Library Use and Basic Searching
(RM 512)

Steven Olderr, MLS
icswlibrarian@hotmail.com
27 August 2007

This module is put online for your convenience.  Since so much information is now online, it is intended to prove a familiarity with computers at the same time it teaches basic concepts.  If you find yourself unable to do the work because you are not familiar enough with computers, email the librarian with your questions.  You may also schedule a time for personal instruction with the librarian.  This module can be completed in two hours or less.  Do it now; you will need the information for your other courses.

To be accepted for RM 512 credit, all assignments and questions must be correct.

I.     Library Operations
II.    Dissertations
III.  Databases
IV.  Other Methods of Retrieving Full Text
V.   Test
Three Things You Need to Know
  1. Never give out the user name or password to anyone unless you have certain knowledge they are a current student.  No spouses, co-workers, colleagues, or deserving others.  Database vendors are extremely vigilant about their property and can deny the entire Institute access for your carelessness.
  2. Return library items on time so that others may use them.  The payment of a fine does not excuse disregard of the needs of others or make life any easier for them.  It costs the Institute money to have the librarian come looking for you and that comes from tuition.
  3. The library runs on the honor system.  Materials are very expensive and sometimes irreplaceable.  All library materials must be checked out before leaving the premises.  Those without honor risk dismissal from the Institute. 

I.  Library Operations

  • Librarian:  The librarian is generally only at the Institute on Fridays.  The best way to make contact is by emailing icswlibrarian@hotmail.com.  Email is checked several times a week and most questions can be answered through it.    Phone, fax, and mail requests will only be seen on Fridays.  Appointments can be made for personal consultation.  In support of ICSW’s educational mission, the librarian can show you how to do research or work a computer, but will not actually do it for you.
  • Catalog: The printed catalog is on top of the book return in a white notebook.
  • Classification:  We use Library of Congress Classification Numbers.  Note that while they are not Dewey Decimal System numbers, they still use decimals.  An actual case in our library: BF 173.F6165 comes three shelves before BF 173.F94.  If you don’t understand decimals, you could have trouble finding either item.
    • With decimals, it’s not the size of the aggregate number that counts, it is the position of the numbers after the decimal point.  For example, .399999 comes before .4
    • You can’t decimalize a letter, so those are in normal alphabetical order and have no effect on the numbers that follow it.
    • We didn’t invent the Library of Congress system; we’re just trying to teach it.  Even librarians sometimes have to stop and think about it.
  • Loans:  One month.  To renew, return the item for at least two weeks so someone else has a chance at it.  Reference books, journals, loose dissertations, and dissertation proposals do not circulate.  Instructions for check out are posted by the book return.
  • Returns:  Place returned items in the book drop.  They may also be returned by mail.  These are the only two methods that ensure you will be credited with the return.  Please return items on time so that others may have access to them.  If you can’t finish an item in a month, return it and take it out again at another time.  Most of our overdues are not actually in use, they’re simply forgotten.  Meanwhile, some other poor soul may be anxiously waiting on it.
  • Instructions for just about everything are posted in the library so it can be self-service.  If there’s something you don’t understand, let the librarian know.
Assignment #1
  1. Check out a library item from ICSW, then return it immediately in the book drop.
  2. Send an email to icswlibrarian@hotmail.com.
  3. In the subject line enter RM 512 Assignment#1 so it’s not deleted as spam. 
  4. In the comment section, enter your name so you get credit and the name of the item you checked out and returned so it can be reviewed. 
Our self-service system relies on your accuracy in this process.  When we used to do this in person, about 20% of the students got it wrong.  It’s not rocket science, but you have to read the instructions.

II.  Dissertations

Dissertations are cataloged by subject, author, and title.  Look in the white notebook library catalog on top of the book return.  A complete listing is in the subject section under “Dissertations – ICSW.”

ONLINE

  • Go to the http://icsw.edu
  • Click on Academic Resources
  • Click on L.K. Fisher Library
  • Click on Dissertations
Online dissertations are in Adobe PDF format.  An advantage of machine-readable format is that you can use the search feature to locate specific information you are interested in.  A disadvantage is that reading retention and comprehension off a computer screen are low.  If you wish to read hard copy, you may print out the text or borrow a print copy from the library.

PRINT

  • Circulating dissertations available for loan kept in a locked cabinet in the library.  The librarian, administrator, and student services director all have the key.  Dissertations are loaned for one month.
  • There is also a complete set of bound dissertations that are kept on reference, also in a locked cabinet.  This is good for browsing to see what may be of value to you.  The librarian, administrator, and student services director all have the key.  They may not be checked out.


III. Databases

Certain databases are password protected to protect personal or proprietary information.  The instructor or other ICSW staff can give you the user name and password.  You can send material from the databases to friends and colleagues, but please don’t give them the password.  If vendors find our security inadequate, they could refuse to do business with us.  At the very least, we’d have to change the password, which is a major inconvenience to students and faculty.

