Introduction to Bell Library Resources Mark E. Pfeifer, PhD Information and Instruction Librarian Bell Library Texas A and M University, Corpus Christi
Bell Library Website Go to Bell Library Home Page (http://rattler.tamucc.edu/)
Library Hours Click at top left on main page of website for library hours.
Circulation Policies Click on the Policies button at the top left to view library policies including circulation policies
Circulation Policies Undergrads may check out books for 3 weeks at a time with 3 renewals Check outs are made with a valid Sanddollar I.D. card Undergrads may check out up to 30 items at one time Fines for overdue materials are 25 cents a day
Ask a Librarian One can e-mail questions for a Librarian to answer using the Ask a Librarian feature on the Library webpage. Questions are answered within 24 hours. One can also visit the Reference Desk during business hours 8-10 M-F, 10-8 Sat and 12-10 Sunday.
Portal Online Catalog On the left button bar, one can enter the library online catalog known as Portal. One can search by Key words, Subject, Title, Author, Call Number and also can search the Course Reserves if one is taking a class in which a professor has placed materials on reserve.
Portal Online Catalog As an example one can search by Subject for Martin Luther King by putting in King, Martin Luther in the Subject Search box.
Portal Online Catalog On the Subject Search display screen, one can click Extended Display for additional information (holdings location/availability) about each record to be displayed.
Portal Online Catalog On this page, we see records of items that have become up by Subject. Each record shows publication information for the item, the location in the library, the call number, and availability. Most books are located in the Main book collection on the 2 nd floor.
Portal Online Catalog One can search for Course Reserves either by Course Name or Instructor. In this example, we search for Course Reserves for the class Management 4388
Portal Online Catalog Most reserve items can be checked out for 2 hours from the circulation desk on the first floor. Electronic Reserves require a password from the professor, students must also enter their name and social security number to access these online articles.
Databases To the left on the Bell Library s main webpage, one may access to the subscription databases that are available to TAMUCC students and staff
Databases Bell Library provides access to about 190 databases. Databases are organized alphabetically and also by general subject matter. There is also a Search All Databases feature.
Databases One important general database useful for just about any kind of research is Academic Search Premier. One may find this database in the General Databases section on the main databases page.
Academic Search Premier In Academic Search Premier it is possible to put limiters on the search, for example one may limit searches to items that are full-text, from scholarly, peer-reviewed journals and from a certain date range.
Academic Search Premier The search on the preceding slide successfully brings up about 30 articles with at least some relation to our topic that are from scholarly peer-reviewed journals and available in full-text and were published in the time period that we set. On the left side is a list of subject terms one might also search
Academic Search Premier For each article that comes up in Academic Search Premier, the record will provide citation (publication) information, the abstract (description), some other related subject terms one might search under, and links to print, save and e-mail the article as well as to create a folder of saved articles. If full-text is available a PDF file full-text version of the article will also show.
Academic Search Premier (Journal Articles) Another option in Academic Search Premier to search for articles within a particular publication
Academic Search Premier (Journal Articles) One recent feature that Academic Search Premier has added is Visual Search. Visual search maps out searches and categorizes available items into Circles (categories of results) and Squares (which represent links to articles).
Lexis-Nexis (newspaper articles) Also on the General Topics Databases page one will find Lexis-Nexis, which is a key database for finding newspaper articles.
Lexis-Nexis (newspaper articles) To search for newspaper articles in Lexis-Nexis, click the News link on the left.
Lexis-Nexis (newspaper articles) On the News page, select a News category (Step 1) such as General News, then select a News Source (Step 2) such as Major Papers, then enter some search terms (Step 3), one can choose to search headlines or full text of articles or for authors etc. Also choose a date range for finding articles (Step 4). Another option (Step 5) is to search just a particular publication such as the New York Times.
Lexis-Nexis (newspaper articles) Hopefully, many articles from a variety of newspapers and magazines from around the world related to your topic will come up in the search. It is a good idea to limit the date range. If more than 1,000 articles are retrieved, no results will appear. One may set up a marked list of articles by putting checks next to each article of interest.
Lexis-Nexis (newspaper articles) This screen shows the full-text of one article in Lexis-Nexis, with article citation information including Headline, Byline (author), and publication info along with print and e-mail options.
ILL (Interlibrary Loan) At the bottom left of the main library webpage is the Interlibrary Loan link
ILL (Interlibrary Loan) To use Interlibrary Loan, one must apply for a Username and Password by clicking on First Time Users at the bottom left. After one applies, one may use the system without further delay.
ILL (Interlibrary Loan) One uses Interlibrary Loan to find an article from a publication, a book chapter or a book that we do not have access to in Bell Library.
ILL (Interlibrary Loan) On the request form fill in the fields (Journal name, Volume, Issue, title of article, author(s) etc. Allow 2 weeks for interlibrary loan requests to be filled. Requests for books usually take longer to fulfill than those for articles. PDF copies of articles are often e-mailed to patrons using the ILL system.
