Cited at the Oviatt
Research Therapy: Finding Book and Film Reviews Using Library Databases
A book or film review is a valuable tool for providing a brief summary, content description, and contemporary reactions. Usually appearing shortly after a book is published or a film is released, reviews can be found in various magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals. The library has many databases that you can use to locate book or film reviews – Here are some of my favorites along with some search strategies specific for each database!
Search Strategy: Helpful Tips to Remember!
- To find a review you will need to know the title, author, and year of publication.
- It is important to remember that reviews generally appear near the date of publication up to several years after. Any later and you might be looking at a literary criticism. Check the inside of the book or the library catalog for the publication date.
- All of the recommended databases will allow you to specifically limit your search for book or film reviews. Make sure to check “Book Review”, “Review”, or “Entertainment Review” in the refine your search option area.
- Make sure you are using a database that covers the year the book or film was published or released.
- If you are having difficulties finding a review remember, of the thousands of books published each year only a small percentage are actually reviewed. It is possible that the book was not reviewed or you may have to search multiple databases to find a review.
For a more complete list of databases & coverage dates, use the following guide:
Using Library Databases to Find Book and Film Reviews
Also, view our new Research Therapy video for more tips and a tutorial on how to use some of these databases!
Good Luck with your research!
~Jamie Johnson jamie.johnson@csun.edu
Secret Google Tips
You probably use Google all day, every day. Google’s default search is powerful enough to easily get you good results most of the time. But did you know there are ways to use Google to get precisely what you want?
Google Scholar searches as broadly as possible for academic research. It’s a good choice for very specific or obscure topics. You can even use Google Scholar to access CSUN subscription content.
Another option for authoritative websites is searching by a specific domain, like .com, .edu, or .gov. Just add site:.edu to your search terms to look only at results from educational institutions, or site:.gov to your terms to search only US government websites.
For example, if you search for crime statistics, you’ll get a mix of police departments, newspaper reports, Wikipedia, and real estate websites, which might not be reliable, precise, or current. But if you search for crime statistics site:.gov, your very first result will be the official FBI Uniform Crime Statistics – the most detailed, comprehensive reliable source for crime statistics in the US.
Did you know Google has a reverse image search? Maybe you’ve found the perfect image for a presentation, but you don’t know the photographer to cite. Start at Google Image Search, then click on the camera icon to the right of the search bar. You can upload a picture or paste in an image URL, and Google will display pages that include matching images.
If you’re taking a course in Education or Child & Adolescent Development, you might want to find webpages by reading level – basic, intermediate, or advanced.
More options are available at google.com/advanced_search. You can limit your results by language, country, date last updated, and more.
For more help using Google, ask a librarian!
Meet the Librarians of the Oviatt
Music & Media Librarian, Lindsay Hansen
Meet Lindsay Hansen, the Music & Media Librarian here at the Oviatt. She’s been at CSUN for almost seven years. Not only is she passionate about helping students, but she also has been known to breakout in freestyle dance.
Where are you originally from?
Bloomington, MN, home of the Mall of America
What do you admire most about CSUN students?
They juggle a lot more challenges than I did in college—they are working full-time jobs, commuting long distances, and might be the first in their family to go to college.
What’s your favorite book?
Pink Slip by Rita Ciresi
What songs would you include on the soundtrack of your life?
Take Me Home Tonight by Eddie Money
Why did you become a librarian?
After trying other fields, I thought it would be a good way to help music students and faculty find what they need and conduct better research. Librarianship is the perfect way to match my love for music (without performing) with my love for research.
What do you wish every student knew about the library or librarians?
That we will stop at nothing to find an answer or help. If I don’t know the answer to something, I’ll find it.
What’s your favorite quote?
Seid bereit, immer bereit! It is an East German expression that means “be prepared, always prepared.”
Is there a specific class that you really enjoy doing library instruction for?
Any of the music classes, especially music history and the research seminar for grad students.
If you could meet anyone living or dead who would it be?
Probably Frédéric Chopin, my favorite composer.
What are your research interests?
East German popular music, German primary resources available in the United States, and the information-seeking behavior of Germanists.
Come Visit the Newly Renovated TCC!
