期中考试阶段，是开始思考你的课本的时候了。而且，开始思考你的课本的时候，也是开始思考对你的书本进行研究的时候。如果你从未走进你的大学图书馆（就算你有过），那么你需要发现并利用很多东西。本周，我们邀请到了来访的blogger爱丽丝.斯尼里——在线交流图书馆合作中心（简称为OCLC)团队的负责人，她将带领我们了解二十一世纪的图书馆。下面是她的10个建议：
1.问相关的问题——从任何地方。传统的图书馆依然在为你提供帮助（真的！）。但是现在，虚拟的图书馆，以在线的方式，可以回答任何你能想到的问题。要利用它们。而且，全世界范围内的许多图书馆互相合作，提供7乘24小时的不间断咨询平台。因此，如果你在凌晨2点需要一个参考答案，总会有一位真诚的图书管理员在某个地方（可能是澳大利亚）在线为你提供帮助。向你的参考图书管理员了解更多的细节。
2.像专家一样搜索。大学图书馆的图书目录，显然是我们搜索的切入点。但是，许多同学依然不知道，有一个极为有用的资源，它的名字是联合目录（worldcat）（有的时候称为OCLC）worldcat.org ，它世界上规模最大的电子图书目录。它有来自位于全世界的10000家公共的、学术的、专门的和学校学校图书馆的超过10亿数量的条目。除了各种方式的搜索排序，我们还提供特殊的功能，比如用户评论、资料的评定等级、标签和自动引用，可以令你的研究更快，更高效。
四星建议。在你的课程作业上添加可视化支持。如今，许多图书馆图书馆提供历史数字图像资料。在Worldcat.org网站上搜索一下“cntnt”，看看你能得到什么。
注意。联合目录（Worldcat）已经登陆到你的手机上了。大多数支持Web浏览的手机，如iphone、黑莓都可以通过下载应用程序，访问Worldcat移动版网站。现在你可以随时随地，发现灵感，而且马上就可以访问图书馆的资料。
3.不要错过数据库。在google搜索之外，还有一个知识的世界，包括没有被搜索引擎索引的由图书馆提供的学术内容。许多数据库是向个别人专门提供的，比如哈佛的商学、人类学或者哲学索引。研究一下你的图书馆网站的数据库列表（经常位于“电子资源”（electronic resources），有些时候出现在“TOP 10”列表中，或者学科）。
4.搜索策略。利用先进的搜索功能，比如当你搜索当地的图书馆目录或数据库时，使用复数、关键词、通配符和布尔操作符。典型的通配符是，问号（？），井号（#），或者星号（*），用来作为替代字母的占位符。比如，如果你想找到和地质学、地球物理学和地理学相关的所有的主题时，你可以使用“geo*”。使用布尔型操作符如"AND"(或者“+”），可以帮助你缩小搜索范围。比如“Fair Trade”（公平贸易）AND “Coffee”（咖啡）。布尔型操作符“OR",可以帮助你扩大搜索范围，如“submarines”（潜艇） OR "U-boats"（U型潜艇）。布尔型操作符NOT，帮助帮助你排除干扰，如”patent“（专利品） NOT "leather"（皮革）。使用这些关键符号真的可以帮助我们过滤结果，节省时间。
额外提示。大多数的标点符号和特殊字母比如@、#、$、^、&、*、（、）、[、]，往往被搜索引擎忽略。所以通配符和布尔操作符在图书馆数据库中魔法一样的表现，将在GOOGLE和YAHOO中无所作为。
5.注意标点符号和外国字母。虽然在课堂教学用英语，但是我们还会引用使用外国字母的资料（标题、作者、专有名词）。所以，如果你正在搜索一个非英语的题目或者对象的时候，包括重音符号、撇号或者发音符号，比如Ü或者ç，一定要记住你所键入的语句，搜索引擎可以承受。大多数数据库（包括第一搜索（FirstSearch）），不是把标点符号忽略，就是把它们识别为便准的键盘字符。所以Scarlet O’Hara 变成了 ohara，法语单词façade 变成了 facade。
6.利用电子有声读物。比如有声版的莎士比亚作品，非常有趣，而且帮助你理清在书本中迷惑的含义。电子有声读物还可有助于学习外语。把它下载到手持设备上，你就可以随身携带。
7.向前；使用Facebook。如果你是facebook的用户—而且你阅读了这篇文章。很可能，你会把图书馆相关的应用添加到你的档案中。你可以获得CiteMe之类的图书馆应用，或者你可以再facebook网站内直接搜索WorldCat。
8.跨馆借阅。如果你非常想要的，关于内陆国家生产燕窝汤的经济学研究文章恰恰没有在你的图书馆中，试着请求使用跨图书馆借阅功能，这样你的图书馆可以为你从另外一个图书馆借到相关的材料。只要几分钟，就可以获得数字化而且图片化的材料。而且大多是免费的。
9.全身心投入研究室。许多图书馆会向有需求的人，或者学期开始时的幸运学生提供半私人的研究室。它在你的宿舍之外，为你提供一个安静的所在，晚上，你可以那里埋头于你的课程和专注。非常幸运的是，它将装备Wi-Fi热点。图书馆之外，大学课堂可以作为团体项目工作地场所。
10.请求帮助。花一个小时的时间，认识图书馆的管理人员。根据你糟糕的成绩，和花费的学费，这一点时间是非常物有所值的。图书管理员得到过专业的训练，他们可以帮助你找到有价值的信息。而且，许多大学图书管理员在你的领域是拥有高级学位的专家。利用他们！
Midterm time is start-thinking-about-your-paper time. And start-thinking-about-your-paper time is start-thinking-about-doing-research-for-your-paper time. If you’ve never set foot in your college library (or even if you have), there’s much to discover—and to use. This week, we’ve invited visiting blogger Alice Sneary, head of the community team at the Online Community Library Center library cooperative (known as OCLC), to bring us up to speed on the 21st-century university library. Here are her best 10 tips:
1. Ask a reference question—from anywhere. Brick-and-mortar libraries, with flesh-and-blood librarians, are still there to help you (really!). But virtually all libraries now offer online features for answering any question you can think of. Use them. And many libraries work cooperatively, around the world, to provide virtual reference desks 24-7. So if you need a reference source at 2 a.m., a bona fide librarian somewhere (Australia, perhaps?) is online to help. Ask your reference librarian for details.
