DIALOG

DIALOG had always been described to me as cumbersome, difficult to use and not worth the effort when other databases provide similar products without the hassle. However, I found DIALOG to be very intuitive (perhaps because of the ProQuest interface that has been placed on top of the content) and I was very pleased to find a great deal of information about my topic while searching this database. For this search, I was guided by the Online Information Retrieval Lab 2 and by using the Help features in DIAGLOG.

I conducted a command line search in DIALOG with “cybersecurity” in the title, “privacy” as a subject and limited my search to articles. I found this type of search to be much more useful that a standard keyword search. I was returned only 77 results, but they were all very specialized and very much on topic with my search project. I searched within the Telecommunications industry sector, which also helped to return very specific results.

The article that I found to be most interesting was titled “IS NIST Turning Weak Cybersecurity Standards Into Aggressive New Privacy Regulation?”

 What I Learned

Recalling information from my first search about cybersecurity, I was intrigued to find out more about the ways that the federal government is dealing with cybersecurity issues. NIST is the National Institute of Standards and Technology and is part of the United States Department of Commerce. This short article discussed how NIST is responding to calls for standardization in cybersecurity practices.

I definitely recommend spending the time to compose a good command line search, as I will discuss further in my Refecltion. Although it is not as intuitive for a beginner searcher, the results are definitely more useful and relevant. The command line search shows the true power of the DIALOG search database. 

Reflection

Easily the best thing about DIALOG is the ability to sort by industry. If you are searching for technical topic, the time saved by presorting your results to include only journals that publish in your field is incredible. While this does limit the number of results you are receiving (and as such, may not be ideal for someone writing a dissertation or other major research paper where more information is better), for a targeted search – such an undergraduate paper or a search based on personal interest – the industry sorting allowed by DIALOG is wonderful. I did spend a bit of time in the Help section of DIALOG simply because I had heard so many negative things about the searching in DIALOG from older colleagues. The Help section is very good and helped me to quickly put together an effective command line search.  

WorldCat

I have been using WorldCat for many years. It was a huge part of my undergraduate experience and I have been recommending WorldCat to friends and patrons ever since I began working in a library. I find WorldCat to be particular useful when tracking down a resource that I need right away – something that I cannot wait 2-3 day for via interlibrary loan. Because I am lucky enough to live in a major city, I am frequently able to track down a book or resource through WorldCat at a local library. For this project, I decided to search for a book on cybersecurity with an emphasis on research. After reading about social media research in my last search, I decided to see if there were any materials in my search that would be informative for a librarian who is conducting research.

I conducted this search as part of our Online Information Retrieval Lab. The requirements of the lab were to search for your topic, then limit by the years 2012-2014. Using that search, I was able to locate a book that fit my initial search project.

I found Jody R. Westby’s Legal Guide to Cybersecurity Research. I am particularly interested in this text because it was published by the American Bar Association (a very reputable publisher of legal information) and, as a (hopeful) future law librarian I would be interested in learning what special concerns there may be in searching for information about cyber and network securities.

What I Learned

I cannot say that I learned much about my topic specifically through this search, because of the nature of this database. Unlike other databases, I was not reading an article about my topic. However, browsing the results that were returned did give me an idea of what types of information is available about the topic of cybersecurity and the wide range of subjects that are involved in the study of cybersecurity, privacy and our ideas about identity on the web.

While this is not something learned specifically from my time in this course, I do recommend always inputting your zip code when searching WorldCat unless you are very specifically looking for materials in other areas. Your zip code will stick around anytime you log on to World Cat with the same IP address and it will make quick searches for resources that much faster.

Reflection

I still think that WorldCat is one of the most useful websites in a librarian’s arsenal. I always have a positive experience with WorldCat and while I haven’t needed to use it specifically in my work as a reference librarian yet, I like knowing that I am not limited to my own library when searching for resources. Like I said in my initial search explanation, living in a big city has its advantages. I imagine that WorldCat will also be useful if I decide to work more with collection development, as I compare the collection of my own library with the libraries of peer institutions. 

ScienceDirect

ScienceDirect is a great resource for technical research because it also searches abstract and uncorrected proofs for research articles that are to be published in the near future.  This database is fantastic if you have a specific resource in mind, but I decided to simply search for “cybersecurity” and then limit it to the most recent articles available – only for publication years 2014 and 2015. Specifically, I was hoping to retrieve an article that gives an idea of major concerns and trends in the industry.

The third article in my list of results seems to fulfill exactly my desired search! This article from the Journal of Computer and System Sciences is a general overview of cybersecurity trends as they stand in August 2014. Browsing many of the other retrieved articles resulted in many papers that were very technical and did not give a broad overview of developments in the industry of cybersecurity and privacy.

What I Learned

One of the major upcoming concerns in cybersecurity is employees oversharing information about their company and corporate secrets though social media, believing that they are protected because of the privacy settings on their social media accounts. This is very much untrue, as hackers and cybersecurity attackers are able to access information on social media accounts through spam attacks or through internal sources (people who are able to friend or follow you but are seeking to maliciously acquire information).

Reflection

ScienceDirect is absolutely a resource I will be using in the future. The search feature is ideal for tracking down a technical citation. In my work as a reference librarian, I often find that researchers in STEM fields come to me with an already selected resource and they simply want access to that one article. They do not typically come to me with a broad question. This database by design makes that very specific search extremely easy to conduct. I also liked that I could access information about upcoming articles, including abstracts and uncorrected proofs.