How to Find Information Using Library Resources
Welcome to the University Libraries - the biggest library in Iowa. Don't worry, though, we can help you get to the good stuff fast.
All libraries exist to provide information to their community. A public library buys fiction and non-fiction books, DVDs and other material to meet the needs of its community. Medical, law and other specialty libraries buy material to meet the specialized needs of their communities.
The University of Iowa Libraries' community is all of you - the scholars, students and staff who study and work here. There are subject librarians for everything taught here to make sure we buy useful material and help students use those specialty resources. Here are some tips to get you started.
How to Find Academic Articles in a Database (Academic Search Elite)
Some of the best places to find information in libraries are databases! Databases are basically huge collections of specialized resources such as articles, magazines, newspapers, and more that have been scanned and can be searched through a unified interface. They are especially good for finding specialized information such as academic journal articles.
There might be great information for your Iowa Edge presentation in databases, especially the database Academic Search Elite (link here, will have to login with your HawkID). To learn more about using Academic Search Elite, check out the video below!
You can also use the information in the video for various other databases! For some of the most relevant databases for this project, take a look at our newspaper databases here: (https://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/theperch/newspapers)!
How to Create Your Searches
One of the first steps to find information in the library is understanding what to search for. What specific words that you type in will allow you to find the most relevant information possible?
Learn more about finding those specific words, and creating your own searches with various words, in the video below!
How to Find Books in the Library Catalog (InfoHawk+)
There are millions of items in the library's collections, and one of the best ways to look through most of them is by using the library catalog! The library catalog is a list of all the physical things you can walk in and access in the libraries, as well as some (BUT NOT ALL) of its electronic resources such as academic journal articles and e-books. Because it's so broad, it'll probably have something that will be useful for your Iowa Edge project!
Our library catalog at the University of Iowa is called InfoHawk+, and it is available on the library's homepage here: (https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/).
To learn more about using InfoHawk+, watch the video below!
How to Find Academic Articles in the Library Catalog (InfoHawk+)
As mentioned above, our library catalog InfoHawk+ also has information about some, BUT NOT ALL, of our electronic resources like academic journal articles and newspaper articles. Searching for those materials is very similar to searching for books. The video below will give you a better idea of what the process is like!