Using the Library Databases  Tags: library databases research  

Find a book in the catalog

Find an article in the databases

Use JournalFinder

HGTC library subscribes to two basic types of databases - bibliographic and full-text.

Bibliographic Databases

Bibliographic databases provide information about items, but not the items themselves. For example, you might find a complete index of every article published in a magazine in the last 15 years, but you would not be able to read the actual articles.

Full-text Databases

Full-text databases provide not just information about items, but the actual items themselves. In a full-text database you can read the text of an article.

Combination

Many databases are a combination of these two types. For example, Academic Search Premier provides bibliographic information for over 8,000 journals, but only about half of those are available full-text.

1. Go to the library homepage
2. Click on Find Articles
3. Select on-campus or off-campus access
4. If you are on-campus, you will now be directed to Webfeat. If you are off campus, continue to step 5.
5. Click on Research Databases
6. Enter your 13-digit library card number

Basic Definition

A database is a collection of information, organized in such a way as to be easily accessible. Databases may be in print (i.e., phone book) or electronic (i.e., library databases), and the information in them may be in any format, including print, electronic, graphic, and audio. They may be free (again, think of the phone book) or they may cost money to access.

Library Research Databases

The library subscribes to 48 databases. Most of these databases are collections of articles that were originally published in print magazines, newspapers, journals and reference books. Other databases include collections of biographical material (i.e., Biography Resource Center), collections of electronic books (i.e., Gale Virtual Reference Library, Credo Reference, NetLibrary), and collections of company profiles (i.e., Business Source Premier).

Research Databases are created by companies. Each company may create dozens, even hundreds, of databases. HGTC library subscribes to 48 databases, but those 48 were created by only 11 different companies. Here is a list of all the companies whose databases we use.

We have multiple databases from these companies:

• Gale
• Ebsco
• Proquest
• Facts on File

We have one database from each of these companies:

• Congressional Quarterly (CQ Researcher)
• XReferPlus (Credo Reference)
• Encyclopedia Britannica (Encyclopedia Britannica Online)
• Institute of Physics (Institute of Physics)
• Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (Liebert Online)
• NetLibrary (NetLibrary)
• West (Westlaw)

You will see similarities in the search interfaces of databases made by the same company. In fact, all of Ebsco's databases have the exact same interface, so once you learn that interface you can search every Ebsco database with ease.