Age-friendly communities: information strategies & resources

Elizabeth Yates, Recreation & Leisure

LibrarianWinter 2014

So how do you find the good

stuff?

Today’s outcomes

You will recall strategies for:• Conducting an enviromental scan

using scholarly & grey literature• Critically evaluating information• Finding relevant demographic

information• Getting help with APA style

Niagara Age-Friendly Community Network Assignment

• How the library can help:– Finding

information for environmental scan

– Finding demographic info for Niagara

Christina Saint Marche, Flickr: http://flic.kr/p/ejkfvf

Environmental scan

• Term originated in business and marketing research

• Refers to:– Actively scanning a variety of relevant

information sources (e.g. books, scholarly journal articles, websites, news articles)

– Collecting relevant information on your topic

– Evaluating and synthesizing information from multiple sources

Source: Industry & Market research, Portland State University Library: http://guides.library.pdx.edu/industry

The Research

Path

• Work from background to foreground

BACKGROUND INFO:-overview-key concepts & vocabulary

BOOKS

FOREGROUND:-very specific, timely aspects of topic

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Think like a search engine

>> keywords>> synonyms

Finding background infoURL: http://researchguides.library.brocku.ca/RECL

Image: 'untitled' http://www.flickr.com/photos/11797720@N00/8559607109Found on flickrcc.net

>Find books tab>SuperSearch

>use your keywords here

TIP: Start broad -- add more words as needed

Tips & tricks

1. Use “quotes” to search for an exact phrase e.g. “age friendly”

2. Use * to search for variations of a word ending e.g. plan* (plan, planning, planned)

3. Scroll down: the first results may not be the best

Succeed with SuperSearch

1. Refine your results: select “books & media @ Brock” to get background info

2. Slide the Publication Date to adjust time period

3. Select “Subject” to find results focused on a specific aspect of your topic

4. Add another keyword to find results focused on a specific aspect of your topic

5. To get a book: note location in library (print books) OR click “read this online” (e-books)

Evaluating info: the CRAAP test

CRAAP

C – CurrencyR – RelevanceA – AuthorityA – AccuracyP -- Purpose

Ask yourself:Currency

>How current is this info?

Relevance>How well does it relate to my

topic?

Authority>Who wrote this? What are the

author’s qualifications? Can anyone add info to this site?

CRAAP, continued

Accuracy> Can the facts be verified? Are

references clearly listed?

Purpose>Why does this information exist?

Like videos? Here you go:

Evaluating websites:http://youtu.be/7w62Wfgfc7w

On the web

Many websites are good sources of info for your topic: see Recreation & Leisure Research Guide > Websites > for ideas

Remember the CRAAP test!

Leisure information network

“LIN's vision is to be recognized as the national knowledge-based digital forum for sharing value-added information regarding individual and community nourishment and well-being through recreation, parks, and healthy living.”

Try searching:1. “age friendly” 2. “age friendly” community

Other strategies

• Municipal websites e.g. Welland > Departments > Recreation and Culture Summary of Parks, Recreation and Culture plan (Vision 2025)

• Community organization websites e.g. Niagara Connects > Niagara Knowledge Exchange

• Niagara Community Observatory

Grey literature

Publications produced outside the traditional scholarly platforms of academic journals and books

Examples:• Reports from organizations• Government reports• Policy documents• Conference proceedings• Working papers

Grey literature can be used for background & foreground info

Strategies for finding grey lit

• Use known sources e.g. Niagara Connects, LIN

• Use Google/Google Scholar – carefully!

Antiques, by bibliojojo: flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/68509201@N08/7360308172

Tips for Google/Google Scholar

• Use advanced search – click • Try exact phrase – e.g. age

friendly• Try any words – for synonym

searching – e.g. city OR community

• Restrict to a geographic region -- e.g. Canada

Scholarly articles

• Found in subject databases such as Leisure and Tourism, SportDISCUS, Web of Science

• Written by researchers who are topic experts

• Your topic is multi-disciplinary > SuperSearch is a good bet

Succeed with SuperSearch

1. Refine your results: select “peer-reviewed journals” to get scholarly articles

2. Slide the Publication Date to adjust time period

3. Select “Subject” to find results focused on a specific aspect of your topic

4. Add another keyword to find results focused on a specific aspect of your topic

5. To get an article: use the GetIt link

Search tools: combine concepts

Search words AND, OR are powerful tools for retrieving relevant results

Distinct concepts: use AND e.g. “community engagement” AND planning

Similar concepts (synonyms): use OR e.g. recreation OR leisure

home.howstuffworks.com/power-drill.htm

Niagara data

Try the Recreation & Leisure Research Guide> Data & Statistics page:

• Census of Canada & National Household Survey> age, gender, income, etc.

• Info varies depending on geographic level e.g. economic region (Niagara), census tract

Data and statisticsOther useful sources (on research

guide>data and stats page):

• Living in Niagara 2011  

• Canada Info Desk  > Major Canadian Cities > St. Catharines

• Niagara data - mapped

Tip: data/stats may not be available at the level you want

Help with APA style

Recreation & Leisure Research Guide– Library website > left nav menu

“Research Guides by Program”

• Writing and Citing tab

Getting Help

Chat with us from this widget @ brocku.ca/library

Text us @ 289.271.8777

Search ourQuestion &Answer Bank

brocku.ca/library

Click on the Help Tab to search

topics by Category

Contact me:eyates@brocku.ca 905-688-5550 x4469

Summing up