Introduction and How to Use the Baxter Library

The Baxter Library is a collection of resources custom tailored to the user—AOF Students and Faculty. The staff are information specialists who manage information resources and guide you in selection.

Efficient use of library & internet material requires that you evaluate material for suitability. Things to consider:

1. How many resources do you need to support your argument and include a variety of viewpoints and materials.
2. Do you have a good diversity of material – Primary sources – contemporary accounts, actual documents (letters, diaries, audio recordings) and Secondary resources – retrospective sources based on primary sources (books, articles, reviews, scientific studies).
3. What is the Scope—subject, breadth and depth of coverage, arrangement of material, and currency – when was this published?
4. Most importantly, the Merit—how reliable is the resource—what is the quality and reliability of the information—author’s background, currency of work, opinion of others in field. Other factors to consider – tone, intended audience, purpose of the publication, assumptions the author makes, base of the conclusion, agree or disagree with other authors on subject, content agree with what you know about the subject?

Variety of Specific Reference Sources—follows the Dewey system.

1. Dictionaries - alphabetical listing of works with brief definitions
2. Encyclopedias—articles with coverage of topics usually written by experts often includes bibliographies and cross references
3. Almanacs - collection of popular facts and statistics
4. Atlas - collection of maps
5. Biography—information about a history of a person or group of people
6. Chronology—time line or analysis of events by date
7. Concordance—analysis of works in a work of literature or collective works of a major writer—where words may be found in the work
8. Critical Resource-an evaluation of the merit of writers or artists of literature of other media
9. Abstract or Digest-summaries or abstracts of works of literature or longer articles arranged alphabetically, chronologically, or topically with an index
10. Directory-Directs user to find something arranged with indexes
11. Gazetteer- a dictionary of geography including countries, cities, rivers, mountains, etc. (usually has no maps)
12. Index— a locator of information arranged alphabetically
13. Statistics- compilation of numerical counts arranged topically with an index
14. Yearbook or Annual -any publication issued each year

Farmcat is our the Baxter Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) with a variety of search types including power searches.

How to use our online catalog to search for materials there are several types of searches available:

Keyword: To search for titles with the word, OPAC returns a list of titles with that word or phrase. Click on the column headings to sort keyword hit lists.
Title: To search for a specific title, type and select Title.
Author: To search for titles by a specific author, type in name (Last, First) and select Author.
Subject: Looking for a particular subject, type it and select Subject from the toolbar.
Series: To search for a specific series, type in and hit series.
Call Number: To see a call number selection, type the call number and hit call number.
Category: To search for a category, select the known category and hit category (see librarian for list).
Power: To search for titles selectively (about pet care, for dogs but not for cats) select Power Search.
Bookbag: Lets you print bibliographies for the titles you have added to the Bookbag.

Screen Shot of AOF's Farmcat software  (above)

How to find a book once you have the call number (address):

Book Portion of the library is organized using the Dewey Decimal system by subject matter

NonFiction (Real) 000-999 The general headings are subdivided to 9 sub categories of specialized topics:
000 Generalities
100 Philosophy & Psychology
200 Religions
300 Social Sciences
400 Language
500 Natural Sciences & Math
600 Technology- Applied Science
700 The arts
800 Literature
900 Geography & History

…these then further the breakdown each category more specifically. (101, 102)
For the complete Dewey Decimal system list click here...

Fiction (imaginative narration) is arranged by author’s last name and located in a separate area by the circulation desk

A Database is a comprehensive collection of related information—we subscribe to several, purchased by the school, accessible from anywhere via our website and passwords—more available through the public library for residents with a library card.

Some special reference resource series in our collection purchased
specifically to aid in your assignments: