[an error occurred while processing this directive] Library Update
[an error occurred while processing this directive]Volume 21, Issue 3, August 1999

Come to a tour & techniques session

How can I use the library catalog and databases from home? How can I identify databases appropriate to my subject? What are some tips for doing better searches?

When should I use a keyword search instead of a subject search? Where are the periodicals and microforms?

If you want answers to such questions, these sessions are for you. They will be held every Tuesday in September from 12:30 until 1:15. Meet the librarian in the library lobby by the poster.

Instructors, please note that these sessions are intended for interested individuals--faculty, staff and students--not whole classes.

Students: take a Web workshop

Searching the Web workshops for students are being offered in the Perry Library's Information Technologies Instruction Center, room 163. Dates and times are:

Wednesday, September 15, 4:15pm
Thursday, September 23, 12:30pm
Monday, September 27, 4:15pm
Thursday, September 30, 12:30pm

Students must register by telephone at 683-4178 or in person at the reference desk on the day of the workshop they wish to attend.

Tutorials teach info skills

Librarians have been developing online library skills tutorials for use by students or by anyone interested in becoming more proficient in using library and other information resources.

Start Your Research Here!, Start Your Criminal Justice Research Here! and Using Information Resources in Nursing have been in use for a year or more, but other tutorials will debut this fall. They include:

  • Using Information Resources in Criminal Justice
  • Using Information Resources in Education
  • StarQuest: Success Tips for Academic Research

All will be found at http://www.lib.odu.edu/research.

How do I...?

From the library's Web site, you will find information on such topics as how to:

  • Search electronic resources
  • Use the Library of Congress Classification System
  • Find biographical information
  • Find genealogical information
  • Find book reviews
  • Write book reviews
  • Find dissertations & theses
  • Find U.S. laws & statutes
  • Find company & industry information
  • Evaluate & cite information

For help with these and other research needs, visit the Perry Library homepage at http://www.lib.odu.edu and click on Research Assistance.

FirstSearch expands searching

All FirstSearch databases will offer expanded search features beginning in mid-August. In the past, the + (plus sign) was used as a truncation symbol to retrieve only the singular and plural forms of a word. For example, cow+ would find cow and cows.

With this change, a + will allow unlimited truncation, meaning that cow+ will retrieve not only cow and cows but also coward, cowboy, cower, cowgirls, cowhand, etc.

Faculty: learn about library digital services available to you

Take a look at digital projects the library has created or helped faculty to create, and learn how you can benefit from the available expertise and equipment. The first in a series of faculty events at the library this fall is a building tour at 10:00 followed by an introduction to the Digital Services Center at 10:30 on August 25. No registration is necessary. For more information, call 683-4184.

Reference at your fingertips

Telephone directories, grammar and style guides, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and many other reference resources are easy to find and use from the library's Web site. When you visit, be sure to take a look at the Encyclopedia Britannica Online 99, which has a great new structure. From the library's homepage at http://www.lib.odu.edu, choose Information Resources and then General Reference.

 

Calendar

August 25

Tour of the library building for faculty, 10:00am Digital Services Center orientation for faculty, 10:30am
August 28 Regular hours begin
September 6 Closed for Labor Day holiday
September 7 Tour & techniques session, 12:30pm
September 14 Tour & Techniques session, 12:30pm
September 15 Searching the Web workshop (ODU students) 4:15pm
September 21 Tour & Techniques session, 12:30pm
September 23 Searching the Web workshop (ODU students) 12:30pm
September 27 Searching the Web workshop (ODU students) 4:15pm
September 28 Tour & Techniques session, 12:30pm
September 30 Searching the Web workshop (ODU students) 12:30pm
   

Library Update is published four times a year by the library for the Old Dominion University community. Its purpose is to inform users of new and existing services, policies and procedures.

Editor: Cynthia Wright Swaine

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