Katrina T. O'Brien 14460 NW Pioneer Park Way, Beaverton, OR 97006 971.226.1681 ktob@MyResearchNeeds.com

Research

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Maybe you don't have the time to sift through library stacks or dredge through the internet. Maybe you don't know where to find the information you need. A researcher can supply backup for all your eclectic projects

Writers

Save time and energy and let me help you find the information you need. Let my wide knowledge of resources help you find things quickly and easily. Whether looking for a long term project research assistant to help you throughout the writing process or looking for a quick fact finder, I can help. If you’re trying to hit a deadline but don’t have the time to do it alone, I can help not only find the information but organize it to suit your specific needs. Check out information on my indexing, image finding, and reprint permission services as well.

Possible Useful Services for Writers:

Subject & Specialized Research, Image Search, Bibliographic Checking & Expansion, Fact Checking, Reprint Permission, Information Organization and Analysis, Reports, Databases, Interviewing, & Indexes

Publishers & Editors

Does a manuscript or articles need fact checking or a bibliographic check? Do you need reference summaries or resource lists for a book, e-zine, or reference material? Could a manuscript draft and its author(s) use a research assistant to help bring the book to the next level? I can fill in the holes by giving supportive information in order to strengthen the content. Once the final text manuscript has been completed, I am also available for reprint permission protocol, bibliographic checking, and indexing. 

Possible Useful Resources for Book & Article Publishers:

Subject & Specialized Research, Image Search, Bibliographic Checking, Fact Checking, Reprint Permission, Information Organization and Analysis, & Indexes

Businesses & Organizations

Many businesses and organizations do not have the resources to hire a full time researcher or the time to do the research themselves. Do you want to expand your content for your clients? Do you need support for a special research project, event, or publication? Check out information on research, reprint permission, information organization, and indexing for publications, contracts, and other documentation. Privacy for in-house documents is always maintained.

Possible Useful Resources for Businesses & Organizations:

Fact Checking, Reprint Permission, Subject & Specialized Research, Information Organization & Analysis, & Indexes

Others

The subject possibilities are endless. If you need assistance finding any information, I welcome the opportunity to help you.

Possible Useful Resources

Subject & Specialized Research, Information Organization & Analysis

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As a researcher, I bring my knowledge and understanding of information retrieval possibilities including manual, online, archival and web resources. Research includes knowing the resources available, being able to identify and follow a lead through, and taking multiple roads to gain a complete picture. Each resource has its strengths and weaknesses. It is my job to know what these are and what resources best suit the project at hand without wasting precious time. I look into broad and subject-specific resources that bring clarity and depth to the work. Whether online, using local and remote libraries, or utilizing specific contacts and resources, I can create a well-rounded package of information to suit the project’s specific needs.

In Marylaine Block’s Article “My Rules of Information,” this ExLibris editor, gave her seven major rules for an information professional. I use these because they sum up the process of information retrieval simply and thoroughly.

1. Go Where It Is. This includes being able to assess the needs of the client, the knowledge-level, and where relevant and useful information is most likely to be found
2. The Answer You Get Depends on the Questions You Ask (If you don’t like the answers, change the questions). This means not only finding an answer but a good answer that suit the specific needs of the client. In searching, this means using different angles to come into the pool of information, utilizing broad and specific spectrum of searches and resources, and always suspecting another option is always out there.
3. The Answer Should Match The Information Need. This means not only understanding the question being asked, but the kind of answer that will be well received. Finding information is not enough – find information that suits the specific needs and then organized and/or broken down for easy accessibility is key.
4. Research is a Multi-Stage Process. Rarely is the hunt a linear process but rather a hunt through many different portals from many different angles. This means going to every conceivable resource to find the answers, following leads to further research the topic at hand, and then going back to already visited resources from a new angle in the hopes of finding more with new informational clues.
5. Information Is Meaningless Until Queried By Human Intelligence. There is little point in randomly accumulating data unless used in some way. Without content, facts are not information but raw data. Content comes from finding the connections, the interactions, and relations between these small pieces of raw material.
6. Question Your Answers – Information May Be True But Still Wrong. This means questioning the information at hand. Is the source reliable? Is the information colored by an agenda? Is this information only part of picture? What is the full picture? All information must be taken for the shading of information as well as it validity. Everything should be confirmed.
7. Ask A Librarian. Or an expert. They know their resources, how to get what’s need out of those resources, and are a wealth of information in themselves.

