Mann’s library research guidebook sets a well-needed foundation for me in regards to becoming a professional scholar, researcher, and instructor. As I read these chapters, I find myself repeatedly grateful to him for the tips and stones he over-turns.
Thomas Mann, in chapter five of The Oxford Guide to Library Research (2005), suggests that an important distinction exists between amateur and professional researchers: when one has reached the point of truly digesting the material in his book and looks beyond the easy convenience of online resources without having to be prodded by a librarian, then they will have ascended into the realm of professionalism (108). Mann supports his idea not by deriding researchers who haven’t yet ventured beyond the “easy” net, but instead offers a micro-education into keyword and controlled vocabulary searching for the reason that he realizes these same researchers simply have not yet been introduced to these advanced techniques. Mann’s intent with this chapter is to support “new” researchers and scholars in their endeavor to move past simple and amateurish Internet keyword searching and into professional in-depth scholarly research. Mann certainly establishes a rapport with his audience of graduate students who need his tutelage and who are interested in becoming professional scholars and instructors.
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