Have you ever heard the story of the Ugly Duckling who turns into a beautiful swan?* The Teacher Curriculum Center (TCC) has recently undergone a similar transformation. It has traded in its older furniture for a more modern look and function. The TCC now has moveable tables, chairs, and white boards which create a dynamic work space. Students can rearrange the study area to suit their needs and create an environment that truly belongs to them; it also allows for both individual and group study. And that’s not all! The TCC also added a “study bar” suitable for use with laptops and easy access to the electrical outlets. In our reading area, we have new lounge chairs with back screens for privacy and small tables for your coffee, laptops, and (of course) books. When you exit the elevator to access the TCC, you will encounter the TCC New Item Display. Our display area went from a repurposed desk to bookcases that serve to highlight our collection. The TCC study area has also been repainted; the new lively yellow “Baby Chick” wall color will brighten up your day. All improvements have been made possible by the Students’ Campus Quality Fee.
So what do the students think? They love it! They say that the new paint color wakes them up in the morning and keeps them energized. One student said “It is brighter and that makes the environment seem more welcoming.” “I really like the new furniture. It is moveable for study groups! I also like the study bar! Thank you” says another. Other feedback we received: “The area looks clean and organized. I can imagine coming down here to study and work with a group.”
Matadors are discovering and talking about the new TCC. Hopefully library patrons continue to discover the TCC. We’re glad to be serving and satisfying the needs of our students.
*If you haven’t read the story come to the TCC, we have it here!
- Gabriel Castaneda
Discover Hugo Award Winners at the Oviatt
Heroes and Supermen: Masculinity and the Alpha Male featured in the Oviatt's 'Fantastic and Strange' exhibit on the second floor.
Escape to other worlds by diving into some of the best contemporary writing – this year’s Hugo Award nominees.
The nominees available at the Oviatt are:
- The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature, edited by Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn (Floor 3, Call number PR149.F35 C36 2012)
- Chicks Dig Comics: A Celebration of Comic Books by the Women who Love Them, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Sigrid (Floor 3, Call number PN6714 .C45 2012)
- The Hunger Games (film), directed by Gary Ross (Floor 2, Music & Media Reserves 13461)
For more geeky reads, check out Oviatt’s collection of graphic novels, science fiction, and fantasy.
And scifi fans won’t want to miss our exhibit Fantastic and Strange: Reflections of Self in Science Fiction Literature, on view on the second floor in the Tseng Gallery until July 26.
Research Therapy: Finding Fiction Books at the Library Is Easy
Need a break from academic reading and looking for some fun books?
Well you don’t have to go very far to check out the Oviatt Library’s fiction collection. We have a variety of fiction books to fulfill your reading needs. Watch the new Research Therapy video session to learn where you can find them!
In addition, here is a quick guide of the different locations you can find our fiction books:
For Young Adult and Children’s fiction visit the Teacher’s Curricular Center (TCC). Try looking in the Bestsellers Collection for popular fiction – just next to the reference desk. The Reading Room located off the Tseng Gallery in the West Wing houses a variety of fiction literature. Try browsing the Language and Literature section. These fiction books will be shelved with other literature such as essays, drama, poetry and literary criticism. Generally speaking, English-language fiction can be found in the PR and PS sections on shelves. PR for English fiction and PS for American fiction.
Please tell us what you think about our Research Therapy videos at our survey.
Thank you.
Need help coming up with a topic for your research paper or project?
Our new session of Research Therapy gives you ideas on where to look for topic ideas, how to narrow your topic, as well as a couple of online library resources that are a great place to begin your research.
Concept Mapping
Concept mapping is a great way to expand on a general topic; it also helps you to think about the different aspects of your topic. Here’s a template for a basic concept map. Here’s another concept map when you’re trying to identify the who, what, when, where, why or how of a topic.
As mentioned in the video keep in mind the different angles you could take on a topic:
- Geographical → where
- Sociological → who
- Psychological → why
- Historical → when
Library Databases
After you pick a general topic it’s a good idea to do some general background resources. Oviatt Library has several different online reference resources such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographical resources and more. The databases mentioned in the video are Opposing Viewpoints in Context and Credo Reference. We also have a list of online reference resources listed under the Find Articles by Subject page, as well as an organized list of our databases by subject. We also have a general Research Strategies guide to help you along with the research process.
NIH/NLM Grant Awarded to the Oviatt Library
The Oviatt Library has been awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health(NIH)/National Library of Medicine (NLM). This grant helped us purchase a new database, Anatomy.TV (also known as Primal Pictures Interactive Anatomy(OVID)), a new video collection, Health and Society in Video (Alexander Press) as well as purchasing recommended electronic and print books relating to issues in women’s health, and gender differences research. The title of the grant is Women’s Health Resources and Gender Research Differences: Outreach at California State University Northridge. We are adding records in our library catalog for all items the grant purchases. In addition, the very first catalog record we provide is for the website our grant is promoting Women’s Health Resources.
