Finding Information

Finding Electronic Information
Databases
Electronic Journals
Electronic theses
Reference Service
Reshelving

Finding books

Library Catalogue - the key to finding books in the library.
Books in the library are shelved in call number order using the Dewey Decimal Classification system. The Dewey Decimal Classification System divides all knowledge into ten main classes as follows:

000 Generalities. General Knowledge

100 Philosophy & Psychology

200 Religion

300 Social Sciences

400 Language & Linguistics

500 Pure Science

600 Technology (Applied Sciences)

700 The Arts

800 Literature & Rhetoric

900 Geography & Travel, Biography, History

Here is an example illustrating the hierarchical structure. If a user wants to find out books on geometry they should first locate the broad classification number for Science: 500.

Within this broad discipline, then look at 510 which stands for Mathematics. Within 510, materials on Geometry are located at 516.

500 Natural sciences and mathematics

510 Mathematics

516 Geometry

516.3 Analytic geometry

516.37 Metric differential geometry

516.372 Euclidian geometry

In the above example books on Analytic geometry will be shelved in ascending order from 516 to 516.3, and books on Metric differential geometry will be shelved at 516.37.

Books by different authors on the same subject are shelved together in one place and are sub-arranged alphabetically by the surname of the author.

The library racks and shelves are marked showing different subject areas in Dewey Decimal Classivication (DDC) order. DDC breaks down topics from the broadest applications of each topic to its component parts, and its narrowest applications. The notation generally becomes longer as the topic becomes more specific.

Books are arranged on the shelves in ascending order from left to right in DDC order.

Electronic databases

permit you to find information on a topic, often more effectively than using a search engine like Google. There are databases for almost every subject, and you can search them by keywords, by author, and many other options. All provide online help to their use.

The databases below are useful sources of information for Education. All include full text, but none provide full access to everything listed:



ERIC Online (http://www.eric.ed.gov)- Free internet access to the ERIC databases.

Education-line (http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol)- An offshoot of the British Education Index, this database offers full-text conference papers and some theses dating back to 1996.

Eldis (http://www.eldis.org)- A database of ten thousand key documents and one hundred thousand selected websites regarding development information. Excellent for snapshots of education in other countries. Maintained at the Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex.

IDP Database of Research into International Education (http://www.idp.com/research/database_of_research.aspx) Includes international and Australian research: references to articles, books conference papers, reports; links to websites. Updated monthly.

GED (http://qesdp.cdie.org/ged/index.html) - The Global Education Database accesses education data compiled by USAID from UNESCO and DHS sources - very comprehensive. Permits construction of tables of data using standard spreadsheet programs.

UNESCO portal (http://portal.unesco.org/education/en )- This site contains electronic theses and dissertations on education, as well as links to pages about primary, secondary, and higher education worldwide.

World Data on Education - Published by UNESCO's International Bureau of Education, this site features two fully-searchable databases with information on education world-wide with text as well as statistical data

Search Engines for all types of information. For guidance on using the internet for researching a topic use this link: http://www.une.edu.au/library/eskillsplus/research/web.php

Google - (http://www.google.com) use the Advanced Search option for more precise searching and to save yourself having to know the correct syntax for constructing your search

Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com) allows you to run a Web search which is (in the main) restricted to high-quality, scholarly literature. Items in Google Scholar's index include citations, full-text peer-reviewed articles, theses, books, preprints, abstracts, conference papers and scientific reports. Much of this material is difficult to access in other ways. There is also an Advanced Scholar option.

Google Books - (http://books.google.com) many books linked in Google books provide limited preview to their contents, sometimes a chapter or larger section can be read on line.