Guide to Library Research in Science

Information Literacy | Scientific Communication | Reference Sources | Organization of Library Materials
Search Strategies and Techniques | Searching Library Catalogs | Finding Citations to Articles in Periodicals
Understanding Citations | Finding Full text of Journal Articles | Searching the World Wide Web
Borrowing from Other Libraries | Evaluating Information | Ethical Use of Information

Lesson 2: Scientific Communication

Descriptions of Tertiary Literature Sources in Science

As a result of the proliferation of the primary literature and the quantity and diversity of secondary publications, a secondary indexing is required to facilitate access to primary and secondary sources. The tertiary sources that provide this indexing include guides to the literature and library catalogs.

Guides to the Literature Guides to the literature describe the types of sources, in all formats, available for one or more disciplines, and list outstanding examples of each type. Some guides cover all aspects of science and technology, while others focus on a specific discipline. See the Selected Bibliography of Science Reference Sources for guides to the literature available at the College. Library Catalogs Library catalogs index all items in any format held in a particular library. Books, journals, newspaper, government publications, reference materials, and non-textual materials such as films, videos, computer software, maps, photographs are some of the items that may be included. A catalog record includes both a bibliographic and physical description of the item, subject indexing, the physical location and call number of the item within the library. Library catalogs are now beginning to include records for items that are not physically held in the library, but which can be accessed by authorized users, such as electronic journals or databases. Individual library catalogs from all over the world can now be accessed via the Internet. The College of Wooster libraries' catalog is now merged with the catalogs of Kenyon College, Denison University, and Ohio Wesleyan University to form the CONSORT Catalog. In addition, the CONSORT Catalog has been merged with the OhioLINK Catalog. Services provided as a result of creating these consortial catalogs have vastly improved student and faculty access to materials held by other Ohio libraries. WorldCat is the union catalog of all items cataloged by OCLC member libraries. It includes more than 62 million records for books, computer data files, computer programs, films, journals, manuscripts, musical scores, newspapers, slides, sound recordings, and videos. WorldCat does NOT index journal or newspaper articles or book chapters.