Library databases

database NOUN:also data base Computer Science A collection of data arranged for ease and speed of search and retrieval. Also called data bank. "Database." American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 4th ed Oct

Structure of a database  Consists of records, fields & terms Record = a set of fields Field = a single piece of information Terms = words in a field

Examples?

What is a periodical database?  Definition: an electronic index to print articles published in magazines, newspapers, journals (scholarly publications) and increasingly to online (“born digital”) magazine articles.  Some periodical databases now include reference articles, primary sources, book chapters and other materials.  The material in these databases is not free. It is purchased with your student fees.

Record in a periodical database  Contains fields, such as: Author of article Title of article Date published Publication title article appears in Abstract (description)

Searching fields in a database Known-item search

A more-common type of search Keyword search What fields are being searched in this example?

Fields in a record

Citation & Abstract:

Historical context… Image source: "My Favourite Books." n.d. Personal Web Site. 21 Oct

Print Indexes Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature New York Times Index Book Review Index

Print indexes  Contained brief citations: Type of article Subject Author Title Publication

Example (Readers’ Guide)  FEMINIST MUSIC Whatever happened to “women’s music”? T. Suton. il Utne Reader p30+ Ja/F ’92 There is a limited amount of room for information in a print index.

Citation translation  Subject: Feminist Music  Article title: “Whatever happened...”  Author: T. Sutton  il = illustrated  Publication: Utne Reader  Article starts on p. 30  Article appeared in January/February 1992 issue

Example (1982 NYT Index)  BOOKS and Literature Amer Library Assn’s Office for Intellectual Freedom finds that although censorship of books in US has risen sharply since ’80, there have been few reptd challenges to so-called controversial reading materials in NJ; exec dir Judith Krug comments (M), Jl 18,XI, 1:5

Periodical database is an index  More fields  More information  Full text  Images  Sound  Hypertext  ??!!

Searching a periodical database  Start with a simple keyword search: (Boolean AND limits results to articles containing both terms )

Review your results  Bad results? Use different keywords  No or few results? Check your spelling Search more broadly

Broader search using Booleans  Truncation symbol *  OR operator for related terms But start with a simple search; no need to go fancy right away!

Check Suggested Topics

Limit by periodical type

Types of periodicals