FINDING INFORMATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Workbook Contents
Topics
Page No.
Introduction
2
1. Issues that can impact on the ability to link clients with
relevant information
3
2. Search Options
6
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
Subject Directories
Subject Gateways
Search Engines
Meta Search Tools
The Deep Web
Databases
Blogs, Wikis & RSS
6
10
14
20
23
25
26
3. State Library of Queensland Products
30
3.1 Netlinks
3.2 Picture Queensland
3.3 Online Databases
3.5.1
3.5.2
3.5.3
3.5.4
3.5.5
3.5.6
3.5.7
Australia/NZ Reference Centre (EBSCO)
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online
Health & Wellness Resource Center (Gale Group)
Literature Resource Center (Gale Group)
NewsBank
ProQuest Science Journals
Tumblebooks
4. What to Use When
4.1 Exercises
5. Ongoing Professional Development
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
Online Reference Guides
Online Mailing Lists
Alerts
Professional Associations
Conference Papers
Online Journals
30
32
34
35
37
39
41
43
44
46
48
50
53
53
54
55
56
56
56
INTRODUCTION
This course builds upon basic knowledge and skills in using the Internet and
online resources to find information for clients. For participants who would like
more information about the Internet the BHP Billiton skills.net course ‘Getting
Started’ is recommended. It is available on State Library’s website at
www.slq.qld.gov.au
i) The course
The aim of this course is to assist library staff to link their community with
quality information that meets their needs. To achieve this aim we will look at
the changing information environment, issues impacting on the ability to
provide clients with the best possible information available and strategies to
keep up to date.
ii) The objectives for this course are that at the conclusion of this training all
participants will be:
2
•
aware of issues which can impact on the ability to meet the
information needs of your community
•
able to identify the most appropriate method/resource to find
information for clients
•
aware of the changing information environment and how to keep
up to date professionally
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State Library of Queensland
4 February 2008
1.
ISSUES THAT CAN IMPACT ON THE ABILITY TO
LINK CLIENTS WITH RELEVANT INFORMATION
Knowledge of the information environment
•
Amount of information available - terms such as the “information
explosion” and “information age” indicate that we have at our disposal
(mostly thanks to the Internet) large quantities of information. How do we
navigate this quantity of information to find the best to suit our needs?
•
Kinds/formats – as well as our traditional print resources, we now have
access to online resources in a variety of formats eg PDF (portable
document format). We have access to web resources via search
engines, subject directories, meta-search engines, online databases.
Knowledge of these tools enhances our information seeking process.
•
Availability – we can now access information 24 x 7, no longer being
limited to the library and library opening hours. People can access
information from home or anywhere they have Internet access.
Changes in society
•
Workplaces/ workplace skills are changing and are affecting people’s
needs for information and the skills needed to access information. There
are fewer unskilled jobs available and very few jobs that require no
knowledge of information technology. Increasingly people need IT skills
to survive and the nature of fewer unskilled jobs means a lifetime of
learning to remain employable.
•
Personalization – there is an expectation now that everything can be
tailored to individual needs. This has flowed onto the provision of
information eg My Yahoo!, MyEBSCOhost, My e-bay
•
Knowledge economy – information in our society is now a commodity.
Those people who can access information effectively are at an
advantage. Library professionals play a key role in building the
knowledge economy in our communities.
•
Client expectations – client’s information expectations have risen. Due
to many factors, including misconceptions that anything can be found on
the Internet, clients do not expect to walk into a library and come away
with no information. What can we provide for our clients if we cannot find
the exact answer?
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Knowledge of your community
•
Information literacy – providing information is not enough – access and
information literacy skills are needed. How skilled is your community?
•
What are they using the Internet for? For example: finding information,
online banking, helping children with assignments. Knowledge of your
community will inform the way you promote information for them.
Awareness of what exists
•
How do you find out about new information? Do you belong to a
professional group who updates you? Are you on mailing lists? Do you
have good knowledge management practices in your area?
Your own knowledge – is it dated?
•
Your ability to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technology in
information delivery directly impacts on the end product you provide for
your clients.
Your ability to evaluate information on the Internet
•
Information on the Internet ranges from high quality, informative
professional resources to anything and everything an individual can post.
What are the things you need to be aware of to assess the quality of a
website?
Reference Interview – are you making the most of the time?
