Monthly Archives: June 2011

Sources: primary, secondary, and tertiary

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Information

Everyone does research, because everyone looks for information at some time or another. Wherever anyone finds information is, of course, a source. Whenever we find a source, it follows that someone wrote it or spoke it into some kind or recording devise or is otherwise responsible for the fact that it exists. There are three general kinds of sources: primary, secondary, and tertiary. These terms mean something a little different from one discipline to another. The distinction is ordinarily introduced in order to prepare college students, and especially graduate students, to write term papers, theses, and dissertations. It is useful … Continue reading →

Helping the reference librarian help you

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Go ahead and ask. She's not doing anything more important than your question!

Do you need help answering a question? Ask a librarian. Specifically, ask a reference librarian. You’ll usually find at least one at the library’s reference desk. Now, some libraries are starting to do away with reference desks as a special service point. In some cases, at least, that means they have decided to have the librarians roam the library, or parts of it, looking for people who need  help. If you see a librarian at a desk who seems to be busy with paper work, go ask your question. You will not be interrupting anything important. The librarian needs something … Continue reading →

Search engines, online library catalogs: how they work

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search engine marketing

Most people begin to search for information using Google or other search engines. They turn to library catalogs later, if at all. When they get to the catalog, they have trouble using it if they expect it to work anything like Google. Some library and information technology professionals have drawn entirely wrong conclusions from that fact. One faction says it demonstrates that online library catalogs are obsolete, that the software system that runs them is old fashioned and difficult to program in, and therefore that we need to abandon the catalog. Another declares that people would use the catalog more … Continue reading →

Libraries uphold the public interest in copyright issues

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Copyright cartoon

Copyright is a part of intellectual property law and is explicitly mentioned in the US Constitution (Art. I, Sec. 8, Clause 8): “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”Libraries have a great interest in copyright issues, and librarians (not individually, but at the national association level) are among the major voices trying to influence the interpretation of just what the clause means. When a work is under copyright protection, only the copyright holder is allowed to use it to make … Continue reading →