“I spent seven hours in the library yesterday, researching, and I only found four articles!”
Painful words for any librarian to hear. But wait! Was the subject of research truly something obscure and unknown? Some potentially unexplored but fruitful area of discovery? Sadly, no, the topic of research (further eavesdropping revealed) was a common medical issue well covered by a range of library databases.
A stop at the reference desk could have saved this undergraduate hours of suffering. It can be intimidating to approach a librarian to ask for help, but most librarians are quite friendly, and all of us want to help you do your research better. If you’re not sure what to ask, just tell us about your research, and we’ll be glad to point you in the right direction.
Written by Joan Petit
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Adding the Duke Library site to Internet Explorer 7′s search bar can greatly speed up searches when Google Scholar’s “Get it @Duke” fails.