Animal Science Research Guide

Your department has a librarian dedicated to answering your questions and there are many reasons why you may want to contact your department's liaison librarian:

• Set up and learn how to use citation management tools.
• Learn how to use an article database you are unfamiliar with.
• Recommend a book or information resource that the library should purchase.
• Ask the librarian to provide a guest lecture to your class on information seeking strategies and library resources.
• Get assistance tracking down a reference.

These are just some of the things your librarian can help you with. When in doubt, just ask! Liaison librarians may or may not be subject experts in the field of research you are working in, but they are experts in finding information. Look for your liaison librarian's contact information on this page to set up an appointment or email for assistance.

The ISU Library supports several services that can assist you in sharing your research. Take advantage of the Library's Open Access Agreements with over two dozen publishers so your papers are freely available online. Submit your CV to the ISU Digital Repository so even research that is published behind a journal subscription paywall may be freely shared. Work with the Library's Data Services unit to help prepare Data Management Plans or submit your research data to ISU's own open access data repository, DataShare.

The ISU Library has a large collection of books and journals dedicated to agriculture, animal science and nutrition, food science, veterinary medicine, and related subject areas. The best way to access these resources is through the library's main search tool, Quick Search. Use Quick Search to find the location of physical books and journals in the Library or to access online books and articles.

The ISU Library provides you with a vast array of information resources, but the library cannot provide access to every book, article, or journal out there. That's where Interlibrary Loan (ILL) comes in. ILL is a free service that allows you to request books, book chapters, articles—almost any information resource that can be loaned or scanned. Look for more tips on using ILL in this guide or go straight to the ILLiad system to request an item.

Every semester, the ISU Library provides workshops and other learning opportunities. These workshops range demonstrations of citation management tools to recommendations on research data collection, storage, and manipulation. Most workshops take place in Parks Library, but some are available online.