2. Search like a pro. The university library’s own catalog is an obvious place to start a search. But one extremely useful resource that many students still don’t know about is WorldCat (sometimes called OCLC), worldcat.org, the world’s largest electronic library catalog, with more than a billion items available from more than 10,000 public, academic, special, and school libraries around the world. Special features (in addition to all sorts of ways of searching) are user reviews, ratings of materials, tagging, and an automatic citations export to make your research faster and more productive. And often, the full text/full image/PDF content is available in a single click.
4-Star Tip. Add supporting visuals to your in-class presentations. Many libraries and archives now have historical digital image collections available. Use the limiter “cntnt” on WorldCat.org to see what’s available.
Heads Up. WorldCat is coming to your mobile phone. There is a new WorldCat Mobile pilot with downloadable apps for iPhones, BlackBerrys, and most phones that are Web enabled. Now you can be anywhere, have a brainstorm about a project, and start looking for library materials immediately.
3. Don’t miss the databases. There’s a world of knowledge beyond the quick Google search, including scholarly content that your library pays for that is NOT indexed in search engines. Many databases are specific to individual disciplines, such as Hoover’s for business, Anthropology Plus, or Philosopher’s Index. Look for a list of databases at your library’s website (often under “electronic resources” and sometimes arranged in a “top 10” list or by discipline).
4. Search strategically. Take advantage of advanced search functionality (gasp!) such as plurals, truncation, and wild-card and Boolean operators when using your local library catalog or databases. Wild cards are typically a question mark (?), pound sign (#), or asterisk (*) used as placeholder symbols to stand in for letters. For example, when you want to find all the possible topics related to geology, geophysics, and geography, you can use “geo*.” For Boolean searching, "AND" (or "+") can help you narrow down a topic—for example, “Fair Trade” AND “coffee.” OR can help you expand a topic—“submarines” OR “U-boats.” NOT helps eliminate clutter in your search—“patent” NOT “leather.” Using these simple keystrokes can really save time sifting through results sets.
Extra Pointer. Most punctuation and special characters like @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, (,) =, +, [,], and are ignored by search engines. So the wild-card and Boolean operators that work like magic in library databases will not work on Google or Yahoo.
5. Pay attention to punctuation and foreign characters. Even in classes taught in English, there can be reference materials (titles, authors, technical terms) that use foreign characters. So when you’re searching for a non-English-language title or subject that includes accent marks, apostrophes, or diacritics—such as an umlaut (Ü) or a cedilla (ç)—be sure to put in a search string that the search engine will tolerate. Most database (including FirstSearch) either omit punctuation altogether or Romanize it to standard keyboard characters. So Scarlet O’Hara becomes ohara, and the French word façade becomes facade.
6. Take advantage of eAudiobooks. Audio versions of classics like Shakespeare's works are entertaining and can help unlock meanings you might miss on the page. E-audiobooks can also help with learning foreign languages. Transfer titles to a portable device, and take them with you.
7. Go ahead; use Facebook. If you’re on Facebook—and if you’re reading this article, you probably are—you can add library-related apps to your profile. Library apps such as CiteMe return citations, or you can search WorldCat directly from within Facebook.
8. Borrow from anywhere. So the perfect book or journal article about the economics of producing shark-fin soup in landlocked countries exists—just not in your library. Try requesting it using interlibrary loan, where your library borrows the material from another library for you. For digital and photocopy-able materials, this can be done fast—sometimes in just minutes. And often for free!
9. Invest in a study carrel. Many libraries offer semiprivate study carrels either to all who ask or via a student lottery at the beginning of the semester. Get one. It gives you a quiet place beyond your dorm room where you can concentrate between classes and focus in the evenings. There’s a good chance it will be within Wi-Fi range. In addition to library spaces, university classrooms may be available after hours for group project work.
Finally, and most important,
10. Ask for help. Take a tour, and get to know the librarians on staff. With your GPA and those tuition dollars at stake, it’s time well spent. Librarians are trained professionals who are there to help you find and make sense of information. Plus, many university libraries have subject specialists with advanced degrees in your field. Use them.
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