Chemistry 30A

Inorganic Chemistry for Health Occupations

Getting to this page:

• Go to the Library home page ( libwww.cabrillo.edu)
• Click on Internet Links, then click on Chemistry
• Scroll down to Course Related Materials and click on Chem 30A

Libraries come in all sizes and flavors, from a 10,000 volume small branch public library to a 10 million volume university library. Virtually all libraries now have web catalogs, functioning pretty much the same. To use a library catalog most effectively, you want to tailor your approach to the size and kind of library it is. With smaller libraries and public libraries, your best bet is often to use a broad general search via Keyword, or Word, or similar options. Using a large research library effectively, however, typically requires using official Library of Congress Subject Headings, as well as other available searching tools. Of course, no matter what tool you are using, a good search is an iterative one: search with the information you have, learn something (terms, spelling, concepts, etc.), then search again. Also, Subject Headings found in one catalog can almost always be used in another catalog to find more, or different, materials.

Let's look at a few library catalogs:

• Cabrillo College Library (library.cabrillo.edu): a small college library (90,000 items)
• Santa Cruz Public Library (catalog.santacruzpl.org): a small public library system (561,000 items)
• UCSC Library ( cruzcat.ucsc.edu): a small research library (over 1 million items)
• MELVYL, the UC-wide catalog (melvyl.cdlib.org): a research library system (28 million items)
• Library of Congress (catalog.loc.gov): the largest library in the world (138 million items)

Each information resource has its own search methods for you to use, from point-and-click handholding to lots of refinement and focusing options for zeroing in on just the right information. One of the most powerful search tools is called Boolean searching, a fancy way of saying you can use AND, OR, and NOT logic.

Narrows a search, requiring more than one condition to be present.	Broadens a search, used with synonyms or equivalent concepts.	Narrows a search by excluding one or more terms. Use with caution...

This logic may look different in different search tools, but it always works as described above. You can often use parentheses to separate the concepts in your search to make sure the computer does not produce unintended results.

Other key search techniques that can be used in many search tools:

Now let's see how these techniques can be used in various information sources:

• Cabrillo Library Catalog, ProQuest & EBSCOhost databases: (california or oregon) and (exam* or test*) and "real estate"
• Google search engine: california OR oregon exam OR test "real estate"
• eBay auction site: (california,oregon) (exam*,test*) "real estate"

Librarian secret #437: search order matters! Many search engines make the assumption that records with your terms in the order you entered them are better, or that the first words you enter are your most important words. Because of this, you'll get the best results by putting your search terms in the order you'd most likely expect to find them. In Google, compare the records retrieved with the following searches:

• restaurants "santa cruz" pacific versus pacific restaurants "santa cruz"
• bacon olives recipes versus olives bacon recipes

Databases come in many flavors. General databases cover lots of different subject areas and include both general and specialized audience information. Specialty databases focus on more specialized publications in one subject area. You find more specialized information as well as more specialized terms in specialty databases, the "insider lingo," different from the more general-audience publications and terms found in general databases.

ProQuest Newspapers (a typical collection of newspaper articles)

• From the library homepage ( libwww.cabrillo.edu):
• Click on Full Text Articles (in News category)
• Click on ProQuest Newspapers
• Try these searches:
  • bends and diving compared to "decompression sickness" and diving
  • stomach flu compared to gastroenteritis
  • dandruff compared to seborrhea

Now, try the same searches in CINAHL Plus (a specialized medical database)

• From the library homepage ( libwww.cabrillo.edu):
• Click on Full Text Articles
• Click on CINAHL Plus with Full text (in Health & Medicine category)
• Try these searches:
  • bends and diving compared to "decompression sickness" and diving
  • stomach flu compared to gastroenteritis
  • dandruff compared to seborrhea

Anyone can publish on the Web. Does that mean that  anyone can produce good, reliable information? It is very important to evaluate what you find. In searching the web, you want to use resources that are not only current (if necessary) and relevant to your topic, but also from reliable, believable sources. Ask yourself questions like:

• Who produces or runs the website?
  • Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie
• Is there any obvious bias? Are they trying to persuade you, or sell you something?
  • Republican Party website
  • Democratic Party website
• Can you tell where their information comes from? Remember, anyone can claim anything!
  • Continental Drift Webcam
  • Wikipedia encyclopedia

• Chapter 4 exercises (c4.cabrillo.edu/chem30a/exercises/Exer_1/index.html)
• Chem 30A Chime Exercises (c4.cabrillo.edu/chem30a/exercises/exerhome.html)

Georg Romero, 10/09