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COMM 10100: Foundations of Public Communication - Heeman

Welcome and Getting Assistance

This guide points to library resources that will assist you in completing your papers and research for courses throughout your time at Hiram. 

We're here to help! 

Here are some ways to get assistance:

Contact Janet Vogel, your class librarian. I can be contacted by email (vogelj@hiram.edu), or stop by my office in the library next to the elevator on the 1st floor. I typically work M-F 8:30-5:30 and will be glad to help if I'm available. To guarantee I'll be there, please set up an appointment by emailing me in advance. 

Contact any of the librarians using library@hiram.edu.

Contact the Circulation Desk via phone at (330)569-5489, or in-person for questions related to your account, finding call numbers, etc. The library is open 7 days per week during the school year. Visit our hours page for complete details. 

If prompted for a library barcode to access library materials, use your student ID number (found on the front of your ID card). 

The first time you check out materials, student staff will register the barcode that is on the back of your ID card. You can then use either that number (with no spaces) or your student ID number when prompted for a barcode. 

If you have any questions or if there is a problem with your account, please email library@hiram.edu with your name, Hiram Student ID number (on the front of your ID), and the number on the barcode on the back of your ID. We will update your account within 1 business day. 

Ways to Search

OneSource will search multiple resources at once! 

Tip: Use a keyword search instead of a whole question. Then narrow down the results with the filters on the side.

Search the Hiram College Library, OhioLINK, and many databases with one search.

Need help? Email us at library@hiram.edu

Database - a searchable index of reliable resources like academic journals, newspapers, and magazines. Some databases focus on specific subjects and may also include e-books and multimedia.

 

  • What if the "A to Z List" does not have the journal or magazine I am looking for? It is a lengthy list, but it does not have everything. However, there is another option! Fill out the InterLibrary Loan Form for Articles, and we will attempt to get the article for you.
  • What if I cannot find the Full Text of an article? We would be happy to help you find the article you are looking for. Visit the Ask Here desk to ask for a librarian or email us.
  • What types of materials can I borrow through SearchOhio and OhioLINK? You can request print materials, audiobooks, music, movies and other formats. 
  • How long before I receive my requested material? Most arrive within a week, but it depends on their availability. You’ll be notified by email when they arrive.
  • How do I return items? Drop them off at Hiram Library!
  • Are there different rules for borrowing? Yes. Items have different loan periods, renewal limits, daily fine rates and replacement costs than the items you borrow from Hiram College Library.

Find a Specific Journal

Browse Journals by Subject

Locate a particular article if you know the title of the journal it is in and discover new journals in a particular subject area.

 

  • What if I cannot find the Full Text of an article?

You will be prompted to login to the EJC when accessing from off campus. See Connecting from Off Campus for help with logging in. 

You will be prompted to login to the EBC when accessing from off campus. See Connecting from Off Campus for help with logging in.


The WorldCat Catalog

Search WorldCat if you have exhausted other options for locating the items you need (Hiram's Library Catalog, OhioLink/SearchOhio, OneSource, etc.). WorldCat is the world's largest network of library content and services. Currently, this shared catalog contains the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories. 

If you find something in WorldCat that you want but can't find it in the Hiram College Library collection or OhioLINK you'll need to fill out an InterLibrary Loan Form to request the item.

The time required to locate and obtain these materials can vary so please be proactive in your research. When in doubt please visit the library and talk to our librarians for help.

Tips:

Keyword Search Entering one or two specific words will find many results although some might be unrelated to your topic.

Subject Search Select "subject" in the drop down, then type baseball or more specialized terms, such as: planetary motionarmadillo diseasesetc.). The * at the end of a base word will find the different forms of a word, for example, use regulat* to find results with regulation, regulatory, regulators. Using "and" in between terms will ensure both words are found.

Title/Author Search Choose "Title" for specific works or "Author" for books by a particular author.

Material Type (book, eBook, etc.)
Select a material type from the dropdown to limit to a Book (physical item), eBook (digital item), musical recording, map, and more. 

Collection:
Select the Collection limiter to reduce your results to a particular part of the library, such as the film collection, juvenile collection, or government documents. Since the Government Documents collection is so large, it can sometimes overwhelm your results. Use the "All Collections Except Gov Docs" limiter to remove them from your search.


Find Books in the Juvenile Collection (2nd floor)

How it is Arranged?

