Reference Question Data Mining

Transcription

1 Colgate Uiversity Libraries Digital Colgate Library Faculty Scholarship Uiversity Libraries 2010 Referece Questio Data Miig Joshua Fiell Colgate Uiversity, jfiell@colgate.edu Walt Fotae McNeese State Uiversity Follow this ad additioal works at: Part of the Library ad Iformatio Sciece Commos Recommeded Citatio Fiell, Joshua ad Fotae, Walt, "Referece Questio Data Miig" (2010). Library Faculty Scholarship This Article is brought to you for free ad ope access by the Uiversity Libraries at Digital Colgate. It has bee accepted for iclusio i Library Faculty Scholarship by a authorized admiistrator of Digital Colgate. For more iformatio, please cotact seblack@colgate.edu.

2 Feature Referece Questio Data Miig A Systematic Approach to Library Outreach Joshua Fiell ad Walt Fotae Joshua Fiell is Humaities Liaiso Libraria, William Howard Doae Library, Deiso Uiversity, Graville, Ohio. Walt Fotae is Referece Libraria ad Assistat Professor of Library Sciece, Frazar Library, McNeese State Uiversity, Lake Charles, Louisiaa. Submitted for review December 3, 2008; revised ad accepted for publicatio April 21, Referece & User Services Quarterly, vol. 49, o. 3, pp America Library Associatio. All rights reserved. Permissio grated to reproduce for oprofit, educatioal use. This exploratory study ivestigated the feasibility of usig referece questios as a importat tool i the costructio of study guides, istructioal outreach, ad collectio developmet at a small, fouryear uiversity i Lake Charles, Louisiaa. The premise for the study was based o the assumptio that the cotet of the referece questio ad class from which the questio came provide more valuable iformatio tha the metadata ormally captured withi referece classificatio systems (e.g., directioal, research). Referece questio subjects received at the referece desk were recorded over six moths by the referece staff. The authors the aalyzed ad classified the data to discover patters i collectio use. The resultig report was the dissemiated to the referece, collectio developmet, ad istructioal outreach departmets. The fidigs reveal that this method of referece data classificatio ad timely reportig provides a excellet referece for plaig i these library departmets. A 2002 survey coducted by the Associatio of Research Libraries (ARL) revealed a steady declie i referece trasactios (125,103 i 1991 to 67,697 i 2002). 1 Faced with cocrete umbers elucidatig this tred, academic librarias ad college admiistrators are expressig a eed for ew modes of displayig the usefuless of referece services i a cotiually chagig eviromet. The ARL report also revealed a geeral lack of cofidece o the part of librarias i curret data collectio. Traditioal data-collectio techiques (e.g., classifyig referece questios ito categories such as directioal, ready-referece, specific search, ad research itesive) allow librarias to aalyze workflows ad compare the istitutio to peer orgaizatios. However, a essetial compoet of the data-capturig process has bee left out: the subject matter of the questio. I 1981, White quipped, If librarias go to the trouble of keepig such statistics, they ought to get somethig out of them locally. 2 McNeese State Uiversity is the ideal size to coduct a study like this. It is largely a commuter school servicig about eighty-oe thousad studets. It offers sevety-five associate, baccalaureate, ad graduate degree programs. The Referece Departmet at Frazar Memorial Library icludes five librarias that maage the referece desk for sevety-seve hours per week. Library istructioal outreach at McNeese has led to a large icrease i iformatio literacy sessios i the past two years. The bulk of the istructio sessios are 278 Referece & User Services Quarterly

