Module 3:
SD Library Network
How to Access SDLN
How to Search SDLN
Examples and Practice :
1. SDLN Screen
2. Activity 1
3. Search Techniques
4. Activity 2
5. Activity 3
6. Activity 4
7. Activity 5
8. Activity 6
9. Activity 7
10. Advanced Features

Contents:
Introduction
Module 1: How to Solve an Information Problem
Module 2: Search Techniques
Module 4: Proquest
Module 5: Infotrac
Module 6: Lexis-Nexis
Module 7: OCLC Firstsearch
Module 8: 
Module 9: 
Module 10: 
Module 11: Internet Searching
Module 12: Evaluating Internet sources
Module 13: Scholarly vs. Popular
Module 14: Citing sources
Module 15: How to Get Material Not Available Online

Module 3: SDLN Examples and Practice: Activity 6

Previous Next

In Activity 6,
you will learn more about searching by subject in the Library Catalog of SDLN.

You will need to switch back and forth between SDLN (to do the activity) and this manual (for instructions). Or you might find it more convenient to print this web page so that you can remain in SDLN as you read and follow the instructions for the activity.

~ Background ~

One of the difficulties in searching is figuring out what words to use to describe a topic. Language is rich. Words have synonyms and usually there are alternative ways of describing the same topic. SDLN will search for only the words you tell it to search, so selecting terms to be searched is an important part of the retrieving the material you want.

One of the solutions for this in the Library Catalog is the use of subject headings. Librarians assign subject headings to each item. They do not make up these headings, but instead choose them from a standard list (a "thesaurus") of subject headings. If you know the standard subject heading used for your topic, you stand a better chance of retrieving the material you need. In academic libraries, the "thesaurus" from which terms are selected is typically Library of Congress Subject Headings.

You could find a print copy of the 3-volume set of headings or ask a librarian for help, BUT the quickest solution is:

• do a keyword search on the words that you believe describe your topic

• display some of the items in the results list and look at the subject headings to identify the subject heading used for your topic

• in the Library Catalog, the subject headings are live links. If you click on the subject heading, you will retrieve a list of all the items in the library that have been assigned that subject heading.

• OR if you are doing a complex search -- so need to combine other words with the subject heading -- you may wish to simply do a new keyword search that incorporates keywords from the subject heading.

Solve the problem by performing each of the following steps in the South
Dakota Library Network Library Catalog.

1. Click on the "Change Library or Database" button to return to the "Select Library and Resource" screen.

2. Select Dakota State University as the library, the Library Catalog as the resource, and

• click on "Go"

3. On the "Search the Library Catalog" screen, do a keyword search and

• type:

native american#

• and click on "Go"

to search for "native american or native americans."

Remember ...
the system will actually search for "native and american#," so any item with the word "native" and also the words "american or americans" will be found. Not all items in the results list will be about "Native Americans."

4. Note -- how many items did you retrieve?

To examine what you found,

• click on the "Go" button

!!! Important concept !!!
A search system cannot choose relevant items for you. It simply offers you a list of possibilities based on the search terms your entered. You must use your human understanding of your information need to find items that are truly relevant. Even if every item in the list were about Native Americans, you would still have to choose those items that were most relevant to your specific information problem.

5. Display the record for the book entitled American Indian environments . To do this,

• click on its item number (found in the far-left column)

Examine the record you have displayed. Note that -- as required by your search -- both the term "native" and the term "american" are in the record.

Now look at the subject headings assigned to this book and note that the subject heading used to describe Native Americans is Indians of North America.

6. If Indians of North America is the subject heading used for all materials on Native Americans, then we want to find all items with the heading Indians of North America. To do this, simply

• click on the subject heading "Indians of North America"

and you will retrieve all items that have been assigned that subject heading.

How many items did you retrieve? You should have found many more than you did when you did a keyword search for "Native Americans."

7. To further narrow your search to "treaties and Native Americans," you could

• click on "limit search"

• limit by additional words by typing in the "contains these words" box:

treat#

• and click on "Go"

8. Instead of clicking on the subject heading as you did in 6 above, you could simply use keywords from the subject heading Indians of North America to do a new keyword search.

• click on the "new search" button at the bottom of the SDLN screen

• in the "for what" box, type:

indians north america treat#

• click on the "Go" button

9. Are you curious why the results list for the search in 8 (above) contains more items than the results list for 7? Can you explain why this happened?

Because ...
the search in 8 is a keyword search in which the words may be found in different areas of the item record or in a different order in the subject heading. When the two searches were done on June 21, 1999, the results list for 8 contained 36 items compared to the 35 items on the results list for 7. Clearly, the item that was in 8 but not in 7 will not have the "Indians of North America" subject heading, or it would have been retrieved in the subject heading search carried out in 6 & 7. The unique item was retrieved in 8 because it contained all the search words in its subject heading:
Indians, Treatment of--North America.

Previous

Next