Bibliography

Adams, D. (2000). Can pornography cause rape? Journal of Social Philosophy, 31(1), 1-43.

Check, J. V. P., & Malamuth, N. M. (1984). Can there be positive effects of participation in pornography experiments? Journal of sex research, 20(1), 14.

Malamuth, N. M. (1981). Rape proclivity among males. Journal of Social Issues, 37, 138-157.

Malamuth, N. M., & Ceniti, J. (1986). Repeated exposure to violent and nonviolent pornography: Likelihood of raping ratings and laboratory aggression against women. Aggressive Behavior, 12(2), 129-137.

Malamuth, N. M., Haber, S., & Feshbach, S. (1980). Testing hypotheses regarding rape: Exposure to sexual violence, sex differences and the normality of rapists. Journal of Research in Personality, 14, 121-137.

Communicating Via Instant Messenger

Working with the client in the IMC of Hunterdon Central was rather easy. Working with him on an instant message? Not quite as enjoyable. Overall, the answers were few and far between and getting responses felt almost like pulling teeth. It is at this point that I wonder if there was any merit to what Mrs. Rosenberg, the head librarian of the IMC said to me before I left. Even though this client was suggested to me because of his inability to concentrate, he was right on top of the search. To explain the dissonance between reality and Mrs. Tyler's notions, Mrs. Rosenberg commented that I was "young and pretty and blonde" so he wanted to put on his searching "A-game." Now that I am not physically sitting there as he searches, I get little interest on the project. Maybe being a librarian is as simple as just sitting there and looking pretty. (I joke! I joke!) Anyway, I supplied the bulk of the conversation, which concludes with another unexpected problem for the task. When reading the conversation, it would be important to keep in mind that at least two minutes went by before I received any answers.

me: so i was able to access that journal... sort of
client: really haha
client: what did it say
me: rutgers actually subscribes to that journal
me: the only problem is there is only one volume out of all of them we do not have access to
me: clearly, it is the one with the article
me: so i got an interlibrary loan
me: and it should be emailed to me in a few days
me: when is your paper due?
client: uh either the 24th or 26th
me: all right
me: it should be in before then
me: i think your bibliography is due wednesday if i'm not mistaken
me: so if you go back to the imc, you can get all the information you need from that blue book on page 296 to write up the citation
me: does that work?
client: yea that is good'
me: so what direction are you going to take your argument?
me: (according to the assignment i'm supposed to help you find more sources more relevant to your needs once you figure that out)
client: that pornography is not bad and does not lead to violence
me: well thats the general topic
me: what are you points?
client: i dont know yet, i fould out that i have to get another surgery and to be honest the paper wasnt on the top of my mind


At this point I spoke with him about his upcoming surgery and tried to get buddy-buddy in the hopes that information will come faster in the future.

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Searching Solo

After meeting with my information client, I tried to find the article that best fit his topic again on my own. I was unable to find the journal in question in the IRIS catalog, so I called a colleague from Douglass library's circulation services. Chiaki located the journal, but found that we do not have access to the exact volume needed. I tried calling Alexander, but no one answered the phone. That was the standard procedure for the rest of the day. I would call, and they would ignore the phone. I would call back a half hour later, same thing. This went on and on.

The next day I went into Alexander library and the graduate assistant at the reference desk directed me on how to utilize EZborrow. I then placed an order for the article with another institution.

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Initial Interview

Interview Construction
The entire third period Psychology class met in a computer lab in the IMC library. My client was unaware that he was going to be working with me, but he was very easy-going and had no problem with it. Since I am going into school media where they push the notion of not being " the sage on the stage, [but being] the guide on the side,"* I decided to let the client do most of his searching independently. I observed the searching strategy and offered suggestions to improve his skills.

Results
Chronological Listing of Search Steps

• Client opened browser to the high school's web page and navigated to the library site.
• He then connected to EBSCOhost and selected a variety of databases (Masterfile, Academic Search Premier).
• The client entered the search terms: porn, harmful with no results.
• He narrowed it down to porn.
• I interjected and suggested that he limit his results to full text and peer-reviewed journal articles.
  
• I then introduced him to term truncation and suggested the search terms: "sex* offen*" and porn.
  
• This did not get many results, and the few that came back were false drops. I suggested that we should try another set of search terms, but he instead felt the databases were the problem and logged out.
• He then opened JSTOR, which Mrs. Rosenberg discussed before the searching began.
  
• We limited the database results to only within the psychology discipline.
• The user retried porn and rape and brought back only one hit.
  
• This hit represented the opposite point of view, suggesting that porn is harmful. We decided to keep this article, because he has to be aware of the other side to prepare for his debate. The article also included key words we had not conceived previously.
  
• I suggested we switch to books, as he still had to find at least one book on the subject. We looked through the OPAC and found one title that seemed relevant: Porn and Sexual Violence.
  
• By area scanning, I found two other titles for the client: Opposing View Points: Pornography by editor Helen Cothran and Pornography in America: A Reference Handbook by Joseph W. Slade.
  
• While the client resumed searching online databases, I flipped through the references of Pornography in America. As a result, I found a citation complete with abstract that detailed exactly what the user needed for his paper/debate.
  
• I suggested he look in multiple databases and seek the article through various fields, such as title keyword and author. We found one article by the same author, but not on the desired subject.
• I took over the searching temporarily and logged into the Rutgers network.
  
• I exhaustively searched numerous databases, checking various fields, to no luck. To say the least, it was a very frustrating experience.
  
• We moved on to another article from the book that was not as relevant, but still worked. This was not in the Rutgers system either.
  
• Ultimately we tried another database, SIRS. The client supplied the search terms "pornograph?" and then I tweaked it by suggesting "porn? and violence."
• Results brought back the latter journal article that was somewhat relevant.
  
• We decided to retry the first article from the book, to no avail.
  
• Lastly, we attempted to use ProQuest with the search term "pornography."
  
• I suggested we narrow the search down within "sex crimes," but we did not find anything by the time he had to leave.
  

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* I have tried to find an originating source for this, but it seems to be ubiquitous and on a vast array of teaching instruction sites. I am therefore unable to pinpoint exactly who I should cite.

User Description

Selection
I corresponded with my old Psychology teacher, Ms. Tyler, from Hunterdon Central to find an appropriate user. She suggested I work with one of her students that is recovering from an ATV injury. At the beginning of the quarter, he was in a wheel chair and frequently missed class. On top of this, he often had difficulty paying attention. Ms. Tyler felt that by working with him, I would be able to keep him focused and on top of the search. On the day I met with her and the student, she described the situation more in depth by stating that if she had to tell him to be quiet once, it was fifteen times. Joy.

User's Question
The homework assignment consisted of two major portions: a position paper and a debate. My client's topic was to argue that pornography is not harmful. Ms. Tyler requires five sources: two of which are to be periodicals and two of which are to be books. She gave them an article from a book, to count as one of their bound sources.

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Concept for Project

Using Kuhlthau's (1991) findings from a study of high school students published in 1990 that states "40 participants identified as low achievers were incomplete and could not be analyzed in the study" (P365). This study relates directly to the information seeking process of students and, as stated, lower achievers are bottoming out during the searching process before even beginning to write papers. I would like to use this concept as my starting point for my searching project and work with one student from a high school psychology class to find credible and worthwhile information sources for a in-depth research project. Having completed a similar project when I was in the same teacher's class a few years back, I am aware of the many layers of information required in order to achieve an above average presentation.

Kuhlthau, C. (1991). Inside the Search Process: Information Seeking from the User's Perspective, Journal of the American Society for Infromation Science, 42 (5), 361-370.

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