| Understanding Where the Information Is: Databases |
| Although computers have revolutionized the way libraries work, the basic method remains the same as that of the old print-based days: Librarians catalog books, magazines, newspapers, photographs, and recordings by author, title, and subject, with cross-references to important subtopics within the subject. This information is stored in the library's catalog, so you can look for a work by subject--or by author or title if you have that information. Articles within the magazines and newspapers are listed in indexes according to this same method. Computer programs can rapidly scan catalogs and indexes--even pages of articles or the tables of contents and indexes of individual books--for words you specify; some programs also look for related subtopics that you haven't even mentioned. In addition, electronic databases can sometimes also give you the text itself to read on the screen or to print out.
Academic research papers require information found in articles published in scholarly periodicals, many of which are not on the Web. Therefore, you will need to consult some specialized databases that index scholarly articles. Your library will have a number installed in designated computers for you to consult. Databases come in four types: Bibliographic databases (lists of titles of books and articles) are the most common type. These indexes and catalogs will usually give you a brief description or the abstract of a book or article, along with the title, author, publisher, date of publication, and number of pages. In the library, you will have access not only to its catalog but also to a variety of indexes on CD-ROM, installed at designated computers. You can find out which periodicals the Library subscribes to in the catalog, but to find specific articles, you will need to consult indexes. For example, you can find general interest magazines and newspapers indexed in the Magazine Index. Specialized journals are covered by Business Index, Medline, and ERIC(educational resources). Note that some of these indexes are by on the Web as well. In addition, some indexes are citation indexes. After finding the titles of books and articles you want to read, you'll then have to find them in the library. The database will often tell you the location of the book or article--whether it's in the reference section, on reserve, on microfilm or microfiche. Full text databases include the whole text, not just the title. Understandably, there are not very many of these, and they usually present only sources from the last few years. Most of these indexes provide unformatted texts for recent articles, but the Bartleby and Gutenberg projects on the Web have scanned entire books in beautiful format. If you want, you can read these books on the screen. On the Internet, some full-text databases require a fee for you to see the actual text. However, selected recent articles are available free from Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Statistical Sources are the fastest way to find statistical information--such as Census Bureau data in the 1990 Census of Population and Housing, or The County and City Databook, or USA Counties, 1994. However, these sources can be hard to use, because they're dense with information. You may prefer to use the tables in print form and to supplement the statistics with articles that analyze or interpret the data. Directories include information of the sort found in phone books, but these databases also sort the information by categories, giving you leads to further research. For example, you can see lists of businesses by type, giving corporate officers and annual sales figures. Check your library for Dun's Business Locator, Dun's Small Business Sourcing File, and Standard and Poor's Corporations. |
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