Ever wondered how other faculty members experience the Libraries or what professors "in the know" know about acquiring information to support their research and teaching? The FIND (Faculty Information Nugget and Discovery) series will profile several faculty members and the kinds of information resources and services they use in the course of their work.

Faculty

Atsuko Matsuoka Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in Social Work Research Interests Elder abuse; mental health and aging; mediation and elder abuse; diaspora studies concerning work with refugees and minority populations; animal rights and social welfare.

Information

Current Research and the York University Libraries

Atsuko believes that the York University Libraries (YUL) play an essential role in her research. In her professional research she uses a variety of YUL information resources including periodical indexes such as Social Work Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, PsycInfo, ERIC and Medline. Government sources, statistical sources (particularly from Statistics Canada) and legal resources are also consulted. She appreciates having full access to Statistics Canada publications through the Libraries. Most often her research involves use of the Scott Library, but in the past she has consulted resources from the Law Library (Osgoode Hall Law School) and the Steacie Science and Engineering Library. Atsuko also makes use of the individual consultations with the Social Work librarian and other subject or liaison librarians.

Information Literacy and the York University Libraries

Atsuko believes that the Libraries should play a major role in the education of students and, as such, is a proponent of Information Literacy classes. Each year she makes use of these library classes to educate students on how to locate and evaluate information resources. In her experience as the Director of the Graduate Program in Social Work, she realizes that research is closely related to social work practice. After graduation it is not uncommon for Social Work students to seek out existing knowledge in their field to apply to their professional practice. The Information Literacy classes offered by the library not only educate students on how to locate information for their university courses, but also help cultivate lifelong learners.

Nugget

Recent Readings

Waldman, Murray and Lamb, Marjorie (2004). Dying for a Hamburger: Modern Meat Processing and the Epidemic of Alzheimer's Disease.

Ryder, Richard A. (1989). Animal Revolution : Changing Attitudes Towards Speciesism.

Discovery

Some hidden library gems that Atsuko has discovered include:

• The music collection in the Sound and Moving Image Library (Scott Library, 1st Floor)
• WorldCat: to discover books and resources other libraries hold in her area of interest
• Social Science Citation Index (a component of ISI's Web of Science): to search for articles that have cited a particular work
• Ask a Librarian chat reference: to get prompt library research assistance online
• Subject specialist librarians: for assistance in specialized resources in a subject area

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