Books in the General Collection

These are the backbone of the library's collection and we have about 120,000 titles.  For finding basic, established information with a high level of authority, books are a leading source.  Books in the humanities (like literature, art history, history, etc.) retain their usefulness for many years.  If, however, you're looking for books in the sciences--the computer sciences especially--be more aware of when th books were published.  In the hard sciences dates do matter.

Reference Books

Books in the reference stacks are titles that are "referred" to (hence "reference") rather than read straight through.  These include, but are not limited to, encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases and gazateers of geographical places.  Our collections also include large amounts of literary criticism and specialized encyclopedias on a wide range of subjects from religion to science and technology.

Periodicals

"Periodicals" is library jargon for anything that comes out "periodically," like magazines, professional journals or newspapers.  Our paper periodical collection at both the Yeary Library and Zaffirini branch together total about 300 subscriptions.  At the Yeary Library, we also have a large microfilm collection, and microfilm reader/printers, containing back issues of some our most important periodical titles.  On the library web page, and at the Periodicals Desk (where questions about periodicals are answered), listings of our paper collection can be found, both by title and subject.  Periodicals are useful for research because they report on current or contemporary issues of importance, just as books give more historical or established insights basic to a field.  Most research involves a combination of book and periodical research.

Online Databases

Online periodical databases have two advantages over paper-based sources: the first is the number of databases the library has access to and the second is the fact that many databases contain millions of separate citations or full-text articles which can be printed out in their entirety.  The scope and ease of online searching, combined with high authority, have made these resources popular with students already eager for time-saving devices.

Internet Resources

Be cautious of what you get from surfing the World Wide Web.  Sometimes you can obtain excellent material, especially on very unusual or specific topics, other times very little of quality.  Be aware also that you can spend hours hung up on the Net looking for an infobyte when a reference book could give you the same information in seconds.  Good researchers also know the strengths and weaknesses of the various sources they are using.

There are some things to keep in mind to help ensure the quality and authority of web materials, especially for college-level research.  For example, a web address with extension ".edu" stands for "educational institution"--being associated with an institution of higher learning helps guarantee that the particular website is reliable.  Similarly, anything with the extension ".gov" indicates that it comes from a governmental source--also an indicator of reliable information.  Of mixed worth is ".org", for "organization."  If this is the Red Cross, you will need to use your judgment as to the site's utility--it's almost certainly reliable; but if the "org." is a site devoted to capital punishment or cloning, its members are likely to be expressing strong views of a particular type and these may not always be balanced.  As for ".com", well, the extension stands for "commerical," so they are tyring to sell you something; this is the least reliable type of site as to authority and objectivity.  Get used to scanning web addresses to spot the various extensions they contain.