Usage of library services efficiently & Online Searching Techniques

Library is a collection of resources accommodating for public access with the purpose of reading in order to improve the knowledge in any area (Library laws, 1996). Audio English.net (2014) stated that library is a room or a building containing collection of books, periodicals, records and journals where individuals can read or borrow. As per Oxford Dictionaries (2014) Library is a building or room holding books, periodicals, and occasionally movies and recorded music for the usage of public or the members of the library.

Online Library Learning Centre (2014) specified that libraries can be divided into 3 main categories, they are,

Academic library - The fundamental reason for this library is to help the teaching and the research of a specific college or university, it is relatively bigger when compared with a public library and it doesn't hold any non-academic material.

Public library - These kind of libraries provide popular best sellers, repair manuals and self-improvement books, it hardly holds any academic material.

Special library - This sort of libraries essentially serves for unique purpose, may hold both academic and non-academic books or not, for instance government libraries, business institutions, cooperate sector etc.

Each library has a unique identifier to simplify the search of books inside the library, for instance in the APIIT library the search code for a programming book for C++ is, 005.133. C++ 118/8.

In this code,

§  005.133 represent the location (005) and the subject (133),

§  C++ is the extension of subject in the alphabetical order,

§  118/8 is the item/shelf number (118) and the edition of the book (8).

Search Techniques

A search engine is a software program that searches for sites based on the words that user designate as search terms (Boswell, 2014). In search engines, use of proper syntax always provide a good result. Google, Yahoo!, Baidu and Bing are few examples for search engines.

According to Colombia (2014) following are some search strategies,

§  Keywords - This is useful when search synonyms that are related to the keyword. For example: Searching for “couch” and we can also use “sofa” as keyword.

§  Using of Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT.

·         AND Operator - This will narrow the search and combine different ideas. (E.g., Principles and Betting, this results the principles related to betting)

·         OR Operator - This use for combine words with similar idea. (E.g., Couch or sofa)

·         NOT Operator - This will exclude the unwanted words. (E.g., Food NOT Vegetarian, this results non-vegetarian food)

§  Phrase searching - This will search the exact expression adding different word endings or plurals. In this method the word should be within quotes. (E.g., “Globalization”)

§  Nesting - This method keeps similar concepts together, and tells a search engine to search those terms placed in parentheses first. For example, using (Iraq OR Kuwait) AND oil will search Iraq or Kuwait first. (Penn State University Libraries, 2014)

§  Truncation and Wildcards- These methods can expand the search scope with uses different symbols such as an asterisk (*), question mark (?), or pound sign (#). For example protect* OR conserve* OR regulat* would retrieve multiple spellings of these synonyms. (Gemini, 2013)

References

Audio English.net, 2014. Library. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.audioenglish.net/dictionary/library.htm [Accessed 06 January 2014]

Boswell. W. 2014. How Does a Search Engine Work? - Learn About Search Engines and How They Work. [ONLINE] Available at: http://websearch.about.com/od/enginesanddirectories/a/searchengine.htm. [Accessed 06 January 2014]

Colombia. 2014. Keyword Search. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/help/clio/keyword.print.html. [Accessed 06 January 2014]

Gemini. 2013. Search strategies. [ONLINE] Available at: http://gemini.lib.purdue.edu/core/files/strategies1c.html. [Accessed 06 January 2014]

Library laws 1996. The Definition of a Library. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.librarylaws.com/ [Accessed 06 January 2014]

Online Library Learning Center, 2014. What is a Library? [Online] Available at: http://www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit03/libraries03_02.phtml [Accessed 06 January 2014]

Oxford dictionaries. 2014. Definition of library. [ONLINE] Available at: http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/library. [Accessed 06 January 2014]

Penn State University Libraries. 2014. Search - AND-OR-NOT, Limit, Nesting, Phrase, Punctuation, Substitution, and Truncation. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/cathelps/adv_search_opt.html. [Accessed 06 January 2014]

Career Development: Curriculum Vitae (CV) and Cover Letter

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

The opportunity for an interview for a job will get after handing over the CV and the Cover letter, therefore it should be written perfectly. University of Illinois (2014) says that CV and resume varies from one another concerning to the audience that it’s written. CV principally present to an academic audience, generally it holds academic details, achievements and academic accomplishments. According to Morgan McKinley (2014) CV is a personal sales document written in point form which is a best tool to get to an interview.

