Welcome back to school! As a new academic year begins, we are sure you’ll be spending a lot of time studying in the David Allan Hubbard Library in the months to come. If you are new to graduate-level research or if you are simply new to doing research at the David Allan Hubbard Library, our Reference Librarians, Jeff Waldrop and Bonggun Baek, would like to share some insights to ease you into research mode.
What services are offered by the Reference Department?
The Reference Department offers four main services in English, Korean, and Spanish:
- One-on-one (or small group) basic subject-related information literacy for graduate students (Worldcat Local, periodical databases, eBooks, dissertations, etc.)
- Immediate training/consulting in finding resources for papers and assignments
- Training and consultation with Endnote
- Research training/Endnote seminars for doctoral and master’s students
The Reference Librarians also offer secondary help on a variety of topics, for example, citation styles, organizing research, basic note taking/writing, dissertation organization (research and writing), citation searching (looking up citations for authors), basic hardware/software help (Word, Excel, Pages, etc.), and many other topics. We also have a part-time Mandarin-speaking collection development librarian who may answer research queries upon request.
How can patrons get help with research?
Library patrons eligible for research include Fuller students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Eligible patrons are able to request research help by making an appointment either by phone (626.584.5612 for English and Spanish, or 626.584.5624 for Korean and English) or e-mail (lib-reference@fuller.edu).
The Reference Desk located in the Weyerhaeuser Reading Room (1st floor) is usually staffed from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, so no appointment is necessary for walk-ins during these hours. Additionally, before 5:00 p.m., patrons may drop by Jeff’s office on the 1st floor (in the Weyerhaeuser Reading Room) or Bonggun’s office on the 3rd floor (just south of the elevators), for research assistance.
We are also on Twitter, so you can Tweet questions to @fullerlibrary. Or you can text questions to 626.722.8902.
Can users get reference help online?
Absolutely! There is an “Ask a Librarian” link on the Library Web page. You may also choose to e-mail us at lib-reference@fuller.edu, request a Google Hangout session, or view the Library’s InfoGuides (online Research Guides) located here: http://infoguides.fuller.edu/home.
What are some great tips for getting started when doing research?
It’s good to remember that most assignments call for two basic types of resources: books and articles, and each type of resource is found in a slightly different type of database.
For a basic article search, go to the Library homepage, click on the “Articles” tab, and type in the search criteria.
For a basic book search, go to the Library homepage, click on the “Books & eBooks” tab, and type in the search criteria.
Here are some basic searching hints:
- Search terms should not be too broad, because the search will yield too many results.
- Search terms should also not be too narrow or specific (e.g., do not type in a proposed thesis title, etc.) because the search will often yield little to no results.
- Use short, specific, and succinct terms for the best results—let the terms broaden or narrow the main topic.
- Use double quotes around exact phrases to increase relevancy when looking for a known item.
- Remember that not all academic resources are freely available on the Internet through Google search. We highly recommend that students start research from the Library Web site.
- Organize your search. You can create an account on Worldcat and in databases to organize your resources.
- Double-check the spelling when you do catalog/database searches, as misspellings may yield no results. Pay special attention to foreign words, names, and places.
Most importantly, ask for help! You will be surprised at the various resources the library has to offer and we enjoy sharing those resources with our patrons.
What do you want people to know about the Reference Department that most people don’t know?
An interesting fact that most people probably don’t know is that we respond to reference inquiries from all over the world. We have received reference e-mails from over a dozen countries.
Another thing people may not know is that the Library can be accessed by going straight to the Library homepage, but it can also be accessed from Moodle (on the upper, dark-grey bar, click “Library,” and select “Library Resources”). And remember that when doing research from off-campus, eligible patrons need to log into the Library’s databases by using their Fuller login username and password.
Finally, we want users to know that we are friendlier than we may appear to be! See you in the Library.