Finding Leisure Studies Resources Online

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Finding Leisure Studies Resources Online

• 1 February 2006
• Beatrice R. Pulliam
• Reference Librarian
• Providence College

2
Objectives

• Identifying websites
• Evaluating websites
• Finding journal articles using library databases
• Waitneed a book?

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Identifying Websites

• Online directories (Yahoo http//dir.yahoo.com/,
  Open Directory Project http//dmoz.org/, etc.)
• Very useful for
• identifying commercial sites
• easier to navigate
• conveniently organized by category
• also Tourism Offices Worldwide
  http//www.towd.com/
• Academic Department Web pages
• Academic Portals and Gateways
• National and Professional Associations

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Academic Department Web Pages

• Sources
• eRTR e-Review of Tourism Research
  http//ertr.tamu.edu/index.cfm
• Bi-monthly web-based research portal for tourism
  industry
• Project sponsored by TTRA (http//ttra.com/pub/162
  _637_2695.cfm), CTC (http//www.canadatourism.com/
  ctx/app/) and Department of Recreation, Park, and
  Tourism Sciences at Texas AM University

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Academic Portals and Gateways

• Sources
• Cornell Univ. School of Hotel Administration
• http//www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/links/
• JWU General Travel/Tourism Resources Page
• http//library.jwu.edu/research/websites/travel_ge
  n.htm

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National Professional Associations

• Sources
• Travel Industry Association of America (TIA)
  http//www.tia.org/index.html
• Check out Research Links for useful links and
  to connect to the various national industry
  associations ( natl restaurant and gaming
  associations, etc.)
• National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA)
  http//www.nrpa.org/
• Relevant Journals Journal of Leisure Research
  (with Texas AM U) and Journal of Park and
  Recreation Administration (official publication
  for the American Academy for Park and Recreation
  Administration)
• Leisure Studies Association
• http//www.leisure-studies-association.info/LSAWEB
  /Student/StudentLinks.html
• Journal Leisure Studies

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Academic Department Web Pages

• Sources
• Online directories (Yahoo http//dir.yahoo.com/,
  Open Directory Project http//dmoz.org/, etc.)
• Academic Department Web pages
• Academic Portals and Gateways
• National Associations
• Directories offer annotations (or descriptions)
• retrieve primary or secondary legal sources
• find financial info about public and private
  companies
• connect from A-Z list of databases on Library
  Home Page

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Evaluating Websites

• Authority
• Who contributed the content? Sponsors?
• Type of organization (government, not-for-profit,
  commercial)? Contact info?
• Currency
• When was the website created? Last time updated?
  (particularly important with academic web sites)
• Point of View
• Websites purpose or intent? Any evidence of
  bias? Intended audience?
• Accuracy
• Is there a bibliographic citations, links to
  other sources you can verify?
• Any errors in content (statements you know to be
  untrue)

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Finding articles in databases

• Select Databases
• ABI/Inform Trade Industry
• Includes 750 business journals and newsletters
  that emphasize industry or trade beginning in
  1971
• Get the latest industry news and marketing trends
• Contains publications on every major industry
• Check the Smart Search box for additional
  suggested topics
• Business Source Premier (via EBSCO)
• Business research database
• Over 8000 full-text journals (and over 1000 are
  peer-reviewed) back to 1965
• Covers all aspects of business and related
  fields, and includes company profiles and
  industry reports
• Trial available throughout Spring 06 semester
• Sociological Abstracts
• Indexes key literature in the sociology and
  related disciplines
• Includes abstracts from over 1800 journals (links
  to fulltext where available)
• Coverage from 1952

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Things to consider when searching Databases

• Keyword vs. Subject Searching
• AKA natural language searching
• ex Google search bar
• Very broad tends to return too many and often
  irrelevant results
• Pre-defined words and terms
• very specific only searches within exact subject
• results typically highly relevant
• must know exact subject heading
• Thesaurus or Subject Guide
• Most databases have one
• Very helpful for matching your words with the
• most appropriate subject heading

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Finding books

• HELIN Catalog
• Displays books, journals and other materials
  available for PC, 10 academic libraries and Brown
• Catalog automatically searches materials at all
  HELIN consortium members
• Click on Search InRhode to search for material
  at Brown
• PC users may borrow online from Brown when no
  other HELIN library has the item.
• Library of Congress Shelving Scheme
• Each alphanumeric call number is associated with
  a broad subject heading
• Can browse LC Subject Headings in the catalog
• Try your topic headings first Gambling,
  Restaurants, Bars, Tourism and Sport

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Questions?

• bpulliam_at_providence.edu
• IM us pclibchat (AIM/Yahoo/iChat) or pclibchat _at_
  hotmail.com (MSNMessenger)