Re: Henry VII (fwd)

[clevin@ripco.com (Craig Levin)]

Poster: clevin@ripco.com (Craig Levin)

Alanna:

> Time to point out to those new to research and cursed with poorly
> stocked public libraries the marvels of Inter-Library Loan.  If you
> can find information about a book -- title, author, or subject --
> your local library can borrow it from other libraries, within its own
> system or even from other library systems.  My library in Maryland
> has borrowed books for me from as far away as New York and Ohio.

Mind you, there's a few catches to this:

Primus: It takes time-your facility has to look for another
facility which will loan to them, and, naturally, the book must
be taken from its facility to yours.

Secundus: There are, sometimes, caveats to the loan. Usually, one
can take the book out like any other book, but sometimes, the
loan period isn't as long, or, the lending facility will permit
it only to be used at your facility.

Tertius: Cost. For certain loans, it's a nominal fee (in PG
County, it's half a buck); for other loans, the cost goes up.

> BIP is only one of the sources available.  It does not list books
> that have been written but are no longer being published -- and there
> are a lot more of them out there than those currently in print.  
> If you have internet access, go to Amazon.com and do a subject
> search.  Note down books that look interesting.  Then go back to the
> library for an ILL.

Much more convenient, IMO, to go to the Library of Congress or
the British Library websites. If there's a book that's been
written in the English language over the last century or so that
*isn't* in one or the other, it's probably not much good.

> Failing all else,  go  to the librarian and ask her how to find a
> good biography of H7.  Odds are that even the smallest libraries will
> have a reference book that lists biographies of all sorts (and all
> sorts of other books about books!)  In the absense of an author
> and/or title,  she can even make a subject ILL request  for "a
> biography of Henry VII."

A subject request isn't something I'd do. Before doing that, look
through the books you already own, ferret stuff out of the
bibliographies, and use them instead.

> Please, *please* do not be too shy to ask for help.  You're not
> "bothering" the librarians -- YOU are the reason that reference
> librarians exist.  They want to help you.  Ferreting out information
> is fun!

Got that right!

Craig
(Research coordinator, BIA, on coffee break-hi boss!)

-- 
http://pages.ripco.com:8080/~clevin/index.html 
clevin@ripco.com
Craig Levin
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