Research Is Easier Than It Looks, I promise!

Our research databases don’t bite. In fact, they’re kind of like wallflowers in the Blue Island party. I can’t tell you how many people come up to the Reference Desk and ask for information on difficult-to-find subjects, just hoping and praying they can get what they need by tomorrow when the paper or project is due. Often times these patrons want books, books, and only books. Now, Blue Island is a small to medium-sized library, and though we strive to be ready for questions on any subject, there is a lot we don’t have ready to go on our shelves in book format. We can order just about anything, but that takes a week at least and if the paper is due tomorrow… you may be fooled into thinking you are fresh out of luck. Not true. Unless the question is about something local (like an obituary from 1932) that requires the use of our archives, we can get credible information on just about any topic quickly from our online resources.

Research resources can be found with or without a librarian’s help, in the library or at home on your own computer, through the Blue Island Public Library Home Page. As pretty as it is, this home page is more than an advertisement for the library. It IS the library, at least the part of it that you can access anytime in your pajamas if you have an Internet connection at home and are feeling lazy or have a deadline to meet the next morning.

Our patrons often say, “Oh, I have already searched the Internet.” This means they’ve used Google and failed to find what they need. Well, try our resources. You’ll be able to find a lot more. 99.5% of the time you’ll be able to find exactly what you need. Another comment we hear a lot is: “My teacher only wants one Internet source.” Patrons often don’t realize that digitally stored information and Internet resources on the World Wide Web are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. An online encyclopedia like World Book or Gale Virtual Reference Library is a digital (meaning: in the computer) version of the book encyclopedias. Yes, your teacher, instructor, or professor will accept research materials from our databases or other online sources (in fact, he or she will be crying Hallelujah).

To make it a little easier to navigate around in our research area of the website, we have a little handout we keep at the reference desk listing and describing all our online resources. Come pick one up.

Remember: all these resources are under the Reference and Research button on the Blue Island Public Library Home Page. These are resources the library is paying for--- the information inside is more credible and complete than what you’ll find through Google. Guaranteed.