Beasley's Guide to Library Research offers straightforward help in navigating the complex labyrinth of library research. Suitable for novice and experienced researcher alike, this revised classic is an invaluable tool for locating and using materials from research libraries anywhere in the world.

Written and organized for easy access, the reader is guided step-by-step through library rules and methods of operation, the effective use of microfilms and various cataloguing systems, and the location of materials using bibliographies, reference books, and periodical indices. Also covered are the most modern forms of research, including computer databases, inter-library loan systems, and online computer searches.

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

How To Obtain a Book or Periodical
Requesting a Publication
CD-ROMs as Indexing Services
Filing Request Slips
Publications in Microfilm
Interlibrary Loan
Research by the Internet
Librarians and How To Deal With Them
Rules and How To Deal With Them

1. GENERAL APPROACH TO THE RESEARCH LIBRARY

What a Research Library Offers
Where to Begin
Online Searching
The terminal: Networks; Information Retrieval Service; Data Banks; Strategy; When Not To Use Online

2. CATALOGS AND HOW TO USE THEM

Card Catalogs
Filing Quirks: Locating Series Volumes or Other Parts of Works; Requesting a Work from the Catalog
Book Catalogs
NYPL Dictionary Catalog of the Research Libraries, 1911-1971; Automated Book Catalogs; Carlyle System; Different Cataloging Arrangements; Other Catalogs in Research Libraries
Open Shelf Reference Books
The Request Slip
Supplementary Catalogs: Authority Catalogs; Deferred Catalogs; Special Catalogs; NYPL Catalog of Government Publications in the Research Libraries; Supplementary Catalogs; Publications in Microform

3. TOOLS OF RESEARCH

The Bibliography: Its Forms and Uses; Bibliographies to Books; Checklists; Annotated Bibliographies; Bibliographies of Biographies; Bibliographies of Monograph Series; Bibliographies of Directories; For the Periodical [by subject area]; For Bibliographic Lists, Citation Indices, Reports; For Primary Information and Current Facts; Special Lists; For Special Materials; For Government Publications
Interlibrary Loan
Other Systems; METRO System; Sources in Which To Find Publications in Other Libraries; [CRL] Center for Research Libraries, Chicago; European Services, Videotex
Levels of Research

4. RESEARCH IN DEPTH

Retrievable Information: Analyzing the Subject
Approaches to Retrievable Information: The Researchers; The Historical Approach; The Geographic Approach; The Subject Approach; Other Approaches
When to Use Bibliographies, Indices, Books, Periodicals, and Manuscripts as Exemplified by Subject Area: General Knowledge; Humanities; Social Sciences; Sciences; Special Collections
Researching in the Performing Arts: Theatre; Music; Dance
Medical Libraries
Law
General Rules for When To Use What
When To Use Other Libraries
The Microform Problem - How To Deal With It

APPENDIX: WORLD'S MAJOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES AND METHODS OF APPROACH
The New York Public Library
Harvard University Library
British Library (England)
Bibliotheque Nationale (France)
State V.I. Lenin Library of the Russian Federation
Saltykov-Schchedrin State Public Library
National Library of China
National Diet Library (Japan)
U.S. Library of Congress
Parliamentary Library (Canada)

BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

BACK

Beasley's Guide to Library Research as a tool for people to get the most out of their research

projects. His book gives insight into researching projects using reference libraries—the larger

metropolitan and university book depositories.

The book has been endorsed by groups including the Library Journal and is a welcome

introduction to reference libraries and how they work.

The book is a revision of a 1988 best-seller How to Use a Research Library, a book now out of

print but among Oxford Press's top tomes.

"That book was out-of-date and the new book has added information on computers, Internet

and CD-ROM use," Beasley said. "The book shows how to plan your research and how to use

the Internet for time-saving steps."

Most of Beasley's references apply to larger libraries where there might be millions of books in

several different languages.

"When I worked with the New York public library system, I would come in contact with worldly

scholars and people who just came in off the street," Beasley said.

"Big libraries can be frightening places to some people. I don't blame them.

They often look like prisons with the books all locked away.

"I want people to realize there are keys to opening all of those doors."

There are pleasures and disappointments in doing research. He recalls stumbling across some

works on both German and French transportation systems when researching a book on Who

Really Invented the Automobile? (1997, Davus). He remembers requesting reference materials

on a particular person and discovering that original dialogue between that person and his

financial backer had just been made available 60 days previous.

"That was exciting," he said.

Worse times came when he invested time, money and effort into searching for a person's name.

He stumbled upon a reference to a 'John Richardson' in a coded diary. Beasley hunted down

people to crack the code. Once he could read the diary, he discovered it was another 'John

Richardson' in the reference.

"You can get so much information from a computer and Internet and CD-ROM now," Beasley

said. "But you need to know how to use it to save time."

He suggests would-be researchers be exact in assembling a bibliography. He says it is very

important to have a full bibliography on all facts.

Beasley, who spent 28 years as a reference librarian with the New York Research Libraries, has

been busy. The guide is his ninth book since 1996 and is

16th on his personal list. He's working on a book about a Canadian actor from the past; a boys'

book about canoeing in Ontario; and a book about an escaped U.S. slave who came to Simcoe

in 1820.

"That book talks about the hardships and the difficulty of escape and the chance to create a

new life here," Beasley said. "It's the story of a person's life and the highs and lows that went

with it."

Beasley applied his own research techniques to gathering information about this book. He used

many references from the Eva Brook Donly Museum as well as a research blitz in West Virginia.

He counted on various university books on both sides of the border for other help.

When it comes to research, you can't allow yourself to be distracted, Beasley said. You will run

across interesting information unrelated to your project but you will have to be strict and come

back to that portion later.

"You will save time if you stick to your own project," he said. "People should make detailed

notes on where you learned something - right down to the page number - because when you go

back to check, you don't want to have to the start."

The book has five sections including general approach, how to use catalogues, tools of

research, research in depth, a quick reference guide and appendix

the book is intended for college students, the casual reader and professional researchers and

writers.

"I wrote the book to help people with research because I believe that the more you know about

a subject, the more interesting it becomes."

The book is available from the University of Toronto Press by calling 1-800-565- 9523. It costs

$30 for the cloth book and $12.95 for the paperback.