You may also connect with the site through Women’s Health Resources in WorldCat. We will share more about our new resources provided by the grant’s funding in future blog posts.
Research Therapy: Women’s Health Resources
The Oviatt Library has partnered with the National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health for this special session of Research Therapy. For more information see ‘Cited at the Oviatt’ blog post 3/6/2013.
Surely you’ve been faced with a women’s health question that needs answering—either in your own life or for a project. Of course, you should ask your doctor if you have a particular ailment that needs attention, but sometimes you want to get some preliminary information online that is free of ads and written by trustworthy health care experts. Or maybe you want to write your final paper on the emotional impact of high school bullying on lesbians, but you know Googling “lesbian teenagers” is probably not going to get you the results you need for a school paper.
So where to start? Take a look at Women’s Health Resources—an online portal to women’s health and wellness information and research funded by the National Institutes of Health. This video will give you a tour:
The information and research found on Women’s Health Resources comes from a number of valuable NIH and NLM collections. Learn more below about three in particular: ClinicalTrials.gov, MedlinePlus, and PubMed.
At ClinicalTrials.gov, you can see the status of clinical trials as well as data from finished studies.
What is a clinical study? A clinical study involves research using human volunteers (also called participants) that is intended to add to medical knowledge. There are two main types of clinical studies: clinical trials and observational studies. ClinicalTrials.gov includes both interventional and observational studies
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/about-studies/learn#WhatIs
MedlinePlus offers objective up-to-date health information in easy-to-understand language. Get background information on diseases, conditions, wellness, drugs, treatments, and more.
Image courtesy CDC Public Health Image Library / Amanda Mills
Pubmed is a collection of citations from biomedical research in journals, books and more. Connect to CSUN resources (so you can read the full articles) by accessing Pubmed from the Oviatt Library website.
http://library.csun.edu/xerxes/databases/database/CAL03160
Image courtesy CDC Public Health Image Library / Dr. Libero Ajello
The Oviatt Library also has plenty of women’s health material for your research needs. We offer subject databases and resource guides in both Health Sciences and Gender and Women’s Studies.
If you are using Google or another search engine to find online resources on women’s health, make sure you check out our session of Research Therapy all about website evaluation. You wouldn’t ask just anyone on the street for health information, so don’t accept it from just anywhere on the internet!
Whether it’s for yourself, a research project, or “a friend”, if you need help finding health information or Women’s Health Resources, contact the following librarians:
Lynn Lampert: lynn.lampert@csun.edu
Marcia Henry: marcia.henry@csun.edu
Anna Fidgeon: annaliese.fidgeon@csun.edu
The Science of Sex & Gender: Free Online Courses from the NIH & FDA
If you are a researcher in medical or health sciences, you probably already know that illness and treatment can have different consequences depending on a person’s gender. But maybe you want to learn more about how to incorporate gender differences into your research. Watch this video to learn more about the free online courses you can take at The Science of Sex and Gender in Human Health website, developed by the NIH and FDA.
This video was funded by The National Institutes of Health/National Library of Medicine as part of the Women’s Health Resources and Gender Differences: Outreach at California State University, Northridge project. If you have questions about the grant or The Science of Sex and Gender Online Course, please contact the following librarians:
Lynn Lampert- http://library.csun.edu/llampert
Marcia Henry- http://library.csun.edu/mhenry
Anna Fidgeon- http://library.csun.edu/afidgeon
Meet the Librarians at the Oviatt
Meet one of our Reference Librarians, Laura Wimberley. She’s been with the Oviatt team since 2011 and really enjoys working with students. Read more about her personal interests and why she became a librarian . . .
Where are you originally from?
I grew up in Wilmington, Delaware (just outside of Philadelphia), but I’ve lived all over the country since then, in Ohio, Oregon, Colorado, and California.
What do you like/admire most about CSUN students?
I really appreciate how CSUN students are willing to admit when they don’t know something and ask questions. That’s the only way to learn!
What’s your favorite book or your top 5?
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman is an epic love song to America. Whitman was an abolitionist, a proto-feminist, and arguably the first out gay public figure in American life. Leaves of Grass is his masterwork; its spirituality and landscape imagery are just beautiful.