•
4
Do you know exactly what your client is seeking? Often your client
will ask you for something at the information desk when really they want
something quite different. Finding out exactly what your client wants
impacts on the appropriateness of information they will receive.
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Your reference desk and computer set-up
•
Can you quickly locate information? Have you got a second window
open to access subject directories or your favourite search engine?
•
Does your circulation staff know when to refer queries to professional
staff?
Knowledge of latest software etc so that clients can use sites
•
To be able to use sites to their full potential software may need to be
loaded on your PC eg QuickTime, adobe, shockwave. Is this an issue for
security on your computers? How easy is it to get permission to have this
software installed? Do you really have a good understanding of how your
computers are set up or is this knowledge in the IT department of your
organization?
Barriers – policies/charges
•
Are your photocopying/ Internet access charges prohibitive to finding
information? How do charges and policies cause barriers to providing the
best information for your clients needs?
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2.
SEARCH OPTIONS
2.1
SUBJECT DIRECTORIES
Defining Subject Directories
•
Subject directories are organized by humans. Web sites are manually
selected based on predetermined criteria, therefore there is a high degree
of accuracy and quality in the results.
•
Subject directories organize chosen web sites hierarchically into lists of
subjects. These general subjects are then broken down into subcategories.
•
There are commercial (www.Yahoo.com) and non-commercial (academic
and professional) (netlinks.slq.qld.gov.au) subject directories.
•
Commercial directories or portals are aimed at the general community eg.
Looksmart. Website developers often pay a fee for inclusion in such a
directory.
•
Academic and professional directories are compiled by experts and usually
contain links to relevant and useful information.
•
Try to find out the criteria adopted by subject directory developers for web
site inclusion. If the web site includes information about criteria and
selectors, the information found may be more trustworthy than web sites
included in directories where this information is not made freely available
to users. Netlinks is a good example of criteria for selection.
http://netlinks.slq.qld.gov.au/about.htm
Advantages
•
Good for browsing. Useful when you want to see what range of
information is available on a topic – akin to reading the content pages of a
book.
•
Compiled by human editors so results are quite accurate.
•
Fewer hits than when using a search tool but results are likely to be more
accurate.
Disadvantages
•
Be wary about the reason for the inclusion of certain web sites in
commercial subject directories.
•
Compiled by human editors who may have different ideas about which
subject category a topic relates to.
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When to use a subject directory
•
When you want an overview of the categories of information available on a
subject eg. Cooking, dogs, planets.
•
When you want to retrieve a list of sites relevant to your topic, rather than
numerous individual pages contained within those sites.
•
When you are trying to decide on a topic eg. One of the planets in the
solar system.
How do I use them?
•
Simply choose from the list of subjects the one that best suits your search.
•
Then work through the various lists of sub-categories until you are
presented with a list of relevant web sites.
For Example – If you were searching for web sites about the planet
Mars, you would select the Subject Area “Science” and then choose the
pertinent sub-categories.
Artificial life
Choose from
sub-categories
Astronomy
Astronomers
Chemistry
Eclipses
Ecology
Galaxies
Medicine
Planetaria
Physics
Solar
System
Telescopes
Choose from
sub-categories
Asteroids
Planets
Sun
Choose from
sub-categories
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
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Examples of Subject Directories:
Netlinks
http://netlinks.slq.qld.gov.au
•
A subject directory created and maintained by State Library of
Queensland
•
More information can be found on p. 30
Yahoo!
http://dir.yahoo.com
•
Is the world’s oldest directory – launched in 1994
•
Organises web pages in the database into 14 major topics which are
further divided into subcategories
•
Sites pay a fee for inclusion in the Yahoo Directory’s commercial
listings, though they must meet editor approval before being accepted
•
Yahoo! also provides a site especially designed for children called
Yahooligans at http://kids.yahoo.com
•
Sponsored links more prominent
•
One component of a suite of services offered by Yahoo! including a
search engine discussed on p. 17
•
www.yahoo.com provides access to Yahoo! services through their
portal
Web Site Directory - Sites organized by subject
8
Suggest your site
Business & Economy
Regional
B2B, Finance, Shopping, Jobs...
Countries, Regions, US States...
Computers & Internet
Society & Culture
Internet, WWW, Software, Games...
People, Environment, Religion...
News & Media
Education
Newspapers, TV, Radio...
College and University, K-12...
Entertainment
Arts & Humanities
Movies, Humor, Music...
