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I’ve already
hinted at how important pre-planning can be.
Let’s take a couple of minutes to discuss the process. Note that spending a little time exploring
a topic before you start a database search is usually a BIG time saver. As school librarians, I would really,
really, really, really, really like you to stress this step when you’re
teaching kids to do their own database searching.
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A lot of the
searching that I’ve done was as an intermediary – that’s where a scientist or
engineer (or even a management person when I’d let them talk to me) would
talk to me about their information need and then I would perform the database
search for them. That’s where “What
topic do we have in mind?” is really emphasized! I would often ask the scientist or engineer
(and yes even a management person once in a while – are you beginning to get
the idea that I just might have a problem with authority figures? ) open ended questions to get them to open up
to me about their work. Then I’d try
to restate their request to see if I heard their true information need. After that, I’d always ask them to take a
few minutes and write down their request – often I’d get a sentence or two …
or a short paragraph. I’d explain that
when we communicate in writing we sometimes reach a bit deeper and reveal something
new about our information need. Today,
with the exception of the special library setting, many people do their own
searching and we seem to have inherited more of a teaching role or we get
handed the truly nasty searching problems. Just because folks are doing their
own searching doesn’t mean that they should skip trying to state their topic
to themselves. It’s crucial to do so
or they’ll waste a lot of their own time!
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Next, one has to
figure out where they’re going to look for information. You’ll get a little practice with that in
this class. You should spend the rest
of the pursuit of your degree getting better at figuring out where to look
for information. As a librarian,
people will turn to you to advise them on this particular step. The better you can put yourself in the
“information need shoes” of your patron … the better you can advise them on
where to look for information.
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You also have to
consider what terms to use in your search.
I strongly recommend that the searcher consider looking up an
encyclopedia entry or some kind of introduction to their topic. Our third tutorial for the week deals with
a search demonstration for literature about the reintroduction of
wolves. At this step in the process, I
started looking at encyclopedias, special web pages on wolves produced by a
trusted source (in this case I was pleased to find some good descriptions on
the National Park Service’s Yellowstone National Park web site), etc. Did I want to look for wolves or perhaps
timber wolves or gray wolves or red wolves?
How about using the scientific term Canus lupus? What would be synonymous with
reintroduction? Is the reintroduction
of wolves too broad of a topic? Can I
figure that out from general reading about wolves? Do I suspect that I’ll be faced with “Too
Much Information?” [apologies to Duran
Duran]
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How am I going
to combine my terms? Can I sketch out
my strategy in a Venn Diagram … or perhaps two?
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