Dig Deeper into MeL with Primary Sources

MAME 2010 Lansing, MI

Suzanne Robinson, MeL Databases Training Coordinator, MCLS

MeL is a project of the Library of Michigan, an agency of the state government. The Library of Michigan contracts with MCLS and partners with a number of Michigan organizations and institutions to provide MeL services.

This service is funded in part by the State of Michigan through the Library of Michigan. Additional project support comes from the Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) via the Institute of Museum and Library Services(IMLS).

MeL Credits

Spice things up

Bring subjects to life

Better understanding

Why use primary sources?

Engage students

Develop higher level thinking skills

Learn new ways to apply knowledge

Assume “from the time period”

Firsthand knowledge or reporting

Not retrospective

Recognizing

Books Pamphlets Essays Diaries Serials Gov docs Maps

Comic books & graphic novels

Manuscripts Archival materials Realia

What are primary sources?

Tablets Visual materials Music, sheet music Sound recordings Dissertations

Interviews Emails Tweets Text messages Census data

Original Microform Digitized Scanned or ASCII text

What kinds of formats?

Secondhand knowledge After the event with analysis,

interpretation,etc. Conveying experiences and/or opinions of

others One step removed

What are secondary sources?

I.E., many sources reviewed, analyzed, different viewpoints taken into account, third party accounts, newspaper reports, etc.

How does the author know? Was the author at the scene? Where does the information come from? Based on single piece of evidence or multiple

sources?

What to ask

MeL Michigana Sabin Michigan collection Academic OneFile Opposing Viewpoints Gale Virtual Ref Library eLibrary, eLib Elem Culturegrams

Where in MeL?

OAIster MeLCat Worldcat.org Library of Congress

http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/primarysources/primarysources.html

http://www.princeton.edu/~refdesk/primary2.html

My sources…

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/

http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/history/resources/pubs/usingprimarysources

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/04/world/germany-america-map/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2

http://www.imls.gov/keeping_oral_history_alive_in_a_digital_world.aspx

http://dohistory.org/

http://guides.library.ucsc.edu/primarysecondary

robinson@mcls.org

QUESTIONS?