What songs would you include on the soundtrack of your life?
My absolute lifetime top five albums:
The Strokes, Is This It
The Postal Service, Give Up
The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema
Why did you become a librarian?
As I was wrapping up my doctorate in political science, I realized that even though I loved uncovering new information, I didn’t love the long, isolated process of social science research. Being a librarian gets me all of the fun of discovery with more opportunities to share that process and try out different directions.
What do you wish every student knew about the library or librarians?
We really like answering your questions – the more obscure, the better! Never be afraid that your question is a hassle.
What is your favorite quote?
“The perfect is the enemy of the good.” – Voltaire
It’s a call to act and to accept that your flawed best is still better than nothing: it’s encouraging.
If you could learn any skill what would it be?
I’m hoping to learn American Sign Language soon. The similarities yet differences between ASL and spoken English fascinate me, and I would love to be able to offer better help to CSUN’s Deaf community.
If you could be any fictional character who would it be?
This is a tough question! The most fascinating characters often have the unhappiest lives, so I don’t want to be everyone I love reading about. If I got to be fictional, I’d definitely want to be able to work magic, so I’ll go with Hermione Granger (not a real stretch for me as a personality, either).
What are some of your current projects that you are working on?
I’m part of the usability team for Oviatt’s website. Please let us know about your experience with our new website design. We want to hear your feedback!
Research Therapy: You Don’t Have to Come to the Library to Get a Library Book
You know you don’t have to come into the library to get your hands on some books, right? And if you’ve ever checked out a book from the library, only to find it doesn’t have any information you need, you should try looking at Google Books first.
The Oviatt has hundreds of e-books available, straight off of the website. Even if the book you want isn’t available electronically, you can still use Google Books to take a peek at the content. You might save yourself a trip! Watch this video to learn more:
We want your feedback! What do you think of Research Therapy? What would you like to see in future episodes? Please, fill out our survey:
Having Trouble Using OneSearch?
Just in case you’re confused about our new search tool on the library’s homepage, we’ve created a short video showing you how it works and how you can narrow your results in order to get exactly what you need. We also have a OneSearch FAQ.
When you do a search your results are broken down into two different tabs, one is labeled Articles and one labeled Books & Media. The Articles tab are items that you would normally find in our online databases and the Books & Media tab are what you would find in our library catalog. The image below describes the types of resources found in both.
OneSearch is a powerful tool and we’re pretty excited about it. However, if you’re looking for specific types of resources you might want to check out our other discovery tools.
Just beginning your research? OneSearch
Want different types of resources in various formats? OneSearch
Looking for a textbook? Course Reserves or Library Catalog
Looking for a specific article? OneSearch
Books by a specific author? Library Catalog
Is your topic a little complicated? Find Articles by Subject
Are you looking for archival sources? Special Collections and Archives FAD
Still not sure where to go? Ask a Librarian
Keep an Eye on Your Personal Belongings
The Oviatt Library strives to be a safe and comfortable place to study. However, the building is open to the general public and, as such, is subject to all advantages and disadvantages of a public place. All too often, library users will leave their personal belongings on a table, a study carrel, or even a group study room to go to get coffee, to visit the restroom, or to get a book from another floor.
During this time, the person’s personal belongings are exposed to theft. Numerous times, students have reported their laptops, backpacks, cellphones etc. missing. Most of the time these items will not be recovered. Therefore the Oviatt Library suggests the following:
- Do not leave your personal belongings unattended even if it is only for a short time. It only takes a second.
- Do not ask a stranger to watch your belongings. You do not know whether that person is a thief or not.
- Enroll in the STOP program administered by the Department of Police Services. The program will apply a security plate and warning label to your electronic equipment, thus reducing the resale value of the item. Look at http://www-admn.csun.edu/dps/police/crime and go to Computer Security & STOP to read more about this program.
Meet the Librarians at the Oviatt
Ellen Jarosz, Special Collections & Archives Librarian
Have you ever wanted to know more about the people that help make the Oviatt Library such a great place to be? Starting this Spring semester you can meet some of these great librarians through interviews we will be posting here on the blog. These interviews allow you the chance to learn more about what we librarians do here at the Oviatt, what some of our personal interests are and maybe even learn something new and fun about the Library.
Let me introduce you to Ellen Jarosz, she’s the Special Collections and Archives Librarian. She’s been at the Oviatt since November 2011 and she originally hails from America’s Dairyland and home of the Packers, aka Wisconsin. We sat down together and here’s what she had to tell us about herself.
