A Guide to Library Research Methods - Hardcover

Mann, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195049438 ISBN 13: 9780195049435

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1987

Synopsis

In this age of information explosion, job hunters, students, professionals and researchers have long needed a comprehensive yet user-friendly handbook to guide them through the bewildering maze of resources now available. This book, written by a reference librarian at the Library of Congress, introduces a distinctive, new approach to the fact-finding process. It provides an exceptional overview not only of the range of materials that exist, but, more importantly, of the several conceptual options that individuals have in using them.
Dr. Mann's problem-solving technique emphasizes seven different research methods that can be applied to any inquiry. These can be used as a set of easily remembered "mental pegs" that enables individuals to get further into a subject more quickly, and with less wasted effort. While using the more conventional research models that categorise sources by type-of-literature (dictionaries, almanacs, etc.) and by subject discipline (Business, English, Psychology, etc.), the author's approach enables individuals to pursue their inquiries in a cross-disciplinary and more thorough fashion.
The seven research methods described include computer searches, subject heading inquiries, bibliographies, systematic browsing, key word searches and citation searches, and more. Mann discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the several methods (for example, the pitfalls of relying exclusively on computer searches), the use of unique sources like the National Union Catalog, and the treasures to be found in frequently neglected sources like special collections, microform sets, and government documents. An invaluable feature of the book is its provision of numerous examples of actual searches, including examples of the mistakes and omissions that most people (even university professors) are guilty of, without ever realizing that they have gone off the best track.
Library Research Methods should be required reading for every individual--whether scholar or journalist, law student or scientist--who has ever asked, "Where should I start to find out about this?"

About this title

About the Author

About the author:
Thomas Mann received his Ph.D. from Loyola University of Chicago and his M.L.S. degree from Louisiana State University. A former private investigator, he is now a general reference librarian in the Main Reading Room of the Library of the Congress.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Genuine learning should obviously be a broadening rather than a limiting experience; and in doing research the most important lesson to learn is that any source is fair game. One should always go to wherever the information needed is most likely to be, and very often this will be in someone's head rather than in a book. (Remember, too, though, that you can travel "full circle" from talking to an expert to get back into literature-for usually the expert will know the best written sources, and can thereby offer valuable shortcuts that will make library research much more efficient.)

While most researchers have had, at one time or another, experiences of serendipitous discovery in a library, many of them regard such experiences as more due to luck than to the system. But it is actually the system that is working in such cases-and if you are aware of this, you can exploit that system consciously and deliberately rather than haphazardly.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0195049438
• ISBN 13: 9780195049435
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224