Photography, History, Literature...
Recreation & Sports
Science
Sports, Travel, Autos, Outdoors...
Animals, Astronomy, Engineering...
Health
Social Science
Diseases, Drugs, Fitness...
Languages, Archaeology, Psychology...
Government
Reference
Elections, Military, Law, Taxes...
Phone Numbers, Dictionaries, Quotations...
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Librarians Internet Index
http://lii.org
Librarians at the Berkeley University have collated the links to extremely
useful sites
•
Has an advanced search option
•
Keep in mind that there are large quantities of information specific to
California and the USA
Open Directory Project
www.dmoz.org
•
No cost to submit a site to the directory or use the data
•
The editors are volunteers
•
Has one of the larger databases (statistics on the number of sites and
editors are at the base of the home page)
•
Has an advanced search option
•
Used by AOL Search, Netscape Search, Lycos and for directory listings
Google, HotBot, Direct Hit
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2.2
SUBJECT GATEWAYS
Defining Subject Gateways
•
Is a web site that provides searchable and browsable access to online
resources focused around a specific subject
•
Resource descriptions are usually created manually rather than being
generated via an automated process
•
Because the resource entries are generated by hand they are usually
superior to those available from a conventional web search engine
•
The core activities of resource selection and description rely on skilled
human input (by librarians, academics and experts). Thus they are
characterized by quality control
When to use
•
When seeking specialized knowledge in a particular subject area
Australian Subject Gateways
Weblaw
www.weblaw.edu.au
•
Is a co-operative subject index to Internet resources for Australian legal
researchers including lawyers, students, researchers and lay
professionals
•
Participating organisations take responsibility for a subject area/s, and
provide annotated links to quality assessed resources in this area
•
An academic or practitioner with expertise in the subject is involved in
peer assessment of the listings
•
The sites are checked and updated each month
Bright Sparcs http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/
An online register of over 3,000 people involved in the development of
science, technology and medicine in Australia, including references to their
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archival materials and bibliographic resources. The gateway was developed
by the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre.
EdNA: Education Network Australia
www.edna.edu.au
•
Is a service organised around Australian curriculum that aims to support
and promote the benefits of the Internet for learning, education and
training in Australia
•
Is funded by the bodies responsible for education provision in Australia (all
Australian governments) and is a free tool for Australian educators
•
Provides two key functions:
o A directory about education and training in Australia
o A database of web-based resources useful for teaching and learning
•
Aims to promote collaboration and cooperation throughout the Australian
education and training sectors and facilitate the growth of networks of
common interest and practice
•
Is managed by education.au limited, a non-profit company owned by
Australian education and training Ministers
PADI (Preserving Access to Digital Resources)
www.nla.gov.au/padi
•
Is an initiative of the National Library of Australia to provide high quality
information about issues and tools for preserving digital resources, both
digitised and 'born digital'
•
Is a subject gateway to digital preservation resources. It has an associated
discussion list padiforum-l for the exchange of news and ideas about
digital preservation issues
•
The site uses the Dublin Core, A-Core and some locally defined
metadata schema. An international advisory group provides advice and
guidance for PADI
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International Subject Gateways
•
Several international gateways (or hubs) are available through Intute.
www.intute.ac.uk
•
The Resource Discovery Network offers a number of free online tutorials
through the Virtual Training Suite. These are designed to help users (eg
students, lecturers and researchers) improve their Internet information
literacy and IT skills. These tutorials are self paced and provide quizzes
and interactive exercises to lighten the learning experience.
•
full listing of the tutorials available can be found at:
www.vts.intute.ac.uk
Examples of International Gateways:
SOSIG (Social Science Information Gateway)
http://www.rdn.ac.uk/www.sosig.ac.uk/
www.sosig.ac.uk
•
Is a freely available Internet service which aims to provide a trusted
source of selected, high quality Internet information for students,
academics, researchers and practitioners in the social science sciences,
business and law
•
The SOSIG Internet Catalogue is an online database of high quality
Internet resources. The catalogue is browsable or searchable by subject
area and offers users the chance to read descriptions of resources
available over the Internet and to access those resources directly. The
Catalogue points to thousands of resources that have been selected and
described by a librarian or academic.
•
The Social Science Search Engine is a database of over 50,000 Social
Science Web pages. The web pages included in this collection have
been collected by software called a 'harvester' (similar mechanisms may
be referred to as 'robots' or 'Web crawlers').
