A short introduction to academic library sources and reference management. Vrije Universiteit Brussel 5th October, 2015

1. From good sources
Introduction to academic
research methodology in the
library
Steven Laporte
October 5th, 2015
University Library VUB
Steven.laporte@vub.ac.be

2. Overview
1. About sources
 When does a source qualify as a scientific source?
 Some pitfalls

3. Overview
2. Internal and external library resources.
 Academic databases
 Paywalls and Open Access
 Relevant external sources
o Images
o Videos
o Sound

4. Overview
3. Successfully Managing source research
 Research question
 Keywords and searches
 Resource Management
 Output

5. About sources

6. Source = information + physical medium

7. When does a source qualify as a scientific?
How to recognize a reliable source:
1. The carrier
o Unknown website/suspect url
o Blog
o Newspaper article
o Peer-reviewed journal

8. When does a source qualify as a scientific?
How to recognize a reliable source:
2. The author:
o Where does the author work?
o What is the educational background of the author?
o Other publications
o Is the author often cited?

9. V.b. Avi Sion
 Sent to the library unsolicited
 Author name looks like an alias
 Linked to an ‘odd’ website:
http://www.thelogician.net/
 Claims a PhD, but from which
university?
 NO bibliography

10. When does a source qualify as a scientific?
How to recognize a reliable source:
3. The publisher:
o Other publications?
o Connected to a scientific institution?
o Finish

11. V.b. Lap Lambert academic Publishing
 Unsolicited
 Website: https://www.lap-
publishing.com/
 No academic partners
 Negative reviews:
http://scholarlyoa.com/2012/11/0
5/lambert-academic-publishing-a-
must-to-avoid/
 No peer-review

12. When does a source qualify as a scientific?
How to recognize a reliable source:
4. Publication date?
o Dependant on the subject
o Recent?

13. When does a source qualify as a scientific?
How to recognize a reliable source:
5. Reviews?
o Judgement
o Source of the review

14. When does a source qualify as a scientific?
How to recognize a reliable source:
6. Citations and bibliography
o Position within a research network
o Traceability of the facts cited
o Identification of the author's own contribution
o Repeatability of the investigation

15. When does a source qualify as a scientific?
How to recognize a reliable source:
7. Financing
o Independence of the investigation

17. Peer-review?
 Review by peers / colleagues
 Criteria
o Originality
o Accessibility
o Solid evidence of findings
 Careful editing process

18. Impact factor?
 ="Weight" of a scientific journal:
o The more articles from a given scientific journal in other
journals are cited, the higher the impact factor
 "Weight" of the researcher : h-index
o More objective
o Criticism

19. Basic attitude = Skeptical
… especially when the material found supports your thesis

20. some pitfalls
 “Publish or perish”
 Display only positive results?
 Fraud

21. V.b. fraude: SCIgen (http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/)

22. Internal and external
library resources

23. Internal and external library resources
 Library no longer has a monopoly
 Library resources + expertise
 Signpost
 Infrastructure

24. Catalogs
 books, magazines and audiovisual materials
 Information about their repository (location attribute)
 Ex.: www.unicat.be

25. Book classification

26. The VUB central library

27. Academic databases :

28. Which database should you use?
 Depending on your field (Ex. Pubmed for medical sciences, Jstor
for the hunamities, etc.)

29. Online databases: Where to start?
Library catalogue:
http://biblio.vub.ac.be/vubissmartweb/Vubis.csp
Overview databases:
http://www.vub.ac.be/BIBLIO/ubwebsite_database_alpha.html
Library general information
http://www.vub.ac.be/BIBLIO

33. Paywalls and Open Access
 Paywall= pay for access
o IP-adres
o VUBnet NetID and password
 Open Access
o Free access
o What business model?
oEx. PLoS one, Doaj, arXiv

34. Examples of external sources
 Images
o http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online
o http://closertovaneyck.kikirpa.be/
o https://archive.org/details/paulotlet
 Audio
o http://research.culturalequity.org/rc-b2/home-audio.jsp
 Lectures
o http://videolectures.net/
o http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
o Itunes University

35. Successfully Managing
source research

36. Keywords
o Synoniemen
o Vertalingen
o Enkel- of meervoud
o Narrower term
o Broader term
o Related term

37. Searches
 Boolean search terms
o AND OR NOT

38. Resource Manager
 Use a reference manager

39.  Storing and organizing
references (citations)
 Editing of bibliographic data
 Exporting bibliographies
 Management of full-text docs
 Integration into word
processing software
What can you do with a reference manager?

40. Alternatives
 Thomas Reuters
 Web app en desktop
 Latest version: X7
 Prijs: € 217.74
 Search external
databases

41. Alternatives
 Thomas Reuters
 Online only
 Free
 Limit of 50.000 references
 2GB webspace

42. Alternatives
 Open-source
 Web app and desktop
 Center for History and
New Media of George Mason
University
 Free
 300MB webspace
 Originally an add-on for
firefox

43. Alternatives
 ProQuest
 $100 / year
 Integration with other
ProQuest products and
partners

44. Alternatives
 Elsevier
 Free
 2GB
 Social networking
 cross-platform/cross devices
 Desktop- and webapplication

45. Elaborated example: Mendeley

46. The web-module

47. My library (webmodule)

48. Desktop module
 Work offline
 “Drag-and-drop”
 Save files locally
 Additional functionalities
 Syncing

49. Collecting references
Compatible sites for the web importer

50. Reference managers: use
Results ICT survey summer 2013

51. Links to reference managers
Endnote http://endnote.com
EndnoteWeb https://www.myendnoteweb.com
Zotero https://www.zotero.org
RefWorks http://www.refworks.com
Vergelijkingstabel Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_refer
ence_management_software
Introductie-filmpjes Mendeley http://www.mendeley.com/videos-tutorials
Hulpdocumenten Mendeley http://resources.mendeley.com
Compatibele sites voor de web importeur
Tutorial Informatievaardigheden AUHA
http://www.mendeley.com/import/
https://anet.ua.ac.be/wiki/auha/StartScherm

52. Questions?