The Juvenile Collection (also known as the Kids Books or the Children’s Collection) is actually four collections in one.  What they have in common is:

  • They contain books for pre-K through 12.
  • There is no breakdown on the shelves by age group, although picture books and board books are separated by format.

The four collections are called:

Juvenile, which is the location given in the brief catalog record below:

LOCATION CALL # STATUS
 JUVENILE 597.89 Jen    AVAILABLE

The Juvenile collection contains non-fiction books, such a books about animals, biographies, as well as counting books and alphabet books.  It is arranged by Dewey Decimal call numbers.

Juvenile Fiction, which is the location given in the brief catalog record below:

LOCATION CALL # STATUS
 JUVENILE FICTION JF Se81b 2011    AVAILABLE

Juvenile Fiction contains beginning to read, middle grade, and young adult fiction.  It is arranged alphabetically by the author’s last name.

Picture books (call number begins with PB) contains picture books and are arranged alphabetically by the author's last name.

Board books (call number begins with BB) are books with thick, cardboard pages, typically for younger children. They are arranged alphabetically by the author's last name and stored in bins below the picture books. 

How Do I Find Juvenile Books in the Online Catalog?

There are three tricks to finding fiction books (and sometimes non-fiction books) using the catalog.  Let’s suppose you are looking for books on frogs.  Here are two ways to find juvenile books on frogs:

  • Do a keyword search for frogs, but limit your search to the juvenile collection only. Your search would look something like this:

  • Do a subject search for frogs and use the phrase juvenile literature (to find mostly non-fiction books) or juvenile fiction (to find fiction books)

  • You may also search what the catalog calls genre/form using a keyword search.  The most common genre/form searches in the juvenile collection are for: picture books for children, board books, and stories without words.  This last one may retrieve items from the main collection or the fiction collection, so be sure to limit this search to the juvenile collection.

Getting Better Results

Finding the right words to use when searching is the hardest and most time consuming aspect of library research. 

Tips:

  • Use Keywords, not Sentences: Spend a few minutes (time yourself!) thinking about your topic and the key terms within your research question. Pick out the most important words.
    Example Question: What effect does social media have on startup companies and entrepreneurs?
    Example Keywords: "social media" and "startup companies" and entrepreneurs
  • Use Synonyms: If your initial search doesn't yield results, try to think of other words that mean the same thing.
    Example: "communication strategies and disasters" or "communication strategies and crisis"
    Example: footwear or shoes
  • Subject Suggestions: If you find a couple of good articles or books, look at their subject headings. Use them as keywords to see what other resources you can find.
    • The "Subject: Thesaurus" in article databases can show you what subjects appear most often in your searches to help you think of additional keywords.
    • In the library's catalog (books), these are in the "Suggested Terms" tab.
                      library catalog showing a list of suggested terms
  • Use Booleans: Try using the "or" search to search for multiple keywords or subjects at once.
    Example: "disasters" or "crisis" will find any articles with either of those keywords in their title, abstract, or subjects. See "Precision in Searching" below for more details about using Boolean search operators (and, or, not).
  • Still stuck? Ask a librarian for help! We've spent many years trying to hone our search skills, and we love a challenge!

Go Find Your Book

Understanding Search Results:

Your search of the online catalog of Books, CDs, and DVDs in the Hiram College Library has led you to the following.  How do you find it on the shelf? How do you know if it is an eBook or a print book?

Print book example:
Author Koritansky, John C.
Title Alexis de Tocqueville and the new science of politics : an interpretation of Democracy in America / John C.Koritansky.
Imprint Durham, N.C. : Carolina Academic Press, c2010.

Permanent Link

 
LOCATION CALL # STATUS
 HIRAM Main Collection 320.1 Toc-K 2010    AVAILABLE

 

eBook example:


You need 3 pieces of information to find an item here. 
  1. The location tells you which floor in the building or whether it is an eBook. 
  2. The call number tells you where on the floor (in this case it is like a street address) or what type of eBook it is. Click "View online" to read an eBook.
  3. The status tells you if it should be on the shelf or not or whether it is an online book. Most eBooks have unlimited access and can be read by multiple users at a time. 

eBooks provided by the OhioLINK and OPAL consortia look a little bit different, but you should always click "View online" to read them.