•
SOSIG is a service of the Resource Discovery Network. The RDN is a
collaboration of over seventy educational and research organisations,
including the Natural History Museum and the British Library.
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GEsource (Geography and Environment Gateway)
http://www.rdn.ac.uk/www.gesource.ac.uk/www.gesource.ac.uk/home.htm
l
•
Provides access to high quality Internet resources for students,
researchers and practitioners in geography and the environment through
five distinct subject gateways: Environment, General Geography, Human
Geography, Physical Geography, and Techniques and Approaches. Each
of these main headings is further divided into a series of sub-sections that
together make up the browse structure of GEsource.
artifact
http://www.rdn.ac.uk/www.artifact.ac.uk/
www.artifact.ac.uk/
•
Artifact is a collection of quality online resources and web sites, chosen by
subject specialists for their relevance to further and higher education
teaching, learning and research in the arts and creative industries. Artifact
is a free service. However some resources Artifact describes require a
subscription and/or id and password in accordance with the Publisher or
Content Provider’s subscription policy.
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2.3
SEARCH ENGINES
Defining Search Engines
•
Search engines consist of three parts:
1. Robots, bots or spiders that collect links
2. A database where the information is stored; and
3. Technology which allows users to search the index and return the
results
•
Robots crawl through the Internet and locate web pages to index for
inclusion in the database
•
Robots choose which words to index based on their location on the page
and how frequently they are repeated throughout the document (unless
keywords are specified using metadata tags). Some robots will index
every word in the text except those listed on the stop list such as “and”,
“the”, and “a”. Some databases use another process called stemming that
removes suffixes (-s, -es, -ed) and may also remove (-able, -ability, -ness)
from keywords when creating the indexes.
•
The searcher then enters a search query into the front-end search facility,
usually in the form of a search box
•
If the search is successful, a list of results is presented, ranked in order of
their relevance to the search terms entered. Ranking systems used by
search engines vary. Ranking is based on an algorithm or a set of rules.
Most use “fuzzy and” combined with factors such as how often your terms
occur in documents and whether in the title or how near the top of the text.
(“Fuzzy and” means that documents which contain all of the search terms
are displayed first followed by documents that contain only some of the
search terms).
•
Google determines relevance by analyzing how many other web sites link
to each web page and the importance of those pages (eg. A government
site would be rated as more highly than a porn site). It also ranks sites
according to how frequently they have been accessed by previous
searchers.
•
No one engine searches the entire web
•
Highest ranking search results can vary much between search engines.
Try the research tools, http://ranking.thumbshots.com and
www.jux2.com to compare the ranking of search results from different
search engines.
•
No two search engines are exactly alike
•
Using a search engine is like using the index of a book
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Advantages
•
Very easy to search for topics, simply type in a search word or phrase
•
The ranking system allows you to view the most relevant search results
quickly
Disadvantages
•
As there is no human intervention, the accuracy of some of the pages
found can be dubious. Some of the pages displayed may have no
relevance to the initial search query.
•
Web sites that include different terminology than the terms entered in the
search will not be found
When to use Search Engines
•
When you are undertaking a specific search
•
When you are searching for an obscure topic
•
When you want to take advantage of the latest retrieval technologies
Examples of General Search Engines:
All the web
www.alltheweb.com
•
Uses Yahoo!’s index and is powered by Yahoo!
•
Focuses on web search but also searches news, video, pictures, mp3
files, ftp files audio
•
Offers search customization
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Google
www.google.com
•
Has the largest database of indexed web pages – in October 2004
announced they had indexed over 8 billion sites
•
It takes 4-6 weeks for new pages to be indexed and included in the
database
•
Type in your search terms/phrases, click on “I’m feeling lucky” to go
straight to the first site in the listing
•
"Google Answers" - the searcher registers their question and pays a fee
for the answer
•
Use the cached link to view a previous version of the page
•
Offers excellent spell checking facility
•
Find definitions easily from the search box
•
Perform calculations using the search box
•
Google Alerts email the latest search results on a particular topic to you as
they are indexed
•
Google desktop allows you to search your own computer for emails, files,
web history and chats
•
60 interface languages
•
Offers search customization
•
Test program, Google Print shows links to books whenever a book
contains content that matches your search terms (For more information go
to www.print.google.com )
•
Check out additional functions under “more”
Soople
www.soople.com
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•
Written for the creator’s mother to make it easier to use Google
•
Advanced search functions of Google organised and meant for those
who are not yet familiar with all of the functions and required syntaxes
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Yahoo! Search
www.search.yahoo.com
•
Since February 2004 Yahoo! has used it’s own technology to provide
crawler based listings (from 2002 to 2004 it relied on Google’s results)
•
Searches the web exclusively, does not search directory
•
My Yahoo! Search allows personalisation through sign in feature and
saving results, catagorising results, blocking sites and searching within My
Web
•
Is the closest competitor to Google in the US – in July 2004 the
percentage of searches measured in the US were 31.5% by Yahoo!
