Here be dragons? Libraries and e-resourcesDr Emma CoonanResearch Skills Librarian, Cambridge University Library

Cambridge University Library

What’s your experience of libraries?

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Librarians ...

“ ... are not fiery dragons interposed between the people and the books. They are useful public servants, who manage libraries in the interest of the public …”

(Sir William Osler, 1917)

www.maphist.nl/extra/herebedragons.html

“That English mapmakers formerly placed the phrase ‘here be dragons’ at the edges of their known world has somehow become general knowledge ...”

(Erin C. Blake, 1999)

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Study = discovering unknown territory …

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… and mapping out the landscape for yourself

Libraries link to worlds of information

“The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite and perhaps infinite

number of hexagonal galleries…. From any of the hexagons one can see, interminably, the upper and

lower floors … I say that the Library is unending.”

Jorge Luis Borges, ‘The Library of Babel’

3 useful tools for mapping your information landscape

Cambridge Libraries Gateway

LibrarySearch(Plus)

eresources@cambridge

Find your library

www.cam.ac.uk/libraries

See what’s in Cambridge libraries

http://search.lib.cam.ac.uk

See what’s in Cambridge libraries ... and beyond

http://searchplus.lib.cam.ac.uk

Explore specialist collections and gateways

www.lib.cam.ac.uk/eresources

3 useful tools for mapping your information landscape

+

1 essential element for success

Your ability to analyse and evaluate information for its accuracy, reliability

and scholarly worth

Critical vision

www.maphist.nl/extra/herebedragons.html

“That English mapmakers formerly placed the phrase ‘here be dragons’ at the edges of their known world has somehow become general knowledge ...”

(Erin C. Blake, 1999)

www.maphist.nl/extra/herebedragons.html

“Here is the list of all known historical maps on which these words appear:

”

www.maphist.nl/extra/herebedragons.html

“Here is the list of all known historical maps on which these words appear:

“In other words, there aren’t any.”

Erin C. Blake, 1999http://www.maphist.nl/extra/herebedragons.html

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