Submitted December 2

1. Find full-text articles on:
   • Social Book marking
   • Digital Resource Management

             The first step in finding these articles is to determine which databases would provide relevant material.  Since I was not sure what was meant by the term “social book marking” I searched both sociology and literary databases.  The first database I searched was Academic Search Premier, since it seemed like it might contain articles that would fall under each category.  Searching the term “social book marking” produced no results.  However, when I changed book marking to bookmarking, I found a relevant full text article that        defines social bookmarking:

            *Hodge, B. (2006). Social services. New Statesman, 135(4799), 56.

            Next, I searched for “digital resource management.  I found the following relevant article:

            *Neal-Schuman releases new digitization handbook and internet management book. (2001). Computers in Libraries, 21(2), 14.

            This article discusses a book about the topic of digital resource management.

            The key to finding relevant articles resides in the using the best search terms (and combination of search terms) possible.  I have found that patience is the key to success.  Sometimes it takes trying different combinations of search words to find the correct result, as was demonstrated in the first example when book marking (as two separate words) produced no results.  One nice feature about the EBSCOhost database (and most databases) is that searches can be limited to full text articles.  I use this option at work often, as many students who approach me in search of an article need it immediately and cannot wait for it to be obtained via interlibrary loan.

2. I need to advertise a Summer Institute on International Librarianship that will take place at Durban, South Africa. I need some background information as well as images to put on the brochure. How will you find the information needed to satisfy the information needed to produce the brochure?  Provide some images of the attractions in Durban.

    The first step in meeting the needs of this question is to find images of Durban, South Africa.  I began the search on Google.com.  Using the term “Durban, South Africa” and limiting the search to images, over 23,000 were produced. 

           In order to find background information, I conducted a web search using the same terms, Durban, South Africa.  I found the official website for the area: www.durban.kzn.org.za/durban/.  The official website is not only reliable, but it provides information on attractions, restaurants, hotels, tourism services, etc.  Furthermore, the website even has an electronic brochure which could be used for getting ideas for the brochure on the Summer Institute on International Librarianship.

3. Locate information on free books for Doctors on the Internet.
   • Using a search engine – Using Google.com, I searched for the terms “free books” and doctors (together).  Over 484,000 results were produced.
   • Directory – Internettutorials.net/subject.html appeared like it would be too broad to give me the results I wanted.  However, I decided to give it a try.  On this site, I found a “web metasearch.”  A search for free books and doctors produced eight results, the majority of which appeared to be relevant.
   • Meta Search Engine – On dogpile.com a search using the same terms only produced 90 results. I found this surprising.  I had expected dogpile.com to produce more results than google.com, since it covered multiple search engines.  One advantage to having fewer results is that it is easier to sift through them all. 
   • Invisible web – Completeplanet.com only gave me two results when I searched for free books and doctors.  A second search using only the term “free books” under the subject health produced more results (249); however, they did not seem to be relevant.

   It was interesting to compare the different types of search engines for the purpose of this assignment. I did note that the most useful results overlapped (for example, FreeBooks4Doctors appeared a number of times).  An invisible web search seemed to be the least helpful, while Google was very helpful.  Directories can be helpful if a few introductory steps are taken before reaching the appropriate search page.  It seems to be more helpful in proving background information about the internet.

4. I need to find a Table of Contents Service for my special library collection. Which is the online database of choice for this question? Provide the answer and how I can contact the vendor.

                        From the Buley Library webpage, I found a link to LibrarySpot, a “virtual library   resource center for educators and students, librarians and their patrons, families, businesses and just about anyone exploring the Web for valuable research information.” This description led me to believe that from this site I could be taken to a list of library vendors.  Under the Librarian’s Shelf section, I selected the link to “general resources.”  I chose the cataloging link, the internet library for librarians.  Here, I conducted a search for the term vendors and was eventually brought to a list entitled “Library Systems and Database Vendors.”  There were 21 entries on the list.  Cybertools? for Libraries stood    out to me as one vendor that could provide a table of contents service.  This vendor can be reached by calling 1-800-894-9206.

          While it seemed to take me a while to find this information, now that I know it exists, the next time I need to find similar information I will know how to get to this website (prior to this, I did not know that such a resource even existed)

5. Can you provide information on the results of the 2004 presidential election that shows the states won by each candidate? Preferably with a map or table.

        I tried finding this answer by searching the Buley Library for a useful database.  I searched by the subject political science.  While I could find plenty of journal articles, I was not able to find any visual results.  I also searched the “useful links” section, in the hope that the websites that were “linked” might have some images.  After a few failed attempts, I simply searched Google.com for “2004 presidential election results.”  I came across a section of Wikipedia that appeared to have the answer.  Since Wikipedia is a reliable source, I was confident that the results were accurate.  An image was taken from this site.

 Source: United States presidential election, 2004, retrieved December 2, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presidential_election,_2004.