Resume

According to Doyle (2014) resume is a one or two page summary of skills, experience and education which is written as paragraphed format. This present to an organizations which hire employees, which basically aims to a non-academic audience. (University of Illinois, 2014)

Difference between CV and the Resume

University of Illinois (2014) stated the different between CV and Resume as follows;

	CV	Resume
Audience	Fellow academics in your field of study	A general audience of employers who hire for a wide variety of positions
Goal	To present your full academic history — including teaching, research, awards, and service	To demonstrate that you have the skills and experience necessary to succeed within the position you are seeking
Length	As long as necessary	One or two pages only
Focus	Demonstrating your academic achievements and scholarly potential	Representing your experiences — job-related, extracurricular and volunteer, as well as the skills you've gained from these
Essential Information	Lists of publications, presentations, teaching experiences, education, honors, and grants	Skills and experiences you have gained as related to the job you are seeking
References	Include	Do not include

 Table 1: Difference between CV and Resume

 Source:  University of Illinois (2014)

General Set up features in a CV

According to Barbara (2007) CV needs to be clear, concise, complete, consistent and current therefore a general setup features to be followed in order to look the CV more professional. Those general set up features are as follows;

•  Font: Times New Roman Regular paper is white    
•  Font size: 12 point
• No underlining instead of that use bolding and CAPs to stand out things
• Single sided
• 1” margin in all around
• Number the pages
• Use correct grammar and correct spellings
• No graphics and tables
• Full name on every page

The format of a CV

According to Barbara (2007) following should include in the body of the Curriculum Vitae.

• Contact Information

1.      Full Name
2.      Postal address which is permanent
3.      E-mail Address
4.      Phone number(s)

• Sections of a CV

·         Mandatory

§  Education

§  Honors & Awards

§  Professional Experience

§  Publications/ Presentations

§  Extra-curricular & Volunteer Experience

§  Interests

·         Optional

§  Objective

§  Certifications and License

§  Professional Affiliations

§  Professional Activities

§  Research

§  Added Qualifications

Cover Letter

According to The Writing Center (2012) cover letter is a letter sent together with the CV. In the body of the letter should introduces you, explains the reason for writing, highlights a couple of your experiences or abilities and appeals an opportunity to meet directly with the potential employer.

Structure of a cover letter

Loughborough University (2014) says that the structure of a cover letter should be as follows;

First paragraph – In this paragraph the applicant should mention for what you’re applying, or where your saw the vacancy that interests you and give any reference number that may have been given in the vacancy advertisement. Then give details about what course you are studying or have finished.

Second paragraph – This paragraph should state, why you are interested by the position and offer supporting evidence to prove your statement. It can additionally refer to significant experience you may have had.

Third paragraph – This paragraph develops your suitability for the position, again with proof and examples. It can expand on abilities you have and refer again to information given in the CV.

Fourth paragraph – As the last passage this should conclude the letter and should finish with a kind comment, for example, ‘I look forward to hearing from you'.

At the end of the Career Development lecture I understood how to compose a good CV and a cover letter and the differences between the CV and Resume. Furthermore it helped me learn the importance of a CV and a cover letter. 

References

 Barbara, K, 2007. Writing the Curriculum Vitae. [Online]. 18. Available at: http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/asis/agep/advcv.pdf [Accessed 04 January 2014]

Doyle. A. 2014. The Difference between a Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a Resume. [ONLINE] Available at: http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/curriculumvitae/f/cvresume.htm. [Accessed 4 January 2014]

Loughborough University 2014. Cover Letters. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/careers/advice/applying/cover-letter.html. [Accessed 04 January 14]

Morgan McKinley. 2014. Why it's important to have a good CV…and how do I get one? [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.morganmckinley.ie/article/why-its-important-have-good-cv%E2%80%A6and-how-do-i-get-one. [Accessed 4 January 2014]

The Writing Center. 2012. How to Write a Cover Letter: [ONLINE] Available at: http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/CovLetter_what.html. [Accessed 04 January 2014]

University of Illinois 2014. CV or Resume? [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.grad.illinois.edu/careerservices/cvorresume. [Accessed 04 January 14]

Software Development Methodologies

Software Development Methodologies is a structure which uses as a part of software development in order to structure, arrange and control the procedure of data among the basically used strategies which utilizes normally for software development is given below (IT Knoledge portal, 2014).

