Welcome...

...to Library Compass, an online orientation created by Columbia University Libraries and the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning to help develop and enhance your academic research skills.

Why Library Compass?

We are bombarded daily by a vast amount of information, some of it valuable, some of it useless. As students and researchers we are challenged to find both method and meaning in the midst of it all. We need a means to orient ourselves so we can navigate through this abundance of information, as well as a range of intellectual tools and the talent to know how and when to use them. We need a Compass and tool belt - a road map and new habits of mind - to help us ask questions, locate sources for answers, evaluate the proffered solutions, and formulate our own responses.

What is Library Compass?

Library Compass provides a support structure for writing academic papers for your courses and works as an orientation tool to help you develop and hone specific library research skills and strategies.

We hope you will find the Library Compass a useful tool to assist you in the academic research process. Please, let us - the Library Compass team - know if you have any questions or comments. We welcome your feedback.