journal, but this would not satisfy the criteria for their assignment. Typically, scholarly journals do not have flashy covers, but when students are working at a computer workstation they cannot see the journal/magazine covers. Scholarly articles generally contain a colon in the title, separating the general topic from its particular focus. Ex: "Eating disorder not otherwise specified in an inpatient unit: the impact of altering the DSM-IV criteria for anorexia and bulimia nervosa."

What should students know when they are looking for scholarly, peer-reviewed journals? The Idaho State University reference and instruction librarians have developed a web page that walks students through the decision-making process and compares the scholarly right next to the popular. It can be a great start for students who are puzzled about the matter.

On the other hand, if they want to know right now [post haste] it might be best to point them to Ulrichsweb.com where they can find a quick answer. I conducted a quick search a few minutes ago on "anorexia nervosa." It returned thousands of results; I had not specified any limitations on the search, but I found a journal title to check, Philosophy, Psychiatry & Psychology. I quickly copied and pasted it into the Ulrichsweb.com search box, pressed enter, and it returned lots of options. Of course, this scared me at first. "Oh no, I don't know how to do this. I didn't do it right." However, on looking more closely at the results I found the desired title down low on the list. I don't know why it returned those other results, but once I selected the proper title it took me to a detailed record of the serial in question. One of the fields is titled "Refereed" and for this particular serial it say "Yes." I tried Ulrichsweb.com today for the first time; for some reason I thought that I would have to consult the paper version. Talk about scary--using a printed index!!! No worries, though, because the Head of Reference says Ulrichs will no longer be selling the print version; it will all be online. Sounds like good news for students, professors, and librarians.

Hopefully I can remember to point students to the Ulrichsweb.com site in the future. We do subscribe to it. We have it on our list of databases at least. That's what I have to say about knowing whether or not a source is scholarly or not--at least today. Perhaps someone, someday will comment on this blog. What do I need to do to get people to read my stuff? I believe my entries contain useful information and questions; one reason I think they will be useful down the road is that I should be able to include them in my portfolio for evaluation. This may or may not be true, but I consider it to be a teaching log to include in my personal teaching portfolio at least.


This blog really does prepare me to answer students' questions. It affords me the opportunity to articulate my ideas in words that can then be expressed later. Sometimes I do rather well communicating ideas on the spur of the moment, but other times I fail miserably. My level of effectiveness increases when I first write down/type my ideas, because it forces me to organize my ideas into words that make sense in an understandable pattern/order.