This page covers:
A library database is a collection of information that often contains a wide range of source types including newspapers, magazines, academic journals, and many more. Library databases allow you to access scholarly content, making searching for peer-reviewed content quicker and easier. Broome Library has access to over 200 research databases to help you with your research.
You may be tempted to use Google for your research, and while Google can be a helpful tool there are many reasons to use a library database instead.
| Fields | Library Database | |
|---|---|---|
| Credibility | Anyone can create a webpage, there is no quality control or editorial process. | Articles are fact-checked, reviewed by editors, or peer reviewed for accuracy. |
| Limiters | Few (if any) limiters leads to too many results, which means quality information can get buried and it will take you a lot more time to go through the results. | Databases allow you to focus your search results with limiters or filters. These limiters include limiting results by date, publication, subject, graphs, audience, author, and many more. |
| Cost | Many (if not most) journal articles are not available for free online. Instead, Google will direct you to a website where you can pay for the materials (that the library likely has free access for you). | Library pays for access to scholarly materials that are hidden behind paywalls online and you can use the Interlibrary Loan program to borrow almost any source the library doesn’t currently have. |
| Algorithms and Confirmation Bias | Search results based on what it thinks you want, algorithms, your search history, and location. This can lead to confirmation bias. | Databases base your results on relevancy and the criteria of your search terms and filters. This makes it easier to find multiple perspectives in your research and prevent confirmation bias. |
| Timeliness | Familiar search engine where you can search sentences or questions in natural language. | Not as familiar and you need to select critical keywords phrases, and concepts for your search strategy. You don't use natural language. |
| Search Language | Information is constantly updated and will include immediate and current ideas, news events, and topics. | Information is not as immediate. There are many news related databases but some of them materials won't be posted in a database until a few days after they source was originally published. |
Multidisciplinary Databases contain materials from various fields of study. These are useful places to start your research or when you are researching a multidisciplinary topic. Popular multidisciplinary databases include Academic Search Premier, Opposing Viewpoints, and Gale in Context.
Subject-Specific Databases contain materials related to one specific field of study, such as education or psychology. These databases offer more specialized search tools than the multidisciplinary databases. For example, an education database might allow you to narrow results to studies done on specific age groups, while an education database will allow you narrow your results to specific education grades. However, if you are researching a multidisciplinary topic, using a subject-specific database may leave out useful materials. Popular subject-specific databases include PsycINFO (for psychology), ERIC (for education), and Business Source Premier (for business).
Medium-Specific Databases contain specific types of materials and can be either multidisciplinary or subject-specific. For example, these databases can contain only newspapers or only primary sources or only multimedia materials. For example, the California Digital Newspaper Collection contains only newspapers and Academic Video Online contains only videos.
There won't be one perfect database for your research and you will likely consult at least 2 to 3 different databases during the research process. Therefore, knowing how to find the right database for your research is a critical skill for researchers. CI subscribes to over 200 databases but don't worry, you are not expected to know all of them. This section will demonstrate two methods for finding and selecting the right database for you.
Go to the main library homepage. Then click the Databases A-Z link, which will bring you to a webpage that lists all 200+ library databases. This is a good place to start if you know exactly what database you want to access or wish to browse the databases. The screenshot to the right provides a visual of this main landing webpage. This webpage has three methods to help you explore the library's databases:
Research Guides are curated lists of resources, crafted by librarians, that group together library and web resources on a specific subject or topic. These can be a great place to start your research because a librarian has gone through the 200+ library databases and selected the ones that will be the most useful for research in a specific subject.
You can find the research guides by going to the main library homepage and then clicking the Research Guides link on the left-hand side of the screen. This main landing webpage you show all of our research guides. This includes subject-specific guides for many CI majors (such as Africana Studies, Early Childhood Studies, History...) as well as guides on resources on Affinity Months, Finals De-Stressing, and Citations. Select the research guide you feel is most relevant to your research topic. If you are researching a multidisciplinary topic, you may want to look at multiple research guides. For example, if you were researching student success for elementary students with learning disabilities you should look at both the early childhood studies and the psychology research guides.
The research guides will all look a little different but all of them will include a tab for Databases. The screenshot to the right is an example of the database page from our History Research Guide.
A library database is a collection of information that often contains a wide range of source types including newspapers, magazines, academic journals, and many more. Library databases allow you to access scholarly content, making searching for peer-reviewed content quicker and easier. Broome Library has access to over 200 research databases to help you with your research.
Watch this 2:34 video for a very brief introduction to the different types of library databases and why to use them instead of Google.
Video Credit: "What are Databases and Why do you Need Them?" by Yavapai College Library licensed under Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed).
There won't be one perfect database for your research and you will likely consult at least 2 to 3 different databases during the research process. Therefore, knowing how to find the right database for your research is a critical skill for researchers. CI subscribes to over 200 databases but don't worry, you are not expected to know all of them. This section will demonstrate two methods for finding and selecting the right database for you.
Watch this 10:47 video for an overview on finding databases in Broome Library.
Video Credit: "Finding Databases at Broome Library" by Breeann Austin, Broome Library licensed under Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)