Library Resources

Need help with your research? Contact:

TREXLER LIBRARY CATALOG
Search the Trexler Library Catalog (http://library.muhlenberg.edu) to find books, videos, cds, government publications, etc. the library owns.

A keyword search produces a broad list of results. Use with Boolean Operators. Use OR between like concepts or synonyms. Use AND between different concepts. Example: football and salary

A subject heading search produces a small, exact list of results. Use the Library of Congress Subject Headings to limit your search to a specific subject. Example: Professional Team Sports

WORLDCAT
To expand your journal search considerably, try WorldCat. Follow the path: Trexler Library Home Page - Finding Books - WorldCat. WorldCat is a unified catalog of many libraries in the U.S. and other parts of the world. This is a powerful search tool for books, web resources, and other materials on any subject. It will list area libraries if there are any that have that title in their collection.


OTHER LIBRARIES
As a Muhlenberg student, you have access and borrowing privileges to a number of college libraries in the Lehigh Valley. The Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges includes Cedar Crest College, DeSales University, Lafayette College, Lehigh University, and Moravian College.
The web page for Other Libraries (http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/books/other_libraries.html) will give you online access to their catalogs.

E-ZBORROW
A new lending system, E-ZBorrow allows you to request books directly from the owning libraries. The books will be delivered to Trexler Library and held for you at the Circulation Counter. The E-ZBorrow system currently handles requests only for books. Follow the path: Trexler Library Home Page - Finding Books - E-ZBorrow.


ELECTRONIC DATABASES FOR JOURNALS
Follow the path: Trexler Library Home Page - Finding Articles - Periodicals and Databases - Alphabetical List

General Databases

Academic Search Premier contains full text for more than 4,000 scholarly and popular journals covering academic areas like the medical sciences, ethnic studies, education, humanities, etc.

JStor is full-text database with some of the best research journals. Back runs may go back as far as the late 1800s.

Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe is a full-text database of major newspapers, newswires, select trade journals and magazines. Also features country information, state and federal codes and case law.

OmniFile (WilsonWeb) is a full-text "mega" database whose scope includes all academic disciplines.

Subject Specific Databases

America: History & Life indexes and abstracts over 2,000 journals that reference history of the United States and Canada.

Business Source Elite provides full text coverage from the world's top management and marketing journals including Business Week, Forbes, Harvard Buisness Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, etc. It also includes company profiles for the world's largest companies.

General Science and Biological & Agricultural Index both index scholarly and popular periodicals which have information on biology and agriculture plus many more scientific topics. Full text of some journals available.

Health Source indexes and abstracts over 550 journals focusing on many medical dicsciplines. Full text of many of these is available.

PsycInfo covers psychology literature and related disciplines from 1887 to the present. This includes medicine, sociology, and education.

Sociological Abstracts provides access to the latest research in sociology and related disciplines in the social behavioral sciences from 1963 to the present. Topics include community development, culture and social structure, demography, human biology, and family and social welfare.

JOURNAL LOCATOR
To check to see if Trexler Library has access to a journal title, try the Journal Locator.
Follow the path: Trexler Library Home Page - Finding Articles - Journal Locator.
Once there type in the name of the journal you are looking for. The locator will then inform you that there is either "O records retrieved" or will indicate access points for the journal. Access points include full text in one of the library's journal databases or print holdings which would be on the shelves in the library.


INTERLIBRARY LOAN
Books and journals not found in Trexler Library can be ordered through Interlibrary Loan (http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/more/ill/index.html).
Remember, start early to allow enough time to receive them. It could take anywhere from 7 days to 2 weeks.


SEARCHING THE WWW
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/more/wwwsearch/index.html

FYI: Search Engines vs. Directories

Search engines like Google (http://www.google.com) will "crawl" out on the web and link to a particular URL and then index all URLS that are linked to that page. Descriptions or annotations in these search engine catalogs are generated by the software.
Directories contain sites that have been selected and reviewed by people. A number of these directories provide their own annotations to sites, enhancing the information you will find about a site. Librarians' Index to the Internet (http://lii.org) is a good example of a directory.

While search engines differ, a number accept the following, or have an equivalent system for carrying out similar operations:

Navigating Principles:

1. Use + to include words, - to exclude them.
2. The truncation symbol *, allows you to cut a word to the root and pull up varient endings.
3. To search by phrase, enclose the phrase in "double quotation marks".
4. Using capital letters usually look for exact match; when it doubt use lower case for your searches.
5. Look for a "limit" or "refine" search feature, that allows you to narrow your results by date, format or field.
6. If field searching is available, it will allow you to search the entire catalog by url, text, title word, anchor, image, filename, etc. (i.e., see Altavista and Hotbot).
7. Look for Page buttons at the bottom of the screen, that allows you to skip around to pages on similar topics.
8. "Advanced search", sometimes called "Power search", options generally shut off relevancy ranking and allow you to use Boolean Logic and proximity operators (AND, OR, NOT and NEAR) to control your results. These words are generally accepted in all caps, or have symbols that can be substituted.

Our Tips:

1. Look for on screen help to review search commands and features.
2. Look for a FAQ for information on who is putting it together, and what the scope or content is.
3. In many search engines, you will get the best search by using several keywords to look for what you are after.

The WWW offers us an opportunity to find information and data from all over the world. Because so much information is available and since that information can appear to be fairly "anonymous", it is necessary to develop skills to evaluate what you find. Since anyone can write a web page excellent resources exist along side the most dubious on the web. Below is a checklist of what you should look for on a web page before using it as a resource.

First look at the web suffixes:
.com indicates a commercial source. Beware of information slanted in favor of that company's product or industry.
.edu addresses originate from colleges and universities, but this includes students' homepages as well as the official institution.
.gov indicates a government agency. This kind of information is of an official nature and generally as accurate as can be expected.
.int international organizations like NATO.
.mil military organizations.
.net companies or organizations that run large networks.
.org indicates a non profit institution, which may provide useful information, but may be biased toward a particular viewpoint.

Interpreting the basics:
Accuracy -- web page free of errors, check accuracy of dates, and can data be verified?
Authority -- who is responsible for the page, check the url of the document and look for credentials?
Objectivity -- what is the purpose of the page, who is the intended audience, what subjects/issues are covered, is the page biased, how detailed is the information, what opinions are expressed, and are the opinions stated as facts?
Currency -- when was the page created, last updated, how many dead links are there and is the information on the page outdated?
Coverage -- is the scope of the page clearly stated, bibliography present, how does it compare to other web sites on the same subject?
Design -- is the page clearly set up and the information logically displayed, balance of text and images, easy to navigate?

"LET THE READER BEWARE!"
All information, whether in print or on the web, needs to be evaluated by readers. If you find information that is "too good to be true", it probably is. Never use information that you cannot verify. Question, question, question before you use the page.

CITING SOURCES
No matter where your information comes from, you always need to cite your sources. This is necessary to give the author proper credit for his or her work, as well as so that you or someone else could retrace the steps you took during your research. The following page list many examples of how to cite sources using different styles.

Citation Guides (http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/reshelp/citations.html)
Follow the path: Trexler Library Home Page - Research Help - Citation Guides