Databases vs. Search Engines
A database is a collection of information that is organized in a standardized format to allow for easy retrival. Entries in databases, called records or files, are composed of fields (such as author, title, publisher, etc.) that are selected and standardized by the editor of the database. Databases generally provide a means to be updated and a means to retrieve records by searching within a particular field or multiple fields.
A phone book is an example of a database. It is arranged by name or subject, and its structure makes it simple to search for and retrieve a phone number.
The library catalog is a database in which all of the records have been created and are maintained by staff at the Bertrand Library. The library catalog contains information about the holdings of the library (what books, videos, journals, government documents, etc. are available at the library), as well as links to Internet sites that may support your research.
ISR purchases access to a wide variety of databases that provide information about scholarly (and other) publications. Most of these databases index articles in a specific academic discipline (history, sociology, physics, etc.) from the important journals in that discipline. In other words, the database will detail what articles are printed in an issue of a particular journal. Occasionally, these databases will also index additional information, such as the chapters of books, papers presented at a conference, or dissertations.
These databases usually adhere to good principles of organization and standardization, as they are constructed by outside agencies who have an interest in selling their product. These agencies make their databases available online for a fee; they are not freely available to just anyone searching the Internet. In order to provide access to these databases to the Bucknell community (current faculty, staff and students), the library has to sign a licensing agreement with the database vendor. These licesning agreements usually limit access to on campus computers or to computers dialed into Bucknell's network (a user name and password may be required for dial in access, please ask at the reference desk, x7-1462). Furthermore, licensing agreements usually prohibit redistribution of information found in a database, which would include e-mailing this information to someone else or posting it online yourself. Finally, licensing agreements usually allow their databases to be used by individuals outside of the Bucknell community as long as these individuals are using computers within the library. Any questions about the appropriate use of our resources can be directed to the reference desk x7-1462.
A list of the databases that are available to current faculty, staff, and students at Bucknell can be found at: Databases and Electronic Resources.
Freely available Internet search engines, such as Google, can be used to help you find websites, images, documents, and other information online. However,search engines are only able to retrieve websites, etc. that are publicly available. They will not be able to retrieve articles or other information from private sources, such as the databases paid for by the library (see the "databases" entry above). Because anyone can publish on the Internet and there is often no editorial control over the content of websites, it is often very difficult to discern if the information contained in a publicly available website is of appropriate quality to be used for scholarly research.
In addition, because of the of the lack of organization and standardization the Internet, search engines are not able to retrieve information with the precision that a privately created database does. Search engines cannot distinguish the relevancy of a website to your search term very well and therefore tend to retrieve many sites that have little or nothing to do with the information that you are seeking.
A guide to evaluating material found on the Internet can be found at: Evaluating Websites as Sources
The tool you use depends on what information you are looking for. The library catalog will provide you with information as to the books, videos, journals, magazines, etc. that are available at the library. However, the library catalog will not show you information about the articles that are published in journals, magazines or newspapers (periodicals). Searching the library's databases will give you citations for articles in periodicals, however most of the databases will not be able to show you if we have the periodical that contains the article available at the library. Once you find the citation of an article in a database, you will need to search the library catalog to see if the library has the periodical in its collection.
Search engines can be used to help you find information on the Internet. Although electronic books, full text articles and other useful sources of information can be found on the Internet, you are much more likely find quality material in the library catalog and in the library's databases. Generally, it is a good idea to use the library catalog and the library's databases to find information to construct the core of your research and to use material from the Internet to supplement it, if needed.
