Online Databases

An online database is a database that can be accessed from a network, including from the Internet. An online database is different from a local database which is held in an individual computer or its attached storage, such as a CD or external drive. Search engines are programs that are used for searching databases. Some examples of online databases being used in Australian schools are UQL Cyberschool databases, NSW State Library databases, ANZ Reference Centre databases (e.g science reference centre, literature reference centre etc), Scootle(See userguide for teachers), Schools Archive - The Age Education Resource Centre Expert Space, The Source and PebbleGo to name a few. A pdf of UQL Cyberschool may also be handy when locating for online databases. 

Types of Library Databases

All library databases are relational databases. As opposed to flat file databases, relational databases employ a much more logical structure in the way it stores data. Relational database use multiple tables to represent objects. For example a table called book could contain columns attributed to title, author, ISBN etc. Most library databases in schools can be categorized under three headings: INDEXING or BIBLIOGRAPHIC databases, FULLTEXT databases and COMBINATION databases. 

1. Indexing Databases - these databases (also called bibliographic databases) provide citations (and sometimes abstract) that describe titles, authors, subjects and other information about written works however it does not provide access to full-text of those work. This library catalogue is a good example of bibliographic database since it only lists the books, periodicals, videotapes, DVD's etc the library has in its collection. There is no mention of any full-text article, for instance.  To read the book the user needs to physically locate the item on the shelf.
2. Fulltext databases - these databases provide access to the entire text of magazine, periodical or encyclopedia articles, pdfs, e-books and CD-ROMS.   
3. Combination databases - these databases contain a mixture of citations and full text articles i.e it contains bibiliographic records for some items and both the record and the full-text of other items.

It should be noted here school/ university library databases may be organized differently based on the nature of the information they contain. For instance the University of Illinois Library  database is organized into general interest, discipline-specific and subject-specific databases. 

Creating a Database using MS Access 2003
Apart from the poster given below these websites also provide good materials for learning and using Microsoft Access to develop and use databases in schools.







Tips and Tricks on Searching Online Databases

Since all databases basically work in the same way, important tips are explored in the following video where ProQuest is used as an example. In addition to the video these websites  also provide useful tricks on researching online databases.