Dewey Decimal Classification

The main Dewey Decimal classes are:

000 Generalities 
100 Philosophy and psychology 
200 Religion 
300 Social Sciences 
400 Language 
500 Natural sciences and mathematics 
600 Technology (Applied sciences) 
700 The arts (fine and decorative) 
800 Literature and rhetoric 
900 Geography and history

Each class is further subdivided at the hundred divisions and the thousand sections. Numbers are placed after a decimal point to further identify material more specifically by subject.

The following table below will help with the most frequent locations. 

On every entry in the Hiram College Library catalog you will find a section below the Title that looks like this:

LOCATION entry tells you where the item is located physically in the building.

Table of Locations 

Location Call Number Arranged by Floor
Main Collection 0 through 799.99999999 Dewey Call Number 2nd floor
Main Collection 800 through 999.999999 Dewey Call Number 3rd floor
Fiction Call numbers start with "F" Alphabetically by Author 4th floor (Clock Tower)
Music Scores All call numbers Dewey Call Number 2nd floor
CD Collection Call numbers start with musical genre Genre then composer or artist Lower Level Chamberlain Room
Film Collection 0 through 999.9999999 Dewey Call Number Lower Level Chamberlain Room
Film Collection Call numbers start with "Feature Film" Alphabetically by Title Lower Level Chamberlain Room
Juvenile Nonfiction  0 through 999.9999999 Dewey Call Number 2nd floor
Juvenile Fiction Call numbers start with "JF" Alphabetically by Author 2nd floor
Picture Books Call numbers start with "PB" Alphabetically by Author 2nd floor
Board Books Call numbers start with "BB" Alphabetically by Author 2nd floor
Oversize Call numbers start with a "Q" Dewey Call Number 2nd floor
Folio Call numbers start with "Folio" Dewey Call Number 2nd floor
Government Documents Call numbers start with an abbreviation of the agency that produced the document SuDocs system  3rd floor

 

The following table below will help with the most frequent locations. 

On every entry in the Hiram College Library catalog you will find a section below the Title that looks like this:

STATUS entry tells you if it is on the shelf or not and if not, why.

Table of Statuses

Status Meaning
Available Should be on Shelf. If you cannot find the item, please ask us!
Due (followed by a date) Checked out and is due back on date given. You may borrow a copy through OhioLINK, if a copy is available.
Due (followed by a date) Off Campus Checked out to an OhioLINK borrower and due on the date given. You may borrow a copy through OhioLINK, if a copy is available.
New Book Shelf May be found on the New Book Shelf on the main floor and may be checked out. 
Missing

Book cannot be found.  You may borrow a copy through OhioLINK, if a copy is available.

In Repair Book is damaged and waiting to be repaired.  You may borrow a copy through OhioLINK, if a copy is available.
Lib Use Only Should be on the shelf. May not be checked out, but may be used in the library.
Use Online An Internet resource that you may use online.  Check the full record for the link to the item or click "View Online."
In Process The book has been ordered. It may not have arrived yet, or it may be waiting for its labels and stickers before it goes on the shelf. If you have an urgent need for a title "In Process," contact library@hiram.edu with the book's full title and author.

What if the book is checked out?

  1. You can wait until the book gets returned to check it out.
  2. You can request the book through OhioLink or SearchOhio which might mean you will have it in your hands sooner.
  3. You can place the book on hold in the Hiram Library catalog by clicking the "Request" button below the item record.

What if the book has a link instead of a call number?
If you see “Electronic Resource” or "View Online" instead of a call number, click on the title to open the record and then click the link to view the item. 

What if the Library Catalog does not list the book I need?
Please check OhioLink and/or SearchOhio. You can request books yourself with your Hiram College ID, and they will be delivered to our library. If that does not work, fill out the InterLibrary Loan Form or ask us to consider purchasing it for the library by emailing us at library@hiram.edu

Precision in Searching

The words "AND," "OR," and "NOT" can help you make a search more precise. This is called Boolean searching, and it can seem really intimidating, but once you get the hang of them, Boolean searches can really help you!

For example, the search 'films AND psychology NOT children', will return a search with results that contain the keywords 'films' and 'pyschology' but not 'children' - important if you are only looking at adolescent psychology in films.

Learn more with this guide from the MIT libraries. It really helps explain Boolean searching, and you don’t have to be a computer scientist to understand!

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