Future Performance Training
Many different sources of information
Information Finding Tools/Systems Opac (Online Public
Access Catalogue) - normally found on the
internet or libraries Databases (incl CD Rom) - normally found in
commerce or learning institutions The Internet – normally
found at Internet café’s or
computer resource centres DDC (Dewey Decimal
Classification system) – normally
found in libraries
Information Sources Dictionaries Broadcast media Encyclopaedias Conference proceedings/reports Books Other course-specific resources Periodicals / Magazines / Journals Maps Newspapers Government publications Audio-visual materials Published Standards Internet Museums Grey literature Archives Information finding tools / systems The OPAC is an online catalogue of the information resources available in your Library.
A database is a collection of data grouped together for a specific purpose. A database is used to keep large amounts of information organised. This enables people to search
for relevant information. You can sort, browse
and find information in a database. Many different types of databases
are available in the
Library. Some are available on the Internet and others
on CD-ROM. Different types of databases In a Library there are basically four types of databases: Type Description Bibliographic Databases Index - These databases
includes only critical detail that
will help you to find the material
you are looking for, e.g. name of the journal/periodical/book, name of
author, volume number, issue number, date, etc. Abstract Index - This type of database includes the critical
information as described above as
well as a short abstract (summary)
of the content of the publication. Full-text Database Contains full-text articles, etc. An example of such a database would be Ebscohost. The text can be downloaded
in different formats, such as pdf or html
format. Numeric Database This type of database
provides numerical data such as statistics, survey
results, census information, etc. Hybrid Database This type of database
provides a combination of different types
of records. Each database will have a description of what is available on the
database. Make sure to read these
descriptions before you start your search. Some databases are available to all students and facilitators for
searching. Some databases may only be used by the Librarians because of licensing constraints.