search

Sometimes you can\’t get it online

I\’m an amateur genealogist, working on my family history. I\’ve been trying to track down a couple of elusive relatives and determine if they are indeed mother and daughter. I\’ve looked for a birth certificate or birth registry entry on free websites like FamilySearch.org and the Clerk of Cook County (Illinois; the daughter\’s birthplace) website,Continue reading “Sometimes you can\’t get it online”

Valentine\’s Day in the library\’s catalog

With Valentine\’s Day coming up in just a couple days, I thought I\’d list a selection of good subjects you can try searching in DSL\’s catalog if you\’d like books on love, relationships, romance, and more. Man-woman relationships Mate selection Courtship Intimacy (Psychology) Love Love-letters Love poetry Love songs Love stories Marriage Subjects like theseContinue reading “Valentine\’s Day in the library\’s catalog”

Search Engines Worth Checking Out

\”Google is the most powerful search engine available, but when it comes to searching for something specific, Google may churn out general results.\” For more precise searching, a niche-specific search engine can be very useful. To help us find these specialty search engines, the Hongkiat (Online Tips for Tech Users, Designers, Bloggers) blog has compiledContinue reading “Search Engines Worth Checking Out”

Search techniques: Truncation.

Truncation is when you shorten a word (or search term) to its root–think of cutting all the branches of a tree until you\’re left with…well, the trunk. Truncation works best when you are searching for different aspects of a topic. Let\’s use Academic Search Complete for this example, as it\’s a good general database. (WhenContinue reading “Search techniques: Truncation.”