Advanced Foundations for Learning

• How are the books organized in the library, by author, topics, genres?
  • The library organizes books according to subject, as outlined by the Library of Congress (LC) Classification system
  • IN-CLASS QUESTION: Why aren't some letters in the alphabet used for the classification, e.g. W?
    • According to the Library of Congress: "W is used by the National Library
      of Medicine, Y is used by the Government Printing Office. The letter I could be easily
      confused with the number 1 and the letter J. The letter O could be confused with the
      numeral 0 (zero)." (see above link, slide 16)
• Do the different floors of the library reflect different categories of books?
  • Not really, except for the 4th floor, which contains all the music books
    • M: 4th fl
    • A-GF: 5th fl
    • H-PN: 6th fl
    • PQ-Z: 7th fl
  • See our page on Finding call numbers to properly read call numbers on physical books
  • Go to our Locations page (for the Waterloo library) and click the section for each floor to see what range of books are found there, with a floor map
• Are there study rooms in the library?
  • Yes, click here to book one
• Is the library open 24/7, or is it open for a set time period throughout the day?
  • We're not open 24/7, but our hours are located at the top centre of every page

• How to sign out a book from the library?
  • Are books free to sign out? Yes!
  • If you are being prompted to pay for a book, you're likely looking at a book outside our collection; DON'T PAY - we can request it for you for free
     
• How do you sign a physical book out?
  • Read the book's record in Omni to find out availability and location information
  • Determine what floor the book is on
  • Get the book off the shelf, then go to the Main (2nd) floor
  • Use your OneCard to sign the book out at the User Services desk or the Self-checkout machine
     
• How long is the loan period of a physical book? Does it change for digital material?
  • Physical book = 120 days; multiple renewals
  • eBooks different:
    • sometimes 1 day: Emoji speak : communication and behaviours on social media
    • sometimes unlimited user access: Streaming video : storytelling across borders
    • We have access to Canadian University Press eBooks through a license agreement, like this one: Canuck rock: a history of Canadian popular music 
    • We also subscribe to many eBook collections (book titles available individually through Omni)

For all policies about books and borrowing, see our General Borrowing Policies
 

• How do you best use the library's website to find resources?
  • In-class suggestions:
    • Don't type questions into the search box
    • Break your questions down into their constituent concepts
    • When you want to go deeper into research, use one of our research databases, available on our subject guides page
• Is it beneficial to me to take out physical books for research when I can just google it?
  • It depends! 
    • The question assumes you can get the information you need through google. 
    • A lot of high-quality, scholarly (peer-reviewed) information is not available through google, but is behind paywalls and is inaccessible. 
    • Many physical books have not been digitized and never will be due to lack of resources.
    • We may get a recent book in paper version because of the high cost of academic ebooks, so you'd have to come into the library to access it.
• Can I go to the library to ask about correct citing?
  • Yes! Ask me using contact info at left
    • Purdue OWL Style guide page
• Can you renew books online?
  • Yes, you'll either get an email reminder for physical books you've checked out, with a link to renew, or you can always check by logging into your "My Account" at the link on the top right of our library website.

• Do we have fun reads? not just academic books?
  • We do (depending on your definition of "fun"!) such as graphic novels or literary fiction (a large collection of Canadian and world authors) - ask one of the librarians if you have a specific genre you're interested in; also consult the Waterloo Public Library, just down Albert Street
• How does the Library decide what physical books to add to its collection?
  • By amount of physical space available, and by our collection budget
• How does the library increase its catalog of information? What things prevents it from gathering everything?
  • We purchase new books every year, but as above, space and money are constraints from gathering everything
• What other resources other than books and other articles can you get from the Library?
  • Lots: CDs, DVDs, government documents, musical scores, 
• Does the library have cds?        
  • Yes, if marked "Waterloo Compact Disc - 4th Floor ; COMDISC" then in open shelves on 4th floor  (see floor plan)

• When doing a research paper, is there any difference between doing research and getting information from a book rather than a website?
  • Each has different characteristics to consider, with pros/cons:
    • Books are "static" and can't be changed, not as recent as information from a website, but if they are published from a reputable, scholarly publisher, are considered credible and part of the "scholarly conversation" worth consulting
    • Websites provide recent information and are thus more up-to-date than books, but are not "peer-reviewed" as books are; always apply the 3 criteria (in this video, for scholarly books) to evaluate website credibility: author, publisher, documentation 
• What are some effective ways to evaluate the credibility of online sources, especially when researching independently?
  • Yes, watch this short video put together for Global Studies on the credibility of sources

• If you find two or more resources that are relatively the same, what are your strategies on picking the best one?
  • It always depends on the kind of question you are researching, but in general:
    • Prefer scholarly sources over non-scholary
    • Prefer recent work over older (it should include older work in its review of the literature)
       
• How to find something specific on Omni (what to type into the search bar to find relevant and helpful sources)
• When finding sources on Omni how can you find more specific papers?
  • It's helpful to take your question, and create important concepts to search in Omni
  • Here are 2 helpful Omni tutorials:
    • How to find and limit to scholarly articles in Omni
    • Advanced search in Omni
       
• How can you verify a selected book you've chosen (in the physical library) is a peer-reviewed and/or academic book?
  • Watch this video How to find scholarly books