Hester Memorial Library

Accessing Electronic Resources

in

There are four types of electronic resources available:

1. Internet website

2. Online catalog

3. Electronic databases

4. E-books

The Website

• Contact information• Hours of operation • Holiday schedule• Information about the library departments• Reference helps such as citation style guides• Links to electronic databases and to an index of

print periodicals in the collection

The library’s website includes resources such as:

To access the website ….

• Go to the NGU website at www.ngu.edu: 1. Scroll down the home page to the lower,

left-hand side. 2. Click on the Hester Library icon.

The Online Catalog

The online catalog includes records for every item in the library’s General Collection, including:

– Audiobooks– Books (print)– DVD and VHS recordings– CDs

It does NOT include records for items in the Archives or the Miller Bible Museum.

To access the online catalog:1. Go to the NGU website at www.ngu.edu 2. Scroll down the home page to the lower,

left-hand side. 3. Click on the Hester Memorial Library icon.4. Click on the Online Catalogs link in the

sidebar list.

Catalog, cont.

5. Click on the NGU link

• Keyword• Title• Author• LC Call Number (Library of Congress)• Subject • ISBN/ISSN

Using the Catalog

You can search the catalog by:

Electronic Databases

The library maintains subscriptions to more than 100 electronic databases of professional and peer-reviewed journals in a wide variety of academic fields, including (but not limited to) art, business, history, music, religion, sciences and theatre.

Accessing the Databases

• The databases can be used to locate journal articles. Most provide full-text articles, although some provide only citations.

• All of the databases are available on the “Databases & eBooks” page of the library’s website.

• Users are required to enter their NGU network username & password for access.

You will only have to enter your username and password at the beginning of your research session.

Search Tips

• Each database has its own set of rules for search strategies, so check the help page if you need help.

•The reference staff can also assist you.

• Most databases have basic and advanced search interfaces. Basic is best for single terms or phrases.

•Advanced search is best for combining multiple terms.

Search Tips: Boolean Operators

AND specifies that both words must occur in the record.

OR specifies that one or both words must occur in the record.

NOT specifies that the word before the operator must occur in the record, but the word following the operator must not.

To combine search terms, you may use Boolean operators These are common to most databases:

Search Tips: Truncation

• For example, searching for “manag*” retrieves documents containing the words “manage”, “management”, “manager”, etc.

•Truncation allows you to shorten a search term in order to retrieve all forms of the word. In many databases, truncation is represented by an asterisk.

Search Tips: Truncation• Truncation allows you to shorten a search term in order to retrieve all

forms of the word. In many databases, truncation is represented by an asterisk.

Search Tips: Limiting & Expanding

• Limiting to full-text articles• Limiting the dates of publication• Specifying certain publications, formats or authors• Retrieving only articles from peer-reviewed/scholarly journals• Searching for term matches in the full-text of the article rather than

just the title or abstract• Searching for broader or more specific terms to expand or limit

results accordingly

Other ways of limiting or expanding searches include:

E-books

Questions???

Telephone: 864-977-7094Mary Diones - Reference LibrarianLeslie Brown - Reference LibrarianHannah Allford - Reference Assistant

Email: reference@ngu.edu

Presentation created January, 2010 by Leslie M. Brown

Hester Memorial Library has two full-time reference librarians on faculty. Feel free to contact them if you have any questions or need any further assistance.

Starting Your Research

The following is a selection of databases that would be good starting points for academic research.

Business•The Blue Book•Business Source Premier•Regional Business News

Religion•ATLA•ATLAS•Religion & Philosophy Collection

Multidisciplinary Research•Academic Search Premier•EBSCO Databases Group•JSTOR Arts and Sciences