As another article by this author on this site explains, people seeking information may search the Internet, buy it in a book store, or go to the library. Because libraries have web sites, it is not necessary to visit the library in person to use its resources. This article describes some of the services libraries offer and how to get best use of them.
Reference librarians
Whoever does not know exactly where to look for information, or even what kind of information they really need needs to consult a reference librarian. Every library has computers for its patrons to use. And so even if the best source for particular information is on the Web, reference librarians have the training and skill to find it.
More important, reference librarians will ask questions to help patrons focus on what they really need. Long experience demonstrates that most patrons will begin with a question that is either too broad or too narrow. Experts in a subject need more detailed and technical resources than people first starting to explore it, yet both may start with exactly the same question.
Patrons can communicate with librarians in person, over the phone, and through their computer (by email, instant messaging, chat, etc.). The less personal the contact, the more it is to anticipate what the librarian needs to know in order to help you.
What, if anything, have you already seen or read? What kind of information do you need: quick facts, a definition, a general overview, a detailed account, a news story, statistics, or a picture? Are you working on a particular project? The better you can answer these and similar questions, the easier the librarian can find information to suit your needs.
Library catalog
At first glance, Google looks easy and online library catalogs look complicated. Some libraries try to disguise that perception by displaying a single search box.
There is a reason that a single search box works for a search engine and not a catalog. The Web has no structure. Search engines look for key words for content and such attributes as back links for ranking. Catalogs search a database that has multiple indexes.
Therefore, always ignore the "simple search" and choose the "advanced search." It is actually much easier and allows you to narrow your search to ignore whatever you don't want to see in the first place.
An online library catalog can search the entire database using key words. It can also perform the search strictly within the author index, for example. Available indexes include keyword, author, title, subject, call number, and various numbers that mostly librarians use.
It also features something called "controlled vocabulary." It amounts to an elimination of synonyms. For example, the US has had two Presidents named George Bush. One common way to distinguish them, use of their middle names or initials, results in more than one way of expressing each of their names.
Controlled vocabulary takes away all ambiguity by selecting one and only one form of any person's name. One unique heading serves both to differentiate between two or more people with the same or similar names and to choose a single form to gather together everything by or about any one person.
Subject headings work the same way. No one could ever guess the authorized form of a name or subject heading. That made subject searching very complicated in the days of the card catalog.
Start with a keyword search; you can do a keyword search of the entire database or limit it to one particular index, simply by choosing which box to type your search in. Select any resulting record that looks relevant to your needs. All of the controlled vocabulary will appear as hot links. Following the links shows you everything that library has with that particular link.
Some catalogs can search the holdings of more than one library. One, called WorldCat, can search thousands of libraries and let you know about all kinds of material not owned by the one you are using.
Libraries buy cataloging software from different vendors. Some customize it. They're all alike in principle, but not in detail. The reference librarians will show you how to take advantage of (or work around) the unique features of the local catalog.
Databases
Libraries also own numerous databases that allow you to find articles in newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, chapters in books where each is by a different author, etc.
Databases exhibit more variety than library catalogs. Most have controlled vocabulary, but unlike the catalog, they might allow multiple forms of a subject or name heading. The reference librarian will help you find and navigate the databases that best fit your needs.
The slogan "Information wants to be free" is utter nonsense. Someone pays for the information that is free on the Web. The library pays very significant sums for the right to use its various databases. You will not find any of that content free on the Web. Unless you can afford to pay directly for them, you will not find that content anywhere but the library.
Interlibrary Loan
The library catalog will tell you what books (journals, sound and video recordings, and much more) the library owns and where in the library you can find them. The databases will help you get into the contents of journals. Many have the full text of articles, and you can print copies for yourself.
If you identify a book, article, or any other kind of material you want that your library does not have (either in hard copy or online full text), most libraries offer interlibrary loan. They will borrow a book or obtain a copy of an article for you from another library.
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