3 Referece Questio Data Miig completed shortly after midterm exams, allowig ample time for the referece librarias ad the Library Istructio Committee to aalyze assigmets, classes, ad referece questios to discover patters, problems, ad treds, as well as pla future actios. The curret study bega durig the developmet of subject-specific resources guides, which icluded famous evets ad persos broke dow by decade. Subsequetly, the ivestigators decided to record all research-orieted questios with the twofold purpose of (1) collectig data to target specific courses for iformatio literacy istructio ad (2) idetifyig gaps or weak spots i library resources. Alog with chages i the goals of this study, we also chaged the method to better capture the referece questios ad mie them for data i pursuit of the study s three goals: study guide creatio, istructioal outreach, ad collectio developmet. At writig, the curret method has bee i place for more tha six moths ad supports these three goals. Literature Review There is a paucity of library literature dealig with systematic approaches to capturig category-specific referece questios. A aalysis of the 2002 collected referece logs compiled by the ARL revealed that oly te out of sevety-six istitutios surveyed (13 percet) record the subject category of each questio. 3 Oe possible reaso for this may be the time required to aalyze referece trasactios; time ad huma resources are precious commodities. Additioally, very few studies made a attempt to lik the subject of each referece trasactio to the course i which the studet is erolled. Classificatio from Course Catalogs ad Professors Traditioally, collectio developmet has relied upo faculty ad subject bibliographers to idetify gaps i the collectio. I 1969, Durad of the Uiversity of Southwester Louisiaa embarked upo a project to classify the uiversity catalog to ascertai the eeds of the curriculum ad idetify gaps i the collectio. Several catalogers correlated the courses listed i the uiversity catalog with the Library of Cogress (LC) classes. Major obstacles to success were the poor course descriptios ad the subsequet iterpretatio. As Durad oted, No umbers were assiged to a subject ot explicit i that course descriptio. This, of course, meat that may large blocks of class umbers would ot appear i our fial list. 4 I 1974, a similar study was coducted at the Gee Eppley Library at the Uiversity of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), ad the researchers discovered that ofte the LC schedules did ot cotai specific classificatio umbers for the subject treated i the UNO courses. 5 I 1980, Whaley, the referece bibliographer at the Uiversity of North Carolia, Charlotte, suggested havig idividual professors ot librarias assig LC classes that reflect the materials covered i their classes. Bibliographers the aalyzed the professor-assiged LC classes agaist the geeral collectio ad idetified gaps ad made suggestios for purchase. To supplemet the deficiecies of both course descriptios ad the LC classes, professors were asked to use free terms to describe their courses ad supplemet the LC classes. These free terms were the traslated ito the closest LC subject headigs (LCSH). Agai, the bibliographer compared the subject headigs agaist the collectio ad located gaps for purchase suggestio. Whaley cocluded that this procedure, which icluded iput from both professors ad librarias, helped to establish ad maitai a useful collectio that serves the eeds of its patros. 6 Classificatio from Syllabi I 1982, Rambler uderscored the importace of syllabus study as a proactive approach to academic librariaship. Examiig The Pesylvaia State Uiversity s syllabi for library-related projects, she oticed that the overwhelmig majority of courses come from the upper divisios. These fidigs suggest that the developmet of systematic library istructioal programs should be explored for studets other tha eterig freshma ad trasfer studets. 7 I 1985, Sayles exteded the outcomes of syllabus study to iclude collectio developmet, subject guides, aticipatory referece, istructio, ad overall course improvemet. 8 Syllabus studies are still a popular method of proactive library services. 9 However, both Rambler ad Sayles oted issues with the methodology. Rambler writes, Sice there is a gap betwee kowledge about the requiremet stated i ay syllabus ad the actual activity a studet will follow to complete the requiremet, a argumet could be made that this study is arbitrarily assigig library use. 10 Much like the earlier studies coducted o course descriptios, course syllabus studies leave out the most essetial elemet: studet iput. The collaboratio of faculty ad librarias is a ecessary, though ot sufficiet, elemet i improvig volume 49, issue 3 279