The Digital Library page on the ICSW website lists a number of databases available to students, but the most useful suite is from EBSCO, which contains PEP Archive, Academic Search Premier, and PsycINFO.

PEP Archive has the full runs and full text of about 20 psychoanalytic journals, the Standard Edition of Sigmund Freud and some other books.  It is generally the most useful database for students.  The major downside is that articles are not put in the database until they are three years old.

Academic Search Premier is a large general database for colleges and universities.  If you can’t find what you need in PEP, try here.  Academic Search Premier covers many more journals, and sometimes contains material newer than what can be found in PEP. Not everything is in full text, but much is.

PsycINFO is a huge index to psych literature of all kinds.  There’s not a lot of full text here, but it is indispensable for any comprehensive literature search.  Anyone doing a dissertation should search this thoroughly to make sure important materials are not overlooked.

SEARCHING

  • Go to the http://icsw.edu
  • Click on Academic Resources
  • Click on L.K. Fisher Library
  • Click on Digital Library
  • Scroll down and click on EBSCO
  • Enter User Name and Password
  • Click OK
You should now be in the Passworded Digital Library.  This page has a red stripe on the left side and it contains all of ICSW’s proprietary databases.  You may choose any of them you wish, but for our purposes here, scroll to EBSCO and click.

You should now be on a white page with a green stripe across the top.  This is entitled EBSCO Host Research Databases.

Under Choose Databases, there is a list of EBSCO databases to choose from.  The PEP Archive is already checked for you.  Check any others you wish to search simultaneously.

Basic Search (Keyword)
Check the tab at the top of the page.  You should be at Basic Search.  If not, click on that tab.

The cursor should already be blinking in the FIND box.

Type Freud in the FIND box.  (You don’t have to capitalize.)

Press Enter or click Search

You should get about 26,000 hits.  Click on the full text links in one of the results.  You’ll notice that Freud is in bold type.  The Basic Search is a keyword search.  A keyword search looks everywhere in the bibliographic record for the search term.  In addition to articles by Anna Freud and Sigmund Freud, you get any article that mentions either one of them by last name.

Type Sigmund Freud in the FIND box.

You should get close to 6,700 hits.  A keyword search only retrieves what you ask it to retrieve.  There are far more that 6,700 mentions of Sigmund Freud in this database.  The problem with keyword searching is that Sigmund Freud may be discussed quite extensively in an article without his first name ever being used, but if you searched for “Sigmund Freud,” that article will not be retrieved.

You can narrow your search by looking for Freud self, or vice versa.  (It really doesn’t make any difference to the computer what the order of search terms is in keyword searching.)  You should get more 350 hits.  Search for “Sigmund Freud self” and you only get about 4 hits.

In a standard library catalog, you can look under “Freud, Sigmund” and pretty much find every item that discusses him in any length even if it never uses his full name.  As you can see, keywords don’t work that way.

If you’re trying to do a through literature search, you have to take the vagaries of keyword searching into consideration and try several different approaches.  When searching for subjects, try topical synonyms such as women/females/girls, or automobiles/cars/autos/motor vehicles.

You’ll also notice a tab under the Find box that says Refine Searches.  This will give you option of either limiting or expanding your search.
 

Author Search
In the Find box, type AU Freud, Sigmund (capitalization is not necessary, but the order of entry is).

Press Enter, or click Search.

You’ll get over 1,800 entries written by Freud.  Unfortunately, the database does not allow sorting by title.
 

Title Search
In the Find box, type TI  Moses and monotheism (capitalization is not necessary).

Press Enter or click Search.

You should retrieve about 30 articles.  Most are about “Moses and Monotheism.”  The actual text of the work is near the end of the listings.

NOTE: The most efficient way to retrieve a specific article written by Freud is to click the tab for Advanced Search.  Type TI followed by the name of the article.  In the Publication Name box type The Standard Edition (capitalization not necessary, but you must include the word “The”).

Other Search Strategies
Under the Find box is a link for Search Tips that will give you other search strategies, such as truncation, wild cards, Boolean operators, and proximity.  You can find most of what you want with keyword, author, and title searching, but if you need another way of mining information, there it is.