Agile methodology

This is a theoretical framework which clients for software development and there are number of sub classes. The vital objective of the agile methodology is to minimize the danger of the software development and it users time boxes which are known as Iterations. Agile methods give an exceptional stage for communication purposes around business examiners, project managers and clients. Because of the preference in face to face communication it is recognized that agile method is considerably more efficient and it just gives a little measure of documentation comparing with different methods (IT Knoledge portal, 2014).

Some of the agile methodologies are stated bellow.

Scrum Methodology.

This is methodology falls under agile framework which uses for directing and managing Interactive and incremental projects. This method has been able common around software developers considering its easiness, productivity ability to act as an intermediary among other agile methodologies (Version One, 2014).

Learn Development Methodology.

Version One (2014) stated that this method is initially progressed by Marry and Tom Poppendeick which is a communicating method used uniquely for enterprise operations and now it functions as a practice of Toyota.  According to IT Knoledge portal (2014) this method is greatly concentrates on formation of change tolerant software and uses considerably more relative notations as applied within the Scrum Methodology.

  

Extreme Programming (XP)

This is another popular methods around the agile methodology. XP is an expert methodology to delivering excellent software quickly and continually. XP developers work closely with the clients to give an improved uniquely designed software which fulfils the client’s need. The development group covers planning, assessing and testing of the software and normally Extreme Programming gives a light weight steady structure to guarantee a great output (Version One, 2014).

Crystal methodology

Version One (2014) stated that this is a method which uses for slight software development purposes and it has exceptional components which has among the agile software development methodologies, for instance, team size, system criticality and project priorities. It requires the Crystal methodology needs a customized set of strategies, practices and processors with a specific objective to meet the characteristics of the project.

Waterfall Methodology

The waterfall model is a traditional method which is a sequential outline process used for software development. In this model the progress can be seen as flowing steadily downwards like a waterfall through the stages of Requirement gathering and analysis, System Design, Implementation, Testing and Maintenance. A unique characteristic of using this method is that it has separate goals for each stages and each stage should be completed in order to start the next stage. The advantage of this method is it is easy to plan and the disadvantage is the error gap is too high because in this method turn backs are not allowed (Buzzle, 2014).

Soucrce: ISTQB (2014)

                             

V- Model

V- Model implies Verification and Validation model. This is much same as the waterfall model, the V-Shaped life cycle is a sequential way of implementation of procedures. Every stage must be finished before the following stage starts.  Testing of the product is planned in parallel with a relating stage of development (ISTQB, 2014).

              

Source: ISTQB (2014)

At the end of the Software Development Methodologies lecture I understood the differences between various software development life Cycles. It helps me to gain more knowledge about how to select a proper cycle according to the project requirement.

References.

Buzzle. 2014. The Waterfall Model Explained. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/1-5-2005-63768.asp. [Accessed 4 January 2014]

ISTQB. 2014. What is V-model- advantages, disadvantages and when to use it? [ONLINE] Available at: http://istqbexamcertification.com/what-is-v-model-advantages-disadvantages-and-when-to-use-it/. [Accessed 4 January 2014]

IT Knoledge portal. 2014 Software Development Methodologies, [Online], Available: http://www.itinfo.am/eng/software-development-methodologies/. [Accessed 4 January 2014]

Version One. 2014 Agile Methodologies for Software Development, [Online], Available: http://www.versionone.com/Agile101/Agile-Development-Methodologies-Scrum-Kanban-Lean-XP/. [Accessed 4 January 2014]

Project Management

As outlined by PMI (2014) a project is Unique Operation, yet a particular set of operations intended to achieve a single objective and it has a defined starting and end in time. According to Management help (2014), project can be defined as a time effort that produces a specific result.

