People Sources
Thomas Mann · 2005
Abstract So far we have examined seven major avenues of subject access to information: controlled vocabulary searches, systematic and focused browsing of subject-classified full texts, keyword searches, citation searches, related record searches, searches through published bibliographies, and those done via computers (accessing either library-subscription databases or open Web sites). Computer searches use elements of some of the other methods but add the possibility of post-coordinate Boolean combinations. The eighth major avenue—talking to people—is the one most favored by journalists, but it is also valuable for anyone else. It is particularly important for academic researchers not to overlook this method, as most academicians have developed an overly strong print bias, often unconsciously assuming that if needed information cannot be found in print, then it cannot be found at all. In recent years this bias has expanded along parallel lines to include Internet sources, but the underlying assumption is the same: “If it can’t be found on the Web, or in print, then the information doesn’t exist.” This belief has the undesirable result of inducing people to change their questions to fit whatever information they can find online or in print—even if it’s not what they really want—and to diminish the scope of their papers accordingly.