MODULE 3

use the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC)

of the Campus Libraries in order to find

information resources for research

create effective search statements in order to

find relevant information on their topic

refine search statements using Boolean logic

to find relevant information sources

The OPAC is the key to the Libraries’

collections.

The Catalogue is a full description of most

items in the Libraries and these descriptions

are called records.

It does NOT provide a list of websites,

journal articles or search engines

The OPAC is a database of the holdings of the five St. Augustine Campus Libraries including:o The Main LibraryoThe Medical Sciences LibraryoSchool of Education LibraryoRepublic Bank Library at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business o The Library at the

Institute of International Relations Library

Navigating the OPAC

How to Login

Collections

Searching

o Types

o Options

Search Results

You can navigate the OPAC from anywhere within the Campus

Libraries or off-Campus by:

o• Using the menu bar

o• Clicking on the links

You will be

required to do

this if you

need to view

your library

account or

save your

results

This allows you

to search one or

multiple

collections at the

same time.

You can search the OPAC by:

o Author - e.g. Best, Lloyd

o Title - e.g. Cricketers from the West Indies

o Words from Title - e.g. Caribbean culture

o Keywords - e.g. biodiversity conservation

o Subject - e.g. biological diversity conservation

There are four ways to search the

catalogue –

o Basic search

o Combination search

o Collection search

o Course Reserves

The Basic Search allows you to search by author, title, words from the title, keywords and subject.

If you don’t know the author or title of a book you can search by either subject or keyword. Remember that the term you might want to use may not be a subject term in the catalogue.

Keyword Search (Popular term)

Subject Search(Prescribed Subject)

E-commerceBiodiversityAlternate energy sources

Electronic CommerceBiological DiversityRenewable energy sources

Boolean searching allows keywords to be connected by using AND, OR, NOT

o Universities AND Colleges AND Caribbean region– the results of your search will include all terms.

o Universities OR Colleges AND Caribbean region – the results of your search will include the term Caribbean Region and either University or College

o Universities NOT Colleges AND Caribbean region – the results of your search will exclude term Colleges

Combination Search lets you search the database for keywords present anywhere. It also allows you to combine search terms, e.g. Author/Title or Author/Subject or Keyword/Keyword.

You can use Course Reserves to search for items in the Reserve Collection. You can search by course title, course number or instructor e.g. BIOL3361 (Applied Biochemistry).

Results should be examined using criteria such as:

o Authority – is the author an expert in this area

o Credibility - is the source objective or biased

o Relevance – is it pertinent to the research being conducted

o Timeliness – is it current or datedo Accuracy – is the information correct and

can you find cited references.