4 Feature academic library service. As Sayles poits out, There is a differece betwee what studets eed ad what librarias thik they eed. 11 Classificatio from Radom Samplig I a 2006 meta-aalysis of libraries usig the statistical samplig method to capture referece statistics, a process that ivolves collectig referece statistics various times throughout the year, oly Cetral Michiga Uiversity (CMU) classified the subject of each referece trasactio by course. 12 Usig Statistical Package for the Social Scieces (SPSS) software, referece librarias at CMU coded several variables of all referece trasactio for the fiscal year (geder, request date, subject, status of iquirer, ad so o). They cocluded that the iclusio of subject matter ca assist i collectio developmet ad the iclusio of courses ca assist i program marketig ad log-term plaig. 13 I 2007, Hery ad Neville coducted a study of classificatio systems, with the uderstadig that library resources iclude various electroic ad techological items. They cocluded that a skill or strategy-based approach, rather tha a system based o resources used or time allocated per questio, leads to more cosistet classificatio ad provides a more accurate reflectio of today s referece desk activity. 14 Followig this tred, the curret study suggests a classificatio system based o the subject of each referece questio. The Referece Departmet is uiquely situated to collect studet iput. Trasactios at the referece desk reflect the iformatio eeds of studets at a academic istitutio. As ca be see from this literature review, classifyig course descriptios ad syllabi have bee the meas through which collectio developmet, subject guides, ad outreach have bee ad are beig executed. Give the aforemetioed tred of referece statistics providig useful feedback for referece librarias to improve the service of the library to patros, a ew classificatio of referece data that adapts ad builds upo the methodology of syllabi ad course descriptio studies is eeded. Method We asked Referece staff, icludig paraprofessioals ad librarias from other departmets assistig at the referece desk, to briefly summarize (1) the subject matter of the questio, (2) the class for which the questio applied, or (3) the professor of the class for which the questio applied. Because of the varyig degrees of techological expertise amog the referece staff, data was recorded usig a otepad ad pecil. If the libraria did ot record a class, or was iteractig with a ostudet patro (admiistrator, faculty, or public), they would record the class as commuity. We cosidered other labels for this vague category, icludig public, other, ad faculty-staff ; however, these labels could lead to theoretical ad practical problems. We felt ucomfortable classifyig patros as other or ukow. We chose commuity because everyoe who approaches the referece desk shares basic social bods through locatio (referece desk, Frazar Library, ad McNeese State Uiversity), iterests (scholarship), ad evets (requirig assistace). O the practical side, this study did ot seek to correlate patros with resources, but rather to determie which resources merited stregtheig through icreased expediture of the library s moey, persoel, ad time. Ideally, the iformatio recorded for each iterview would result i subject terms ad class desigatios or course umbers. At the start of each moth the ivestigators meet to review the previous moth s etries. We looked for patters that might idetify weaker areas of the collectio, high-use areas (collectio developmet), classes that may require a istructio sessio o library resources (istructioal outreach), ad areas of geeral cofusio for both librarias ad patros (study guides). The referece staff were resposible for recordig the subject matter of each referece trasactio succictly, similar to Whaley s idea of free terms. These keywords aided the aalysis, which sought patters i referece questios that idicated certai areas of library resources (especially the geeral collectio) that receive frequet use. Aalysis was made easier by assigig Library of Cogress Subject Headigs (LCSHs) to may of the free terms. Referece shares the mothly reports of this study with the circulatio ad collectio maagemet departmets, whose staff are frequetly evaluatig the geeral collectio. Upo viewig the mothly reports from this study, those departmets ca focus their evaluatios o specific areas that are i high demad. A example of the procedure is appropriate. Maya Agelou is a surprisigly broad topic; patros rely o the referece staff to arrow the topic to somethig like literary criticism, works of, biography, ad so forth. This arrowig dow is aki to the free terms cocept. Frazar Library has a large collectio of literary criticism resources. However, despite the apparet iterest i Maya Agelou, circulatio ad i-house statistics reveal 280 Referece & User Services Quarterly

