Finding a Print Map

INTRODUCTION

It is important to be flexible about the name of your geographic location.  Think in terms of the location and how it fits into a hierarchy of place.  For instance,

Ostrander is a small town in the 
      Scioto River watershed.  It is located in 
       Delaware County, in 
            Central Ohio, in 
                  Ohio, in the 
                       Ohio River Valley, in the 
                             Midwest, in the 
                                   United States…..

While you might not find a map of Ostrander, you might find Ostrander located on a map of the watershed or the county or the relevant topographic quadrangle.  A book about the Underground Railroad in Ohio could easily include a map of my neighborhood (as it was then).  Think about the notable events that have occurred in or near your home and how these events might find their way into books. 

For this Exercise 2, you will search for your map using CONSORT and KEYWORD searching.  Remember that keyword searching can find your term in the title field, or the author field, or the subject field, or the notes field.  Because you are limited to CONSORT or OhioLINK for your database, you will not be finding your map in journals or newspapers – even though these are also excellent sources for maps. 
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USING BOOLEAN OPERATORS

AND The operator AND limits your result set.  If you search for 
maps AND ohio you will retrieve a set of records, each of which must contain the word maps and the word ohio

OR The operator OR broadens your search and gives you a larger result set.  If you search for ((maps OR surveys) and ohio) you will retrieve a set of records each one of which will have the word ohio occurring somewhere in it and each one of which will have either the word maps or the word surveys occurring somewhere in it.

AND NOT The operator AND NOT limits your result so that you get fewer results.  It excludes records containing a certain term or phrase from your result set so that you will get fewer irrelevant results.  For instance, if you search for atlas and texas you may find records that describe geographic atlases but you may also find lots of records that describe the atlas missile.  To get rid of these irrelevant records exclude them from the search, ((atlas AND NOT missile) and texas).

Searching for different forms of the same word will also be necessary.  This is done with a TRUNCATION symbol.  For CONSORT this symbol is *  To find a guidebook, you need to find records that include either the phrase (guidebooks) or the phrase (guidebook).  The truncation symbol lets you say (guidebook*) and ohio.  Records with both forms of the word will be retrieved.

PARENTHESES (   ) are used whenever you want to make sure the database sees two or more words as a linked phrase or concept.  You want to find records containing the phrase “guide book”, not records that may have guide in one place and book in another – like the title “ A guide to writing a book.”
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SEARCH TERMS

 (geographical distribution)
 (guidebook*)
 map*
 survey*
 (description and travel)
 (ghost towns)
 atlas*
 (cities and towns)

PERFORMING THE SEARCH

• Use Keyword searching
• Use Boolean Operators
• maps and ohio
• Combine terms in a search, but remember there is a limit on the number of characters that will fit in the “box”
• (maps or surveys or (guide book*)) and ohio
• Do more than one search to pick up the records you missed in the first search
• ((geographical distribution) or (ghost towns)) and ohio
• ((description and travel) or (public lands)) and ohio
• Pay attention to your parentheses – you must have both inner and out sets if you are nesting statements together in the above examples.
• Vary your results by varying your geographical term e.g., ostrander, delaware county, etc.
• Limit your results by searching just the Ohio Wesleyan Libraries
• Broaden your results by searching all the CONSORT Libraries
• Really broaden your results by searching OhioLINK
• Be patient.  You will be looking at lots of records and thumbing through lots of books. 
• Give yourself lots of time to complete the assignment.  You may need to order materials through CONSORT loan or OhioLINK
• If you order materials for loan, order several different items.  You won’t know until you actually see the item if it will contain the information you seek.
• Don’t get discouraged.!  Make an appointment with Deb for some help.
• As a last resort, the Geology Department Map collection has most of the 1:62.500 15’ topographic maps that were produced earlier in the century.  To determine if there is a “15” quad” for your area, search the volume listed below.  Note the number, name, and date of your map and meet with Dr. Krygier to visit the map collection.