Medical Library Association Essential Guide to Becoming an Expert Searcher: Proven Techniques, Strategies, and Tips for Finding Health Information

by Terry Ann Jankowski

Overview

Ideal for use as a course text or a workbook for self-instruction, this utilitarian guide will teach you valuable strategies and techniques, regardless of your current skill level. Begin with the self-evaluation tool--find out where you are on the novice-to-expert continuum and then follow Jankowski through all of the components of an expert search, starting with the reference interview. A useful interview checklist and examples of librarian-user interactions will help you plan a successful, efficient search. Jankowski then guides you through the basics of search construction, offers practical guidelines for deciding what resource to start with, passes on tips and tricks from expert searchers, and reviews the usefulness of some of the most popular health science databases, like MEDLINE and PubMed, PsychInfo, CAB Abstracts, ABI/Inform, ERIC, and more. Featuring a dozen checklists and 30 exercises plus tips and strategies for maintaining and growing your skill set over time, here is your direct path to becoming an expert health information searcher.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781555706227
Publisher:	ALA Editions
Publication date:	07/09/2012
Series:	Medical Library Association Guides
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.30(d)

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Heidi L. Marshall, MLS, AHIP (Washington Hospital)
Description: After explaining what it is, this book teaches the elements of expert searching. It is specifically directed at individuals and librarians who search the medical literature as part of their daily work.
Purpose: The purpose is to describe how to become an expert searcher. This is accomplished by explaining the elements of a professional literature search using PubMed and other databases. In addition to being useful to beginning medical librarians, this also could be used as a textbook for library science students who have a career interest in medical librarianship.
Audience: This serves as a guide for anyone interested in learning how to efficiently search medical literature databases. It would be most appropriate for a medical librarianship audience. The author teaches a class entitled "Becoming an Expert Searcher."
Features: Examples of a literature search interview are offered. Illustrations and exercises of how to conduct the search are provided, concluding with presentations of the results to the requester. The book's simple design effectively delivers the information through flowcharts, graphs, and sample forms. The author clearly explains the components of the PubMed database for novice searchers.
Assessment: This is a book of admirable quality. All of the elements of the expert search are included. After reading this book, librarians should be able to conduct and complete a good medical literature search, providing their patrons with the information they need.

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