Joshua Rimmer INFO 521

IPL Final Project Professor Linda Marion

Question One:

Needed by: 5/20/2011

Question:

i want to know about music

from:

confirm:

area: Music

reason: school

Hi there Reza! My name is Josh and i will be helping you find

sources for your project on music. I just want to ask a few

questions though, so i can clarify your project and find the

sources that best fit your research need. What would you like to

know about music? A particular genre, music theory, or music

history?

If you are looking for music history, i found an excellent

reference on www.about.com , and here is the link below

http://musiced.about.com/od/beginnersguide/a/intro.htm

This source provides an excellent background on the various

movements within music over the past 6 centuries and will allow

you to further explore the particular features of each movement.

I was able to locate the source by simply typing about music into

www.google.com

If this isn't what your looking for Reza please let me know ASAP

and i will find whatever sources your need for your project. Just

let me know what sources you need on music and i'll be happy to

help. Thank you Reza for choosing IPL2 for your reference needs.

Josh

Time Spent Researching on Question: 45 min

Search Strategy: With a question that was so broad, I did not really have an idea where to start and knew immediately that a reference interview would be required. My first assumption was to find a resource that contained information on music and maybe some background information on music theory. I consulted Wikipedia as my first resource, but felt that to utilize this as example would be too cursory. I then looked through the Drexel Library databases, but during my search I realized and figured that the patron probably did not have access to the same resources that I had and with the time frame in mind, I decided this was not an option. My next search was conducted through the Google search engine and I used the query Music. After culling through the pages and not seeing a source to my liking, I decided to refine the search to music theory. After examining a few website that I did not find appealing, I entered music history as a query and found a music history directory on about.com by Espie Estrella who was a musician and had training in music theory. I found this to be an excellent authority source, so I then proceeded to contact the patron and inquire as to whether the source I provided would serve as a basis to build off of.

Reflection: I do not know what else I could have done, or what I may improve on. For starters, as Miki pointed out I needed to make sure that I copy the whole address of a website, so it can form a hyperlink for the user. I am not surprised that the patron did not send a reply, as he or she probably changed their topic to something they could write a paper on. As I mentioned in my previous assignment for the reference experiment, a poorly worded question hinders the impact of a reference library. I want to know about music? It is difficult to formulate a research strategy with a question so broad, because you have no clue on where to begin or even attempt to identify with the user, since the question isn’t specific, nor specify the nature of the report. I really do want to help, but how can I when I want to know, what they want to know about music. It is frustrating to receive a question so broad.

Question Two:

Needed by: no need by

Question:

I am researching for a new Wikipedia biography on "Charles Brady

King" - inventor of the jackhammer (pneumatic hammer). He also

made and drove the first car in Detroit in 1896. What references

(books) do you suggest as good sources for biography information

on him?

from:

confirm:

location: Ludington, Michigan

area: Biography

reason: new Wikipedia biography on him

school: No

sources_consulted: Google, Google Books

Good Evening Doug,

Thank you for using IPL2! My name is Josh and I will be helping

you locate research materials on inventor Charles Brady King, so

you can create a Wikipedia entry. It was a tricky search, but I

think with the sources I found you will be able to write a solid

wiki entry. However, a majority of the material is located in

Detroit and it will be a significant trip from Ludington, but I

promise you it will be worth it! Let us get started.

I was able to find a brief article through a database called Gale

Biography.

http://www.gale.cengage.com/InContext/bio.htm

The article is titled “In the Beginning” by author Powell

Sinclair. It is about four pages long and will give you a brief

summary on King. It was published in Michigan History: Nov 1985,

vol 69 Issue 6 pg 6-9. If your local library cannot acquire it

through the Gale Database, your local librarian may be able to

track down the publication through their online catalog.

This is a licensed print and/or electronic resource that we are

recommending to you. You will not be able to access it or get a

copy of it without a paid subscription.

We encourage you to take this citation to your local library,

which may have a subscription and be able to provide this

resource to you for free. Your library may also be able to obtain

this resource through interlibrary loan services or some other

means.

To find a library near you a good resource to try is LibWeb,

found online at:

http://lists.webjunction.org/libweb/

Being that Mr. King was from Detroit I decided to check out the

Detroit Public Library website, to see if they had a special

collection dedicated toward local figures. Sure enough they did!

Here is the link I used to initiate the search:

http://dplopac.detroitpubliclibrary.org/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/x/0/49/

This link will take you directly to the Detroit Public Library’s

online catalog. Click on search/home and in the quick field

search box, enter “Charles Brady King” for your query, and then

hit enter. You will find seven items with five of them being

directly penned by Mr. King himself. From the looks of it and

reading the brief descriptions provided the following items/books

would be of significant interest to you. Personal side lights of

America’s first automobile race; Psychic remembrances; and Papers

of Charles Brady King. I would give you a direct link to each

source; however, the hyperlink would not work, so I hope my

instructions will guide you to the listing. These three sources

can be found at the Skillman Library Branch in Detroit.