compared to 41.6% by Google (Nielsen//Net ratings survey)
Hotbot
www.hotbot.com
•
Launched in May 1996 by Wired Digital then purchased by Lycos in 1998
•
Developed a strong following in the early years for quality and
comprehensiveness
•
Search features suffered in 1999/2000 when Lycos focused on developing
portal content
•
Lycos refocused on search capabilities in 2001
•
Also provides access to Google and Ask Jeeves but it is not a meta search
engine in that it cannot blend the results of these search engines together
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Ask.Com
www.ask.com
Initially gained fame in 1998 and 1999 as the “natural language” search
engine that let you search by asking questions and responding with what
seemed to be the right answer
•
Hasn’t always relied on technology for results. At one point had up to 100
editors who monitored search logs and went onto the web to locate the
best sites to match the most popular queries
•
Today uses crawler based technology and results come from Teoma
•
See also Askforkids – http://www.askforkids.com
Teoma
www.teoma.com
•
Teoma first appeared in May 2000. It was purchased by Ask Jeeves in
September 2001
•
Smaller index to the web than Google and Yahoo! however has won praise
for it’s relevancy since it appeared in 2000
•
“Refine” feature offers suggestions to narrow your search
•
“Resources” point users to pages created by experts and enthusiasts that
serve as link collection on your search topic
Additional general search engines are listed at
•
Search Engine Colossus
www.searchenginecolossus.com
Provides links to search engines from around the world
•
Search Engine Watch
http://searchenginewatch.com/links
Search engines are listed in various categories.
•
Search Engine Showdown
www.searchengineshowdown.com
Provides information on search engines including reviews and a features
chart
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Examples of Australian search engines
Web Wombat
www.webwombat.com.au
•
Operating since 1994 and was one of the world’s first search engines
•
Was the world’s first regional search engine
•
Claims to be the world’s first search engine to add non-search-related
content to it’s website, making it the world’s first web portal
•
Uses search technology developed by an Australian
•
Has indexed more than 11 million Australian web pages
Anzwers
www.anzwers.com.au
•
Is powered by Yahoo! so few differences between using it and
www.yahoo.com.au
Other ways of finding Australian content using search engines
Using search box settings
•
To search for Australian content using Google,
go to www.google.com.au and select:
pages from Australia
•
To search for Australian content using Yahoo!
go to www.yahoo.com.au and select:
AU only
Using domain limiters in advanced search screens
•
Many search engines and meta search engines have the ability to limit
searches by domain
•
This feature is usually found in the advanced search screen
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2.4
META SEARCH TOOLS
Defining Meta Search Tools
•
Metasearch tools allow you to conduct a search at a site which transmits
your search to a number of individual search engines. Essentially, you are
searching the indexes of a number of search engines and the entries of
some directories.
•
There are many search engines and new ones emerging all the time.
Meta-search engines are getting better and offering some good features.
Advantages
•
Able to search numerous individual search tools at once
•
Use of new technologies such as clustering allow for results to be
displayed in more meaningful ways
Disadvantages
•
Meta search tools can be prone to timing out due to the size of the search
•
The meta search engine may not support all of the search features offered
by individual search tools
•
Meta search tools are only as good as the search engines they search
When to use Meta Search Tools
•
If you have already conducted an unsuccessful search using one or two
search engines select a meta search tool that searches other directories
and search engines
•
Use meta search tools when you wish to conduct a fast overview of the
information available on a topic
•
Meta search tools are also useful when you are searching for an obscure
topic because you cover more than one search tool
Examples of Meta Search Tools:
SurfWax
www.surfwax.com
•
Searches against major search engines
•
Can customise in My Preferences after signing up at a free or higher level
•
Offers a variety of features to help you dig deep into your results
•
Searches results can be saved in Info Cubby for future use
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Clusty
http://clusty.com
•
Winner of the Best Meta Search Engine award from Search Engine Watch
in 2002
•
Core technology is document clustering or automatically organising
documents into groups or folders when the search is being processed and
without human intervention. Clusty uses the titles, URLs and short
descriptions to organise the documents.
