ILS 504 – 01 Reference and Information Resources and
Services
Exercise 4: Access to Electronic and Internet Resources
November 10, 2008
Topic 1: What was
the make-up of the first immigrants the first year Ellis Island was opened,
which countries did they come from, versus todayÕs make-up of immigrants?
By using the Library of CongressÕ
(ÒLOCÓ) Subject Headings from the University of San AntonioÕs Library Web site,
the Classification Outline from the Library of Congress Web site and ideas for other
keywords such as immigration, immigration plus a year, Ellis Island, Government
Bureau of Statistics, and nationality percentages, I began my search. The most
appropriate LOC Subject Headings were under H: Social Sciences: HA: 1-473
Statistics, 36-37 Statistical Bureaus, 154-473 Statistical Data, and 1745
– 473 by Country. In addition CS: Genealogy, HV: Social and Public
Welfare, Criminology, HT: Class, Race, HN: Social History and Condition, and E:
History: United States were other classifications that could yield the
comparative results.
The initial search in Buley
LibraryÕs catalog using the LOC Subject Heading Immigration- Statistics-United
States resulted in 122 returns. The first result was a reference book, Immigration Statistics Status of the Implementation of
National Academy of Sciences' Recommendations: Report to Congressional
Requesters, that is only available in the State LibraryÕs
Federal Documents microfiche or in Western Connecticut State UniversityÕs
microfiche departments. However it provides a link to a PDF of the report that
showed it is not a valid research result. The second result, Immigration and
Passenger Movement at Ports of the United States during the Year ending June
30, 1893: Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, is also only
found in the State LibraryÕs Federal Documents department. This is a valid
result to answer the first part of the question as Ellis Island opened January
1, 1892. The seventh result was the Historical Census Statistics on the
Foreign-born Population of the United States, 1850 to 2000 published in
2006 provides a link to a PDF of the actual document on http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0081/twps0081.html.
As this document gives charts and tables to illustrate the breakdown of
immigrants to United States for the time period, this was a valid result to
answer the research question up to the 2000 census. As Buley Library uses LOC
Subject Headings, I took the Subject Headings from this entry to continue my
search for more current data as follows: Aliens-United States-Statistics,
Immigrants-United States-Statistics, United States-Bureau of the
Census-Population Division, and United States-Immigration-Statistics.
CONSULS gave twenty-seven very good
results for Aliens-United States-Statistics of which the sixth result was the Yearbook
of Immigration Statistics published in 2003. It is located at Eastern
Connecticut State UniversityÕs library and the State LibraryÕs Federal
Documents department and provides a link to Homeland SecurityÕs WebPages that
give the most up-to-date immigration statistics. This is a valid result to
answer the second part of the research question. Immigrants-United
States-Statistics provided eighty-one returns while the United States-Bureau of
the Census-Population Division search resulted in 801 returns, too wide a
search, and the United States-Office of Immigration-Statistics retrieved
nineteen, which was too narrow. The same Subject Headings in WorldCat brought
very good results. Immigration-Statistics-United States found 1,823 results and
the fourth, Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, and the fifth, Facts About American Immigration, were the
most relevant. Aliens-United States-Statistics gave 237 results very similar to
the previous Subject Heading while Immigrants-United States-Statistics gave
797, United States-Bureau of the Census-Population Division 2,154, and United
States-Immigration-Statistics-Population Division 124. Many results were
repeated in these searches or the search retrieved resources that were not applicable
to the question.
Within Buley LibraryÕs databases, I
chose to search EBSCO Host – America: History & Life and iCONN and
used the Subject Headings previously noted. Immigration Statistics-United
States search in EBSCO Host provided forty-eight results with the initial
results relating to certain ethnic migrations to the United States. The other
Subject Headings yielded illegal immigration, census information for legal
purposes, or no results at all. The iCONN database gave more varied results
when Business and Law, History, E-Reference Books, and Magazines and Journals
additional databases were selected for an advanced search. However the 419
results referred to current information on immigration health issues, or visa
and work permit issues. The ABI/Inform Trade and Industry located more relevant
results such as the Yearbook on Immigration Statistics.
Yahoo! and AltaVista search engines yielded large results for all Library of Congress
Subject Headings. Yahoo! returned
17,900,000 hits for Immigration-Statistics-United States. The first result was
a Wikipedia listing showing a chart of the actual breakdown of nationalities
from the United Sates Census Bureau, Population division that was validated by
the primary source. The second result was the Department of Homeland SecurityÕs
(ÒDHSÓ) Web site and Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. The other LOC
Subject Headings resulted in large returns from 3 million to 15 million.
Wikipedia appeared first in many searches and then DHSÕ Web site or other
statistical information sources. The metasearch engine Dogpile searches Google, Yahoo!, LiveSearch, and Ask and returned a
maximum of four pages per Subject Heading with many of the same results. There
were some false drops under Aliens-United States-Statistics that gave
information about Unidentified Flying Objects versus immigration.
Topic 2: Who was
Studs Terkel? What did he do to make him famous?