Tutorials point (2014) stated that Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. Project Management is significant because it will guarantee that triumph of the project and it serves to optimise resources. According to MPUG (2014) Project management can be defines as the method of joining components of a project while it could be ether in designing a new product, service or a marketing campaign.

Project management processes fall into five categories according to PMI (2014);

1.     Iteration
2.     Planning
3.     Execution
4.     Monitor and Control
5.     Project Close/Completing the Project

Iteration

In this stage project manager defines a list of project aims, scope (technical, operational, financial and socially) and the outcome of a specific set of activities. It is a vital aspect to explain the targets and the goals of the project to be archived throughout the project in order to produce a successful project. An alternate essential goal of this stage is to declare the roles around members to the project and the responsibilities appointed to them (Project Office, 2008).

Planning

This is the stage where the layout of the project has been developed which consist of all activities or tasks, how the tasks are related, how long each task will take, and how each task is tied to a specific deadline. The method of planning the work load will make sure all resources needed are available when it requires (PMI, 2014).

In the stage of Planning, Project management knowledge draws on nine areas as per PMI (2014). Those are nine areas are Integration Management, Scope Management, Time Management, Cost Management, Quality Management, Risk Management, Procurement Management, HR Management and Communication Management.

Execution

This is the stage where tasks organized in the Work Breakdown Structure becomes active and throughout this time the resources assigned to the project gets occupied with the heavy utilization of them. In this stage of a project the skills which is created by a project manager is greatly helpful for the accomplishment of the project which are communication skills, coordination skill and managerial skills. The project manager should measure the execution in every phase of execution of project (Project Office, 2008).

Monitor and Control

The primary goal of the monitoring and control stage is to observe and correct the problems with the implementation and design. Once the project is determined to be effective, controls are established to guarantee proceeded achievement (Tutorials point, 2014).

Project Close/Completing the Project

This is the final stage of the project which is involved getting the outcome accepted by the client. In this stage an assessment is needed to highlight project success and learn from project history (Projectinsigh, 2014).

Importance of the Project Management

Golden Triangle of the project management (Haughey, 2011) is used to explain the importance of the Project Management. The essential idea is to deal with each of the three acknowledges (Cost, Scope and Time) are because if one perspective is moved the other perspectives will immediately change. For example if client ask for additional functions at the mid of a project, then the time and cost will also increase.

                

                    Source: Project smart

In the end of project management lecture I understood the importance of the project management and also the processes involve in project management and how that knowledge can apply to my Final Year Project.             

References

Haughey D. 2011. Understanding the Project Management Triple Constraint. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/understanding-the-project-management-triple-constraint.html. [Accessed 3 January 2014]

Management help. 2014. All about Project Management. [ONLINE] Available at:http://managementhelp.org/projectmanagement/index.html. [Accessed 3 January 2014]

MPUG. 2014. What is Project Management? [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.mpug.com/Pages/WhatisProjectManagement.aspx#.UP4hbieTw_N. [Accessed 3 January 2014]

PMI. 2014. What is Project Managementstitute? [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.pmi.org/About-Us/About-Us-What-is-Project-Management.aspx. [Accessed 3 January 2014]

Project Office (2008). The five critical stagers of effective project management, [Online], Available: http://www.projectoffice.co.za/en/project-management/49-project-stages [Accessed 3 January 2014]

Projectinsigh. 2014. 5 Basic Phases of Project Management. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.projectinsight.net/project-management-basics/basic-project-management-phases.aspx. [Accessed 3 January 2014]

Tutorials point. 2014. Project Management Processes. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.tutorialspoint.com/management_concepts/project_management_processes.htm. [Accessed 3 January 2014]

Fact finding Techniques

Fact finding technique is a criteria carried out during systems investigation, Problem Identification and during the feasibility study of the Systems Development Life cycle. In the Fact finding various types of data such as organizational structure, revenues, current process details and several types of costs are collected.

