Based on the terms I found, I decided to use the word "attitude" in addition to the words "feeling and emotion" and I decided to replace "information finding process" with PsychInfo's suggestion of "information seeking." As with my search for JSTOR, I decided to use truncation for disabilit* to catch entries related to both the singular and plural version of the word. My decided-upon strategy looked like this:
The search using the above terms yielded 10 results. All but the eighth and ninth results were related to the topic that I was looking for. Here's a good example of the results that I received:
Unfortunately, after examining these articles, I found that most of them did not have full-text articles available. How frustrating! After limiting it to just full-text articles, it limited the number of results significantly to only 3 hits. The most accurate of these is represented below:
What did I learn this week?
Content:
As far as content goes, I learned about evaluating the information needs of the caregivers and family members of people with disabilities and their attitudes toward information finding. Thus far, I have been focused on the needs of patrons with disabilities and I had not stopped to consider the needs of others around them and what kind of barriers they might face in obtaining information.
A study by Parette, et al. (2010) designed to determine the attitudes of caregivers toward information seeking found that "participants reported that they would have liked to (a) get information about web sites that could help their child and family; (b) have one-stop shopping that includes all the information they need; (c) get information about the quality of the websites they use; and (d) have better organization of the content on the web sites they are using. Participants also described their desire to have discussion groups that share similar concerns and receive training to more effectively use their computer. Participants indicated.. a lack of accessibility to a 'person' who can answer questions." I think that these findings are incredibly important for reference librarians to consider. More than half of the participants in the study (57%) reported using the public library to conduct research, but yet many of them also felt they did not have anyone to help answer their questions. Does this indicate a failure on the part of reference librarians to advertise their services? Should more outreach be considered for caregivers and for individuals with disabilities in the community? Is there more that I could be doing as a (hopefully) future reference librarian to help ensure that these information needs are met, even if it just means pointing the caregiver in the direction of a reputable website? How can I design programs or training opportunities to better support the needs of caregivers of individuals with disabilities? It gives me a lot of food for thought in my future profession of choice.
Searching:
I also learned several things about searching PsychInfo this week. First, I learned the importance of using suggested terms, search helps, and thesauri in indexed databases. I think that my search would not have gone as smoothly as it did without my attempts to find the correct terminology before developing my search strategy. Interestingly enough, through experimentation I found that the database could suggest search terms from the search page. This eliminated the need of going to the thesaurus page. All I had to do was click the "Suggest Subject Terms" box and voila! a list of like, controlled terms was generated.
Second, I learned that there are many items available on this database that are not full-text and do not have any form of outside linking to the articles. I was disappointed several times when I would click on a relevant article only to find that the entry included very little information or the document itself was not available. When searching databases like these, I have to remember to select the "full-text only" box! Otherwise, I will spend far too much time looking through links and citation pages to determine if they have the content I need.
Reflections:
Would I use PsychInfo again?
Yes, I think that I would use PsychInfo again if I had a psychology-related question from a patron. It was fairly straight forward to use and all of the search assistance was so helpful! Even without an extensive background in the field, I feel like I could confidently use this database because the thesaurus would give me access to jargon used in that field that I might not otherwise be aware of. Plus, I really liked all of the advanced search options available including the age groups of the study participants, intended audiences for the article, methodologies used in the study, and much, much more. These options allowed me to fine-tune and refine searching to a degree that many other databases just don't offer. Oh.. and did I mention how much I love tagging? A simple click meant that I could find other articles about that exact same subject. I suppose that I have been spoiled by EbscoHost. When I see another database without their extensive level of tagging, I often find myself disappointed!
Ideas for future searches
Honestly, I am not sure that I feel my search this week was a success. Perhaps the topic I chose was too narrow. Maybe I needed to broaden my topic and look at the psychological factors surrounding information seeking in general or the emotions and feelings that come with being diagnosed with an illness or disability instead of attempting to address all three topics at once. Perhaps this is what I need to focus on for my future searches - how to hit that sweet spot between too broad and too narrow of a topic.
Do you have any tips for finding a good middle ground? Did anything in my search this week spark your interest? As always I would love to hear from you! Feel free to drop me a line or post a comment!
- Crystal
Reference:
Parette, Howard P., Hedda Meaden, Sharon Doubet, and Jackie
Hess. “Supporting Families of Young Children with Disabilities Using
Technology.” Education and Training in
Autism and Developmental Disabilities 45, no. 4 (2010): 552-565.
No comments:
Post a Comment