Librarian's Guide to Online Searching

Roy Tennant famously said "only librarians like to search, everyone else likes to find." True enough, agrees Suzanne Bell, but she ups the ante slightly: yes, "librarians like to search, we just aren't born knowing how." To succeed as searchers, she contends, all librarians require both a basic idea of how databases are put together and a repository of concepts and techniques to draw upon. With such essentials well in hand, the searcher can plunge into almost any database that comes along and master its intricacies (and idiosyncrasies) in relatively short order. The result? Flexibility and adaptability, key traits in any librarian. Bell's conversational style, coupled with her emphasis on real world applications, her Searcher's Toolbox, and a plethora of screen shots, will engage even the most reluctant and hapless of students. Particularly unique are chapters on how to teach others (peers as well as users) about databases and how to work with numeric databases. This book will prove a handy guide for librarians in every conceivable information environment and across all levels of experience.