Peer Reference Assistants Training Guide

Many times patrons will need help finding a specific title ("title search") or books by a specific author ("author search"). 

Question: Do you have the book Accounting: Introduction to Financial Accounting by Henry Dauderis and David Annand?

Question: Do you have books by Dean Koontz?

A simple title and/or author search of the library's collections is all that is needed (see examples below).

Helpful hints:

• Verify information:  If you don't find the title, make sure the person has the correct title and/or author and that you've spelled everything correctly. Google the title and/or author to verify that they exist and to make sure that you spelled them correctly.

• Is it a textbook?:  If it is, check to see if it is on reserve for the person's course.  Do so by looking in the course reserves notebook or in the Course Reserves system under the professor's name and course.

See the Course Reserves training page to learn more about how to search the course reserves system.

If you can't find the book, refer the person to a librarian.

Search for a title using Penfield Library's "Find Research Materials" search box located on the library's homepage at https://ww1.oswego.edu/library. Use the "Find Research Materials" box to locate books, articles, video, and audio materials purchased by the library.

Question: Do you have the book Accounting: Introduction to Financial Accounting by Henry Dauderis and David Annand?

1. Begin by selecting the item format. In this case we select "All Books". 

2. Now enter the title of the book.

3. There were 1,991 results when we searched just the title (see Simple Search below). Adding the author's name produces more precise results. The results are now narrowed to 1 book (see Advanced Search below). 

Sometimes a patron is interested in finding books written by a specific author. Again, we'll use the "Find Research Materials" search located on the library's home page at https://ww1.oswego.edu/library. 

Question: Do you have books by Dean Koontz?

1. Begin by selecting the item format. In this case we select "All Books". 

2. Now enter the author's name (last name, first name).

3. There are currently 54 books in Penfield's collection when we search for Koontz, Dean (see Simple Search). These results include both books about the author and books written by the author. To locate books written by the author, use the following fields to narrow your search results (see Advanced Search).
   • Author/Creator
   • Is (exact)
   • Material Type = Books

Students apply these skills to:

1) Locate an article by Megan Oakleaf and

2) Locate an article called, "Was it Worth It? Peer Reference Consultants Reflect on Their Work".