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Home >> MLIS >> 281 >> Dead Fish on Rickenbacker Lake >> Sect. II. Storyboard. Module 1: Identifying and Locating Resources

Dead Fish on Rickenbacker Lake

II. The Tutorial Storyboard:
Module 1: Identifying and Locating Resources

1. Introduction

It's a beautiful summer Saturday afternoon. Mike and Julie left their summer school homework behind to take a hike to their favorite destination, Rickenbacker Lake in Baskerville County Park. They are eager to jump in for a quick swim, but they discover…

graphics: lake

sound: none

2. Dead Fish Discovery

DEAD FISH

floating in the lake not far from their swimming spot!

Thirteen dead fish, to be exact - all belly up and slightly bloated. The fish look like they might be trout, but they're too far out in the water to be sure.

Julie and Mike decide they don't feel like swimming anymore, but they want to know what happened. When they look around, they can't see anything obvious - no barrels of toxic waste, no tire tracks, and the water looks normal. The brush is too thick to go around the lake very far and they are near the park boundary anyway.

graphics: dead fish

sound: mystery music

3. The Authorities Need More Evidence

What should they do? Julie and Mike decide to tell a park ranger. Unfortunately, Ranger MacDonald isn't very concerned - he's seen a dead fish or two floating down on the lake from time to time, but the weather's been hot, so it probably isn't anything unusual. Since it's nearly closing time, he takes Julie's phone number and tells them he'll investigate in the morning.

When Ranger MacDonald calls back the next day, he reports he's seen nothing very suspicious - only a couple of dead fish dead. Julie and Mike hike back to the lake late that afternoon and discover the ranger was telling the truth.

They know what they saw. Now they need to find out why the fish were dead in the first place - even if they now have a second mystery - and they're not ready to give up so easily.  They try to come up with any possible causes they haven't already covered.

4. Possible Causes - Your Hypotheses

  What do you think could have killed the fish? (Choose as many as you think likely)

5. Possible Causes - Julie and Mike's Hypotheses

  [dynamic page - depends on answers ]

You chose: [possible causes]

Julie and Mike's top suspects list:

One way or another, it seems like a bigger environmental problem than just the fish. They need to learn more about both dead fish and Rickenbacker Lake. Where should they start? The Web? The local library? Their school library? Julie remembers a teacher mentioned another library nearby, the Acterra Environmental Library.

6. Pre-quiz: Where to Start

Where should Julie and Mike start to look?

7. Pre-quiz: Results

[dynamic page - depends on quiz answers]

You suggest: [answer]

Julie and Mike decide to try the Web from Julie's computer first because it seems easiest, but…when they use Google, they type in DEAD FISH, they get over a million results and many of those looked completely unhelpful! They try searching RICKENBACKER LAKE and get only a few thousand results - none of which look very useful, either.

They need to get some help. Since they have an environmental problem, they get on their bikes and headed to…

8. The Acterra Library

…the Acterra Environmental Library!

But where should they start?

[all linked to subpages -- see below]

Pamphlets and Newspaper Articles (Clippings files)

Wildlife and Endangered Species Collection

They can use the materials in the library or check them out if they want an Acterra Library card. [link to borrowing information]

  [subpages  for each category:

a. Books

The Library has over 4,000 books on a wide range of environmental issues, including sustainability, energy issues, wildlife identification, and water conservation.
b. Periodicals

The Library has over 400 magazines and newsletters, from Audubon to World Watch Magazine.

c. Environmental Impact Reports

A collection of reports from cities and counties produced as part of their development processes.

d. Pamphlets and Newspaper Articles (Clippings files)

Covers a wide range of local environmental topics such as Coyote Valley development, San Francisco Airport expansion, habitat restoration, Stanford land use, and more.

e. Wildlife and Endangered Species Collection

Includes pictures, articles, endangered species lists, and background information about a wide variety of plants and animals.

f. Videos

The Library has over 300 videos, such as the popular Affluenza and Escape from Affluenza. We also feature the locally produced environmental issues TV show Common Ground.

g. Backpacking and Trails Collection

Covers information on backpacking, bicycling, boating, camping, hiking, horseback riding, mountaineering, skiing, and more, including many trail guides and maps.

h. Environmental Volunteers Collection

Emphasizes sharing nature with children and includes classroom activity guides and children's books. The collection supports the Environmental Volunteers [link]
i. Job Binders

Job and internship announcements for the Bay Area and has subscriptions to many environmental jobs newsletters.

9. What Kind of Information?

Julie and Mike need certain types of information. When you research a problem or assignment, you may need a different type. Think carefully about the following:

  [subpages  for each]

  [Subpages ]

a. What is the problem or assignment?

For Julie and Mike, they need to know why fish are dying in Rickenbacker Lake and will probably write up a report. You might be making a five-minute presentation, writing a short paper, a term project, or even an honors thesis.

b. How much information do you need?

Sometimes summaries, overviews or article abstracts may give you enough information. Other times, you may need more detailed and comprehensive information.

c. Do you need only the most up-to-date information?

Depending on your project, only the most current information will do or you may need historical information. If you are writing about scientific developments, currency is usually more critical than in the humanities - the newest Shakespeare criticism doesn't make older criticism obsolete in the same way new technology often makes earlier technology irrelevant.

d. Do you need information from a particular type of publication?

