Library Research SkillsArchitecture

Ronan Madden Arts & Humanities Librarian

1. Basics: Library resources, catalogue, website

2. Journals and e-journals:- what they are, how to source a journal article

3. Resource discovery using electronic databases: full-text and bibliographic: Boolean searching, fields, keeping up-to-date, Searcher

4. Off-campus access to e-resources5. A word on Google and information quality6. Introduction to ARTstor

Topics

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

Library Web Site

N.B.

•Catalogue•Journal Portal•Databases A-Z•Searcher•Subject Guides•How do I?•Study & Research HelpRonan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

Subject Guide

Starting point for relevant library & web material

- databases- journals- websites

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

Catalogue: Tips

• Title searches: word-perfect• Keyword searches: you can ‘modify

search’ e.g. material type ‘Video/DVD’• Consider synonyms, American spellings• Use the ‘bag’ to export records• Use ‘Worldcat’ link to search beyond UCC• Use ‘My Library Account’ to request

books on loan, to see your reading history, to access e-resources from home, and to save ‘lists’ of books

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

Off-Campus Access

• Use ‘My Library Account’(like when renewing or requesting books)

• Name + student number + six digit password (alpha-numeric)

• N.B. You should access e-resources through the Library web pages so that the ‘Your Library Record’ screen will appear

• Contact Information desk on Q floor for queries e.g. forgotten password

• See: Learn about Pin NumbersRonan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

What if an item is not in UCC Library?

Aside from Googling it (book/article title or author and you may be lucky):

•Inter-library loanSee: Inter-library loans service

•Visit other libraries: ‘Cork PAL’, ‘Music PAL’ Check with customer services in

Boole LibrarySee: Accessing other libraries

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Journals

• Serials/Periodicals: published continuously• New research, cutting-edge• Print and/or electronic (30,000+ e-journals

in UCC)• ‘Peer-reviewed’/‘refereed’ =academic

journals‘The process by which an academic journal passes a paper submitted for publication to independent experts for comments on it’s suitability and worth; refereeing’

• Quality control: Papers accepted/rejected based on contribution to the field/new ideas, bias/conflicts of interest, suitability for journal etc.

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

• Popular Magazines: (articles written by journalists)

- Newspapers

- Substantive news e.g. ‘The Economist’, ‘New Scientist’, ‘The Architect’s Journal’, ‘Architecture Ireland’

- Magazines

• Trade Journals (specific industry, enable practitioners share market and product information within an industry) e.g. ‘Restaurant Business’, ‘Chemical Week’, ‘Building Stone Magazine’

Other Periodicals

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Finding a Journal Article

Example:

McGrath, B., Marshall V. (2009) ‘New Patterns in Urban Design’. Architectural Design, 79(6):48-53

• Check the Journals Portal first

• See online tutorial:

‘Learn how to find the full-text of a journal article’ on the ‘Study & Research Help’ page

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‘Searcher’ Federated Search

• Good starting point

• Some results will be from non-academic periodicals

• N.B. you should still search specific databases individually

• You can set up an alert Ronan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

What are Databases? 1.

• Collections of logically related data e.g. library catalogue

• A bibliographic/research database: usually an electronic index to journal articles and books, containing citations & abstracts. Sometimes information about conference proceedings, theses, and other information formats is also included.

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What are Databases? 2.

• Sometimes the full text of the articles is included, or links to the full text.

• Some are indexing and abstracting only: i.e. metadata – not necessarily a link to the full text.

• Some are general e.g. Web of Science, others are more subject-specific e.g. Medline, Paddi.

• Essential for literature searches. • Other types of databases: ARTstor for

images, Music Online for streaming music, ACLS & Ebrary for e-booksRonan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

How are Databases Organised?

• Records: one record for each article, book etc.

• A field is the basic unit of entry in a record• Journal article fields might include:

- Title, Author, Keywords, Source, Publication Year, Abstract etc.

• For each record (e.g. article) added to the database, these fields must be included, and data is entered in that format.

• Searches of the databases can be narrowed to one or more fields: e.g. Author, Title, Author + Keyword, Keyword + Publication Year etc.

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Ronan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

Search Skills

college OR university

poverty AND crime

Boolean Operators: AND, OR

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Search Skills

cats NOT dogs

Boolean Operator: NOT

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

Some Youtube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tm-sDKCnO4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1LpTbzSKd0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsSZps3NH-Mhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vube-ZcJFk4

Search Skills 3.

