English 1213
Session One:
Information Literacy, Search Strategies &
Catalog Instruction
Frederic Murray, MLIS
Information
Literacy
Information Literacy
• It is a set of abilities requiring
individuals to recognize when
information is needed and have the
ability to locate, evaluate, and use
effectively the needed information.
Library Instruction in the
Information Age
• A single current newspaper contains more
written and visual information than the
average person in the 17th Century was
likely to come across in their entire lifetime.
There are many areas of literacy that all add
up to Information Literacy: Cultural, Visual,
Media, Network, Computer, Traditional
Alphabetic Literacy, and Library Instruction.
Did You Know….
Exponential Growth of Information
• Human Genome
• Neptune Project
• Global Earth Observation System of
Systems
University of Washington:
Neptune Project
• The new field of
ecogenomic sensors, takes
advantage of technology
developed in the Human
Genome Project, such as
DNA and protein
microarrays and largescale DNA sequencing to
discover who is in the ocean
(such as what microbes live
there), what are they doing,
and how do they respond to
events in the oceanic
environment.
•
Images provided courtesy of the NEPTUNE Project
www.neptune.washington.edu
Educational Goals for 21st Century
1. Teach Students to be self-directed &
understand how to organize more &
more of their own learning.
2. Teach our students the importance of
global communication.
3. Teach our students to deal with
massive amounts of information.
Library Instruction in the
Information Age
• New Search Strategies are required
• Critical evaluation is more important
than ever
• Hi-Tech Research
Define: Catalog, Database, Indexes
• A comprehensive list of the books, periodicals,
maps, and other materials in a given
collection.
• A large, regularly updated file of digitized
information related to a specific subject or
field.
• An alphabetically arranged list of headings
consisting of the personal names, places, and
subjects treated in a specific work.
Search Techniques
• Keyword
• Basic Boolean
Identifying Keywords
• Identify the significant terms and
concepts that describe your topic from
your thesis statement or research
question.
• These terms will become the key for
searching catalogs, indexes, and
databases for information about your
subject.
Keyword Examples
• Death Penalty
– Lethal injection
– Gov. George Ryan
– Cruel and unusual
punishment
– Amnesty
International
– Stanley (Tookie)
Williams
• Government Bailout
– Bear Stearns
– Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac
– Housing bill
– Savings and loan
crisis
– Henry Paulson
– Subprime mortgages
Keyword Phrases
• Single concept, multiple words
• Some electronic resources require keyword
phrases be enclosed with punctuation
– Quotation marks – SWOSU Catalog
– Parenthesis
Boolean
• AND = Narrow
• OR = Expand
• NOT = Exclude
Boolean Operators
• Connect keywords only
• Must be placed between keywords
• AND
– Narrows your search
• OR
– Expands your search with synonymous terms
• NOT
– Excludes words from your search
– If used too much, it can work against you!
Class Exercise
• Keyword Building Exercise
Topic: U.S.A. Presidential Elections
• Thesaurus.com
U.S.A. Presidential Elections
State
Balloting
Record
American
Voting
History
National
Choosing
Politics
Catalog: Finding books
• Relevance
• Keyword searching with Boolean
operators
• Limiters
• Subject searching (hyperlinks)
SWOSU Catalog
Open WorldCat
Ebrary
• Ebrary provides more than 44,000
digital books in a broad range of
subject areas, including business,
technology, health and medicine,
literature and the humanities, physical
sciences, social sciences, and
interdisciplinary studies. Ebrary digital
books contain the full-text and
illustrations of their print counterparts
Exercise
• Catalog worksheet
– SWOSU
– WorldCat
– Topic: U.S.A. Presidential Elections
Questions?
• Contact me:
– Frederic Murray
• 744-7113
• frederic.murray@swosu.edu
Thanks!