The document provides an overview of a library training session for the African Climate and Development Unit on various library resources and search strategies. It covers the library webpage, databases like Scopus and Web of Science, searching for known and unknown items, keeping search strategies structured using Boolean operators, tracking author publications and journal impact factors. Tips are provided on creating personal accounts in databases, setting up search alerts, and ways to stay updated in one's field through table of contents alerts and professional organizations.

1. ACDI- African Climate and
Development Unit:
Library training
Pepler Head, Awot K Gebregziabher & Rosemary Ononaiwu
Science & Engineering Libraries
08 May 2017

2. • Library web page
• Searching strategy
• Scopus
• Web of Science
• Keeping up-to-date
Contents to cover

3. Library webpage

4. The Library webpage http://www.lib.uct.ac.za
Use it to
access library
resources
outside UCT
network

5. The Library webpage http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/

6. The Library webpage http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/

7. The Library webpage http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/

8. The Library webpage http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/

9. The Library webpage http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/

10. The Library webpage http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/

11. Search strategy

12. Search Strategy
Known item search
• Know title or author of a
resource …
Example:
Author: Merle Sowman
Title: Subsistence and small-
scale fisheries in South
Africa: a ten-year review
Unknown item search
• Looking for resources in a
topic area
• Keyword/s search
Example: climate change
adaptation, biodiversity …

13. • e-Journal Portal
Browse UCT’s e-journal collection to find journals
• Google Scholar
To find articles, books and book chapters
• Catalogue (ALEPH)
Search or browse books, journal titles, CDs … to
check availability at UCT Libraries collection
Searching for known item

14. Find
Baudoin, M. & Ziervogel, G. 2017. What role for local
organisations in climate change adaptation? Insights
from South Africa. Regional Environmental Change.
17(3): 691-702.
Two options to find
• E-journal portal
• Google Scholar
Searching for known item

15. e-Journal
Portal

16. Baudoin, M.-. & Ziervogel, G. 2017. What role for local organisations in climate change
adaptation? Insights from South Africa. Regional Environmental Change. 17(3): 691-702.

18. Baudoin, M.-. & Ziervogel, G. 2017. What role for local organisations in climate change adaptation?
Insights from South Africa. Regional Environmental Change. 17(3): 691-702.

21. Google
Scholar

24. Find the following title using Google Scholar. What type of
publication is it? When was it published?
It is book chapter and published in 2014.
Title: Vegetation types of the Greater Cape Floristic Region
Author: Nicola Bergh
Do we have the book at UCT? Use catalogue (ALEPH).
Provide shelf number.
Practical

25. Catalogue
(ALEPH)

26. ALEPH
Use
‘Browse’
button for
known item
search

27. Enter the
known detail
of the book:
Author or
title …
then ‘Go’

29. Shelf numbers

30. Loan status Location information

31. Use Interlibrary
Loans service if
the desired item
is not available
at UCT Libraries
collection.

32. Searching for items in a desired topic area
• Use keywords
• Search in databases / platforms and catalogues
Databases are searchable electronic resources
• Host e-journals (articles), eBooks and other resources.
Database Platforms enables searching across several
databases at a time.
Searching for unknown item

33. Searching for unknown item
When searching in databases
• Using natural language is not efficient
• databases don’t understand it
• retrieved items might not have the most relevant
ones.
• Using Boolean logic provide effective search
• Boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT

34. Searching for unknown item
Boolean operators follow the same logic as set operations
Set
A
Set
B
A  B =
A  B =
BA
BA  = OR
 = AND

35. Smart Searching
Step 1. Write down your topic in its simplest form and break
it in to concepts
Effect of climate change on Cape vegetation.
Concept 1
Climate change
Concept 2
Cape vegetation

36. Smart Searching (cont. …)
Step 2. List alternative terms that describe each concept.
Consider using synonyms, broader or narrower terms.
Effect of climate change on Cape vegetation.
Concept 1
Climate change
Global warming
Greenhouse effect
Concept 2
Cape vegetation
Fynbos
Cape flora

37. Smart Searching (cont. …)
Boolean operator: OR
• Use OR between terms of the same concept. It
maximizes your retrieval
Dairy
Vegetable
MeatDairy
Vegetable
Meat
Dairy OR Vegetable OR meat

38. Smart Searching (cont. …)
Boolean operator: AND
• Use AND between different concepts to narrow down
your search
Bacteria FoodFoodBacteria
Bacteria AND Food

39. Smart Searching (cont. …)
Boolean operator: NOT
• Use NOT to exclude unwanted concepts
Bacteria E. coli
Bacteria E. coli
Bacteria NOT E. coli

40. Smart Searching (cont. …)
Step 4. construct your search statement using Boolean
operators.
Concept 1
Climate change
Global warming
Greenhouse effect
Concept 2
Cape vegetation
Fynbos
Cape flora
AND OR
OR
OR
OR

41. Smart Searching (cont. …)
Concept 1
Climate change
Global warming
Greenhouse effect
Concept 2
Cape vegetation
Fynbos
Cape flora
AND OR
OR
OR
OR
Climate change OR Global warming OR greenhouse effect
AND Cape vegetation OR fynbos OR Cape flora

42. • Enclose alternative terms of a concept in round
brackets to prioritize operation within a concept
Smart Searching (cont. …)
(Climate change OR Global warming OR greenhouse effect)
AND (Cape vegetation OR fynbos OR Cape flora)

43. • Enclose phrases in inverted commas so that
databases search terms together
Smart Searching (cont. …)
(“Climate change” OR “Global warming” OR “greenhouse
effect”) AND (“Cape vegetation” OR fynbos OR “Cape flora”)