I used the same search strategy of Library
of CongressÕ Subject Headings and Classification Outline with other keywords
such as his name, Pulitzer Prize, writer, biographer, and biography with his
name. LOCÕs Subject Headings were C: Archaeology, Heraldry, Biography, P:
Classical Literature. Poetry. Fiction. Study of Language, and PN: 1 - 6790
Literature (general), PN: 842 Jewish Literature, PN: 1010-1525 Poetry. A Buley
Library catalog search of Studs Terkel gave fifty-six results. After selecting
a few of his works, he was classified in many more areas such as United
States-Race Relations, Oral History, Anthropology, Broadcasters, and
Authors-United States-20th Century. I chose to use Studs Terkel,
Broadcasters-United States-Biography-Terkel, and United States-Race
Relations-Terkel. Studs Terkel retrieved 786 entries in WorldCat including
references to his works, biographies, reviews of his works, or his forewords in
other authorsÕ works. Broadcasters-United States-Biography-Terkel provided
three book results only in Buley LibraryÕs catalog while WorldCat resulted in
forty returns of books, audio books, DVDs, and VHS. United States-Race
Relations-Terkel resulted in only two books in Buley LibraryÕs catalog while
WorldCat showed eleven results and many of the results were available in Buley
Library or other libraries nearby within the consortium. In addition to iCONN,
I selected Academic Search Primer database to locate information using the
three Subject Headings. Studs Terkel yielded the most numerous results of
2,556. When using the ÒNarrow Your SearchÓ option in the left column, the
search reduced to 108 entries and then again to twelve interviews and twelve
books. The other Subject Headings yielded at the most 2,636,730 and, when
eliminating certain keywords from the Subject Headings, could only narrow down
to 120,850. Yahoo! retrieved Mr.
TerkelsÕ Web site, Conversations with America, at www.studsterkel.org
as the first entry while AltaVista
showed Amazon.com ads first. Yahoo!
and AltaVista each retrieved 17.3
million hits for Studs Terkel including tributes, obituaries, and works. Dogpile reduced the search to a maximum of four pages as in
the previous search however advertisements were the first three hits while the
remaining hits mirrored previous results.
Researching information can be a
daunting task, even for a reference librarian. The two searches reinforced the
fact that the researcher will be more successful using the libraryÕs unique
Subject Headings or keywords to search within its catalog. In addition, a more
narrow or precise search can be obtained by using the title or partial title of
a good source. For instance when using the title of one of the immigration
search results, Immigration Passenger, as keywords in Buley LibraryÕs catalog,
I retrieved results about each ethnic groupÕs historical migration statistics
to United States. Many times my initial search retrieved additional Subject
Headings to answer the question that I hadnÕt considered appropriate such as
Self-actualization (Psychology) in old age-United States-Case Studies for Mr.
Terkel. After further research on his life and works, I understood the expanse
of his work couldnÕt be classified or cataloged in one or five areas. Both the
historical and current topic searches were better-sourced and defined within
catalogs or databases than on the Internet. The Internet returned numerous
results of which the first pages were similar to the catalog searches however
required further evaluation before using the source and there were some false
drops. By using Subject Headings, unique key words, and titles of good sources
while searching in other library catalogs, databases, or search engines will
improve the quality of the search results and reduce search time.
Appendix of Sample Results
Barone, M. (2006,
October 2). The Growth of a Nation. U.S. News & World Report, 141(12), 45.
Retrieved November 1, 2008, from History Reference Center database.
Brauer, D. A
description of the immigrant population [Washington, D.C.]: Congress of the United
States, Congressional Budget Office, [2004] Retrieved November 1, 2008 from http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/60xx/doc6019/11-23-Immigrant.pdf
Brownstone, D.
M., & Franck, I. M. (2001). Facts about American immigration. New York: H.W. Wilson.
Etkin, C. and
Brian E Coutts. (2006, April). Yearbook of Immigration
Statistics. Library Journal, 131(7), 50. Retrieved
November 1, 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document
ID: 1032212421).
Gibson, C. and
Kay Jung. The foreign-born population of the United States, 1850 to 2000 / New
York: Novinka Books, c2007
Immigration and
passenger movement at ports of the United States during the year ending June
30, 1893: report of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics
United States. Dept. of the Treasury. Bureau of Statistics Washington, D.C.:
Government Printing Office, 1894 Retrieved November 1, 2008 from http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0081/twps0081.pdf
Immigration
statistics Status of the Implementation of National Academy of SciencesÕ
Recommendations United States General Accounting Office Report to Congressional
Requesters June 1998 GAO/GGD-98-119 United States General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C. 20548 General Government Division B-277650 June 9, 1998
Retrieved November 1, 2008 from http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=gao&docid=f:gg98119.pdf
Library of
Congress Classification Outline 2008. Retrieved November 1, 2008 from http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/
The University of
San Antonio Library. Find Information Subject Guides Library of Congress
Headings Retrieved November 1, 2008 from http://www.lib.utsa.edu/Research/Subject/lcclas.html
United States.
General Accounting Office Washington, D.C.: The Office, [1998] web site http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=gao&docid=f:gg98119.pdf
United States.
(1978). Statistical yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Washington, D.C.: The Service.
2007 Yearbook of
Immigration Statistics Yearbook of Immigration statistics [electronic resource]
/ Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Dept. of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, [2003]