•
Able to preview pages in search results page
Dogpile
http://dogpile.com
•
Winner of the Best Meta Search Engine award from Search Engine Watch
in 2003
•
Searches Google, Yahoo!, Ask.com, About, MSN and more
•
Offers alternate, related search topics
•
Records recent searches
Turbo10
http://turbo10.com
•
Provides access to searching over 2000 search engines/databases
•
Allows you to create your own collection of search engines/databases to
search the web (maximum of 10 search engines per collection)
•
You can create up to 10 collections
•
Collections are emailed so that you can access these from any PC
•
Searches the deep or invisible web
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•
Clusters results, showing the top 10 clusters for each search
KartOO
http://kartoo.com
•
Compiles results and represents them in a series of interactive maps
•
The search screen can be changed to a variety of different languages
•
Found sites are represented on the map with more or less pages,
depending on their relevancy
Ixquick
http://ixquick.com
•
Searchers can choose to search the web, news, mp3 or picture sites
•
Ixquick is able to translate your search query containing boolean or
wildcards into syntax that can be searched by the search engines that can
handle complex queries
•
Results are allocated a star for every match in the top 10 results of each
search engine. The results with the highest number of stars are listed at
the top of the list.
Metacrawler
http://metacrawler.com
•
One of the oldest meta search engines, developed in 1994 and released
on the Internet in June 1995
•
Use www.metaspy.com to find out what other searchers are looking for
•
Searches Google, Yahoo!, Ask Jeeves, About and many more
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2.5
THE DEEP WEB
Defining the Deep Web
•
Also called the Invisible Web
•
It is the part of the World Wide Web that is not indexed by search engines.
Search robots or spiders are unable to carry out the indexing process on
many of the Deep Web sites because of their formatting or because there
are no links to the site.
•
Objects that make up the Deep Web are either stored in databases or
produced in non-HTML formats. This used to include formats such as
PDF files, images and sound. Objects still part of the Deep Web include
formats such as macromedia flash. Because of the highly competitive
environment of search companies and the advantages of being able to
index more of the Deep Web, what search engines are able to locate and
index is continuously changing and developing.
•
An estimated 500 times larger that the known “surface” World Wide Web
•
It is also estimated to be the largest growing category of new information
on the Internet. It has been reported recently that the Deep Web is made
up of “550 billion web pages, while the surface web is made up of a mere
1.2 billion” (Gliddon, 2001:64).
•
The key to locating information on the Deep Web is to be aware of the
gateways to these resources. A number of useful web sites for locating
information held on the Deep Web are listed on the following page.
Examples of Deep Web search tools:
CompletePlanet
www.completeplanet.com
•
Accesses search engines and searchable databases
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Queries can be entered in natural language or browse the directory
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Supports full Boolean capabilities
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State Library of Queensland
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Internet Wayback Machine
www.archive.org/index.html
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Enter the URL for a web site in the search box to locate an archived copy
of a web site if it is available
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Provides access to specialised collections eg. archival movies
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State Library of Queensland
4 February 2008
2.6
DATABASES
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Commercial databases are collections of information presented
electronically. Databases range from library catalogues and white-pages
directories to several billion records contained in the larger news
databases.
•
The commercial information environment began in the 1960’s. It has
developed into a valuable but expensive research resource.
•
Databases are arranged into either full-text or bibliographic information (or
a combination of both)
•
Databases have their own particular idiosyncrasies and require
individualized searching techniques
Full text databases
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Access to databases has shifted to provide online access via the Internet
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Often with Internet access, a site will offer free searching but will charge
for the articles. In the main, full text retrieval is a commercial enterprise.
•
Access to full text information is provided to the public by libraries that take
out subscriptions to these services
•
State Library provides access to several online databases for all
Queensland public library members. These databases provide access to
full text newspaper articles, magazines and reference books.
•
Information about the databases that State Library subscribe to and that
are available Queensland wide to public library members begins on page
34 of the workbook
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State Library of Queensland
4 February 2008
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