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This paper aims to serve as an introduction to the scholarly study of L.M. Montgomery through a selection of annotated resources.

Items were located using library catalogs, databases, academic reviews, bibliographies, and online searches. Items were evaluated through inspection and consulting academic reviews.

The body of academic resources and scholarship on Montgomery studies continues to expand. Resources can be found in the form of print bibliographies, biographies, databases, collected essays, edited papers, monographs, periodicals, reference works, and web resources.

While other bibliographic lists of works by or about L.M. Montgomery exist, this resource guide provides a starting point for the scholarly study of Montgomery through a selective introduction and explanation of key secondary sources. This guide may also serve as a tool for building academic library collections.

Retention rates, the development of quality first‐year experience programs, accreditation, learning outcomes, and the goal of creating life‐long learners place research instruction as an essential part of the academic curriculum. The ability to find information, evaluate information resources, and use quality resources to write and present research effectively is critical in this information‐rich society. This manuscript describes a research project based on a comparative analysis of randomly selected sections of English composition that include library research components integrated into their curriculum. The project implemented and analyzed pre‐ and post‐tests, the use of online instruction modules, literature cited analyses, grade comparisons, and varied instructional opportunities in an effort to identify and assess effective pedagogy for research instruction provided to entry‐level students. The results show that this collaborative model of working with teaching assistants and faculty coordinators to integrate research instruction into the writing curriculum is student‐centered and effective. This model can be readily implemented in a variety of core courses that include writing and research elements.

This paper aims to compare biographical content for literary authors writing in English among Biography Reference Bank, Contemporary Authors Online, Wikipedia, and the web.

A sample of 500 names was gathered from curricula and textbooks used in English courses and searched in the Contemporary Authors Online portion of Literature Resource Center, Biography Reference Bank, Wikipedia, and the web; the results and content were compared.

Each source has core content plus its own unique offerings and specific challenges, as evidenced in searching, evaluative techniques such as authority and currency, and content.

This study can only offer a small part of the picture of what information resides where and a single snapshot in time.

This study will help librarians decide whether to subscribe to a biographical database. It also reinforces the need for evidence‐based practice in librarianship.

While the study is only a small part of the picture, it still makes use of a significant sample size to validate/refute assumptions about the availability of biographical information and the sources studied.

The purpose of this paper is to recommend print and electronic resources that will be useful in helping the student, scholar or thesis writer who wants to begin an in-depth literature search for criticism of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Listings are geared toward the English-speaking, North American user, but include some European sources as well.

Recommendations are based on the author’s experience as a scholar, editor and thesis advisor in the field of Tolkien studies.

While the use of general literature reference sources will satisfy most needs, a serious scholar will need to look beyond the Modern Language Association (MLA) and similar resources to do a comprehensive search of the literature.

This is not a topic covered in reference reviews, previously.

The intent of this article is to show the direct outcomes of an inventory project, which served as the catalyst for collection development improvements.

An inventory project was undertaken with a major emphasis on the outcomes derived from the inventory.

Several types of problems were discovered, such as missing items, incorrect information (call numbers, collection codes, item types, etc. …), damaged materials, and weaknesses in the collection, which resulted in major improvements and changes in the development of the collection.

The results of the inventory project improved the accessibility of the collection to patrons by correcting many inconsistencies involving the shelving of materials, online records, call numbers, collection codes, item types, and bar codes. The location of missing items as well as identified areas of strengths and weaknesses assisted with collection development activities. The results of the project also provided an opportunity to hire a consulting firm to further assess the collection, which led to additional funds for supporting the collection. The single major benefit of the inventory process was that it provided the catalyst for instigating major changes in the curriculum collection development of the Teaching Resources Center.

To describe the availability of online databases for library patrons in the USA.

A review of the present situation.

Online databases are now very widely available to library patrons in the United States, and many patrons can tap into these databases from their own computers. The larger libraries and library systems can afford to offer their own choice of databases to their patrons through their internet web sites.

Provides information of value to information professionals.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an evaluative comparison of databases for argumentative/persuasive rhetoric.

This paper reviews and compares the databases in terms of the organization, types of information included and the ease of use.

To assist students in learning the rhetorical modes of argument and persuasion, some database vendors have developed proprietary electronic databases specific to this purpose. EBSCOhost’s Points of View Reference Center and Gale/Cengage’s Opposing Viewpoints in Context are two such databases. Which is better largely depends on the dominant user demographic of the educational institution. Both databases have strengths and weaknesses; therefore, the best results can be achieved by using them to complement one another. But if only one database can be selected, then that choice should most be influenced by the user demographic served.

These databases have value as primers and introductions to research and writing in the rhetorical mode(s) of argumentation and persuasion, but students taking advanced classes should supplement them with more sophisticated searches in standard aggregator databases, which are not examined in detail in this paper.

This paper offers selectors an apples-to-apples comparison and analysis of two related resources, providing an insight about which can be used in the selection process.

This paper aims to provide a guide to significant primary and secondary resources relevant to the study of Emily Dickinson and her poetry.

Online catalogs, bibliographies, and the worldwide web were searched to identify relevant items. In some cases, citation analysis and other bibliometric measures were used to determine the highest‐impact sources. Items were annotated after personal examination by the author. The paper is divided into two main sections: primary sources (anthologies, databases and web resources) and secondary sources (bibliographies, databases, biographical resources, reference resources, monographs, journals and web resources).

The paper introduces each resource, indicating its scope and contribution to the study of Dickinson. It acknowledges in particular the developments in recent Dickinson scholarship.

Dickinson remains popular among both scholars and laypeople, but the most recent bibliographies of Dickinson scholarship date to the late 1980s. This guide provides a late twentieth‐ to early twenty‐first‐century update to those earlier works.

While the primary importance of citation searching continues to be connecting researchers to highly-related literature, additional uses for the data have developed. For example, academic institutions frequently recommend that faculty include a citation analysis in their tenure and promotion (t & p) dossiers as a way of demonstrating the value of their research. Due to the limited number of tools available for this type of analysis in the past, Librarians were unable to help faculty create an exhaustive accounting of citations to their work. The aim of this paper is to provide examples of the growing number of tools that now exist to assist librarians and faculty in locating citation information for t & p dossiers.

An in-depth survey of both free and subscription resources to identify those that offered options for citation searching was conducted.

Commercial vendors, organizations and researchers are developing a wide variety of tools that help track the impact of a faculty member's research.

The list of resources surveyed is not comprehensive. The research was focused on those available, and most relevant to the author's institution.

Based on the results of this investigation, a web page was created to help direct faculty and librarians to a large number of resources for citation searching (available at: http://libresources.wichita.edu/citationsearching).

Librarians have prepared numerous web guides to assist faculty in conducting citation searches. Few offer links to as wide a variety of resources as this research presents.