Current Location: Section VI - Identifying the Appropriate Databases – Books from The University Library Online Catalog

[ Top ] : [ Module 3 ] : Section V - Identifying the Appropriate Databases -- Books from the University Library Online Catalog.

Course Documents

SECTION VI

Identifying the appropriate databases – The University Library Online Catalog for Books

There may be times when you will want to use The University Library Online Catalog, for books and journals (we discussed World CAT in Section V).  There are a few features, which I would like to draw your attention to.  The University Library Online Catalog can be easily accessed from the University Library Home Page by clicking on the Online Catalog link…

University Library Home Page

The Library Online Catalog can also just as easily be accessed from the home page for Communicative Disorders Distance Learner’s: Databases and Document Delivery.

http://library.csun.edu/mhenry/de-comdis.html

Just click in the “Library Online” link in the first sentence under the heading Documents and Delivery (see below).

Home Page for Communicative Disorders Distance Learner’s: Databases and Document Delivery

When I click on the CSUN Library Online Catalog link, I am presented a number of options with which to begin the search.

CSUN Library Online Catalog

But before I do anything, I am going to check out the Help Using the Catalog link! This will give me some crucial hints that will save me much time and increase the efficiency of my search strategy. In particular I will pay attention (scroll down) to the Search Tips section, which touches upon among other things two critical concepts—Truncation and Boolean Operators.

About the University Online Catalog (Search Tips)

The brief explanation of “Truncation” is worth repeating here. If I type in a word like “ Communication” for a key word search, that is what the search engine will look for and I might miss a reference which used the word Communicative or Communicate etc. But if I use the truncation symbol (*) after the root of the word, as in Communicat*, the search engine will pick up references with the words Communication, Communicative, Communicate, Communicating or Communicated etc. It widens my search considerably. One asterisk can replace from 1 to 5 characters. If I think there may be more, I would have to use two asterisks. Other databases use the truncation symbol concept, and some even use the asterisk too, but not all do! So it is important to check out the instructions to find out what the truncation symbol for a particular database is.

The use of Operators to make a Boolean Search is also a very important feature of a search strategy. In the Online Library Catalog, typically, multiple words presented adjacent to each other are searched for as an exact phrase. If I type in “Alternative Devices for Communicatively Disabled Persons,” this exact phrase must appear in the reference before it is reported to me by the search engine. Linking words, which are provided by the search engine, like “and,” “or,” and “not” can be used in creative ways to shape the search. For example if I use “and” in the keyword search, (eg., “augment* and alternat*,”) the search engine will report only references that have both those words in the reference. But if I use “or” (eg., “augment* or alternat*,”) it will report references that have at least one or both of the terms. But if I wanted to exclude references dealing with alternative devices, I would use the operator (and not), (eg., “augment* and not alternat*.” )

In a Boolean search strategy, you should also pay close attention to the use of parentheses. If I use for my search, the words “ augment* and alternat* and not hearing,” the search engine would exclude references including mention of hearing devices that were alternative, but include hearing devices that were augmentative. To have hearing devices excluded from both, I would have to search for “(augment* and alternat*) and not hearing.”

Now back to the University Library Catalog and it’s search engine.

CSUN Library Online Catalog (Quick Search Strategy)

If I know the Title, or the Author or the Call Number of the book I want, I will be able to go directly to the reference by using those options in the Search Engine. If not I would probably wish to search by using a relevant keyword or words that might be appear in the title, index or text.

I am also given the option, if I don’t want to do a Boolean Search, to use a “Quick” search strategy. As a first step, for example, to see what is out there, I might type in a common abbreviation for Augmentative and Alternative Communication Devices frequently used, “AAC.”

This rudimentary Quick Search gave me at this time nine references, most of which are quite germane to our topic.

University Library Online Catalog (Initial Reference List of Books from Quick Search)

Number 3, for example, is “Augmentative and alternative communication for adults with acquired neurologic disorders / edited by… c2000.”

There are a number of useful options on the screen and we should take note of all of them. The Extended Display link, for example, will immediately give us more information on each reference. For example, the Extended Display for Number 3 gives us the additional information.... “Augmentative and alternative communication for adults with acquired neurologic disorders / edited by David R. Beukelman, Kathryn M. Yorkston, and Joe Reichle.; Floor3:IN LIBRARY 2000.” So now we have the full name of all the editors, and even the floor in the library where the book is located.

Of course, if I click on the link for reference Number 3, I get the full reference with even more important information. This includes among other thing, the Call Number, the ISBN number and the fact that the book is presently in the Library.

University Library Online Catalog (Full Reference)

The notes opposite the “Subject” category can be very useful in providing me with relevant words (other than aac) that I can use in further search efforts. For example, we see the words “Communication, devices and disabilities,” which may be good search terms.

Of course, all this came about through the “Quick Search” option. If I wanted a more extensive list of references I might go to the Keyword Search strategy with its Boolean search capability…

CSUN Library Online Catalog (Keyword Search Strategy)

Clicking on this option changes the screen so that a Boolean Search can be conducted.

If we enter in the keywords,” COMMUNICAT* AND DISABILIT* AND DEVICE*”, and limit our search to books we get a return of 96 book references on AAC.

Once we find a reference we want we can obtain the book (as long as it is owned by the CSUN Library) by using WorldCat and the inter library loan (ILL) procedure.