One thought on the "evolution" of the catalog from cards to the online system, is that the online book catalog has adopted the structure of the old card catalog which included the author, title and subject headings/controlled vocabulary terms (of course the online catalog now has many more access points/ways of searching like a general keyword search)When we begin looking at the MCTC book catalog (MnPals) this will become more obvious. This kind of structure is missing in search engines such as Google.
One idea that might need clarifying is that search engines such as Google DO NOT use these terms. There is no subject "field" to search. Search engines are structured differently and search by other means. Only online book catalogs and subscription databases use the terms to search. We will learn about more efficient ways of searching Google in a future lesson.
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I have to laugh at myself remembering the first time I returned to the public library after being away for many years, and how lost I was finding that they no longer used the card catalog. I was so intimated by the on-line catalog that I would just approach the librarian and have her/him look-up what I needed. I at least have gotten a little more proficient over the years that I can reserve books on-line at the public library, but still have encountered problems when using the MCTC library web site. I am looking forward to expanding my knowledge with regards to gathering information from all different on-line sources. I now wish I would have taken this class first after returning back to school, it would have made my homework much easier.
Many of us, until beginning this course, have only used online search engines such as Google, Yahoo search and other similar sites. These searches are often frustrating because keyword searches often bring up so much excess that it is overwhelming to sort through. It is a revelation that there is so much more available, and learning to narrow our searches will be useful in our future research.
I’m taking English 1111 this semester as well. We are engaged in a lot of research assignments and recently my professor took our class into the library at MCTC and pointed out some extremely important source information. Tangible sources. Sources that you can hold in your hand. I found it very easy to find the information and even more to cite the sources. The use of the databases on the library website is a tool I have never used but am finding out that the source information is accurate unlike some of the sources found on Google from whom the writer could have simply called him or her self what ever clever title and post their thoughts from any home computer. There is a lot of sources information online but I have been using the library database and it has been a lot more efficient.
I’m taking English 1111 this semester as well. We are engaged in a lot of research assignments and recently my professor took our class into the library at MCTC and pointed out some extremely important source information. Tangible sources. Sources that you can hold in your hand. I found it very easy to find the information and even more to cite the sources. The use of the databases on the library website is a tool I have never used but am finding out that the source information is accurate unlike some of the sources found on Google from whom the writer could have simply called him or her self what ever clever title and post their thoughts from any home computer. There is a lot of sources information online but I have been using the library database and it has been a lot more efficient.
Growing up with Google and online libraries, I find the former easier to navigate in general. Although I love libraries, usually I want to buy books, especially if they're on an interesting topic. I'm hoping this class will help me to use libraries more, because they really are wonderful places. It'll save me a lot of money too. :)
And Sandy, what you are saying is so true. And it's so frustrating, because you can only put in so many keywords before the results become totally obscure!
It is very interest topic “structure” every day when I view main page, I gain comprehension about library and how to research. It will be great if this was including into search engines like Google.
its tough at first to differentiate between the google search and the subscription databases/book catalogs just because i'm more "aware" of google. i use the saint paul public library catalog frequently, and yet when i think of "searching" - google is what comes to mind. so i guess the post i made regarding Boolean Operators wasn't totally incorrect, but it was off a hair. the whole "herzog/german new wave/klaus kinski" thing had a more "googly" tone - all that information would most likely be under a suject heading like "film history" (i'm guessing) in a database, and from there you'd have to narrow down.
Chloe, public libraries will change your life. it'll turn everything upside down. i, too, used to just purchase books if i felt they'd be a good read, and if it ended up that i didn't like them i'd sell them off to used book stores. there's nothing wrong with having a healthy personal collection - but public libraries have a great selection of books to choose from - i was suprised - and the variety of DVD's are incredible! i like foreign movies, and those "criterion collection" movies, and the saint paul system has an awesome amount. most likely the mnpls system has even more to choose from. in the past year or so that i've been hitting the library pretty regular, my book/DVD intake has exponentially squared.
I have to say "ditto" to Jeannie about being away from the public library and the surprise of technology, I hadn't kept up so why would something so large and encompassing. I am still intimidated by many computer driven things, my research for last semester would have been greatly assisted by the things I am learning in this class. I hope to have time in my schedule between work and vacation in the next week and a half to see MCTC library in person.
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