Source: Searcher. January, 2002 http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jan02/block.htm 

In an article entitled Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, the Association of College & Research Libraries ACRL in association with the American Library Association, talks about information literacy:

"Individuals are faced with diverse, abundant information choices-in their academic studies, in the workplace, and in their personal lives...Increasingly, information comes to individuals in unfiltered formats, raising questions about its authenticity, validity, and reliability...The uncertain quality and expanding quantity of information pose large challenges for society. The sheer abundance of information will not in itself create a more informed citizenry without a complementary cluster of abilities necessary to use information effectively.

...An information literate individual is able to:

• Determine the extent of information needed
• Access the needed information effectively and efficiently
• Evaluate information and its sources critically
• Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base
• Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally

Source: Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. November, 2001. http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilcomstan.html

I believe in and utilize the skills and use of research as noted by Marylaine Block and the ACRL.

I have wide collection of resources at my finger tips that allow me to meet an array of information needs.

• Databases: Over 100 quality research databases through local and regional college systems as well as free and personally subscribed online web databases via easily accessible through my office computer
• Libraries: Portland and its surrounding areas has an extensive library system including specialty libraries on local history, labor records, social histories, the arts, and government records.
• Invisible Web: Information not retrievable by search engines is said to reside on the "Invisible Web." Search engines are estimated to only cover anywhere between 35-75% of accessible information on the web. It is my job to understand why this information does not show in search engine results, to follow changes occurring in search engine access to this information, and to keep up with how to locate information on the "Invisible Web" so you don't have to including deep web database search engines, specialty engines, and search technology.
• Bookmark Manager: I utilize acqURL software, an advanced bookmark management software, to organize and develop link lists including a wide range of speciality databases, information resources, search engines, and digitalized collections. My bookmarks and annotations of them are all keyword searchable, making returns to a previously located research site fast and accurate.

For more ideas about how research assistance may help you project, please visit clients, projects, and skills used for examples

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The root of all good projects is good research. Whether your writing a book or developing a business, I can help you get the information you need. Because each search is so specific to the needs of each project, I offer you some examples of research possibilities. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all possibilities. If you do not see what you are looking for, don’t assume it can’t be done. Please contact me to find out if its possible.

Subject Search

• Find supportive information using library materials, online materials, and web databases.
• Identify, contacting and collecting information from high quality printed resources, subject-relevant organizations, companies, and agencies.
• Searched for online resources for broad “step one” for the novice researcher
• Online searching including basic searches, invisible or deep web, selected web databases, e-zines and web copies of paper publications, and online materials
• Library search for relevant articles, books, archives, and maps

Specialized Search

• Government and special interest funding
• Funding opportunities
• Archived historical records
• Find citations for quotes previously collected
• Timeline social trends, political development, and economic activities
• Find primary sources as examples of defined trends
• Searching through private collections
• Finding unknown citations
• Collecting company “for the public” press releases and website information
• Collecting statistics, articles, and write-ups on selected companies by non-affiliates
• Observe town and organization meetings
• Financial information on public and private companies
• Profile selected individuals
• Background information on companies, organizations, and principal individuals
• Find major players, basic history, and major issues in a given topic or event
• Find experts and their writing in a specified field 

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• Search out resources such as expert writings, government and organization reports, and statistics to support work and fill in any holes
• Check and if needed, update, sources for accurate bibliography and citation use
• Find updated versions of previously published cited sources
• Find citations or sources to support thesis
• Create a companion reading or resource list for a text

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• Find images to support the writing as well as the design and layout of the text
• Utilizing a wide range of online free databases, specialized image search engines, library facilities, and specialized libraries with quality image selection
• Image search through online image databases and printed resources
• Create information log for images including by-line, ownership, and description with a copy

See also Reprint Permission
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Even for the adventurous, I&S can stop you in your tracks. Let me help you get through this and help you get the information you need

• Survey: I will help develop and test a survey template based on your needs, create a survey website, contact the necessary individuals for both large and small scale distribution, and expose the survey to your targeted audience. If necessary for large scale survey distribution, I will help you find and work with a professional survey company that suites your specific needs.
• Interviews: Group, preliminary and follow-up interviews using an outline agreed upon. Able to make other comfortable while keeping the interviewee on track without leading. Interview transcripts available.
• I&S Reports & Statistical Database: Once surveys or interviews are completed, I can create a finding reports and statistical databases utilizing the collected information. See also Information Organization & Analysis
  

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Whether to look at a private collection, do an interview, go to a conference or any other possible travel which you cannot carry out due to the limitations of your own schedule but would like for your research, I can help. For extended or long-distance traveling, please contact me for further details. Expenses not included.

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