Sep 06, 2011

Welcome from the library

Welcome to another exciting year at NYIT!  Throughout the summer the libraries have been busy negotiating access to amazing new databases and ebooks.  Yes, you guessed correctly, all of this information is now free to you as members of the NYIT community.

To stay plugged-in throughout the semester and learn about these new resources and others, follow us on Twitter, friend us on Facebook, or simply read our blog.

Over the course of the coming weeks and months, you will learn how to use the digital library from anywhere in the world, how to log-in to the NYIT wireless network, and how to access the 1000s of resources now available to you as community members.

Already have a question you would like to ask?  Simply email us at askalibrarian@nyit.edu, or bookmark and visit libanswers.nyit.edu.
 

Author: sebastien_marion

Mar 01, 2011

Who, What and Where: Step Aside Google, WorldCat has Something to Say!

As a researching student, budding scholar and lifelong learner, your interests can be driven by a number of factors.  Here are three:

Scenario 1: Preparing to write a thesis, or work on a major term project, you would like to know whether a topic has been addressed in the form of a book.

Scenario 2: You would like to know what writings exist about a person, or by a person, be they an architect, poet, or professor of [fill in the blank]. 

Scenario 3: You are aware of a published book and would like to know, very specifically, where it is available (city, state, nationally, and even internationally).

Enter WorldCat. Let's go ahead and say it, "WorldCat is better than Google at indexing library holdings!"  A database of databases, at last count WorldCat indexes close to 179 million records housed in libraries throughout the world.  It is useful to think of WorldCat as a vertical search engine, whose primary concern is libraries.  There are two varieties of WorldCat.  An advanced version, which you can freely access as an NYIT community member, and a free version available at www.worldcat.org.  The latter includes a mobile URL (www.worldcat.org/m/), which makes for a great @phone bookmark; an iPhone App and Android App are also available.

As for searching, there are a variety of ways to approach the interface.  Keeping in mind that every interface offers a unique scenario and learning curve, my own preference is to advanced search, limiting results by checking the appropriate materials type box (only books, for example).  Finally, rank your results by relevance using the dropdown menu located on the lower section of the screen, et voila.

Remember, as with most catalogs you can be very specific (locate a journal title by ISSN and learn which libraries include holdings), or very general (develop a search using keywords).  Finally, when gathering citations, clicking marked records followed by export will deposit your items in RefWorks where they can be easily stored, managed and exported in a variety of formats (MLA, APA, etc.).  In either case, WorldCat is an excellent tool.

Author: sebastien_marion

Nov 05, 2010

Search Triangle

Every search interface that you encounter on the WWW offers a scenario.  Each has a learning curve that must be climbed, but would it surprise you to know that almost every system operates on a standard set of principles and infrastructure?  Most often we are defaulted into a basic search mode (think of Google's search box), but believe it or not whether you are in basic Google mode, or in the advanced mode of a powerful vertical search engine all interfaces are similar.

The search triangle is a 5 minute interactive learning module.  After completing it you will better understand how to:

• Identify key concepts and terms related to a research question,
• Construct an appropriate search strategy,
• Adapt search strategy across various interfaces and search engines, refining search strategy when necessary, and
• Select controlled vocabulary specific to a discipline or information source.

Go to Material

Author: sebastien_marion