Basic Library Skills, 5th ed. - Softcover

Wolf, Carolyn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786426357 ISBN 13: 9780786426355

Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2006

Synopsis

This brand new edition of Wolf's acclaimed work provides a self-contained, short course in essential library skills for patrons of college, high school and public libraries. The intent is to provide a quick and easy way to learn to do library research. The exercises contained herein give students hands-on experience by applying rules stated in the text to situations that approach real "research problems."

Subjects addressed include a brief tour of the library; card catalogs and cataloging systems; filing rules; online public access catalogs; subject searching; bibliographies; book reviews and parts of a book; dictionaries; encyclopedias; handbooks; atlases; gazetteers; periodicals; newspapers; online database searching and reference sources; literature and criticism; e-books; government information and government documents; biographies; business, career and consumer information; non-print materials and special services; online computer use in libraries and schools; and hints for writing term papers.

Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

About this title

About the Author

Carolyn Wolf is professor emeritus of Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York. Currently a reference librarian at Francis T. Bourne Jacaranda Public Library, she lives in Venice, Florida.

Reviews

Intended for patrons in college, high-school, and public libraries, this fifth edition of Basic Library Skills is dated. The chapter on "Online Database Searching and Reference Sources" is eight pages long but should include many more resources. Only two search engines are named, with very little description of how and when to use them. Google Scholar is increasingly important to students and researchers, and it is not mentioned. E-books are becoming an integral part of every library collection, but the "E-Books" chapter is just four pages long. The "Periodical and Newspapers" chapter only mentions print indexes, which are very rarely used by undergraduates today. Several chapters mention collections of telephone books, which few libraries currently maintain. In sum, this book is no longer relevant and useful to today's students and researchers, nor would they be likely to use a book: a Web tutorial on library research would see many more "hits." Susan Awe
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: McFarland & Company
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0786426357
• ISBN 13: 9780786426355
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 5
• Number of pages: 216