Nursing 100 Library Introduction

Christina Steffy, Librarian, September 2014

Introduction

These slides will provide a basic introduction to the librarian so you get to know her and to library resources so you can complete the in-class session work. This is meant to give you a general background so in class we can review the research process and evaluating sources in greater depth and so we can do in-class searches. We will not go over all of this in class, so read over this before class and keep this information for future reference.

Overview

• Your Librarian

• Library Services

• Library Resources

• ProQuest Search Tips

Your Librarian

• Ms. Christina Steffy– Master of Library and Info Science, Rutgers University– B.A. Professional Writing and B.A. Communications,

Kutztown University– Librarian here since October 2011– Also a member of the Pa Library Association College

and Research Libraries Division Board

• Phone: 570.621.5033• Email via Angel: Learning Resources Group or

N. 100 group

Library Services

• Reference – Come and see the librarian– Schedule an appointment– Email via Angel– Phone– Chat via Angel if requested

• Interlibrary Loan– If we don’t have an article you need, provide librarian with

citation info. Allow 1 week to receive articles.– Articles will be emailed via Angel

• Classroom information literacy sessions • Supplemental handouts for information literacy or other

topics as requested

Library Resources• Books

– Tip – skim Table of Contents and Index for your topic. Also look at Reference list at end of chapter or book for other sources.

• Print journals– Tip – skim Table of Contents for your topic. Look at Reference list at

end of articles for other sources.• Angel: School of Nursing Learning Resources Group

– Online Research Resources folder and other topic oriented folders have credible websites for research, writing and citation guides, sites for professional associations, and more.

• ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health database– This database provides access to nursing and other health/medical

journals. • PubMed database link is also available on Angel, but ProQuest is

more user-friendly.• Computer labSee policies on Angel for information about circulation of resources and

other library/computer lab information.

ProQuest Search Tips

• The following slides will introduce you to tips for doing a ProQuest search.

• Keep in mind that these search tips can also be applied to other databases and often even to search engines like Google.– These tips can be used on PubMed as well,

but a librarian should help you with PubMed because of the way it searches for keywords.

Logging In

• All log in information for any electronic resources and databases can be found in the Electronic Resources Access Information folder in the Learning Resources group on Angel.

• You can log in from any place, any time, whether or not you are on campus.

Search Screen

• When you log in, this is the screen you see. You may begin typing in the search box (this is called a basic search), but I recommend an advanced search (click on “Advanced,” where I have pointed an arrow).

Advanced Search Screen

Keep in mind that any limiters (ways to narrow your search) you set now in the advanced search could also be set later in the basic search. You can also further refine your search by setting or removing limiters in your results list.

Advanced Tips: Truncation

• Use nurs* and search within the publication title to find articles that only come from nursing journals. This technique is called truncation. You must select Publication Title from the drop down menu in the search box. If you are not required to search only in nursing journals, then don’t use this.

Advanced Tips: Boolean Operators

• Boolean operators are “and,” “or,” and “not.” Choose what you want from the drop down menu the arrow points to. Use these to either expand your search (find results with x OR y) or to limit your search (find results with a AND b; find results with c NOT d). You can type these Boolean operators into basic searches and search engine searches.

Advanced Tips: Date

• Choose your publication date from the drop down menu the arrow is pointing to. You may set a custom date range.

Advanced Tips: Full text; Peer reviewed

• Avoid the full text limiter because your librarian can order articles you can’t get full text. Also, we may have those articles in print.

• Peer-reviewed – choose this for peer-reviewed sources. We will discuss peer-reviewed sources in class.

Results List

• Notice you can still see the limiters on the right side of the screen. You can also see what article formats ProQuest offers, including whether or not this is a citation, an abstract or full text (this is listed below the article title). When possible, choose a PDF because it is laid out like an actual page and this makes it easier for you to do in-text citations.

Results List continued…

• In the blue bar underneath the search box, you see the limiters you already set on the Advanced Search screen. Un-checking the boxes removes these limiters.

Results List continued…• This list on the right are the

limiters you could choose on the Advanced Search page; there are also more here than were on that page. You can set the limiters on your Results list page as well. Check the box with the plus sign next to each category to expand the limiters groups. If you choose any of these limiters, they appear at the top of the page next to the number of results and they have accompanying boxes with an X in them. To remove the limiters, click the X in the boxes.

Results List continued…

• One more point about the Results list: ProQuest has a quirk – it lists “Scholarly Journals” and “Trade Journals” when you choose “peer reviewed.” Both are written by experts for the field, but trade journals are not always peer reviewed and so are not considered scholarly. Thus at

this point, you should click on “Scholarly Journals” to make sure you are only looking at scholarly sources.

Publications Search

• A quick tip - If you already know what publication to search in, then choose “Publications” to search for the publication. You can then search for the publication by name, click on it (if ProQuest has access to it), and search within it by date.

Questions?

Bring them to class.