Source: The sisterhood online

                        

Systems Development Life cycle is a model used in project management which is used in Information Systems Development that describes the stages involved in the systems development projects from its start to the end (The teacher info ltd, 2011).

Systems analysts use fact finding techniques to ease off their research and analysis tasks. Few of those techniques are Questionnaires, Interviews, Observation and Sampling.

Questionnaires: This is a most common method of fact finding. A questionnaire is a document that is containing a number of standard questions that can be sending to many individuals. There are two types of questions open ended and close ended (University of Babylon, 2014).

According to Open versus Closed Ended Questions (2014) open ended questions are the questions that will ask additional information from the other party. These types of questions are broad and require more than one or two word to response. For example; “how can I help you?”, Closed ended questions are types of questions that respondents have to make a choice among a set of alternatives which can be answered restricted by either “yes” or “no”. These questions can be answered in a few words. For example; “can I help you?”.

Interviews: According to University College cork (2014) Interview is the most useful, fact-finding technique. It enables collection of information from individuals’ face-to-face which could squeeze a lot of information which people have in their minds. Interviews will provide evidence of real time situations and how accurately a process takes place.

Freetutes (2014) stated that there are two types of interviews,

•  Structured interviews - all interviewees are asked the same standard set of questions in a particular order.
•  Unstructured interviews - this structure used Question-and-answer format. 

This is of a much flexible than the structured interview and used to gather general information.

According to Quadri (2014) following advantages and disadvantages of the interviews can be listed.

·         Advantages

•    Can motivate the interviewee to answer freely without any limitations.
•    More feedback can be probed.
•  Extra information can be gathered from body language and facial expressions.

·         Disadvantages

•    Time consuming.
•    Requires good human relations skills.
•    Requires good interviewing skills.

Observation: This technique is done through observing a person’s perform activities to learn about the business process. The information gathered through a good observation can make a good analysis which will help to understand the realities of the situations (The Homework Help, 2012).

According to Quadri (2014) the advantages of observation are,

•     Data gathered can be very reliable.
•        Can see exactly what is being done in complex tasks.
•     Relatively inexpensive

The disadvantages of observation are,

• People may perform differently when being observed.
• People may let you see what you want to see. 

Sampling: The process of gathering a representative sample of documents, forms, and records (Example: Invoice Structure, Report Structures, Memos) can be called as sampling (Kumar, 2014).

Source: ASPA National Weblog

  

The Fact Finding Techniques were really useful for me to find necessary facts that are related to Project Proposal. Since I’m working on a Customer Relationship Management for a Hotel, Questionnaires, Interviews and Observation techniques are useful for find facts that are related to my project.

References.

Freetutes. 2014. Interviews - Fact Finding Techniques. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.freetutes.com/systemanalysis/sa4-interviews.html. [Accessed 1 January 2014]

Kumar R. 2014. Fact Finding Techniques. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/38016848/Fact-Finding-Techniques. [Accessed 1 January 2014]

Open versus Closed Ended Questions. 2014. Open versus Closed Ended Questions. [ONLINE] Available at: http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/jrichardson/dis220/openclosed.htm. [Accessed 1 January 2014]

Quadri A.A.M. 2014. Fact Finding Techniques. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/6902721/Fact-Finding-Techniques. [Accessed 1 January 2014]

The Homework Help (2012) Fact Finding Techniques, [Online], Available: http://www.thehomeworkhelp.co.uk/Engineering-Homework-Help/Software-Engineering/Fact-Finding-Techniques.html [Accessed 1 January 2014]

The teacher info ltd (2011) Systems Development Life Cycle, [Online], Available: http://www.theteacher.info/websites/allboards/index.htm [Accessed 1 January 2014]

University college cork. 2014. Fact Finding Technique. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cs.ucc.ie/~abf/CS507-8/L22.pdf. [Accessed 1 January 2014]

University of Babylon. 2014. Fact Finding Methods. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.uobabylon.edu.iq/uobColeges/ad_downloads/5_29801_43.pdf. [Accessed 1 January 2014]