Guide to local issues research
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Local issues information literacy
Information literacy is the ability to find and use quality information.
Finding quality information on local information is a task that can confront everyone: students doing research papers; policy paper researchers for government and industry; journalists and writers; government officials and candidates; and ordinary citizens on behalf of organizations or for themselves.
Local issues information can be found using local and national resources. These resources include, most obviously, the Internet, as well as proprietary databases available in libraries.
Proprietary database versus free websites
Library subscription databases: In general, subscription databases should be the first, or one of the first, resources used for research for a number of reasons. The content, organization and design of databases meets high quality control standards; the amount of information in databases has large depth, breadth, comprehensiveness, both in terms of general, multidisciplinary coverage and specialized subject focus; navigation, search, and retrieval are optimized for ease and effectiveness with sophisticated features and controlled vocabularies.
Various databases are available along with Internet sites. For a comprehensive listing of databases available at libraries in Colorado, go to the Online Journals 24/7 site at oj24x7.quipugroup.com Internet websites: While proprietary databases may provide information not found freely in websites, the reverse is true also, in that websites may contain certain types of information not found in the proprietary databases, especially narrowly-focused topics and local information. In addition, not all researchers will have access to all the databases available. The Web’s free content, unlike subscription databases, is very uneven in quality and reliability and has to be used cautiously, keeping in mind the purposes, biases and credentials of the site creators and authors.
Online resources for Colorado local issues
Local issues are often a microcosm of national and global issues. Local issues are often a parallel counterpart of national issues, but can also be uniquely different. Identifying and familiarizing oneself with national issues can aid in the identification and understanding of the same types of issues on a state and local level as well as in the discovery of unique, individualistic problems that can set a local community apart from the larger national picture.
National resources and topic ideas useful for local issues
National and international media sometimes will have a story that focuses on a local community in the United States, but that is a “few and far between” exception for an issue that stands out in remarkable fashion. More frequently, though, a national story may include mention of a local community as an illustrative example of broad problems and issues. Most often, the mention of a state or city in a broader national context is usually non-existent, and a researcher trying to mine information from national sources will be sorely disappointed and discouraged. But it is good to know there is an abundance of local resources for social and political issues; it is just a matter of knowing where to find them and which ones are the most useful, a task that Colorado Issues Digest has taken on to fulfill.
Yet national resources can still be reasonably useful if one knows how to tap into them and locate the nuggets of information they hold regarding local communities. With the Internet and online search methods, this task is made much easier than the earlier days of exclusively print resources. Of course, using national resources for local information are usually just a starting point or incidental tool, yet still valuable nevertheless and should not be overlooked.
Topic selection and background information >>>
Issue topic resources >>>
Types of issue information >>>
