Resource Centre Introduction and Quick Guide

The Challenge  Within six weeks, develop a system simple enough to be used with limited training  No money  No appropriate software

Voila!

Mission accomplished

Kinds of Resources found  Books  Magazines  Loose sheets: articles, reports, website printouts, theses.  Audio Visual: VHS, DVD, CDROM, MiniDV  Ephemera: pamphlets, brochures, posters, etc

Four main areas of Collection  Monographs (main area of collection)  Magazines  Resource Boxes  Resource Binders

Library of Congress Cont.  Main Areas of the LC classification system are marked with a single letter  Principle subdivisions marked with an added letter  Classes are further divided by numbers  Books are arranged on each shelf according to classification, and within each class, alphabetically by author.  P (language and literature)  PR (English literature)  PR I53  PR C82 (Currie)

Three Ways to locate Information  Browsing: physical shelves, or electronic catalog by subject categories  Perform a search

Browsing  Browse Physical shelves  Notice headings  Example: Edmonton History  Resource Box: Edmonton  Resource Binder: History

Browsing Cont.  Religion: - B philosophy, Psychology, Religion - BP Islam, Bahaism, Theosophy - BV Practical Theory - BX Christian Denominations

Example: Heaven is Near the Rocky Mountains Author: Hugh A. Dempsey Subject: Missionaries -- Canada, Western - Correspondence. Missionaries -- Canada, Western - Correspondence. Cree Indians -- Missions. LC: BV 2813 W66 A6

Perform a Search  Access the PDF version of the Catalog, and perform a search.  Generate synonyms – include broader terms and narrower terms.  Each title has a list of Subject Headings  Will also search title lists of magazine boxes and resource binders

Do all three!  A Truly effective search would include all three strategies.  Browsing alone will cause you to miss titles. - How they are classified depends on the dominant nature of the work.

Keyword and Synonym Challenge  Divide into two teams of equal numbers  You have 7 minutes to come up with the most number of synonyms you can for the topic. Include broader terms and narrower terms.  The team that gets the most number of relevant synonyms wins bragging rights!  Petroleum

Petroleum  Synonyms/related words: oil, texas tea, juice, petrol, crude, crude oil, fossil rock, rock oil, fossil fuel, mineral oil, natural gas, fuel oil, heating fuel  Broader terms: fuels, energy, energy sources power, raw material, liquid fuels, drilling, non-renewable resources, [Mining?]  Narrower terms: gas, gasoline, petrochemicals, propane