PHL (Periodicals Holdings List) At the bottom right of the main library webpage one finds the link to the Periodicals Holdings List
PHL (Periodicals Holdings List) The Periodicals Holdings List (PHL) provides an alphabetical listing of all of the journals, newspapers, and magazines that we have access to in Bell Library either through online subscriptions or in print form in the library.
PHL (Periodicals Holdings List) To search for a particular publication(magazine, journal or newspaper), type the name of the publication in the Find search box at the top of the PHL page. For each publication that is available, there will be a list of online databases in which it may be accessed, along with the dates available. If print holdings are available in the library, a catalog link listing information about the print holdings in Bell Library will also show.
PHL (Periodicals Holdings List) As an example, the Bell Library catalog record for the Wall Street Journal shows 3 months of print holdings on the newspaper shelves, and microfilm going back to 1957.
Subject Guides To get the Subject Guides, one can click on Electronic Resources on the left of the library main page.
Subject Guides Click on Subject Guides on the Electronic Resources page
Subject Guides Subject Guides prepared by Bell Library Librarians are arranged by topic.
Subject Guides Each subject guide includes information about key databases for finding articles, helpful internet websites, and related print resources (such as encyclopedias and reference books) available in the library for the subject.
Subject Guides Subject guides are also available for important information literacy topics such as Distinguishing Scholarly Journals from Magazines, Evaluating Internet websites, Accessing State and Local Government Information and formatting in MLA format.
Using and Evaluating Internet Sites for Research Google Scholar It is generally not recommended that students use the internet to find articles for writing assignments as students pay fees to the university that pay for 190 databases many of which include access to thousands of scholarly peer-reviewed journals such as Academic Search Premier. Of some utility however is Google Scholar. Google Scholar may be accessed by clicking on the More link on the main Google page.
Using and Evaluating Internet Sites for Research Google Scholar Google Scholar is partially linked with the Bell Library online database and journal subscriptions so a search will bring up links to abstracts and in some cases full-text of some articles available through Bell Library subscriptions. In other cases, only citations to books and articles not available through Bell Library will show up in a search. Google Scholar can be a useful tool if used with along with other library databases and resources.
Using and Evaluating Internet Sites for Research As noted above, with the many quality databases available at Bell Library, it is generally not recommended that students use the internet as a primary source for finding articles for term papers etc. One problem is that it is often difficult to assess the accuracy of information that one finds on internet websites. One example is the popular site of Wikipedia, where anyone at any time can make changes to an article using the Edit this Page feature. In this view, I just replaced Austin with Corpus Christi as the capital of Texas using the editing feature.
Using and Evaluating Internet Sites for Research As can be seen, I just successfully changed the capital of Texas in Wikipedia from Austin to Corpus Christi with the Edit this Page feature.
Using and Evaluating Internet Sites for Research There are some tips one can use when evaluating whether websites are useful sources of information for research. One should consider the following when evaluating a website for research: Accuracy, Authority, Coverage, Currency, and Objectivity. Accuracy How accurate is the information provided when checked against other sources or Web sites? Is the Web page free of spelling or grammatical errors? Are there footnotes, a bibliography, a works cited page, or links to sources? Is the information on the site from peer-reviewed, or creditable scholarly sources? One example of a website full of spelling errors and inaccurate info is: AIDS FACTS http://147.129.226.1/library/research/aidsfacts.htm
Using and Evaluating Internet Sites for Research Authority (Author/Publisher/Producer) Who is the author, publisher, or producer of the Web page? Is it clear who is sponsoring the page? Can you contact the author, publisher, or producer? What are the person's or organization's qualifications on the subject covered by the page (credibility)? Look at the header or footer for information showing affiliation. Look closely at the URL and domain name for clues. One website with a URL that appears legitimate at first glance but further investigation shows lacks credibility in terms of a legitimate author/publisher is the fake White House website at http://www.whitehouse.net/
Using and Evaluating Internet Sites for Research Coverage (Level of Depth/Comprehensiveness) Is the site in-depth or a brief summary on the subject? What does this page offer that is not found elsewhere? What range of topics does this site cover? Are there things Not covered that should be covered?
This presentation was prepared by: Mark E. Pfeifer, PhD Reference and Instruction Librarian Texas A and M University Corpus Christi 361-825-3392 mark.pfeifer@tamucc.edu
Using and Evaluating Internet Sites for Research Currency (How up-to-date information is on the website) When was the page created or last updated? (The footer often gives these dates) Is the information listed out-of-date? If there are links, have they expired or moved?
Using and Evaluating Internet Sites for Research Objectivity What goals or objectives does this page meet? Is it written from a certain point of view? Is the page free of advertising? Does it cover multiple sides of a topic, or does it promote only one viewpoint? One example of a website lacking objectivity and intended to persuade viewers is the Beef Nutrition website from the Cattlemen s Beef Board and the National Cattlemen s Beef Association: http://www.beefnutrition.org/