W. Frank Steely  Library

PHE 125 Library Assignment

Prepared for PHE 125 Library Assignment

By completing this library assignment, you will have an opportunity to work with three key types of library research tools:

1. the Library's catalog, NKUIRE,
2. the Library of Congress Classification system, and
3. several indexes to periodical articles.

NKUIRE: Steely Library's Catalog

A library's catalog is the listing of its collection of materials, i.e. the information sources owned by the library. In the NKUIRE catalog, you will find books, videos, CD's, and periodicals (magazine, journal, and newspapers) which make up the Steely Library collection.

If you are trying to find a specific book, you may want to search NKUIRE as your first step. If Steely Library owns the book, checking here should be the most efficient means to obtain it.

If you have the title of a book, you can perform a TITLE Search in NKUIRE.

Books are also listed by author's name. When doing an AUTHOR Search, type the author's last name first. This type search will be particularly useful for Question 2 on your assignment.

An online guide to searching NKUIRE is available if you would like additional instructions for these searches.

NKUIRE also lists all the periodicals to which Steely Library has subscribed. You may want to use NKUIRE to find specific magazines or journals which have published articles on your research topics.

To see if Steely Library owns a periodical which you need (Question 6 on your assignment), do a JOURNAL TITLE Search for the title of the periodical (for example Journal of Public Health.) You will find this search screen by clicking on the Author/Title/Subject button on the opening screen for the NKUIRE system.

If you have an individual article you are searching for, make sure that Steely Library had a subscription to this periodical during the year in which your article was published. To check these subscription dates, look at the bottom of the screen when you find the periodical in NKUIRE. Here you will see the complete range of subscriptions the Library has for that periodical.

An online guide to searching NKUIRE is available if you would like additional instructions for these searches.

Library of Congress Classification System

Repeatedly, studies of research strategies among professionals in all fields show that browsing in a library's collection is an effective means for identifying relevant information sources. The most effective means to identify areas for browsing is to make use of CALL NUMBERS of the Library of Congress Classification System. This is the arrangement system used by Steely Library in order to have books on similar topics shelved together. As you can see by the basic outline of this classification system below, each letter of the alphabet stands for a subject area.

CALL #

SUBJECT AREA

A

General Works

B

Philosophy, History, Religion

C

Archaeology, Genealogy, Biography

D

History -- except America

E - F

American History

G

Geography, Anthropology, Folklore, Recreation, Sports

H

Business, Economics, Sociology, Crime, Social Work

J

Political Science, Government, International Relations

K

Law

L

Education

M

Music

N

Art

P - PQ

Communications, Language, Theater, Literature

PR - PZ

Literature

Q

Math, Astronomy, Chemistry, Physics, Geology, Biology

R

Medicine, Nursing

S

Agriculture

T

Technology, Engineering, Applied Science

U - V

Military and Naval Science

Z

Bibliography, Library Science

Each item in the collection is identified by an extended call number which begins with one of these basic subject division. The additional letters and numbers are part of a hierarchal system identifying narrower topics within the broad subject areas. Please see the example below.

• G is the broad area for all books on Geography, Anthropology, Recreation.
• Browsing through the G's, you will find the books on Recreation and Sports beginning in the GV subsection.
• The 700 section of these GV books will be studies of the Olympics.
• The third line of the call number is a code for the author's name so that books on the same subject by the same author will be shelved together.
• The final line is the date of publication.

In order to find a call number area in which to browse, do a SUBJECT Search in NKUIRE for the specific topic you are interested in, for example OLYMPICS.

Check a few titles that result from this search. Check the first two lines of the call numbers for letter and number combinations to direct your browsing.

An online guide to searching NKUIRE is available if you would like additional instructions for these searches.

Guidance in locating specific call numbers areas in Steely Library is available via the Finding Books in Steely Library guide.

Finding the classification area for specific subject areas will be required in the Question 1 of your assignment.

Indexes to Periodical Articles

While you can search in NKUIRE to discover if Steely Library subscribes to a particular periodical, for example Sports Illustrated, you will need another research tool to find INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES on the subject of your research, for example, changes in the typical strike zone called in major league baseball. The library tools you will use to find specific articles are PERIODICAL INDEXES.

There are thousands of periodical indexes to help you identify specific articles on your research subject. Often these periodical indexes are grouped according to whether they are a subject index to GENERAL CONSUMER MAGAZINES, or are an index to the SCHOLARLY or TECHNICAL JOURNALS of specific professions. Both type of periodical can be useful in research projects.

If you search for articles in general consumer magazines (those publishing articles on topics of general interest), one index you might use is READER'S GUIDE TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE. Reader's Guide has been publishing a index to the articles in approximately 200 magazines (Newsweek, Time, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated) since 1899!

To find an article simply turn alphabetically to the entries for the topic you are studying. You can also look for articles by their author. Simply look in that same alphabetical list for the author's last name.

For Question 4, you will need one of the older issues of Reader's Guide which is located on the INDEX SHELVES at the back of the Reference Department, 3rd floor. These indexes are on the shelves in alphabetical order by title. Reader's Guide will be in the R's.

Once you identify specific articles of interest to you, you will know the periodical in which it was published as well as the date of the issue in which it appeared, and the pages on which you will find the article. With this information, you can search NKUIRE for the title of the periodical (use the Journal Title search button).

If you do find the periodical in NKUIRE, check the RECENT ISSUES section of the screen for the year in which your article appeared.

The call number on this screen will indicate the physical location of this periodical. Most periodicals have the call number PER/MIC indicating that it is kept in the Periodicals Department. Unbound periodicals are shelved alphabetically by title on the 3rd floor near the photocopiers. Bound periodicals are shelved alphabetically by title at the end of the Reference Collection shelves on the 3rd floor. The most recent 20 years of Microfilm and Microfiche periodicals are on the 4th floor. Older microform periodicals are kept in Closed Stacks on the 1st floor. Ask at the Information Desk to retrieve those periodicals.

Finding periodicals will be necessary for Questions 3 and 5 of your assignment.

To find the professional articles meant for scholars and specialists in a field, you usually must consult different indexes. Each academic field has at least one index covering many of the journals published for professionals in that area. In physical education you may be interested in the professional publications of educators, psychologists, physiologists, biologist, and others.

For the assignment you are working on, you will be looking at a specialist index for educators, ERIC see Database List and one for medical professionals, Medline see Database List. Both indexes are available in electronic form in Steely Library.

You will use these indexes in Questions 7 and 8 of your assignment.

Specifically, while using ERIC in Question 7, look for items in the results list identified by EJ numbers (do not select items labeled ED.) These EJ items are journal articles from the portion of the index titled CIJE: Current Index to Journals in Education.

Please contact a Reference Librarian for assistance in using these specialized indexes.

updated on 08/19/03