Librarian's Guide to Online Searching: Cultivating Database Skills for Research and Instruction

Understanding and navigating online databases is an essential skill for today's librarians, but staying current in this changing landscape can be a challenge. The fifth edition of this vital book ensures that you meet that challenge.

Today's librarians not only need to know about existing databases and how to perform searches within them but must also be able to teach search capabilities and strategies to library users. This practical guide introduces librarians to a broad spectrum of the fee-based and freely-available databases that are available, some of which are new to this edition, and explains their underlying information structures as well as updates to some standard databases. In addition, it covers search strategies, provides criteria for evaluating databases, and discusses how to teach others about databases.

As in the previous edition, this book takes a "real world approach," covering everything from basic and advanced search tools to online subject databases. Each chapter includes a thorough discussion, recap, concrete examples, exercises, and points to consider, making this an ideal text for courses in database searching as well as a trustworthy professional resource.

Christopher C. Brown is reference technology integration librarian at the University of Denver, Main Library, Denver, Colorado. He is also the library's coordinator of government documents.

Suzanne S. Bell is the former business librarian at the University of Rochester and an adjunct instructor for the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Her previous positions have included computer science librarian at the Rochester Institute of Technology and at Carnegie Mellon University, Internet education specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and economics librarian at the University of Rochester. Bell has a master's degree in library science.