5 Referece Questio Data Miig that these resources receive little use. Catalog hits for Maya Agelou iclude areas i the followig LCSHs: America Biography, U.S. History Africa Americas sice Emacipatio, America Literature, Africa-America Literature, ad Literature-Geeral-Biography. O the basis of the referece iterview, the referece staff may direct studets to ay call umber rages coverig these topics. While examiig this data collected from the iterviews, we saw similar demad for other Africa America authors, icludig Toi Morriso, Lagsto Hughes, ad lesser-kow authors like Erest Gaies ad Sterlig Brow. By studyig the questios, we realized that most of the patros iquirig about these authors were i ENG 101 ad ENG 102. Furthermore, a patter emerged showig that they did ot wat literary criticism or history materials. The Collectio Maagemet Departmet icreased the acquisitio of materials i History of America Literature Negroes/ Africa-Americas/Blacks (PS 153.N5) as well as reviewed History of America Literature Biography (PS A Z to PS 153.A Z) with specific attetio give to Africa America authors. I formulatig subject guides for ENG 101 ad ENG 102, the referece staff highlighted these LC call umber rages for browsig, metioed some of the other relevat areas i the collectio, focused o appropriate databases, ad suggested search terms such as Africa Americas i literature ad Africa America authors because the few books o Maya Agelou ad Toi Morriso circulate quickly. The process of relatig the raw data to LCSHs is ot as easy as it appears i the case of Maya Agelou. Ideally, the subjects would correspod to cotrolled vocabulary for LC classificatio. Because they are ot cotrolled vocabulary terms, it is ecessary to covert these free subject terms ito LC call umber rages. There has bee discussio as to the usefuless of desigatig LCSHs to the subject of the referece questios. It is easier to ote that a collectio is lackig materials o abortio istead of covertig it ito Medicie Geeral Medical Philosophy Ethics. The key reaso for this process is the costructio of subject guides. Istead of assigig materials for certai classes, the referece staff at McNeese advises studets to browse call umber rages. This is especially relevat whe the McNeese OPAC does ot retur may favorable hits. Studets also are likely to fid books (as a required percetage of resources for a assigmet) by browsig a small call umber rage. Staff will show patros how to use the OPAC ad give them titles or call umbers, but the staff also ecourages studets to browse the shelves for their subjects. Likig the free subject terms to LC classes is doe by eterig them ito both the Idiaa Uiversity Catalog (IUCAT) ad Ohio Uiversity s library catalog (Alice). I cotiuig with the example of Maya Agelou, both catalogs will retur hits i may differet call umber areas. Usig the free subject terms recorded by the librarias, we hope to idetify the essece of the questio, such as literary criticism, biography, civil rights, ad so forth. I this way, we seek to determie if the studets are seekig more material o Africa Americas sice emacipatio (E to E ) or Africa America authors (PS 153). Sometimes we ecouter free subjects that do ot readily coect to LC classes. Examples iclude abortio, healthcare, ad hippies. I these circumstaces, we search for the terms ad assig the free subjects to the LC classes i which the two catalogs retur the greatest umber of hits. Cosequetly, hippies is assiged to Social Scieces Family/Marriage/Wome The Family/ Marriage/Home Youths/Adolescets/Teeagers (HQ 793 to HQ 799.2). Data was etered by the authors ito a simple Excel spreadsheet, correlatig classes with the subject of each questio. Compiled mothly charts were the aalyzed for treds ad dissemiated to Referece, Collectio Maagemet, ad the istructio libraria. The charts omit the istructors ames. As patters were discovered, such as