You may need to look at scholarly or professional journals and books for some projects, but others may require information from government publications, trade journals, or the popular press - magazines and newspapers, general interest books, and sometimes even tabloids!

Examples of the three main types of journals

Scholarly

Trade

Popular

International Journal of Comic Art

Art Market Guide

Popular Photography

Journal of African American History

Publisher's Weekly

Scientific American

Political Science Quarterly

Advertising Age

National Geographic

Annual review of plant biology

Waterworks

Sky & Telescope

Research Journal of Water Pollution

Automotive Engineering International

Low Rider

e. Do you need primary sources?

You can use secondary sources - articles and books - for most projects, but sometimes only primary sources such as interviews, diaries, and raw data will do.

Primary sources are the raw materials, while secondary sources offer analysis or commentary.

Examples of primary and secondary sources

Field

Primary source

Secondary source

Art

Van Gogh's painting, "Starry night"

Article critiquing "Starry night"

History

Pioneer women's diaries

Book about the Oregon Trail

Literature

"The road not taken" by Robert Frost

Article on Robert Frost's poetry

Political Science

Lincoln's Emancipation Declaration

Book on the Civil War

Theater

Unedited video of a live performance

Review of a performance

Biology

Old growth redwood survey data

Report about old growth redwood health

f. Do you need information in a particular format?

Print may not be the only source of information you need. You might need information from the electronic sources, graphic/visual sources, numeric sources or audio sources. 

Examples of the other types of sources

Electronic

Graphic/Visual

Numeric

Audio

BIOSIS [database of biological articles]

Topographic map of Rickenbacker Lake

Stream flow data from the Dept. of Fish & Game

Recorded interview with local prominent figure

Calif. Dept. of Fish & Game website

Art print of Monet's painting, "Water Lilies"

U.S. Census data

Performance of Phantom of the Opera (CD)

EnviroWater listserv

Photo of Rickenbacker Lake

Dams in California [data set]

World's Best Poetry on CD
g. Is point of view an issue?

Do you need more than one perspective on an issue? Some projects may only need a single point of view, but many (including debates and argumentative essays) may require opposing or a range of viewpoints.

10. Mini-quiz # 1: Best Info Sources for Julie and Mike

Where should Julie and Mike begin? (You can go back if you need to review their choices)

Pamphlets and Newspaper Articles (Clippings files)

Wildlife and Endangered Species Collection

11. Mini-quiz # 1: Results

  [dynamic page - depends on quiz answers]

Your choices: [answers]

Julie and Mike decide they will start with:

They also consider the Wildlife and Endangered Species Collection and Backpacking and Trails Collection (for topographic maps of Baskerville County Park area) as other potentially useful resources.

12. The Resource Search

After looking through many sources, they find some promising material, including several newspaper articles about local water quality, a journal article discussing toxic waste problems in the San Francisco Bay Area, and a few books about watersheds and wildlife.

They have defined the problem better and know more specific questions to ask, but they haven't yet solved the mystery.

13. Other Sources of Information

Where else should they look?

[links]

  [popup pages]
a. Internet

The Internet is actually more than just the Web, although many people may think they are the same thing. As you saw in Do you need information in a particular format? [link], the Internet includes databases and listservs as well as websites. You can find more and more information every day on the Internet, but how much is useful? Like Julie and Mike, you've probably discovered that almost every search with a search engine gives you more results than you could possibly use - and many are clearly irrelevant.

Some things to keep in mind when you use the Internet - particularly the Web:

b. Other Libraries

For local environmental information, your public or school/college library may have some additional resources, but likely scattered and not as recent. They will, however, be helpful in providing you access to databases, including electronic journals. These resources tend to be very expensive to view otherwise.
c. Databases

In most cases, databases are organizedcollections of information. Examples include your library's online catalog (databases of information about items it holds), electronic periodical indexes such as Periodicals Contents Index, and full-text databases such as InfoTrac, PubMed, etc. Some are available for free, but most cost to use.

For environmental research, a sample of potentially useful resources includes:

d.  Informal Sources

Informal sources can include notes, abstracts, letters, journals, logs, records, files, lists, and conversations - almost any verbal communication that is unpublished.

For example, Julie and Mike could talk to others nearby residents, rangers/park staff and biologists about fish kills or other suspicious activity.

e. Primary Research

Primary research involves gathering data yourself rather than relying on someone else's published research.

For Julie and Mike, this might involve stream (water-quality) sampling. Since the problem could start outside the Baskerville County Park boundary, they might need to get permission to enter the other properties along the stream to verify water problems.

14. Mini-quiz # 2: Best sources for Julie and Mike beyond Acterra Library

Where should Julie and Mike look?

(review What Kind of Information? [link] if you need a refresher)

15. Mini-quiz # 2: Results

[dynamic - depends on answers]

Your choices: [answers]

Julie and Mike decide all are potentially useful, but decide to turn to the Web again - this time with some better search strategies, and then try the other resources if necessary.

16. What to Do With the Information?

They also find several more newspaper articles about water quality problems in local creeks, information on testing water quality and fish diseases from various websites, books on watershed health, topographical maps showing the park and surrounding area, notes they took from conversations with the park rangers, hydrologic data from the USGS and more. Is the information they found useful and reliable? They need to some good methods for evaluating their information.

fishright

Previous Section:
Introduction
This Section:
Module 1: Identifying and
Locating Resources
 fishright

Next Section:
Module 2: Evaluating Resources