Librarian's Guide to Online Searching - Softcover

"It is obvious throughout this volume that the author works in the trenches and knows the subject matter. The information given is basic in the right places and more complex when necessary. It would be a useful tool for pre-librarians or working librarians, and the early chapters would be helpful to the general researcher." - VOYA "In this Internet Age, database users soon learn how invaluable search strategies and effective search skills can be in the quest for information. This book suggests ways to obtain these skills, while providing a general introduction to searching online environments. Starting with historical background, the author discusses database structure-records, fields, and indexes-and continues exploring basic search concepts, including Boolean logic, controlled vocabulary, proximity searching, and truncation. Subsequent chapters focus on commercial databases in specific subject areas. Other chapters examine information seeking behaviors, reference interviews, database evaluation, and teaching others about databases. The content is practical, user-friendly, and enhanced by screenshots, exercises, and supplementary materials. Full of helpful advice and insightful commentary, this text is an outstanding reference tool." - Booklist/Professional Reading "This guide is useful to librarians and library science students wishing to increase their online searching skills. This book can serve as a resource to help improve searching databases....As budget limitations are being announced for libraries, librarians will need to evaluate and justify database subscriptions or renewals of these resources. Index. Recommended." - Library Media Connection "This is a really good and comprehensive textbook which covers all relevant aspects of online retrieval and bridges a gap in the market. For academic libraries this book is a must-have... For library schools, it is recommended to use as a textbook in class in the undergraduate studies." - E-LIS "Many librarians will admit that online searching is one of the more pleasurable and rewarding professional activities. This book makes the process all the more enjoyable and is a thoroughly comprehensive and intelligently compiled work." - Online Information Review, 31,6 "LG covers the basics that haven't changed over 35 years, even as the interfaces have altered dramatically. Good snline searchers, reference librarians, and library instruction librarians still need to know about file structure fields, Boolean logic, proximity, truncation, indexing, etc. Bell covers this nitty-gritty....Students may be overwhelmed at first, but the advice reflects Bell's experience as an academic reference librarian: don't be afraid to take on even difficult and scary challenges, such as finding numeric data or helping someone search a system that you don't know very well....[v]aluable for its general approach, underlying explanations, and strategies. These don't change regardless of the vagaries of specific systems. That's what we must focus on when we teach search." - Library Journal

To succeed as searchers, all librarians require both a basic idea of how databases are put together, and a repository of concepts and techniques to draw upon. With such essentials well in hand, the searcher can plunge into almost any database that comes along and master its intricacies (and idiosyncrasies) in relatively short order. Bell's conversational style, coupled with her Searcher's Toolbox, promises increased flexibility and adaptability. This book will prove a handy guide for librarians in every conceivable information environment and across all levels of experience.