classes that might beefit from specialized istructio, the istructio libraria cosulted with the authors to idetify the istructor i questio. A Pilot Study i May Forms Whe this study bega i November 2007, we used the North America Title Cout (NATC) ad the McNeese OPAC to correlate each etry ito a matchig category. Collectio Maagemet uses the NATC whe compilig reports for collectio aalysis. The NATC icludes 688 LC ad Natioal Library of Medicie call umber rages. Ultimately, the NATC was deemed usatisfactory for this project. Although the NATC offers a large scope of call umber rages, it is ot cosistet with the goals of this project. May referece questios pertai to the social scieces ad educatio. The NATC classificatio scheme is ot sufficietly specific to offer much detail for subject guides or collectio developmet i these areas. For example, several Eglish 102 sectios write papers o utopia societies. The NATC classifies utopia uder socialism ad commuism. It would serve o purpose for the referece staff to volume 49, issue 3 281

6 Feature make subject guides for socialism ad the Collectio Maagemet to acquire commuist resources o the basis of such a classificatio. Begiig i April 2008, we decided to use the LCSH classificatio schema. The full rage of LC classes is better able to pipoit patro demad, develop study guides, ad aid i collectio maagemet. It was felt that usig LCSH would give greater authority ad uiformity i the curret study ad i subsequet studies. Prior to the move to the LCSH, we used a system of foototes as supplemetal iformatio added to the Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. For example, there were foototes beside the socialism ad commuism NATC class, idicatig that the esseces of the referece questios were utopia societies. We stopped usig foototes i the spreadsheet with the coversio to Library of Cogress. However, there are a few occasios whe iformatio was added i brackets to the LOC call umber rages. Oe example is Medicie Iteral Medicie Neuroscieces [Amesia]. The additio of the occasioal bracketed material does ot iterfere with creatig study guides or collectio maagemet the LC class is arrow eough to accomplish both of these project goals. The bracketed material is data specifically for collectio maagemet staff that eed to justify expeditures. The limitatios for the McNeese OPAC became evidet after usuccessful searches for topics such as bovie reproductive strategies, achodroplasia, ad eve somethig as esoteric as Spaish Iquisitio. I the sprig of 2008, the authors adopted the LC OPAC. This chage allows for greater reliability ad validity. However, we quickly ecoutered difficulties i usig the LC OPAC. Sometimes the LC produced o clearly discerable results. Oe example is hairstyles i the 19th Cetury. The ivestigators coducted a search o Amazo to fid likely books ad the searched for those books i the LC OPAC or i OCLC Worldcat. This roudabout way was eedlessly time-cosumig. We also were ecumbered with the LC s timed sessios; we were frequetly booted out before the five-miute sessio eded. Aother icoveiece with the LC OPAC was the aoyig lack of call umbers for items ot i their possessio but listed i their catalog. For these reasos, we abadoed the LC OPAC. We bega usig IUCAT ad Alice soo after we bega usig LCSH (March 2008). The choice of IUCAT ad Alice came about through usig OCLC Worldcat for searches that produced usatisfactory results i the LC OPAC. Whe prospective matches were foud, we cosulted the libraries that ow this item lik ad foud that both IUCAT ad Alice were amog every search. Oe of the ivestigators remarked that usig Alice was a pleasat experiece. May of the cocers ad problems affiliated with the method of this project were satisfactorily addressed with the move to LCSH, IUCAT, ad Alice. Sice the, the greatest difficulty ecoutered i this project has bee the lack of recordig of patros classes. The goal of targetig specific classes for library istructio sessios depeds upo accurately recordig the classes of iterviewees. Referece questios via , istat message, ad telephoe frequetly do ot iclude class umbers to plot. As a result, we bega placig such questios ito a class titled commuity. The resultig large commuity class ca help with formulatig study guides, supportig collectio maagemet, ad perhaps idetifyig