Information Literacy for Journalists

Gergana Georgieva

Information Literacy Librarian

January 26, 2009

Information Literacy

Information literacy is the ability to identify, locate, evaluate and select information to use it effectively.

Information literacy skills are necessary to conduct a good research.

Research is at the core of every mass communicator’s job

Why IL for Journalists?

A Journalist: Works in an information driven industry Must be effective and efficient about finding

information Has to analyze information to find quality Maintains credibility with accurate information

What Can You Learn from IL

Basic Research Skills Use of reference sources Use of databases Use of online materials Criteria for evaluation of sources Ethical and legal use of this information

The 7 Steps of Research

Identify and develop your topic Find background information Use the online catalog to find books Find periodicals articles (print and

electronic) Find Internet resources Evaluate what you have found Cite what you find using a standard

format for your bibliography

Identify the basic issue Divide the issues into logical

components. Focus on the most significant point of

each component. Brainstorm sources that will provide

information and that will corroborate information already obtained.

Evaluate information. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all sub

issues. Organize the information for

presentation in order of issue significance and impact. Show the sources and provide attribution.

Kessler, Lauren and Duncan McDonald. Uncovering the News: A Journalist’s Search for Information. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1987

The process

Secondary sources

Primary sources

Human sources

Reference Sources

Atlas Dictionary of quotations Encyclopedia Almanacs Biographical sourcebook Governmental Directories Medical dictionary Handbook Phonebook Guide to Reference Books

Statistical Information

Statistical Yearbook (Statisticheski Godishnik): Ref HA1621.A455

Statistical Reference Book (Statisticheski Spravochnik):

Ref HA1621.S832

Reference databases

Encyclopedia Britannica Oxford Reference Online - A collection of over 50 000 articles, 100

reference titles, 1000 links to valuable internet resources.

- Also figures, maps and illustrations.

Reference Database - Bulgaria APIS Law APIS SOFITA APIS Procedures APIS Finance APIS Global

APIS Register www.apis.bg/en

Books Provide:

DepthAuthoritative detailMultiple viewpointsAdditional sources

Limits:Time Timeliness

How to Find Books

AUBG Online Catalog – Virtua VTLS accessible from everywhere in the world.

All library collections are 100% cataloged and searchable through this software. Includes records for books, print and electronic periodicals, atlases, maps, VHS, DVD and CD collections. The Browse and Keyword searches allow you to find materials by Author, Title, Subject, Call Number and Journal Title

Ebrary

Periodicals

Types:

Uses: Check developments Issues into context Ideas for future projects

Find Print Periodicals

Search the online catalog.

Shelved in alphabetical order by title in the Periodicals department.

A list of currently subscribed periodicals

Find Electronic Periodicals

They are collected in various databases, the links to which are on the left side of the web page, listed in alphabetical order.

Another way to access a journal in an AUBG library database is through the Electronic Journal Portal.

The portal serves as a catalog for finding electronic periodicals that are contained in the AUBG library databases

Ciela Infomedia

Ciela Infomedia

Full-texts of the press and the news from the national electronic media

www.ciela.net

User name: AUBGLibrary Password: 01032006

Databases

ABI Inform CEEOL Columbia International Affairs DOAJ EBSCO/Host Databases JSTOR ScienceDirect World Bank databases

ABI/Inform Research

Provides information on advertising, economics, human resources, finance, marketing, computers, etc.

Fast access to information on over 60,000 companies.

The Wall Street Journal. Coverage: 1971 – to current days.

CEEOL

An online archive of full text PDF articles from over 300 humanities and social science journals and re-digitized documents pertaining to Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European topics.

DOAJ

It covers free, full text, quality-controlled scientific and scholarly journals.

Aims to cover all subjects and languages. 3824 journals 1351 journals are searchable at article level. 249752 articles

Columbia International Affairs Online Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO)

is the most comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs.

It publishes a wide range of scholarship from 1991 onward that includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional paper series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs.

EBSCO

Full-text articles in Economics, Business, Finance, History, Geography, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Literature, Linguistics, Journalism,Computer science, Mathematics, Astronomy and more

Company, Country, Industry reports. Others

JSTOR

An electronic archive of scholarly journals, starting with the very first issue, some dating as far back as the 1600s.

All subject areas

ScienceDirect offers more than a quarter of the world's scientific, medical and technical information online.

Over 2,000 peer-reviewed journals Hundreds of book series, handbooks and reference

works ScienceDirect College Edition

ScienceDirect

World Bank Databases

Global Development Finance Global Economic Monitor World Development Indicators World Bank e-library

How to Narrow Your Search

Be more specific

Use phrases

Add a discriminating or qualifying word or phrase

"World Wide Web" and statistics "World Wide Web" and “usage statistics”

How to Broaden Your Search

Use lower case - use lower case, even for proper nouns. This will broaden your search.

Use truncation - If you only want to do one search, but don't know which variant of a word is best, use a word stem for all variations of the word, such as comput* to retrieve any of the following words:

- computer - computers- computing 

Use the Boolean Operators

USE TO

AND Narrow search and retrieve records containing all of the words it separates

NOT Narrow search and retrieve records that do not contain the term following it.

OR Broaden search and retrieve records containing any of the words it separates.

The Web

Use search engines and internet directories to locate materials on the Web.

Bulgaria-Web Directory

Discipline-Specific Resources

S – Scope – are all aspects of the topic covered T – Treatment – is the information free from bias A – Authority – are the authors qualified to provide

this information R – Relevance – does it address your topic T – Timeliness – Is the information current for your

purpose

How to Evaluate Internet Sources

Ask for Assistance

Reference Desk Virtual Reference E-mail: libmail@aubg.bg Phone: 888-354 or 888-341 Reference Assistance Form

Thank you!

Gergana Georgieva ggeorgieva@aubg.bg

888-354