Welcome to the online-database tutorial page at the Hooley-Bundschu Library.  On this page, students and faculty will find information  that will be beneficial when searching the online databases for researched information.  As academic libraries continue to add digital information, the information-search process can seem somewhat difficult and challenging at times. To aid in the information search process, the library staff is ready to assist students and faculty with online-database research, and the research help and the  online tutorials can help.

These tutorials focus on the databases that are available from the online-database page of the library website.  Students and faculty can search for information based on database recommendations by an academic department (by Business, Psychology, Sociology, etc.)or by an alphabetized list of all available databases

QUESTION: What are online databases, and how are they different from using an online catalog?
Databases are online, digital collections of information that enable users to search journals, academic journals, and other information sources at the same time. Online databases are linked to information that exists "online", in a digital form.  On the other hand, an online catalog is linked to information that exists in a printed form (or imprinted), and is this information is "physically" stored in a library.  Thus, documents in an online database cannot be located using a library catalog.

The journals contained in an online database may may be searched individually, or, many journals may be searched simultaneously. However, whether searching one journal or many journals, the "searcher" uses a common search interface (window) where a keyword, author, title, subject search, or other search-terms may be entered.

When searching most online databases, either documents with "full-text" information will be retrieved or documents with "abstract and citation" information will be retrieved.  In either case, the document information may be printed, downloaded to a storage drive, or emailed. Most researchers prefer to have access to full-text documents; however, many documents exist that provide only abstract and citation information.  When an online database provides only the abstract and citation for a document, you must obtain the full-text document through another source, usually through an inter-library loan (ILL).  In addition to the online database, the printed version of the journal may be located in the library by using the online catalog  (only if the library subscribes to the journal), or the printed journal may be located another nearby library.

The Hooley-Bundschu Library provides access to many online databases.  The EBSCO online databases are the largest and most heavily used at Avila by students and faculty.  In the following table, descriptions of the EBSCO databases are provided. Links are provided to tutorials that may aid the searching process. Links to the video tutorials at EBSCO are provided via an Internet link.
 

ACADEMIC SEARCH ELITE

Academic Search Elite covers a wide range of academic areas: business, the social sciences, the humanities, science, education, and others. Full-text access is available for over 1700 scholarly, academic journals in the Academic Search Elite database. In addition to the full-text journals, over 3000 additional journals provide abstract and citation information.

The Academic Search Elite database, like all EBSCO databases, is available in the library and through the Avila campus network. Off-campus access is available through the library's proxy server, click this link.

Click this link for a "Video" tutorial that demonstrates a basic search in EBSCO databases: http://support.epnet.com/training/flash_videos/basicSearchingAcademic.html

Click this link for a "Video" tutorial that demonstrates an advanced search in EBSCO databases:

http://support.epnet.com/training/flash_videos/advancedSearchGuided.html