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Dawn E Wright
June 17, 2012
Libr 210-11
Biographical Sources
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Edgar Allen Poe
Jane Goodall
Emily Bronte
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
Jackie Robinson
Search using the SJSU MLK Library sources in the following steps. If you do not find the
person, state the fact:
1. Use the online catalog, SJSU MLK Library, to search for biographical material on your
persons. Briefly describe your search strategy and results. Can you make a clear conclusion
based on what you found?
Edgar Allen Poe- I began my search by Subject Heading, with “Edgar Allen Poe”. This
resulted in “not found” and hits not related to my search, but with Edgar in the name. I realized I
needed to search by last name. I did this, with resulting list of types of works by this author. I
chose “biography” , and found two, biographical texts. Had my patron been a juvenile, I could
have chosen, “biography, juvenile literature” instead.
Jane Goodall- Searching by Subject Heading, Goodall Jane (having learned by my mistakes
the first search), and choosing biography, I found only one book, The Watcher. It appears to be a
juvenile book, but I am unsure with the supplied information. This is not much help for my
patron. I searched again using Keyword, and found 131 results. Given the time constraints a
patron may have, this is not a productive search, as I will have to browse all to find what is
needed.
Emily Bronte- Searching by Subject Heading, I found three records under biography. They
may, or may not, be authoritative resources.
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta- Subject search for Germanotta, resulted in no hits, and
suggestion to search instead for Lady Gaga. Subject search for Lady Gaga resulted in three
results: one biography, one book in Chinese and one youth text.
Jackie Robinson- Subject search for Robinson, Jackie resulted in no subset of biographies. I
clicked on Robinson, Jackie 1919-1972, with a resulting 39 hits. Of these, there are some
biographical, one autobiographical, juvenile texts. In short, a wide range of subject matter.
Searching MLKL by Subject Heading and Key word, and not finding a plethora of biographies
surprised me. I expected to find so many, that the search results would be almost unmanageable.
Looking at question #2, I am wondering if the specific database will increase results.
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2. Look at the databases Biography Reference Band AND Biography and Genealogy Master
Index. Search for your FIVE biographies. Note if the person is included and how much
information you find there.
Edgar Allan Poe
Biography Reference Bank-Searching with no restrictions search, I found 684 entries for
Poe Edgar Allan. Checking the box in the left marked “with Biographies”, found one.
Biography and Genealogy Master Index-Result was 280 scholarly citations.
Jane Goodall
Biography Reference Bank-Searching Goodall Jane, found 53 sources.
Biography and Genealogy Master Index for Jane Goodall produced 129 citations. Also
listed are Jane Goodall with different middle names. Specific name information is needed for a
proper search here.
Emily Bronte
Biography Reference Bank-Searching Bronte Emily, resulted in texts about subjects other
than biographical information on the author, such as her characters. Adding “AND” biographies,
resulted in nine biographical sources.
Biography and Genealogy master Index for Emily Bronte search resulted in seven
catagorys, including Emily Jane Bronte and Emily Bronte, with different citations. Some
citations indicate the result is not biographical in nature. Restricting the search by adding
“biography” to the title, reduced titles to 3 categories, with a total of 139 citations. Adding
Biography to the search seems strange, considering I am searching a biographical resource. It
does limit the results to more appropriate citations, I think, if the patron is seeking specifically
only this data. But that is where you would continue the conversation with the patron, to further
narrow down the search.
Stephani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
Biography Reference Bank for Germanotta resulted in 19 sources, including one Natalie
Germanotta, and all other sources identified as Lady Gaga. Included were articles on trademark
law and non-scholarly magazine articles. Adding Staphani resulted in 18 sources, removing
Natalie.
Biography and Genealogy Master Index – searching here for Germanotta found one
citation for Staphani Geranotta, with no reference to Lady Gaga. Searching Lady Gaga produced
two citations, one of which was the original, the 2nd a newspaper reference.
Jackie Robinon
Biography Reference Bank search for Robinson Jackie found 49 results
Biography and Genealogy Master Index search for Jackie Robinson resulted in 6
categories, two that were not applicable, for a total of 104 citations. I did not know the middle
name of Mr. Robinson, and used Wikipedia to exclude Jackie Booker Robinson from the
categories offered.
I felt like a complete novice, searching these databases. They seemed technical, and
somewhat hard to decipher what best search terms to use for best results. I used the help sections,
but they offered basic Boolean techniques, not specific to the database.
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3. For the Authors/Poets you selected, also search for info in Literature Resource Center.
Edar Allan Poe-Using advanced search, and checking the “biographies” box, and limiting to
this site, there were no biographies found. There were three literary criticism pieces.
Jane Goodall- Using advanced search, and checking the “biographies” box, and limiting to
this site, there were four biographical sources found.
Emily Bronte-Using advanced search, and checking the “biographies” box, and limiting to
this site, there were six biographical sources, and 102 literary criticism sources.
