A Library Pathfinder

This Pathfinder provides information on how to locate Library Resources in the Allegany College of Maryland Library on general topics relating to Education.

To Browse 

To browse the book shelves for books on Education : 
                                  See books with call numbers beginning with L.

To find Books and non-print materials:            

These  are listed in the ACM Library Online Catalog:

Go to the ACM Library Main Page:    http://www.allegany.edu/library/  then click on the box “Library Online Catalog." You can then choose to search a particular campus collection, e.g., “Bedford County Campus" or “Complete online catalog” or just the "Nonprint collection.”

Note: You may borrow books from any of the campuses.

Once you reach the search page, you can search a number of ways…here are two basic methods:

Browse Subject Headings:

If you are just beginning, you might want to browse subject headings (or terms).    To browse subject headings related to education, click on the “Browse Searching” box on the left margin, then type “education" (no quote marks needed ) into the search box and scroll down to “subjects” in the menu on the box to the right. 

You will get a list of subject headings that you can browse to see the various subjects of books in our library.  Pay attention to any notes,  e.g.,  “See also narrower term….”, e.g. Early childhood education.   You can click on any of the headings and get a list of materials that are cataloged under that heading.

Search:

Or, you can search by keyword for specific terms in the titles or descriptions of materials in the catalog, such as "test anxiety" or "business education,"  etc. Click on the "Keyword Searching" box on the left.

You will get a list of results.  Click on the blue links to see each complete record, which will provide circulation status (whether the book is in the library or checked out) and call numbers (to locate the book on the shelf).

Tips:  Be careful using keywords…you can miss some important items by not using the appropriate terms or misspelling a word!  Spend some time thinking of alternate keywords that might describe your topic. 

Also, once you find a good book that meets your topic, try clicking on the subject headings describing it to find other books with the same headings.

If you are new, be sure to take time to click on the Help box.  It provides information and searching tips for each feature.  Or, ask a staff person to help!

Obtaining books from other campuses:

If you located a book from another campus and would like it to be sent to you, follow these steps:

Go to the Library's main page;
click here: http://www.allegany.edu/library/

Click on the box marked Interlibrary Loan Requests. Next, choose requests for books and complete the online form and you will be notified when the book is delivered to your local campus library. 

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Some Encyclopedias and Reference Books
Online:
An encyclopedia is a good place to start a research topic.  For the online version of the Encyclopedia Britannica…go to the ACM Library Main page http://www.allegany.edu/library/ and click on either the box marked Online Databases or the box marked Off-campus Access to Online Databases. (Note: the latter requires that you have a valid ACM Library card. Please ask a Library staff person to help you to obtain one.) Once you get to the databases page, you can click on the “Britannica Online” box.  You may enter a specific word or words to search in the search box, or scroll down to browse in the A-Z Browse or Subject Browse sections. 

Reference Books:                    
Here are some reference books you might find helpful on topics related to Education:  (Note:  this is not a complete list.)

Cumberland Library:

Encyclopedia of education   Ref. LB15. E47 2003 v. 1+

Encyclopedia of educational research   Ref LB15. E48 1992 v.1+

World education encyclopedia   Ref. LB15. W87 1988 v.1+

American educators' encyclopedia   Ref. LB15 .D37 1982

Education index.  Z5813. E23 (on Index Shelves in Main Library Reference Section)

Everett Library:

Encyclopedia of careers and vocational guidance /Ref.  HF5381 .E52 2000 v.1+

The College Board college handbook.  Ref. LB2350.5 C6

Scholarship handbook.  Ref. LB2337.2 .C64

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Nonprint materials:   

To browse nonprint materials (videos, etc.), on topics related to Education, look for items with call numbers beginning with L.  You may limit your search on the Online Catalog to Nonprint or to Video materials. 

Periodicals:              

Some Periodicals containing  articles related to Education are:.

Main (Cumberland Campus) Library:

Education Digest
ERIC Review
Instructor
Journal of Higher Education
Teaching preK-8

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Specific Periodical Articles and Other Types of Literature:  

To find specific articles from magazines, newspapers and other similar publications, go the Library main web sitewww.allegany.edu/library

and click on either the box marked “Online Databases” if you are using an on-campus computer, or click the box marked "Off-campus Access to Online Databases."

NOTE: The latter requires that you have a valid ACM Library card barcode to access the databases via the Maryland Digital Library. Ask a library staff member for assistance to obtain a card.

 For articles about current education topics search the following databases should be helpful: "ERIC" (Ebsco), "Academic Search Premier," "Education Journals" (Proquest), "SIRS Knowlege Source" and/or the "National Newspapers" databases. Remember that misspelling or omitting keywords can cause flaws in your results. Ask a librarian if you need assistance formulating your search.

 Important Tip:  In all of these databases, the list of results you get will be lists of citations or references to articles in magazines and other periodicals.  Full-text articles (i.e., copies of the entire originals), may or may not be included with your results.   If the full-text is not available, you can request an interlibrary loan of the article by going back to the Library main page: http://www.allegany.edu/library/ and clicking on the Interlibrary Loan Requests box. Then choose requests for articles, and complete the online form. You will be notified when the materials are available. (Often, the article  can be photocopied and sent to you via inter-campus courier.)   This may  take some time (ranging from a day or two to several weeks)  …so always allow plenty of time  to gather your research!

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Websites:       

Here are some websites that you might want to check for topics related to Education:

Education Index:  http://www.educationindex.com/

Education Week Online:   http://www.edweek.org/

Education World:  http://www.education-world.com/

Educator's Reference Desk:  http://www.eduref.org/

ERIC, Educational Resources Information Center:  http://www.eric.ed.gov/

The Gateway to Educational Materials:  http://www.thegateway.org/

Ask for assistance if you need it!

        Allegany College of Maryland Library

Bedford County Campus (Everett): 814-652-9528 ext. 6206

Somerset County Campus:  814-445-9848 ext. 6118

Main Library, Cumberland, 301-784-5138

Compiled by C. Prezlock, M.L.S.
ACM, Bedford County Campus Library, Everett
cprezlock@allegany.edu
Updated 11/05