LibGuides: Local Interest Collection: Researching in the Collection

Online Search Tips

Using the library's catalogue, you can narrow your search to only items in the Local Interest Collection, rather than searching through all the books and media that the library owns! See the first slideshow to the right for more information.
If you can't find relevant resources with your keywords (the words you type into the search bar), this does not mean that no resources exist.
- If you used multiple keywords, try using only one of them at a time instead.
- If you used one keyword, think about synonyms for that word you could try. An author may not have used the same term you did, so the book will not appear in the search results!
Items in the catalogue are often tagged with subject headings. These are special keywords that come from a pre-made list, ensuring that all the books about a certain subject have the same subject headings attached. This makes the items easier to find. See the second slideshow to the right for more information.
Searching in the catalogue will not return individual article titles that are in the newspapers and magazines in this collection, because only the main titles of these materials have been entered into the catalogue. You may need to browse through the issues of the magazines and newspapers to find the information you need.

In Person Search Tips

If you find an item that is very useful to you, check out materials near it on the shelf. They will have a similar call number, which means they will have a similar topic. Check in the circulating collection upstairs in the same call number range for a book you can take home.
Use indexes in books to quickly see if the book covers your research topic. Some books might provide reference lists that you can use for further reading.
Have a question? Ask a librarian at the Research Help Desk, which is located in front of the Local Interest Collection room.

More British Columbian Resources

Check out the below databases (collections of resources) for more historical information about the Okanagan region.

Arca This link opens in a new window ARCA is a collection of resources from different BC post-secondary institutions. Click "browse all collections" to find the "Digitized Okanagan History" collection.
British Columbians now have anytime, anywhere public access to research created at BC post-secondary institutions via Arca, a province-wide network of digital repositories. Arca is the outcome of a partnership between the British Columbia Electronic Library Network (BC ELN) and Charlottetown, PEI-based software firm discoverygarden, supported by a grant from the Ministry of Advanced Education. The name Arca, Latin for "treasure chest," and the project tagline "Discover BC's Digital Treasures" invites the public to discover digital gems at BC's post-secondary institutions.
BC Multicultural Photograph Collection This link opens in a new window
Canada Year Book This link opens in a new window
Canadian Encyclopedia (E-Book) This link opens in a new window
The Canadian Encyclopedia contains more than 35,000 articles in English and French and more than 30,000 multimedia items including images, maps, games, audio and video. The new interactive features include curated content exhibits, interactive timelines, immediate updates of important events and a user-generated content map that invites Canadians to share their stories.
Digitized Okanagan History (D.O.H.) This link opens in a new window Access local historical materials including photographs, textual documents and publications from participating Okanagan memory institutions.
Features copies of unique historical documents from participating memory institutions located throughout British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. Created as part of the collaborative Okanagan Region History Digitization Project, D.O.H. includes digitized copies of photographs, documents and published materials and provides a centralized discovery portal to support research and generally enhance access to local resources.
Okanagan Historical Society Reports Online This link opens in a new window
University of Calgary Digital Collection This link opens in a new window
Provides universal access to unique materials concerning the cultural and social heritage of our nation. Written by Canadians, for Canadians, these local histories represent this nations history from the perspective of those who helped shape it. Available in both French and English. The Educational Resources section includes learning packages for students and teachers. These educational modules provide Canadian youth with engaging ways to make history personally exciting and relevant by bringing local histories into the curriculum.

For more historical research, check out the list of other databases related to history. Databases with the Open Access symbol are free for everyone to use. Other databases are limited to students, faculty, and staff of Okanagan College.