Navigating the Library: Faculty Workshop

The academic library can feel like a mysterious and ever-changing entity -that somehow boils down to a paragon of bookishness (if that's a word).  While books are part of the program, this guide (which accompanies a workshop sponsored by CTLE) will help you learn about new library research techniques, new and expanded services, and to validate the skills you already possess (helping to dissuade imposter syndrome).

Validating your ideas & staying current 
Finding just the main ideas and context helps frame your own research ideas -make a point of recording jargon, technical terms, names, populations, etc.  "sort by date" -omit subjects/fields you don't want, etc.

Library Catalog (look in books -and sort by date-newest)
Academic Search Ultimate (mash of every discipline pop+scholar)
US Newsstream (most newspapers across the U.S.)

Top in Major Categories (multiple disciplines)
Engineering Village (mix of engineering disciplines) -search "ballet"
Biological Science Collection (bio sciences) -search "urban planning"
Education Full Text + ERIC (education/policy) -search "public funding" -then sort by "date newest"
MLA International Bibliography (literature, language, rhetoric) -search "diaspora"
Medline (life sciences, medicine) -search humanities AND interdisciplinary
PsychInfo OR Sociological Abstracts (social sciences) -search 

Who is the person to help me and my students with subjects? Library "Campus Guides" -search by subject. see also: Faculty Services OR Graduate & Undergraduate Services

Eclectic, historic, and wild card sources
Use these to discover articles in specific social science disciplines that work well for your topic (or aspects of the problem or solutions presented).  These can contribute to your literature review, so document your searches and download good results.

HathiTrust  (historic books; full-text searching)
   see also Google Ngram
​   see also WorldCat 

JSTOR (try their clever "do my literature review" site)
Proquest Dissertations & Theses -search: RadioHead OR "Led Zeppelin"

Historic Newspapers (for longitudinal media & public zeitgeist studies)
   New York Times Historic
   Los Angeles Times Historic
   Chicago Defender 
   London Times (back to 1785 -neat!)  -search: "Americans"

Women's Magazine Archive (unique run of magazines -with advertising in tact and searchable)

IBISWorld Industry Research (what are cupcake prices affected by?)
Funding Institutional  (search for funding opportunities) -registration required, but worth the time

Library services all the cool kids are talking about
Digital Matters + Digital Humanities (partnership with colleges and the library)
Data Management
Researcher + Author Services 
Suggest a Purchase 
Invite a librarian to work with your class

3D Printing + Virtual Reality
Video Gaming at the Library!? 
High Level Systematic Search Tools
(note: these are typically the high-end of academic scholarship)

Scopus  AND Web of Science -Amazing/Awesome databases, all scholarly:
            tip 1: select "social sciences & humanities" at the search page (unchecking the others).
            tip 2: Do a search and in the results, click "cited by" as the sorting option (right-hand side).  The most cited, most influential articles will now appear at the top.

Google Scholar (fun discovery too, not always complete, but a worthwhile additional place to use)

examples of library assignments & active learning exercises below

Check out the PowerPoint for a quick overview of different tools available to measure scholarly impact.

Dr. Stephen Brookfield | Critical Incident Questionnaire