Current
Location: Section V - Identifying the Appropriate Databases -- Books from World
CAT through FirstSearch
[
Top ] : [ Module 3 ] : Section V -
Identifying the Appropriate Databases --
Books from World CAT through FirstSearch
Course
Documents
SECTION V
Identifying the appropriate databases – Books from World
CAT through First Search
After observing the behavior of Librarians for many years I have
come to the conclusion that in the mind of the Librarian there are two
categories of literature: Books and not-Books. For books there are two
places to look on-line: World CAT and the CSUN Online Library Catalog. WorldCat
is the more important for DE students because it is used to order books for
delivery. However, the University On-Line Catalog can provide some
interesting extra data on books such as, related Subject Headings, Call Numbers,
location and whether or not the book is checked out.
The CSUN Library contains one of the most impressive collections
of books in the country related to the topic of Communication Disorders and
Sciences, thanks to the diligence of our librarian, Marcia Henry! To search for
and obtain these books, we can log into a database called World CAT. Like
the University Library Catalog, this is really nothing more than a computerized
version of what used to be the old Library Card Catalog. For the one or two
students in the program who are over 60 you may remember those cabinets with
drawers and drawers of cards for all of the books, that used to be in the front
of every library. The cabinets and cards are gone now, and in their place
we have computers and a software called World CAT. World CAT is a
computer accessed on-line database that can be used not only to find out if the
CSUN Library has a book (or journal) but also if any Library, State or Nation
wide has it in their collection. This is not just of academic
interest, because if a Library other than CSUN has the book, it may be in a
location near to you and you may be able to go there and check it out!
And in the near future, many of these book themselves will be on-line, text and
all, and you will have access to them from your home computer. Of course,
most of the books at CSUN are listed in World CAT, although, specific
information, such as call numbers and availability, is not included. Let
me also underscore the fact that you can find out through WorldCat (and the
University Library Catalog too) whether or not our Library has a certain Journal. But,
you cannot, of course, search for particular articles in that Journal.
For that you must go to other databases, which we will discuss later.
For DE Students it is very easy to access World CAT. But before we do,
let me first mention the “middle man,” called FIRST SEARCH. The
University does not maintain World CAT directly. Instead, it subscribes
to a service that does maintain it. We, as students and faculty of CSUN, have
access through the University to this service. The name of the service is
FIRST SEARCH. It not only has the World CAT database, but many of the
non-Book (journals, newspapers, documents etc.) databases that we will need
also to do our research.
When we log into FIRST SEARCH for a book database (like World CAT)
or a database for journals (such as Medline), the screen will always look
pretty much the same. Here is an example:
First Search
(featuring WorldCat)
Although there will be some nuances that are not shared between
the databases on FIRST SEARCH, it will be easy to forget which database we are
using. But FIRST SEARCH will always have it posted in the gray stripe
above and to the right (where the arrow is in our picture above).
For
a very helpful, brief tutorial-like introduction to FIRST SEARCH and how to use
it, check out the following URL…
http://library.csun.edu/i-fs.html
As I said before, for DE Students it is very easy to access World
CAT from the DE Com. Dis. Library Home page.
http://library.csun.edu/mhenry/de-comdis.html
Just click in the “WorldCat” link
under the heading: “Books and Articles CSUN Owns: Request on
FirstSearch ” (see the illustration below).
Communication Disorders Distance Learners: Databases and Document Delivery (Upper Left Quadrant)
When First Search opens on the screen, it will be
focused on the WorldCat database. You are ready to begin your
search.
Let me say again that linking into the tutorial on how to
use FirstSearch, mentioned above, would be well worth your while before you do
this. Also please explore on Marcia Henry’s DE Home page…
http://library.csun.edu/mhenry/de-comdis.html
…under the heading “Books and Document
Delivery,”
the process of
getting an “Inter Library Loan,” which you, as a DE student,
will use to get books you need delivered from the CSUN Library for your
research papers.
Also explore all the pull-down menus, and remember that in most
cases, the instructions for what you need to do are posted somewhere on the
screen.
One of the big decisions we have to make first in our search for a
book is, what the strategy will be for the search. I could use, for example “keywords” as opposed
to “author” or a phrase in the “title.” And the keywords I might select off the
top of my head might be “communication, disabled and devices.”
Searching for Books inWorldCat through FirstSearch
I might wish to limit the search to English since I don’t
speak more than one language; and I might also want to arrange the findings by
date so I have the most recent books listed first.
Limiting Search and Sorting by Date Books in WorldCat
through FirstSearch
This strategy, as simple as it is, yields some productive
references: 241 in all of which
176 are books.
Reference 13 thru
16 of 241 located by WorldCat through FirstSearch
I am looking for a book that is in our CSUN Library since these
are the only ones that I can get delivered as a Distance Education
Student. One way I know the book
is in the CSUN Library is that the reference will include the following icon
“ 
.“ WorldCat includes this icon if it has been notified
that CSUN has the book. If the
icon is not there, it may be recommended that we check the CSUN Library Catalog
to see if the book has been obtained yet.
If the book is not in the CSUN Library, we may wish to see what
libraries do have it. Although I
can’t have it delivered through
Inter Library Loan, I may find one library, which has the
reference in my vicinity. In the example
above 176 libraries Nation wide have the book. I can get a list of them by clicking on the “Libraries
World Wide” link…
Universities that
Own the Reference Listed by WorldCat
through FirstSearch
If I live near CSU at Chico, for example, I can go to that library
in person and check out the book.
Notice the icon that is included at the end of the reference that
is owned by CSUN: “
.” This is a link that will take you
directly to the reference in the CSUN Library Catalog where more information,
like the Call Number, can be obtained.
If I go to the full reference in WorldCat, I can also get some
important information. Besides the
usual name, author, publisher and description etc., I will also find some
subject descriptors or terms.
These could be very useful particularly if I only had found a few
references using my terms “disabled, communication and devices.” Other terms, for example may include “Communication
Aids for Disabled.”
The Full Book
Reference located by WorldCat through FirstSearch
If I decide this is a book that I want, I can go to the top of the
reference page and click on the Inter Library Loan Icon, “
.”
Inter Library Loan
Link for Book Reference located by WorldCat
through FirstSearch
This link will lead us to a form, which we can fill out (using among other things our 14 digit bar code, and noting that our status is Distance Education) and submit on-line to have the book delivered to us.
On-line Inter Library Loan form located by WorldCat through FirstSearch
Please note any references to the time it takes to get the book to you and the date the book must be returned.
Let’s look now at the CSUN Library Catalog (Section VI) to see how it differs.