Interview with Reference Librarian

In an interview with the reference librarian Geraldine Collins I learned a lot about what kinds of reference materials there are for forensic science and how to use them. The first thing that I learned is that forensic science has its own reference books in the library; this is something that I did not know. The books include a number of in depth encyclopedias along with dictionaries solely relating to forensic science. Geraldine Collins stressed that this is a good point to start researching to find background on whatever topic it is you are either presenting about or writing about. The next thing I learned was how good scholarly journals can be when it comes to researching. These can be found in catalogs and in databases either in the library or on the internet. Scholarly journals are such great sources because they are reviewed many times by experts in the field before they are published making them a very reliable resource. Any person can look up any aspect of forensic science whether it is for criminology, biological, or legal purposes. One of the most valuable tools the librarian mention to me was something called research guides. A research guide is a collection of reference materials, online journals, databases, and reliable web resources from professional organizations or government. This is always a great place to research if you happen to know what particular field you want to research in because all the information is presented in an easy to follow manner that leads to fast researching with reliable materials. All in all the information I learned from Geraldine Collins has really proven invaluable to me in just a short amount of time.