Libraries ARE difficult and asking for help at the Reference Desk is often very smart. Every academic uses them to find out basic information, background, issues, vocabulary, people, and other books and articles to read. The difference between a catalog and an index. InfoTrac's Expanded Academic Index, Ebsco's Academic Elite Index or Prquest. where they are on the homepage, how to do a basic search, how to determine if the articles are full-text or not, how to determine if the library owns the journal an article is in.
Libraries are fun.
Browsing the shelves is an education. Curiosity is cool. Y ou use the library all the time. Examples of what you looked for and what you found.