The OPAC Experience

The Topic that I have chosen to do is on Prostitution.  As in my earlier posts I decided it would be a good group to learn more about.  When I started looking for a book on this topic I decided I would look for something with more general information at first to get a better idea on what I might narrow my focus in on.  As of yet I haven't decided.  The actual search experience went really well, I didn't have much trouble finding what I was looking for at all.  What I did was just went to advanced search and typed in two keywords, "prostitution" and "United States."  It came up with numerous titles that were helpful to me.  I settled on two books that looked likely to meet my needs.  "The Response to Prostitution in the Progressive Era" by Mark Connely and "The Economics of Prostitution" by Helen Reynolds.  I enjoyed looking through the basement shelves as the ability to store so many books with the motorized shelves is awesome.  I felt pretty fortunate finding the books I needed my first try, as some of my other times searching for sources hadn't fared so well.

When I tried to find e-books focusing on prostitution I wasn't really able to find one that was broad enough to suit my needs.  It was more focused to sex-trafficking rather than just prostitution.  Personally I don't enjoy e-books as much as having a paper copy before me.  So if given the option, I would stick to a paper copy.  I think it is easier on my eyes to read a paper copy rather than an electronic one, plus I love the feel of the pages and the smell of old books as well, and odd quirk I share with many people I think. 

As for some sort of Electronic device to be able to read an e-book, I have an iPhone that has the capability to download e-books from iTunes and I hear there is a Kindle app out for the iPhone as well, so I do have the access if I used my phone.  But as I stated before, I rather enjoy the paper copy far more than the electronic one, sure it is nice to not have to lug around heavier hard bound books, but its harder to read from that tiny screen as well. 

The Great River Regional Library OPAC system I found was harder to find academic sources rather than fictional works.  I had to look a lot harder to find what I was looking for, as "Prostitution" and "United States" for keywords didn't help me.  Also, the website given on our sheet, (www.grrl.org) leads to a roller derby blog site which was odd, so I had to Google the actual website, which was (www.griver.org).  I wandered about their website for a little while trying to figure out where to look for academic sources before pretty much giving up.  I'd have to go there physically and ask someone to help me out.  Not convenient at all like good ole SCSU Library!