Chapter 19 Research and Libraries

Chapter nineteen topics

• People names
• Library searches
• Libraries
• Informative book
• Finding articles
• Navigator

People names
Need help thinking up a name for your characters? Names bear more thought an consideration than many writers realize. The Kabalarian's site is an invaluable and fascinating site that concerns names, Go to Kalabarian Philosophy, http://www.kabalarians.com/. Business Analysis and a free newsletter are among the many offerings you'll find.

Tip: To quickly find names, scroll to near the bottom of, http://www.kabalarians.com/cfm/surf-by.cfm?Baby=Yes.

Exploring names and their meanings for your characters can not only be fascinating, but very enlightening. Mike Campbell's wonderful site, Behind the Name, http://www.behindthename.com/ gves the etymology and history of names. Also read at Baby Names, http://www.babynames.com/character-names.php.

Need help thinking up a name for your characters? Go to BabyNames.com, http://www.babynames.com/. You can learn about the names by clicking on them, http://www.babynames.com/Names/A/ and also by hovering your mouse over the name while the information loads (if you're patient.) Names are indexed alphabetically, by gender and by origin.

Library searches
Searching in Libraries can be challenging and you may not always locate what you're searching for unless you know where to look and how to request help. Laura Arksey, who was archivist/librarian for Eastern Washington State Historical Society 1992-1996, explained that many online history resources are not available outside of universities. For example, America: History and Life is not likely to be accessed through your home computer. Through special arrangement with Washington State University, Arksey uses this valuable resource at WSU on their library computers.

She said,

"I then have the results e-mailed home. It works slick as a whistle. It is accessed through the First Search system at WSU, but other universities may be on other systems.

"The moral is to ask the reference librarian any time you are doing some sort of a search.

"A lot of public libraries can help, but few of them have access to America: History and Life. You might want to ask if your community colleges have it, as well as your state university.

"Many history periodical sources are available through another source called Academic Index, but they are more the general, nationwide journals. I have a friend who is writing the history of the Hutton Settlement in Spokane, WA and I have been doing searches for her at home on the history of orphanages. It has been an interesting exercise in what I can find through my home computer and what requires me to go to a university library to get. However, as soon as I think I have it nailed down, the computer world changes and advances!"

Libraries

• Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, http://www.plcmc.org/.
• Harvard lists their libraries at, http://hul.harvard.edu/. Scroll to the bottom and click Harvard Libraries, too.

To understand researching read, http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/locating.html; and guest access, http://lib.harvard.edu/e-research/guests_and_visitors.pdf.


If you're writing about workshops, conferences, travel, schools, camps, you'll find a wealth of online information, and e-mail contacts for a variety of topics and locations at the awesome Shaw Guides, http://www.shawguides.com/. Click Site Map at bottom.

ipl2, http://www.ipl.org/ launched in January 2010 and is the result of a merger of the Internet Public Library (IPL) and the Librarians' Internet Index (LII). Learn more at About, http://www.ipl.org/div/about/. Navigate easily from the Site Map at bottom.

Meet the administrators, http://www.ipl.org/div/about/bios.html. The team of librarians who contribute to the site not only point you to excellent resources on a huge variety of topics, but they also review the sites and sign them with their initials. Whatever you're interested in--be it arts, law, or science--you're bound to find great reference sites for your searches.

Informative books and links
BRP Publications, Inc., Home of the Public Records Research System, http://www.brbpub.com/ features numerous books to help researchers. Check the free online resources, which also includes links to a long list of trade association web sites. Curiosity led me to click the Assn. of Investigative Specialists. Surfing that fascinating site, among a host of useful links I found a link to state-by-state drivers license department websites. Scroll to the bottom of the left panel where you'll find a remarkable research resource, Have You Visited BRB's Free Public Records Sites?

Also, look for Alan M. Schlein's book, Find It Online, available at any major book store, on amazon.com or through BPR Publications.

Finding articles
BNET, http://articles.findarticles.com/p/home?tb=art. Click Library.

Navigator, http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/navigator/index.html is used by the New York Times newsroom as a starting point for searching the Web, and what a starting point it is. If you're thinking about quoting or using any material from the site be sure to read, http://www.nytimes.com/subscribe/help/permiss.html.

Begin by registering (free) and provides access. Search provided. Dig a little and you'll find government databases for many federal, state, and international agencies. Beyond that you'll find a plethora of reference sites that will help you browse the Bible, search for addresses (both Web and street), peruse online periodicals, and even visit the Elvis home page.

Next, Chapter 20 - Dictionairies and Fun With Words: http://tinyurl.com/39ha3cs