13 What is a Database?
In the context of libraries, databases are highly specialized search tools for all types of resources from books to articles, streaming movies to primary resources. These search tools and the content contained within are not freely available on the internet. Rather, as a student at Brock, you have to have access to hundreds of thousands of resources because these are paid for in part by your tuition.
Watch the video below about databases and answer the questions below.
ACTIVITY: Databases
When to Use Library Databases
Search library databases to uncover scholarly information that is not available through a regular web search. Databases are especially helpful for up-to-date, scholarly information on a specific topic.
The content of specific databases tend to be narrow in scope. This means that the content is focused on a specific subject area.
Here are a few examples:
- Humanities Index – contains scholarly journals, weekly magazines and newspapers across many humanities subject areas
- PhilPapers – focused on philosophy, contains scholarly journal articles, papers, books, book chapters, archives and reviews
- Black Thought and Culture – find books, articles, letters, speeches and other texts of black leaders from 1700 to present day
Once you are aware of a database’s scope, you’ll be able to decide whether the database is likely to have what you want (for instance, journal articles as opposed to conference proceedings). This A-Z listing of over 400 databases includes a description of the contents for each database. Use the “All Subjects” dropdown for a listing of databases related to your specific subject of interest.
The next section explains a tool that attempts to search all the subject specific search tools in one single search tool.
