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services: distance education students -- conducting research at a distance.

The Library offers a variety of electronic guides for assisting you as you conduct your research. A good starting point is to review the guide for developing a Search Strategy at the University Library. What follows are brief descriptions of key access tools (the Library Catalog, Electronic Indexes and Databases, the Research Wizard, and Ask-A-Librarian) you will find useful as you gather information.

The Library Catalog [http://catalog.lib.unomaha.edu/] provides call numbers, locations, and other information about books and materials owned by the Library. It does not include information about individual articles in periodicals. In the catalog, you'll find records for books, journal and newspaper titles, government documents (U.S. and Nebraska) and non-print media, such as videos and CDs.

Use the Library's Electronic Resources: Indexes and Databases [http://library.unomaha.edu/researchtools/findarticles.php] to locate journal articles about topics you wish to research.Some databases provide articles full-text online. Others provide a citation for each article. The citation includes important information such as the article title, the author's name, the title of the journal in which the article appears, and the publication information (volume/issue number, publication date, and pages of the issue where the article appears). If the Library subscribes to the journal, you use the citation to request the article from the Library's periodical collection.

The Research Wizard [http://library.unomaha.edu/rw2/public/] is a listing of University Library and Internet/Web resources customized by subject area. When you search for a subject, you'll find links to the databases recommended for your subject, selected Library pages about your subject, and relevant Internet links with a brief description of each site. The Wizard serves as a good starting point for research.

The Ask-A-Librarian [https://spike.lib.unomaha.edu/ssl-forms/askal/] service is available to students, faculty, and staff of the University of Nebraska at Omaha and UNO Library Friends & Registered Alumni. The purpose of this service is to provide electronic reference services for patrons requesting information and/or assistance in their research. Questions may range from the factual to the more in-depth, research- or term-paper-related inquiry. The amount of service is determined by the availability of staff and resources. We strive to respond to questions within 24 hours after they are submitted, but answers may be delayed over weekends and holidays. For more information on this service as well as the e-mail form for requesting assistance, please see the Library Web pages at the above address.

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