Where do you look for data? methodologies? references? Where do you start on a research topic? How do publishers and libraries organize information? This searching class will give an overview of the information landscape, a closer look at the physical sciences and some good starting options to meet a variety of questions. Specifically we will look at published vs. non-published information; indexing and controlled vocabulary; guides to the literature; and general search techniques.

Over 3/4 of the resources in the Physical Sciences Library Reference Collection have not yet fully emerged into the online environment and are available to the Cornell community only in print form. This includes many classic compiled and reviewed data collections, ranging from dictionaries, encyclopedias, and spectra collections to treatises on methods, current trends and comprehensive works. Translating content and complex indexing into robust electronic schemas is proving challenging and expensive and online reference works are developing more slowly than other information venues. Meanwhile, rigorous resources are still readily available in the library, take the time and delve into some classic print tools.