Five Basic Information Sources

FIVE BASIC INFORMATION SOURCES
Important, Helpful, Reviewed & Reliable!

1) Reference Sources (both online and in hardcopy)	2) Books (to check out of the library)	3) Media (to use in the library)
4) Magazine, Journal, Newspaper Articles (more & more available full text immediately online from LAMP)		5) Web Sites

1) REFERENCE SOURCES

Online — Use LAMP's Electronic Resources, Reference Resources

Of the 25 online reference resources listed, start with those that are GENERAL INTEREST sources —that is, that provide information about any topic of human life, interest, and endeavor, for example: BRITANNICA ONLINE or FACTS.COM (on the resulting screen, right-hand side, in the box under “Special Features,” click on “Issues in the News” and select from the many topics listed).
Then work with DISCIPLINE- or SUBJECT-SPECIFIC reference resources for still more information about specific subjects respectively, for example: ACCESS SCIENCE (for science and technology topics); COUNTRYWATCH (for current information about any country of the world); GROVE ART ONLINE and GROVE MUSIC ONLINE; and so forth.
When accessing any of these reference resources, follow directions on resulting screens, use online HELP, and ask librarians for help too.
REMEMBER TOO: LAMP can be used anytime, anywhere as long using a computer connected to the Internet. When you're off campus and you click on one of our online reference resources, you'll be asked to "authenticate" youself as officially affiliated with RCCD (student, staff, or faculty member):

Your user ID = Your 7-digit student ID (or your staff or faculty ID).

Your password = The first letter of you first name and up to six letters of your last name, typed all in lower case (if you last name has less than six letters, then type your entire last name).

Not Online — Ask librarians for help with these.

The DLLRC has many excellent reference books — shelved on the 2^nd Floor, West Wing, in counter-height shelves next to the Information Desk.

One way to start fiding reference books in the RCCD Library is to use LAMP, Library Catalog — then do a KEYWORD search using a word or words descriptive of your topic, then the word AND, then words like: dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks. EXAMPLE: history encyclopedias or history dictionaries or history handbooks. And so forth for any other discipline/subject.

More simply, just ask the librarians to guide you to those reference books that are likely to give you good, authoritative, reliable information for your assignments.

2) BOOKS

For Books To Check Out Of The Library — Use LAMP's Library Catalog

If you’re looking for RCCD Library BOOKS about some topic, click on KEYWORD — so you can search the catalog using words and phrases you think describe topics of your interest.
From the list of items that results, look at the full description of items that you feel will most likely give you information you want. In this description (or bibliographic record) note the SUBJECT line (part or field of the record) to see the official Library of Congress (LC) SUBJECT HEADINGS assigned to these items.
Click on the SUBJECT HEADINGS that look most relevant to the information you want. What results is a list of LC SUBJECT HEADINGS used in the RCCD Library Catalog.
In this list, spot the SUBJECT HEADING you just clicked on (it's highlighted). To the far right of this heading, in the column labeled "Entires:," is the number of items (books, media, etc.) in the RCCD Library collection that have been assigned that SUBJECT HEADING.
By clicking on the SUBJECT HEADING itself a list of these items (books, media, etc.) assigned this same SUBJECT HEADING appears -- some or all of which may be useful to you since all of them are in some major way about the subject of your interest.

3) MEDIA (video and sound recordings) — Use LAMP's Library Catalog

If you’re looking for RCCD Library MEDIA ITEMS about some topic, click on KEYWORD and do the following:

In the search-statment box type a word or phrase you think of to describe some topic of your interesst.

Note that just below this search-statement box and to the right is another section of the KEYWORD search screen labeled: MATERIAL TYPE.

Click on the down arrow to the right of this box and from the drop-down list click on VIDEO : SLIDE (for video tapes or DVDs) or SPOKEN RECORD (for speeches, lectures, etc.).

Then click on SEARCH at the bottom of the screen.

What results is a list of items of the MATERIAL TYPE you selected -- items in the descriptions of which are the word or words you used to describe some topic of your interest.

From this list look at the full description of those items you feel will most likely give you information you want, noting particulary their call numbers.

With this information, especially the call number of a media item you want, go to the Circulation Desk, second service point at this desk, to view the item.

NOTE: All media items must be used in the library. Circulation staff will assign you to a media viewing workstaton and "broadcast" the item for you to view in the library.

4) MAGAZINE, JOURNAL & NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

Magazine & Journal Articles — Use LAMP's Electronic Resources, Periodical Indexes

On the resulting screen from the list of our 15 magazine, journal, newspaper article indexing/abstracting/full text click on EXPANDED ACADEMIC ASAP or GENERAL REFERENCE CENTER – great to start with because here are hundreds of thousands of articles on all topics of human life and interest.
From the initial search screen, you’re set to KEYWORD SEARCH. In the search-statement box, type words descriptive of your topic.
A list of articles results with the KEYWORD/S you typed someplace in their respective descriptions. These articles are listed most recently published first — so as you go down the list you're going back in time.
Click on LIMIT SEARCH (left column of screen), then follow directions on the resulting screen, to make your search more specific and with fewer citations.
See SUBJECT headings assigned to these articles by clicking on an article, scrolling to the bottom of the screen, to the section headed: “View other articles linked to these subjects.” Click on these to see more articles with these same SUBJECT headings — therefore about these same subjects. NOTE: Another way to see the SUBJECT headings assigned to an article is from the initial screen for the article (the screen on which the article begins), in the column to the left, to click on LINKS. This takes you immediately to the bottom of the article so you can see the "View other articles linked to these subjects" statement.

Newspaper Articles — Use LAMP's Electronic Resources, Periodical Indexes

EXPANDED ACADEMIC ASAP includes indexing to the New York Times. GENERAL REFERENCE CENTER indexes the New York Times, plus the Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
For more in-depth indexing to these four major, national daily newspapers plus the Los Angeles Times – use PROQUEST NEWSPAPERS, with indexing/abstracting along with full text to literally hundreds of thousands of newspaper articles.
From BASIC SEARCH, in the search-statement box, type a KEYWORD/S descriptive of topics of your interest, then click the SEARCH button.
What results is a list of articles from the five newspapers indexed. These articles are listed most recently published first, going back in time.
Usually this citation list is long, so consider LIMITING or NARROWING your search by scrolling to the bottom of a screen of citations and clicking on “More Search Options,” then selecting from among the options listed.
Or, at the top of any ProQuest Newspapers screen, click on ADVANCED SEARCH and immediately see the many different ways to search this interesting, helpful newpaper article database.

5) WEB SITES

Start by using WEB SUBJECT DIRECTORIES to find Web sites that have been reviewed by and are recommended by experts. Because of this work by experts, generally we are assured that the information given by these recommended Web sites is valid, reliable, etc.
EXAMPLES OF WEB SUBJECT DIRECTORIES: The Librarians’ Index to the Internet and The Open Directory Project . Also try the “Subject Guides” developed and updated by the Rio Hondo College librarians.
For other Web subject directories use LAMP's Internet Resources, Internet By Subject - and on the resulting screen, just beneath this table of subject/interest categories, is the line “For even more subject links, click on …" - and to the right of this, several Web subject directories are listed.
To learn about evaluating Web information - use LAMP's Internet Resources, Evaluating Resources.
To learn about good Web searching in general use LAMP's LAMP Help, Internet Help - especially the links: "The Internet For Beginners" and "Searching The World Wide Web."