• censorship AND art• censorship AND (art OR painting OR

drawing OR sculpture OR design)_____________________________________________• architecture AND “consumer culture”• architect* AND (consumer OR

consumption) AND postmodern*

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

How to Find Relevant Databases

• Use Databases A-Z: (See ‘Search the Library’) Drop-down menu ‘Browse databases by Subject area’. Use ‘Architecture’ and ‘History of Art’ list as a starting point.

• Depending on your topic, you may also need to search other lists e.g. – Humanities, Civil Engineering, Science

• You could also check the Subject Guides• See online tutorial: Find

the best databases for your assignments and research on the ‘Study & Research Help’ page

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

Databases without full-text

• Indexing and abstracting databases• Metadata – descriptive information i.e. not

necessarily a link to the full text • Full-text might be available in UCC through

another database/resource• Check the Journals Portal to find out (or

Searcher)• You should use as many databases as

possible for a thorough literature search (don’t ignore something important just because full-text not readily available)

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

Bibliographic Databases/Indexes

• Relevant examples:- PADDI (free on the web)- OCLC (incl. Worldcat, Articlefirst)- Arts and Humanities Citation

Index(Web of Knowledge)- British Humanities Index- ZETOC- EI Engineering Village

Same applies to many of the references you might find through Google Scholar!

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

Getting Started 1.

Example:Architecture in Fascist Italy

Keywords & terms: architect, architecture, fascist,

fascism, totalitarian, Italy, Italian, Rome, Mussolini

Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), truncation etc. to create appropriate search strings and apply the search (or variations of the search) to all relevant resources

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Getting Started 2.

• Initial reviews: identify broad problem area, potential research problem, theoretical background, relevant terminology (keywords and terms): Scoping

• Once approved, further searches to refine research problem and methodologies: ‘Trawling’ and ‘Mining’

• There may be a number of strands to your lit search• Keep a record of all of resources searched, and the

search terms and strings that you applied• Keeps a record of all books/articles that you are

likely to need for your bibliography e.g. Endnote, Zotero

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

Further Resources 1.

[N.B. See also subject guides for links to free resources]

•Online Reference Resources: (alternative to Wikipedia) see: Reference Resources under ‘Search the Library’

•Online Newspapers: Irish Newspaper Archive,

Irish Times Digital Archive

•E-books: ACLS Humanities E-book (HEB), Ebrary

•Conferences Proceedings:Proceedings (OCLC), ZETOCRonan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

Google?

• Use Google scholar advanced search to improve quality and quantity of results

• Works better on-campus, or from home through the Databases A-Z

• If no full text, check the journal portal and the Library catalogue as usual

• See email alerts on Google Scholar• See tutorial:

Search the Web More Effectively for your Assignments and Research.

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Information Quality

• Fundamental to developing a literature review that will be a solid foundation on which you can build quality research and assignments

• See ‘Learn how to Evaluate information for your assignments and research on the ‘Study & Research Help’ page

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ARTstor

• What is ARTstor and why is it useful?• Techniques for searching databases • Browsing ARTstor• Searching: basic and advanced• Using ‘groups’• Saving/printing etc.• Some extra features• Off-campus access and system

requirements

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What is ARTstor?

• 1 million images + descriptions + support tools

• Non-profit organisation• Images sourced from Museums,

Libraries, individual collections• IReL consortium (HEA)• N.B Terms and conditions of use

Permitted uses

‘Noncommercial educational and scholarly uses’

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Off-Campus Access

• Use ‘My Library Account’(like when renewing or requesting books)

• Name + student number + six digit password (alpha-numeric)

• N.B. You should access e-resources through the Library web pages so that the ‘Your Library Record’ screen will appear

• Students contact Information desk on Q floor if they have a query e.g. forgot their password

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

Recap: What to use?• Catalogue: what does the Library hold? Books, e-books, DVDs

etc.• Journal portal: to see if the Library provides access to a

particular journal/serial title• Searcher: search box on the library website - one quick search

for books, articles, and more.• Library Databases: to locate articles and other resources for a

specific subject area - a more thorough literature search• Worldcat: to discover resources that are not available at UCC

Library• Subject Guides: sources customized for a particular subject

area• Internet Search: for quick facts and a general introduction to

topic. Google, Bing, Wikipedia, etc.• Google Scholar: to locate academic (journal articles, books)

information on a topic. For full text check the Library’s resources.

• Social Web: for the latest news and updates on a topic/fieldRonan Madden Info Lit 2014/15

• Referencing: - See Study & Research Help

- See catalogue: Style guides

• Endnote training:- Contact Richard Bradfield r.bradfield@ucc.ie and look for details on Library news

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Slideshare

www.slideshare.net/rmadden1/architecture-undergrad

Ronan Madden Info Lit 2014/15