To check out books you need a student I.D. card or a CCRLS public library card. (You may obtain a free student I.D. card at the MAPS desk in the Bookstore.) You can return our books to any public library in Marion, Polk, or Yamhill counties. If the book you want is at another library, it can be sent here for you.
General and Subject Encyclopedias These provide both concise overviews as well as in-depth analysis on a variety of topics. Good sources for identifying key events and key people. Also helpful in narrowing a research topic.
Books Good for an overview of your topic or for in-depth information. Use the library's online catalog to find books on your subject.
Magazines and Journals Good for current information and for recent developments in controversial topics. Use periodical indexes to find articles. See Periodical Indexes below.
Suggestions: Check also CQ Researcher (Reference 070.412 C83) and Issues and Controversies on File (Reference 070.41 IS7) to help you decide on a topic and get background information. You can access CQ Researcher and Issues & Controversies online from the Periodical Indexes page. If using databases from off campus, you will need your My Chemeketa user name and password.
Newspapers Best for local and state information; good for current statistics. Use the Oregonian (Reference Index computers).
Pamphlets Good for local and state information. Look under Elections in the Oregon file to find recent voter's pamphlets.
Periodical indexes are found on the Reference Index computers, on the index table, and on the reference bookshelves.
To access databases such as the EBSCOhost databases listed below, go to Library's Online Databases - http://newterra.chemeketa.edu/library/information/database.htm. If using databases from off campus, you will need your My Chemeketa user name and password.
A Dictionary can be a book on any subject with its entries in A-Z order. A common type of dictionary lists words and gives their definitions. This is the ordinary meaning of "dictionary." An example of a general dictionary would be The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.
Many professions or areas of study have their own, specialized dictionaries of terms in that subject, for example The Dictionary of Criminal Justice Terms.
An Encyclopedia has articles on various subjects and is usually, though not always, in A-Z order. General encyclopedias like Encyclopaedia Britannica have articles on many subjects.
Subject encyclopedias, like the Encyclopedia of Aging, have articles on topics all relating to one general subject.
Notice that, technically, any book with its entries in alphabetical order can be called a "dictionary." For this reason, some encyclopedias have the word "dictionary" in the title. For example, Grove's Dictionary of Art is a 30-volume encyclopedia of art. Likewise, an encyclopedia can be a single volume work.
For most ordinary purposes, if a book gives only definitions of words, it is a dictionary. If it has longer descriptive articles on subjects, it is an encyclopedia.
The asterisk (*) is a truncation character that tells the computer to find any word that begins with "dictionar" or "encycloped," that is dictionary, dictionaries, encyclopedia, encyclopedias.
If the library does not have a subject dictionary or encyclopedia on the specialized subject, try a slightly broader search. For example, if your topic is emeralds, you will find that Chemeketa has encyclopedias of gemstones, but no dictionaries of gemstones. You might try a keyword search for "mineral* AND dictionar*."
Most catalogs, including Chemeketa's, use Library of Congress subject headings to describe the topics of books under "subject" searches. The Library of Congress has a Web site where you can search for subject headings. When you go to the site, click "Search Authorities." When you put in a search term, the results will list terms in a table. Those with a red button marked, "Authorized and references" are terms that the Library of Congress uses in subject catalogs. Clicking the button may show more specific ("narrower") terms. You could then look under any of these terms in the library catalog.
For guidance on finding biographical information in the library, please refer to Biographies: Finding Information About a Person.
Government sites and technical reports servers are two kinds of sources that are good for finding information on many technical subjects. You will find some suggestions at Government Document & Technical Reports. Some of the Supplementary Database pages also include technical reports.
To find other Internet sources for your topic, try the Useful Sites or Search Tools at the library's Internet Search Center.
Further assistance: Ask for help at the Reference Desk or call Reference at (503) 399-5231. You can also e-mail requests for assistance to reference@chemeketa.edu.
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