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (my 16 year old daughter states she is definitely a poet)Using advanced search, and checking the “biographies’ box, and limiting to this site, there were
no sources for Stefani Germanotta, or Lady Gaga. I shared this with my daughter.
4. For deceased Americans, also try the database: American National Biography.
Edgar Allan PoeI searched by Poe, Edgar Allan, as indicated in the help (?) field, for Name. Results were
one record.
Emily Bronte- Searching in the Name field, Bronte, Emily, resulted in no sources.
Jackie Robinson- Searching Name field, Robinson, Jackie, resulted in one source.
There was no source for Emily Bronte, an English author, as this is a database for American
sources.
5. Now, look for quality Internet information on your person. How did you search? What did
you find? You have permission to use the Wikipedia and Google along with any resources you
locate using the SJSU Libguides.
I searched all five of my persons, first, in Wikipedia. The ease of use was evident
immediately, with quick results regardless of my search terms or order. What was labeled as
biographical information was profuse in each case. However, inconsistency in format of
information, including “sources”, ‘references” and “notes” was evident. In the case of Poe,
there were 145 “references” and 62 “sources” listed, including WorldCat. Goodall listed
“references”, but no sources. Bronte had neither “sources” nor “references”, but did have a
section headed as “notes”. Searching Germanotta found no results, but redirect ot Lady Gaga was
successful. Here there were 211 “references”, but no “sources” listed. Robinson had 25
“references” and 266 “notes”. This is not a consistent, scholarly format.
I searched all five of my persons in Google Scholar. Results varied from 41,000 for Poe, to
266 for Germanotta (which included thyroid motility and esophageal transit). I was unable to
find sufficient search limiters to make my search manageable.
I browsed SJSU Libguides with the following results:
Edgar Allan Poe- I found Teacher Reference Center browsing the Libguides. Searching Poe,
Edgar Allan, I found 39 sources, including several biographical sources.
Jane Goodall- Also searching Teacher Reference Center, I found 36 sources for Goodall,
Jane, also including biographical material.
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Emily Bronte-I utilized WorldCat, searching for Emily Bronte, with a total of 11,900 sources,
and 1,117 Internet sources. Searching was easy, once the site was looked over and help
researched.
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta-I used Pop Culture Universe through the SJSU
Libguides, for one result searching Germanotta in quick search. The result was Lady Gaga.
There were four external links, including quotes.
Jackie Robinson- Utilizing the left hand link marked “search other databases” in Pop Culture
Universe, I moved to The American Mosaic, the African American Experience. I searched Jackie
Robinson with 39 results.
6. Now, assume you are working in a public library. Go online, to a local public library website
and search one of your persons in the resources that the library has available. Were you able to
find good information with the resources available from the public library? Did you find that for
one or more of your persons, you found more information in your Public Library’s resources? If
so, why do you think this is? If not, why not?
I searched Timberland Regional Library (http://www.trlib.org/Pages/default.aspx ), here in
Raymond, Washington. Searching Research Sources, I was taken to Literary Reference Center,
hosted by EBSCOhost. Searching Emily Bronte resulted in 275 sources, 33 of which were
biographical. Each was full text, or available for checkout with my library card. These were
scholarly sources. Searching the general catalog, I found 32 sources, mostly novels or workds
not suitable for reference sources. There were several in the general catalog, that were juvenile
texts. I believe my first search of EBSCOhost resulted in accurate resources, because it is just
that: a resource database offered as a link through our library. The general catalog is more suited
to the districts acquisition holdings.
7. What have you learned about finding quality biographical information in terms of types of
biographies, amount of information, quality and quantity. What did you find inn terms of quality
and authoritativeness when dealing with data located on the internet 9i.e. Wikipedia, google
search, google scholar).
I have a lot to learn, document and build as a professional. That is my first lesson. It is not as
easy as the reference librarian I have worked with, at a local level, makes it seem. There are
untold numbers of appropriate data bases for each type of subject the patron wishes information
on. Seasoned workers have a toolbox, of sorts. A knowledge of databases, and search techniques,
that together make it easier, and more efficient a search, than that of someone without the
toolbox.
Quality of information is related to quality databases. SJSU MLK Library, and the links
provided, are tested and true scholarly sites, used by many disciplines. They are consistent, with
no verying results from search to search, as opposed to Wikipedia, which may have Resources,
Sources or Notes. Who really knows what that means each time.
Sheer quantity does not make a quality source, as evidenced by Google Scholar. Although
there are a great many resources, they are often inaccessible, unproven and by number, and not
limitable.
The ability to limit a search, to use advanced search techniques such as Boolean limiters,
gives the reference librarian the ability to quickly and efficiently narrow down the patrons needs.
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A quality database will have this ability. The internet is not off limits, however. I found that
Wikipedia offered a way to focus my terms prior to searching, if I did not have all the necessary
facts about the subject (as in middle names, proper names, etc). There are also links and sources
for further evaluation.