44. Smart Searching (cont. …)
“Climate change” OR “Global warming” OR “greenhouse effect”
“Cape vegetation” OR fynbos OR “Cape flora”
STRUCTURED SCREEN:
ONE SEARCH BOX:
(“Climate change” OR “Global warming” OR “greenhouse effect”)
AND (“Cape vegetation” OR fynbos OR “Cape flora”)

45. • each database have additional refining tools
• explained in help menu.
• check for Search tips, truncation, proximity search …
• If your search provide you with irrelevant items, consider using
alternative terms and broader or narrower terms.
• Start broad and refine your search
Additional Tips

46. Search the following concepts
Climate change, land use, conservation
Follow the steps from Step 2. to construct your search
statement
Use Academic Search Premier database from UCT Libraries
website ( www.lib.uct.ac.za ) : Search & Find  Databases (A-
Z) Academic Search Premier- via EBSCOhost (Full Text)
Practical

47. Scopus

48. Scopus
Introduction
Create personal account
Searching: refining, analyzing, saving & creating
alerts
Document search
Author search
Source search
Identify hottest journal

49. • The largest abstract and citation database of peer-
reviewed literature
• Multidisciplinary, different document types
• Features smart tools that allow you to track, analyze
and visualize scholarly research
• Journal ranking
• Performance indicators
Scopus: introduction

50. Scopus

52. Scopus: create personal account
Benefits of having account
• enables you to save search statements
• rerun the search statement in the future
• create alerts for new publication for the saved
search
• enables you to follow specific author of your research
area
• keeps you up-to-date by sending you alerting emails

54. Scopus: Document Searching
Search for the following keywords
Climate change, vulnerability

55. Click on search
to type your
keywords

61. • Source tab lists journals with the number of retrieved documents for the conducted search

62. • Author tab lists the authors with number of documents contributed for the conducted search

63. • Affiliation tab lists institutions that contributed publications for the conducted search topic

64. • Country tab shows number of contributing researchers by country: US – biggest collaborators

65. • Subject area tab shows percentage break down of subjects of retrieved documents

66. Scopus: Author Searching
Author search provide information on
• author’s Scopus ID
• author’s research outputs, productivity & impact
indicators
h-index, citation counts
• trace author’s collaborators and their affiliation
• author’s research area and affiliations
• visual display of the above information

67. Scopus: Author Searching
Author detail page enables you
• to follow researcher
• to create citation alert
• to link to researcher’s unique identifier ORCID
• to request correction when error is observed with
data

68. Scopus: Author Searching
Note that information provided is
• based on documents indexed by Scopus
• productivity & impact indicators are
• discipline specific
• affected by time of publication

69. Scopus: Author Searching
Search for
William John Bond
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Cape Town

70. More about
ORCID.

71. See
author’s
detail

74. Scopus
Author ID

75. Scopus: Source
• Enables you to browse journal titles by title and by
subject area
• Provide information on journal metrics: journal’s
performance indicators based on rate of citation
Cite Score:
SJR: measures the prestige of a journal
SNIP (Source Normalized Impact Per Paper)

78. Scopus: Source
Search for the following journal
“Global Change Biology”
Find
• subject coverage
• journal metrics values
• journal’s percentile rank within the subject

80. Browse journals publishing
Environmental Science
documents

82. Scopus: Journal metrics
More detail information can be obtained from Scopus
Journal Metrics

86. Web of Science

87. • Search
• Refine
• Sort
• Export to bibliographic manager
• Analyze results
• Save
• Create your personal account
• Sign in
• Save Searches – Re-run searches
• Create Alerts / Citation alerts
Web of Science

92. Rank results by
various fields
e.g. Research
Area

93. SFX will give you
access to the full
text article, if the
library subscribes

94. Full article available from 3 databases

96. Select articles to export to bibliographic managers
and select the relevant one, EndNote

97. Select the record content

98. With EndNote specifically, the record downloads and needs to be
uploaded into EndNote.

99. Once opened, the
record is imported
and MUST be
checked and edited
to ensure the
accuracy of the
import:
• Title capitalization
• Author names
• Date of retrieval

100. Edit record by
clicking in the
appropriate field
PDF’s can be
attached and read
within EndNote

101. Within Individual Records:
Full text article options -
SFX
Print, Email, export
reference
Article citation
information
Citation
Alert

102. Selecting the author will bring up all their citations within Web of Science

103. Creating a personal account allows you to save searches and create alerts
Creating an Web of Science account

104. Once signed in, search alerts can be created by selecting “create alert” and
completing the above form. Select format and frequency of alerts.

105. Select “My Tools” to view all saved searches and alerts

106. From here, alerts can be edited or deleted

107. Practical:
Conduct the following search:
“Climate models” AND future
• Identify the Top author within the discipline
• Provide the title of the highest cited article and times cited

108. Journal Citation Reports
Select Journal Citation Reports from top menu

109. Search for
specific
journal
Compare
Journals
Search
Categories

112. Top journals in
discipline ranked
by impact factor

113. Select journals,
select metric value
and submit

115. Practical:
Search for the following journal:
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND
WORLD ECOLOGY
Provide the Impact Factor for 2013
How does it compare to
JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

116. Helps you
know
what’s
new in
your field

117. • Search alerts
• Search strategy with good results
• Save and re-run search
• Notification of new results match
• Citation alerts
• Document alert
• Author alert
• Journal table of content alerts
• Key journal titles
• Table of contents of new issues
Keeping up to date

118. Keep track of
presentations
given in
conferences
in your field
Sign up with professional organizations
to stay up to date in your field
Know what
studies have
been done in
your field to
avoid
repetition

119. Need more help?
Call ext. 3774 OR email
awot.gebregziabher@uct.ac.za

120. • Announcements & relevant information
• Post queries
• View self help video clips at
Follow us on social media
@UCTLibrary UCT Libraries
UCTLibraries

121. Thank You