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The most intelligent and successful people surround themselves with others who know more than they.
Make your project a successful one by surrounding yourself with the library staff: they know more than you do.
Did you know that, like scholars, librarians have different areas of expertise?
Their job is to help you and they are ready willing and able to do so.
It’s easy to find the right librarian
If at all possible, work at a computer on the second floor of the library.
The computers there are located next to the reference desk, which is where the reference librarians work.
Reference librarians’ area of expertise is research.
They know how and where to locate info.
You will often find reference librarians walking the computer isles announcing that their willingness to help students.
Be smart and work on the second floor. If you have a question or a problem, then go to the reference desk and ask for assistance or advice on the best way to proceed.
Give the reference librarian some useful information.
Tell him or her what topic you are researching, and that you need two books and many articles on the subject.
Ask how to search various microfilm/microfische collections.
Make certain to stress that you are only interested in peer-reviewed journals.
Turn one hit into many
Did you know that books on similar topics are shelved nearby one another?
When you locate a book and go to the shelf, take a moment to carefully examine the books on either side of it.
Chances are they too are books that relate to your topic.
Mine the library shelves.
Did you know that journals often devote an entire issue to one topic?
If you pull an article from a shelved or stacked journal, then look through the table of contents and think about the titles of the other articles.
They too may relate to your topic.
Mine the journal’s table of contents.
Recap
Ask the reference librarian.
Give the reference librarian useful information.
Turn one hit into many.
Mine the library shelves.
Mine the journal’s table of contents.