Other Features

  • Search Folder: You can keep track of your citations from searches by clicking the Add icon to the right of the citations.  This will put them in a temporary folder.  If you want to create a permanent folder, you have to create an account; otherwise all results will be lost when you leave EBSCO Host.  Items placed in the Search Folder can be emailed, printed or saved.
  • E-mail:  Click the Save icon in the pale yellow stripe near the top of the page.  It is important to clearly identify in the Subject line exactly what it is you are sending.  The sender on the email will be listed as EBSCO, so it is wise to include a short note of explanation and your name in the comments box.
  • Print: Click the Print icon in the pale yellow stripe near the top of the page.
  • Save: Click the Save icon in the pale yellow stripe near the top of the page.
  • APA Format: When emailing, printing, or saving, EBSCO gives you the option of selecting APA format.  This is standard in the field of social work and is what ICSW uses.  Your life will be simpler if you select this.
NOTE:  Material in the Search Folder will be automatically erased when you leave EBSCO Host unless you create an account.  To create an account, click the Sign In link near the top of the Folder page.
Assignment #2
  1. In the PEP Archive, find the citation for Freud’s “Moses and Monotheism” from the Standard Edition.
  2. Email the citation to icswlibrarian@hotmail.com
  3. In the subject line enter RM 512 Assignment #3, so it’s not deleted as spam. 
  4. In the comment section, enter your name so you get credit.

IV. Other Ways of Retrieving Full Text

If you search everywhere and still can’t find full text in our databases or in hard copy on the shelves, all is not lost.

  • Check to see if you have access to a larger library where you are an alumnus.
  • Check to see if you have access to other databases through your place of business.
  • Request it through your local public library, but do it nicely.  Doctoral candidates have earned a bad reputation over the years and some public libraries have installed a policy of not assisting them.  If you pound on the desk and demand your rights, you may wind up unserved.  In the public library world, a toddler is just as important as a wanna-be PhD.  Don’t order more books than you can possibly read at one time, don’t submit requests for 20 articles at one time, don’t inform them in word or deed that your needs are more important than others, and you should be fine.  This country has a wonderful interlibrary loan system and even small public libraries are often able get obscure scholarly materials.
  • There are commercial operations such as APA and Medline, that will supply printouts of articles through the Internet, but that can get expensive.
  • You may be able to find the full text of a copyrighted article on the open web if you’re desperate, but you have to be very careful that it’s from a reliable source.  Government, professional associations, and educational institutions are generally trustworthy, but just about anything else is not.  Anybody with a computer and a rudimentary knowledge of HTML can post anything they want.
  • When you are tempted to use something from the open web, ask yourself if you would consider using an article ostensibly by Sigmund Freud written in crayon on the back of an old shopping bag you found laying in the gutter on State Street.  The open web is no more reliable, no matter how slick the appearance.
  • Don’t even think of quoting from a wiki, such as Wikipedia, unless you’re trying to prove a point about the unreliability of information on the open web.  Yes, it looks good, but it could be written by a dog for all you know.
  • Since there are people who invent computer viruses for their own amusement, it is reasonable to suppose that someone could post an article that is nominally from a legitimate author or journal but that has been altered in some way to convey erroneous information in the hopes of creating some mischief.   Google.com is generally the best search engine for scholarly purposes if you elect to use the open web, but caveat emptor.



 



 

Assignment #3
  1. Use Google.com to look for the full text of an article by Biederman entitled, “Resolved: Mania is mistaken for ADHD. . .”
  2. Copy the Google entry and paste it in an email to icswlibrarian@hotmail.com.
  3. For purposes of this assignment, let’s assume that you find this article useful and are comfortable with the author and the journal in which it was first published, would you quote from this article from this site in a professional paper, considering the source you got it from?  In responding, briefly state why you would or would not use the article from this source.

    4. In the subject line enter RM 512 homework, Assignment #3 so it’s not deleted as spam.
  4. In the comment section, enter your name so you get credit

 IV.  Test
 

  • Copy the following test and paste it into your word processing program.
  • Delete all the wrong answers.  There’s only one right answer for each question.
  • Copy your work, paste it in an email, and send it to icswlibrarian@hotmail.com.
  • In the subject line enter RM 512 Assignment 4, so it’s not deleted as spam.
  • Include your name so you get credit.


1. The best way to contact the librarian when you’re not at the Institute is:

a. Email
b. Telephone
c. Fax
2. Returning borrowed items on time is important because:
a. The librarian is anal-retentive
b. The computer system will malfunction otherwise
c. Others may be waiting
3. Which item is shelved first?
a. L 424.M68
b. L 424.M47949
c. LA 123.1
d. L 424.N22
4. If you’re trying to retrieve full text, can the Podunk Public Library get scholarly articles and books for you?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Often
5. The best index to all of psych literature is:
a. PsycINFO
b. Academic Search Premier
c. PEP Archive
6. You may give the username and password to:
a. Widows and orphans
b. Your analyst if he needs it to help you
c. Struggling college students if they have no money
d. Classmates if you have certain knowledge they are currently enrolled
7. You may remove an item from the library without checking it out:
a. If you intend to return it within 24 hours
b. If it would be cheaper to copy it elsewhere
c. If you are an instructor
d. Never
8. Return library materials:
a. On the librarian’s desk
b. To any staff member
c. In the book drop or by mail
d. In the librarian’s mailbox