patters i patro use, but it weakes oe of the more demostratively successful aspects of this udertakig. Results This prelimiary study, i oly a few moths, provided both guidace ad justificatio i the assembly of study guides, library istructio, ad collectio developmet (see table 1). To date, eleve study guides have bee created as a result of this data aalysis. Although most referece librarias were familiar with the topics assiged i Eglish 102 courses, several treds emerged from relatively ukow classes ad subjects. For example, i September 2008 the referece desk recorded more tha thirty questios from studets seekig iformatio o Louisiaa history, ragig from coastal erosio to labor uios, for History 301: Louisiaa History. The referece staff was justified i creatig a Louisiaa history study guide for the course. Additioally, the istructio libraria cotacted the professor of History 301 ad was able to provide strog justificatio for isertig a library research sessio ito the syllabus. Referece data miig has prove useful i targetig professors for library istructio. Agai, Eglish 102, which requires a library sessio, provided the strogest outreach for library istructio. However, with the collectio, classificatio, ad aalysis of referece trasactios, the istructio libraria has icreased library istructio to ietee ew courses over the last year, may of them upper divisio courses. Thus this study gave justificatio ad guidace i developig systematic library istructio for studets other tha freshma, as Rambler had asserted. 282 Referece & User Services Quarterly

7 The library as a whole has respoded i differet forms to this project. For example, the large volume of ENG 101 studets was surprisig to the Eglish faculty. The curriculum is desiged to foster writig skills i ENG 101 ad research skills i ENG 102. Util the authors ad the istructio libraria preseted the mothly figures to the faculty, they saw little reaso to brig ENG 101 classes for a istructio sessio. However, the Eglish faculty, while ackowledgig a problem, were reluctat to brig their ENG 101 classes. The library sought a compromise by offerig ENG 101 professors the opportuity to reserve a library computer lab with a referece libraria to help studets as they did both their writig ad rudimetary research for ENG 101. Aother example is the creatio of the Book-A-Libraria iitiative by co-author Josh Fiell. Oe class i which studets routiely have research difficulty is PHIL 251: Decisio Makig ad Ethical Choices. Util this study, o member of the referece staff was aware of this class. Not oly did Referece succeed i lurig the class to the library for istructio sessios, but the ew Book-A-Libraria program allowed studets to approach the more kowledgeable libraria i a specific field for persoalized help. Other librarias joied the program ad received a ethusiastic respose, ot just from PHIL 251 studets, but other courses especially HUMN 201 ad several political sciece courses. I the school year, Referece performed twety-oe specialized istructio sessios (outside the Eglish departmet) for professors, with ie of those classes focusig o govermet documets. A majority of the courses taught were 200-level or below. Sice collectig data o the umbers of studets seekig referece services ad meetig with faculty, there has bee a large growth of istructioal outreach veues, especially with upperdivisio classes. I the school year, Referece performed twety-eight specialized istructio sessios (outside the Eglish departmet) for professors, ragig from electrical egieerig to philosophy. Eleve of the courses were 300-level or above. I additio to istructioal outreach, the library created te ew study guides i The created study guides (see appedix) give mostly call umber rages, subject terms, ad database suggestios, but they help both the studets ad the librarias, which otherwise feel the same apprehesio ad axiety as studets whe researchig subjects such as heat trasfer ad coolig towers, sad desity for costructio, ad eve positive reiforcemet i college classrooms. The educatio philosophy i use with the study guides is empowerig the user to locate iformatio eeds. Cosequetly, the call umber rages ad subject terms ecourage the patros to coduct their research ad cosult the referece staff if they are still uable to locate relevat sources. It is i cases such