Published by Creative Education P O Box 227 Mankato Minnesota 56002 Creative Education is an imprint of The Creative Company www thecreativecompany us Design and production by Liddy Walseth Art direction by Rita Marshall Printed in the United States of America Illustrations by Elwood H Smith 2012 Copyright 2013 Creative Education International copyright reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bodden Valerie Navigating the library by Valerie Bodden p cm Research for writing Includes bibliographical references and index Summary A narrative guide to conducting research at the library complete with an overview of methodologies tips for finding materials in databases and on the shelves and helpful resources ISBN 978-1-60818-206-0 hard cover ISBN 978-1-56660-150-4 eBook 1 Library research Juvenile literature 2 Research Methodology Juvenile literature 3 Information resources Juvenile literature 4 Information literacy Juvenile literature 5 Libraries Juvenile literature I Title Z710 B63 2012 020 72 dc23 2011040492 First Edition 246897531
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 INTRODUCTION CHAPTERS 6 LO O K I N G TO T H E L I B R A RY 16 GETTING ORIENTED 2 6 O R G A N I Z AT I O N A N D M O R E O R G A N I Z AT I O N 3 6 T H E H U M A N TO U C H ACTIVE RESEARCH 1 4 A H I S TO RY O F I N F O R M AT I O N K E E P I N G 24 S E L F G U I D E D TO U R 34 DIVIDING KNOWLEDGE 4 4 U S I N G W H AT YO U K N O W RESOURCES 4 6 G LO S S A RY 47 WEB SITES 48 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 48 INDEX
YOU CONDUCT RESEARCH EVERY DAY AND YOU PROBABLY DON’T EVEN REALIZE IT When you want to know the score of last night’s football game you check on line If you’re wondering how to spell or define supercilious you get out the dictionary And when you’ve forgotten the math assignment you e-mail your friends to ask them Although these research situations are rather informal the skills you use for them are similar to those you need to conduct research for writing After all research is basically just a search a search for sources that contain specific relevant and accurate information about your topic At some point during nearly every research project you will find yourself in need of a library Why Libraries contain information that you can’t get any where else and that information is organized in a way that makes it easy to complete a systematic search Say for example that you want to research Mt Everest The library can provide you with autobiographies by the first men to ever reach the summit videos of the Himalayas and even online journal articles 4
about scientific studies that have been done on the mountain Although every library is unique most libraries follow similar systems for organizing their items cataloging their holdings and lending materials to patrons In addition nearly every library features one indispensable resource the reference librarian who can help you in your quest for information So the next time you need to look something up make the library one of your first stops It will likely have what you need and then some 5
