Please answer the following 10 reference questions to the best of your ability. Note that some might contain mistakes or too little information to go on since users rarely have all the information you will need to answer their question. If you feel you need more information, please state this as part of your answer. You might take a look at the course Webliography for sources of ready-reference on the Internet–such as the Internet Public Library (IPL), LibrarySpot, or The Virtual Reference Desk–as you try to answer some of these.
You should also assume the patron has access to the SJSU electronic library catalog (and the physical collection of books and serials), SJSU databases, and any other e-holdings available via SJSU. Answer the questions as though you were responding directly to an email inquiry from a library user. Do not send the user away empty-handed no matter how poorly-formulated or unclear the question! Be sure and provide possible relevant Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSHs) for open-ended questions (like when a patron asks for a list of resources or "some information on X") and offer some titles found using them via the SJSU online catalog. Make sure you provide reliable information. This might mean checking more than one source to verify accuracy.
Keep Cassell and Hiremath by your side at all times and use the index to Cassell and Hiremath (pp. 473-508) to look up subject-specific resources. I do not consider Wikipedia a reliable reference source. If you cite it, that’s fine, but you must provide other sources that verify what a Wikipedia entry claims. Alan Liu, an English Professor at UC Santa Barbara, does a good job of explaining the issues in his policy statement to his students on Appropriate Use of Wikipedia (http://www.english.ucsb.edu/
After providing each answer, please explain how you went about the process of finding it and cite the source, including bibliographic details in APA style, used to provide the answer.
1. Where can I find out which companies are involved in a particular industry? market share? key competitors?
2. I need a list of all the chambers of commerce and tourist organizations in the 415 area code.
3. I need some reliable articles about Howard Stern and "indecency in recording controversy."
4. I would like to read newspaper articles on San Francisco not being selected as the Olympics venue for the US.
5. I have to give a five-minute talk for my public speaking class. My topic is marijuana legalization. I need both pro and con arguments, statistics, and quotes from recent magazine articles.
6. I need a very current book on Perl. Does the library have any? I’d like an eBook version if possible.
7. How can I find information about threatened and endangered plants and animals?
8. Where can I find some information on consumer health? Is there a particular database I should search?
9. Young Man with a Horn is a 1950 film starring Doris Day. Is it available on DVD? Is it available in any other format like streaming video?
10. What are the titles of the concert recordings that clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman released officially over the course of his career? Of these, which recording to music critics generally think is the best one?
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Information on Companies within a specific industry can be accessed through a search on the Factiva business database located on the SJSU library website under databases and articles with the specification of business as the subtopic. I arrived at the answer through personal knowledge on the SJSU database thus guided the patron in the right direction. Reference: SJSU King Library, 2012. Retrieved from http://library.sjsu.edu
2. The 415 zone code is situated in San Francisco. Thus a listing on the chambers of commerce is located at the U.S Chamber…
APA
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