as these that correlatig questio subjects to the LC call umber rages is ivaluable. If there are ot direct hits i catalog or database searches, patros are ofte left with little recourse but to browse the collectio or lear to use OCLC Worldcat ad iterlibrary loa. Fially, Collectio Developmet has utilized the referece data as oe of several criteria used i acquisitios. Idetifyig the course materials with high library use, collectio developmet ca idetify gaps i the collectio ad fill as eeded. Additioally, collectio developmet mies the referece data to prioritize purchase suggestios from faculty. Agai, justificatio for a purchase Table 1. Library Respose to Collected Referece Data Class Collectios Added Outreach/ Istructio AGRI 604 Noe Yes Yes BIOL books Yes Yes EDLD books No No ENG 101 Noe Yes No ENG 102 Decades 2 databases ad 1 prit series ENG 102 Utopia 3 books Yes Yes ENGR 481/581 3 books Yes Yes ENSC database Yes Yes HIST books No Yes HUMN 201 Noe Yes Yes NUFS DVDs Yes No PHIL referece book Yes Yes Yes Referece Questio Data Miig Study Guides PHSC 300 Noe Yes Yes Yes volume 49, issue 3 283

8 Feature ca be provided through the eed reflected i the referece data correlated with purchase requests from faculty. Future Research The ivestigators pla to cotiue this research because they believe it has the potetial to dramatically improve library services. Oe taget study might be to expad the relatioship betwee circulatio statistics ad the curret project. Such a compariso has obvious beefits; however, the volume of circulatio statistics makes that ufeasible for the curret parameters of this study. Eve the brief aalysis of circulatio ad i-house use o literary criticism ad select Africa America authors was early as time-cosumig as correlatig the mothly referece questios to LC call umber rages. Aother possible veue for research is to try samplig referece questio data miig. 15 The size of McNeese State is ideal for a study such as described above, but the volume of referece questios ad patros at larger istitutios would make a study such as this virtually impossible because of the time ecessary to correlate the data. Aother study might seek to determie whether multiple librarias are cosistet i correlatig the referece questios. Whe the curret project was reported at a regioal coferece of librarias, several attedees remarked that such a study could be adapted for admiistrative purposes by recordig studets year i college (freshma, sophomore, etc.). They suggested this iformatio could better track iformatio literacy skills ad library use i relatio to disciplie ad course level. A additioal directio for further study would be to aalyze the commuity group. As previously stated, this category refers to ostudet patros (faculty ad public) as well as a geeral category for referece questios wherei the libraria did ot record class or istructor. Several categories of use, for example, medical ad ursig, are evidet. Further iquiry could pipoit classes, teachers, ad refiemets of collectio maagemet. As a fial cosideratio, the primary users of several Referece Departmet stadig orders are the geeral public. Further data could lead to discussios regardig the retetio of expesive materials. Certaily there are boudless opportuities for further research usig this method all libraries ca beefit from this type of iformatio. Refereces 1. Eric Novoty, Referece Service Statistics & Assessmet, SPEC Kit 268 (Washigto, DC: Associatio of Research Libraries, Office of Leadership ad Maagemet Services, 2002). 2. Herbert D. White, Measuremet at the Referece Desk, Drexel Library Quarterly 17, o. 1 (1981): Novoty, Referece Service Statistics & Assessmet. 4. Norma Durad, Classifyig Courses i the Uiversity Catalog, College & Research Libraries 30, o. 6 (Nov. 1969): Barbara Golde, A Method for Quatitatively Evaluatig a Uiversity Library Collectio, Library Resources & Techical Services 18, o. 3 (Summer 1974): Joh H. Whaley Jr., A Approach to Collectio Aalysis, Library Resources & Techical Services 25, o. 3 (September 1981): Lida K. Rambler, Syllabus Study: Key to a Resposive Academic Library, Joural of Academic Librariaship 8, o. 3 (July 1982): Jeremy W. Sayles, Course Iformatio Aalysis: Foudatio for Creative Library Support, Joural of Academic Librariaship 10, o. 6 (Ja. 1985): Rick Bea ad Ly