I know this may not seem like a lot Doug, but from my experience

it’s these basic steps that start a snowball effect and will lead

you to more material. If you do decide to go to the Skillman

Library in Detroit, I would advise you to also consult one of the

reference librarians who specialize in local history. Besides

being able to locate the materials in their reserves, they may be

able to refer you to additional sources or local scholars who

have done research on Mr. King. This will save considerable leg

work on your end and put in contact with individuals who can help

further your research.

Thank you Doug for using IPL2 for reference needs and I hope you

are pleased with our services. I wish you the best of luck in

your research on Charles Brady King, and hope that his personal

works can help you write an excellent Wikipedia page. Best

wishes.

Josh

I requested feedback for the following question and stated, “just curious to see if I handled the section were I listed the book sources from the Detroit Library was acceptable, considering I could not post a direct hyperlink, because it would be broken.”

Thanks

Feedback Comments:

Hi Joshua,

First, I have to tell you I enjoyed your enthusiasm for the

question at hand. Your interest in assisting the patron came

through clearly in the reply, which is sometimes a difficult

thing to convey without the benefit of face-to-face contact. Your

sources were confined to areas not freely available online, which

the ipl2 discourages, but as the patron specifically requested

book references in his question, you provided precisely the

information he wanted.

With regard to the format of your answer, I would suggest

inserting spacing around each of the book titles, and perhaps

providing the book title and other citation information for each

recommended book in a separate block of text, so that none of the

information you have located gets lost within the text.

Although the patron asked for books, there are a couple of online

resources as well that are freely available that could give

additional information. The Automotive Hall of Fame website has a

short biography of Mr. King that might prove helpful.

However, you did an excellent job providing the patron with

precisely the information he asked for. Great job!

Miki Wolfe

Ref Admin

Time Spent Researching on Question: 2 hrs 45min

Search Strategy: I first consulted the Hagerty Library and the Gale biography, since I was familiar in using the database from our second assignment. I was not able to locate anything. After scanning the Hagerty Library databases, I was able to find a resource titled America History & Life, which led me to a brief biographical piece penned by Powell Sinclair about Charles Brady King. After this phase I proceeded to cull through information on Charles Brady King using the search engine Google; however, I was unable to locate or come across any information regarding books about the subject. I checked Google Books and did not find anything substantial in terms of extended content that was viewable for the patron. I then focused my search in utilizing Google Scholar and checked their Engineering, Comp Sci, Social Sci, Arts & Humanities refined search features and found articles that had mentioned in passing about Mr. King. I then decided to change my approach and utilized footnote chasing, which led me to a reference of the Detroit Public Library. From here, I accessed Detroit’s OPAC and did a keyword query of Charles Brady King. After finding an author hyperlink of Charles Brady King, I was then able to locate more than several books penned by the subject himself and after reading each description, I concluded that I had enough information to answer the patron’s question.

Reflection: Out of all of my replies, I was most pleased with my response for this question and a few days ago I found that the patron had indeed created a Wikipedia page on Charles Brady King using the sources I had found. In terms of my format, I do agree with the feedback Miki Wolfe had suggested providing full bibliographic citation of the five referenced books, which would have made my explanation more concise, as opposed to lumping in the titles altogether. It would have made it easier to read for the patron as well. I understood Miki’s stance on providing internet sources to begin with, but my concern was providing the patron with what he exactly needed to achieve his goal of creating a wiki page, so in my own search process I filtered out web-sources about Mr. King.

As far as doing things differently, I should have noticed the brick wall searches sooner and applied a footnote and citation search strategy. This probably would have led to more book sources being found and excellent secondary sources that could have expanded the content, as well as historical perspective that the patron was looking for on Charles Brady King. Although I didn’t realize this at the time, I probably made up for this mistake by suggesting to the patron to consult one of the local reference librarians at the library, who more than likely helped the patron further his studies.

Question Three:

Needed by: 5/14/2011

Question:

What are some fast kangaroos.

from:

confirm:

location: MI Big RApids

area: Science

reason: for a research project

school: Yes

sources_consulted: books

Hi Kiran! My name is Josh and I will be helping you find sources

on how fast kangaroos travel.

With their large feet and hind legs, kangaroos can travel

anywhere between 15 to 25 miles per hour, but also generate

speeds of 40-50 miles per hour over a short distance. The fastest

and largest kangaroos are called the Red Kangaroo. The two other

types of kangaroos are known as the Eastern Kangaroo and Western

Grey Kangaroo. Here are some fun websites to show you more

information.

The first link I found was located on our homepage at IPL. I went

to resources by subject section and then clicked reference.

Here is a link for you Kiran.

http://www.ipl2.org/IPLBrowse/GetSubject?vid=13&tid=6996&parent=0

Then I found a resource titled answers.com. It is a website that

takes information from a bunch of different sites to make

gathering information easier for you.

http://www.answers.com/main/what_content.jsp

At answers.com I typed kangaroos into the search field at the

top. Here is the webpage on kangaroos for you, so you can see

for yourself!

http://www.answers.com/topic/kangaroo

There is a lot of neat stuff on there to look at. You can see the

different types of kangaroos and see the speeds they travel. Just