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Research Tips

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How do I find a book in the library?
How do I find an article in a popular periodical?
How do I find an article in scholarly periodical?
How do I find a government document?
How do I find a Website?
How do I get access to the library databases from my home?
How do I log on to the computers in the library?
How do I print from the computer?
Where are the magazines or journals?
When is the computer support part of the Information Desk available for help with computer problems?


 

How do I find a book in the library?
On the library Web pages in the green bar toward the top of the page you may start searching the library catalog via the “keyword search”. This will take you to SDLN as the search database.

You may search the catalog in several different ways:

  1. Keyword search: This is the broadest search and allows you to type in any topic term that is related to the information that you are interested in finding.
  2. Author search: If you know the exact name of the author of a work, you type in the name in reverse order i.e. Sullivan Arthur . If you know only the last name of the author type the last name only i.e. Sullivan.
  3. Title search: If you know the exact title choose “Title exact” then type the first four words of title in exact order (omit initial articles – a, an, the) i.e. authentic Gilbert & Sullivan. If you are not certain of the title, you may choose “Title keyword” and type only important words from the title i.e. authentic Gilbert Sullivan.
  4. Subject heading search: If you want to be more exact in your searching you may choose to search under “subject keyword” if you do not know the exact order of the terms in the Library of Congress Subject Heading i.e. violence television. If you know the exact order of the terms in the LC Subject Heading choose to search by “subject exact” i.e. violence on television.
  5. Combination search: This search may be used if you know the last name of the author and the first word of the title (omit initial articles – a, an, the). An example of this search is: Sullivan authentic.

With each of these searches you will be given search results. If there is only one record under your search that record immediately comes to the screen. If there are more than one it will indicate the total number of records found. Click on “go”. Choose to look at the titles of interest to you by clicking on the number that appears in blue print on the left side of list. The complete record for the chosen item comes to the screen providing information on where the item is located. In our library “Location” can be as follows:

Locations on the main floor:

  • Main Book Collection (LC Classifications A - HE)
  • Reference Collection (LC Classification A - Z)
  • Curriculum Collection (Textbook Classification A - Y)
  • Media (LC Classification A – Z)
  • Reserves at Circulation Desk
  • Newspaper Microfilms by title in Microfilm cabinets
  • Atlases & Maps upstairs near the periodicals office
  • Current issue of popular periodicals
  • Current newspapers

Locations on upper floor

  • Main Book Collection (LC Classification HF - Z)
  • Oversize Book Collection (LC Classification A - Z)
  • Case Western Historical Studies access via Special Collections Office
  • Archives access via Special Collections Office
  • U.S. Government Documents (SUDOC Classification A - Y)
  • U.S. Documents MICROFICHE (SUDOC classification A - Y)
  • SD State Documents (SD DOC Classification A – W)
  • Periodicals

When you have found the item, if it circulates from the library take it to the “Circulation” desk for checkout. The photo Buzz card is the library card for faculty, staff and students. You must have the card with you to do checkout. Local users may fill out an application for a card.

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How do I find an article in a popular periodical?
If you are looking for a popular periodical, one for general public use, you will find those indexed in our basic periodical databases in ProQuest and Ebscohost. Learn how to use them.

When ProQuest is selected from the Online Database page it will open to a file called “All Collections”. Enter the topic terms that cover the information that you are pursuing. If the terms are to be found side-by-side i.e. “acid rain”, you should enter them in that way. If the terms are not normally found side-by-side you should use the “and” connector in the search i.e.” television and violence”. After entering terms press “enter” or click on “search”. The resulting list that appears on the screen will have popular periodicals, newspapers and some scholarly journals. To view a particular record click on the title of the article that appears in blue. This will open the record on the screen. This record may be just a citation; citation plus abstracts; or citation plus abstract plus text of the article.

If you find that you would like to have a copy of the article, check to see if there is an image version for printing. Image is a copy that looks as it did in the original publication. You may do that by going back to the results list and if image is available a camera looking icon appears to the immediate left of the title. Click on that icon and a pdf version of the article will come to the screen. Adobe Acrobat Reader must be on the computer for this to happen. If you are working on your personal computer and you do not have the “Acrobat” program on the computer, you may download it from the internet for free. Be aware that this is a graphics program and does consume a great deal of memory. Check your free memory before download begins.

If you have found citations or abstracts only for articles in either ProQuest or Ebscohost, you may find if our library has the article available in another database or in paper by choosing to search our library catalog on the library homepage by doing a title search for the journal. If our library has access to the title a record will appear. In this record the “Location” line (s) will provide information on where the periodical will be found. If the location is “PERIODICALS” that means it is found in paper. Click on “Location details” to check for availability of the issue you need.

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How do I find an article in Scholarly periodicals?
Scholarly periodicals are defined as being journals with articles that:

1. are written by experts in their field;
2. are “referred” or “peer reviewed” before inclusion; and
3. are documented with a reference list or bibliography of sources used.

Our library provides access to scholarly journals within Ebscohost and ProQuest.

We also subscribe to a number of databases in Ebscohost and many standalone databases. All of these databases are listed on our Online Database page.

Learn how to use Ebscohost and ProQuest in our instructional videos.

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How do I find a government document?
The library is a depository for the federal and the State of South Dakota documents. You can search library catalog for these documents. The government documents are located on the upper floor of the library. Please visit Govt. Documents page for more information.


How do I find a Website?
IPL2 maintains a quality list of trusted websites.


How do I get access to the library databases from my home?
Only registered students, faculty, and staff of BHSU are allowed to access databases using off-campus computers or dorm computers. When prompted, please enter your BHSU e-mail address as your username and type in the password that you use to login to a BHSU computer or to access your BHSU e-mail. All databases except Ancestry Library Edition and Foundation Directory Online are now available to off-campus users. A description of databases is given on Online Databases page.

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How do I log on to the computers on campus?
Please retrieve your BHSU e-mail address and password, WebCT, WebAdvisor login, and library barcode from student login distribution system.


How do I print from the library computer?
Each semester $18 is placed on to your Buzz card for computer printing. You may send a print job from any computer and then go to the printer station to swipe your card and select your job for printing.


Where are the magazines or journals?
Current issues of popular magazines are located adjacent to the coffee shop. Back issues and scholarly journals are found on the north end of the upper floor of the library. They are filed in alphabetical order by title.

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When is the computer support center help desk open for help with computer problems?
8 to 5 Monday through Friday.