Library Research Models A Guide to Classification, Cataloging, and Computers

by Mann, Thomas

• ISBN13: 9780195093957
• ISBN10: 019509395X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-12-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Most researchers, even with computers, find only a fraction of the sources available to them. As Library of Congress reference librarian Thomas Mann explains, researchers tend to work within one or another mental framework that limits their basic perception of the universe of knowledge available to them. Some, for example, use a subject-disciplinary method which leads them to a specific list of sources on a particular subject. But, Mann points out, while this method allows students and researchers to find more specialized sources, it is also limiting--they may not realize that works of interest to their own subject appear within the literature of many other disciplines. A researcher looking through anthropology journals, for example, might not discover that the MLA International Bibliography provides the best coverage of folklore journals. In Library Research Models, Mann examines the several alternative mental models people use to approach the task of research, and demonstrates new, more effective ways of finding information. Drawing on actual examples gleaned from 15 years' experience in helping thousands of researchers, he not only shows the full range of search options possible, but also illuminates the inevitable tradeoffs and losses of access that occur when researchers limit themselves to a specific method. In two chapters devoted to computers he examines the use of electronic resources and reveals their value in providing access to a wide range of sources as well as their disadvantages: what people are not getting when they rely solely on computer searches; why many sources will probably never be in databases; and what the options are for searching beyond computers. Thomas Mann's A Guide to Library Research Methods was widely praised as a definitive manual of library research. Ronald Gross, author of The Independent Scholar's Handbook called it "the savviest such guide I have ever seen--bracingly irreverent and brimming with wisdom." The perfect companion volume, Library Research Models goes even further to provide a fascinating look at the ways in which we can most efficiently gain access to our vast storehouses of knowledge.

Author Biography

Thomas Mann received his Ph.D. from Loyola University of Chicago and his M.L.S. from Louisiana State University. A former private investigator, he has been a general reference librarian in the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress since 1981. He is the author of A Guide to Library Research Methods.

Table of Contents

The Importance of Models in Concealing or Revealing Search Options	3	(9)
The Specific Subject or Discipline Model	9	(48)
The Traditional Library Science Model
The Classification Scheme	15	(10)
The Traditional Library Science Model
The Vocabulary-Controlled Catalog	25	(20)
The Traditional Library Science Model
Published Bibliographies and Indexes	45	(12)
The Type-of-Literature Model	57	(18)
The Actual-Practice Model	75	(16)
The Principle of Least Effort	91	(60)
The Computer Workstation Model
The Prospect	103	(10)
The Computer Workstation Model
Qualifications	113	(38)
The Methods-of-Searching Model	151	(30)
Implications of the Methods-of-Searching Model	181	(12)
Appendix 1 Class Z: Arrangement of Bibliographies	193	(8)
Appendix 2 Form Subdivisions Within the Library of Congress Subject Headings System	201	(14)
Notes	215	(6)
Bibliography	221	(22)
Index	243