What do you like most about working with CSUN students?
I like how varied student backgrounds are across campus. The diverse perspectives, knowledge, and experiences really contribute to classroom dynamics.
What’s your favorite book?
My favorite book is The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder. The prose is beautiful, the characters and setting are wonderfully real, the themes are complex yet straightforward, and it’s short enough that I can start and finish it in a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon. It’s also one of the few books I first encountered as assigned reading, but liked enough to read again on my own. I’ve read it too many times to count, and I never get tired of it!
What is the one thing you wish every student knew about Special Collections and Archives?
We have a lot of very cool stuff in Special Collections and Archives that anyone can come in to use. The oldest item we hold is a Sumerian calendar inscribed on a clay cone in cuneiform that dates from approximately 2350 B.C. (and yes, you can come in to see it anytime we’re open!) We’ve recently started a new blog, called Peek in the Stacks, where you can read about and see images of collection materials we think are interesting, notable, or fun. You’re also welcome to search for materials in Special Collections via the Finding Aid Database or Library Catalog.
Why did you become a librarian?
I came to librarianship by way of archives. I worked as a research assistant for a history professor at the University of Wisconsin as an undergraduate, and he sent me to the National Archives and Records Administration research facility in College Park, MD. One of the reference archivists there took me into the (normally closed) stacks. While following him through the aisles of boxes and bound volumes, I was struck by the fact that I was surrounded by the documentary record of our nation.
That brief tour and the days I spent going through correspondence, memoranda, drafts of congressional reports with notes about which sections should be classified or redacted from public copies, and other materials, made for a very inspiring experience. When I got back to Madison I asked one of the reference librarians at the Wisconsin Historical Society Library what I had to do to have a job like that one. He talked to me about different educational options, but encouraged me to enter a graduate program in library science that included an Archives and Records concentration or track.
What is your favorite quote?
And suppose that you lived in that forest in France,
where the average young person just hasn’t a chance
to escape from the perilous pants-eating-plants!
But your pants are safe! You’re a fortunate guy.
And you ought to be shouting, “How lucky am I!”
–Dr. Seuss, Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?
If you could meet anyone living or dead who would it be?
George Sand. Any woman in 19th century France (but especially a baroness) who leaves her husband, carries on a 10-year affair with Frédéric Chopin, writes numerous works of fiction (novels, plays), non-fiction (literary criticism, political essays), AND publishes a socialist newspaper out of a worker’s cooperative in the middle of a revolution, all while going about in public wearing men’s clothing and smoking tobacco, is a woman I’d love to chat with over a cup of coffee.
If you could learn any skill what would it be?
I’ve only had the opportunity and time to study a few languages, but wish I could learn more.
If you could witness any event in history, what would it be?
The Yalta Conference in 1945. Aside from the obvious (that decisions made there had significant and long-ranging consequences in terms of international relations and geopolitics), it would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall in a room with Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin, regardless of the topic of conversation.
- Laurie Borchard
Digital Learning Initiatives Librarian
Northridge Academy High School Students Visit the Oviatt
The Oviatt Library’s outreach programming with LAUSD offers many local high school students with the opportunity to borrow books and receive reference assistance from our librarians concerning their assignments. This not only helps them to be successful with their high school research papers but it also helps to acclimate them to the Library and campus and prepares them for college-level expectations.
The Oviatt Library has a special working relationship with Northridge Academy High School (NAHS) in this regard. Located on our campus its teachers and teacher librarian work closely with Oviatt librarians to coordinate Library instruction sessions which will support these students to be successful with their research and coursework. Each spring our librarians visit NAHS and instruct students in finding books and trustworthy articles in our databases. We also talk about the importance of citing their sources and direct them in creating proper MLA citations. Discussing the importance of utilizing Library resources for their assignments instead of going straight to Google is also addressed. Students closer to graduation are guided in more advance research techniques.
After the initial Library instruction at their school, NAHS students visit the Oviatt and put into practice what they learned by retrieving credible articles and emailing these articles and MLA citations to themselves. For many of these students it is the first time they have visited an academic Library. These visits often embody a sense of excitement and accomplishment as they experience the research process in a college setting alongside university students. Beginning this week and continuing through March approximately 800 NAHS ninth, tenth and eleventh-grade students will visit the Oviatt for Library instruction sessions. We are excited for these NAHS student visits and look forward to supporting them in their research process!