M. Klekowsky, Course Syllabi: Extractig Their Hidde Potetial, i The Sixth Off- Campus Library Services Coferece Proceedigs, ed. C. J. Jacob (Mout Pleasat: Cetral Michiga Uiv., 1993): 1 9; Nacy H. Dewald, Aticipatig Library Use by Busiess Studets: The Uses of a Syllabus Study, Research Strategies 19, o. 1 (2003): Rambler, Syllabus Study, Sayles, Course Iformatio Aalysis, Sarla R. Murgai, Referece Use Statistics: Statistical Samplig Method Works, Southeaster Libraria 54, o. 1 (Sprig 2006): Virgiia Witucke ad C. J. Schumaker, Aalyzig Referece Activities: The Affordable Solutio, RQ 31, o. 1 (Fall 1991): Deborah B. Hery ad Tia M. Neville, Testig Classificatio Systems for Referece Questios, Referece & User Services Quarterly 47, o. 4 (Summer 2008): Murgai, Referece Use Statistics ; Witucke ad Schumaker, Aalyzig Referece Activities. 284 Referece & User Services Quarterly

9 Referece Questio Data Miig APPENDIx. physical SCIENCES 300 STUDY GUIDE Physical Sciece 300 Doahoe Sprig 2009 Library ad Research Istructio Where ca you get help? Istat Message Scree ame o AIM, Yahoo IM, ad MSN IM: McNeeseLibraria referece@mail.mceese.edu Phoe Walk-I Book-A-Libaria Breaa Westo bwesto@mceese.edu, , IL@MSU IM Writig to Excellece Ceter Writig Help Braistormig Tools Quitura Bubbl.us Clusty Subject Specific Ecyclopedia Library Referece Desk Referece Materials McGraw-Hill Ecyclopedia of Sciece & Techology: A Iteratioal Referece Work i Twety Volumes Icludig a Idex. (2002). New York: McGraw-Hill. Q121.M REF. Magill, F. N., ad T. A. Tombrello. (1992). Magill s Survey of Sciece. Physical Sciece Series. Pasadea, Calif.: Salem. Q158.5.M REF. Lagowski, J. J. (2004). Chemistry: Foudatios ad Applicatios. New York: Macmilla. QD4.C REF. Bazler, J. (2003). Chemistry Resources i the Electroic Age. Sciece Resources i the Electroic Age. Westport, Co.: Greewood. QD9.3.B REF. Chemical Rubber Compay. (2004). Hadbook of Chemistry ad Physics: A Ready-Referece Pocket Book of Chemical ad Physical Data Compiled from the Most Recet Authoritative Sources. Boca Rato, Fla.: CRC. QD65.H3 1ST ED FACSIMILE REF. Woodhead, J. A. (2001). Earth Sciece. Pasadea, Calif.: Salem. QE28.E REF. Books = Catalog: Click o Fid Books, etc., i the Library QC1-999 Physics QC1-75 Geeral QC Weights ad measures QC Descriptive ad experimetal mechaics QC Atomic physics QC Acoustics. Soud QC Heat QC Optics. Light QC Radiatio physics (Geeral) QC Electricity ad magetism QC Electricity QC Nuclear ad particle physics. Atomic eergy. Radioactivity QC Geophysics. Cosmic physics QC Geomagetism QC Meteorology. Climatology QD1-999 Chemistry QD1-65 Geeral volume 49, issue 3 285

10 Feature QD Aalytical chemistry QD Iorgaic chemistry QD Orgaic chemistry QD Physical ad theoretical chemistry QD Crystallography Access Library Resources Off Campus User ID: baer id + 02 Pi: CHANGEME Advaced Searchig Techiques Subject Searchig Determie subject headigs for your topic, the search for those terms ad i dropdow meu ext to search box; choose subject or descriptor. [Subject headigs are a established list of preferred terms from which a libraria must select whe describig the cotet of a item (i.e., book, article)]. Advaced Search Usig Limiters ad Feature of Databases Boolea Search Use AND to combie two differet cocepts (e.g., poverty AND crime ). Use OR to combie two syoyms (e.g., college OR uiversity ). Articles = Databases: Click o Fid Joural Articles, by Databases, etc. The List Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost) Agricola Biological Abstracts BioOe Abstracts & Idexes (CSA) Evirometal Issues & Policy Idex Health Source: Nursig/Academic Editio JSTOR Medlie (EBSCOhost) PubMed SciFider Scholar (o-site library use oly. Ask at Referece Desk for details.) Webfeat Evaluatio of Iteret Resources Library Homepage-Tips & Guides/Library Tutorial Is the author qualified to write this documet? Does the writer list his or her qualificatios? What goals or objectives does this documet meet? How up-to-date is the iformatio? Is the iformatio accurate ad cited correctly? Govermet Websites U.S. Evirometal Protectio Agecy U.S. Food ad Drug Admiistratio Library of Chemistry Iformatio Sciece.gov Chemistry ad Chemicals Laboratory of Bioegieerig ad Physical Sciece IPL Chemical Scieces IPL Earth Scieces IPL Physics 286 Referece & User Services Quarterly