Q. What is the difference between the library catalog, journals, and databases?

Catalog "Quick Search"

options are:

• All - This searches within the UNL Libraries' physical and electronic collections, plus a large collection of journal articles and book chapters.
• UNL Libraries Catalog - This searches within the UNL Libraries' physical collections (books, DVDs, other multimedia items, etc.) along with ebooks and journals/e-journals by title. You will not be able to find individual book chapters or articles through this search.
• Journals - This searches only for print journals and e-journals by title. It does not search for individual articles.
• Databases - This searches for databases by title or subject. It does not search the content of each database. To see the full list of databases, click here.

Journals

A journal, also known as an academic journal or scholarly journal, is a regularly published collection of scholarly articles (similar to a magazine). Many of these are available online. You can search for journals by title using the library catalog, the journal search page, or BrowZine.

Databases

A library database is a searchable collection of electronic materials, sometimes including references to print resources as well. Databases can be multidisciplinary (for example, Academic Search Premier or JSTOR) or subject-specific (for example, ERIC for education or APA PsycInfo for psychology).

Why use library databases? Databases contain many more resources than you can find just by Googling your topic.

The Databases A-Z list allows you to find databases by subject area or material type. The most popular databases are listed in the right-hand column. Each database has a short description, ending with the types of materials it contains in parentheses:

• Full-Text means that the database contains full-length articles, books, or other readable content.
• Abstracts means that the database contains abstracts (summaries) of articles and books, which you can access via another database or Interlibrary Loan.
• Index is similar to abstracts, but less detailed.
• Images means the database contains photos and/or illustrations.
• Streaming Video means the database contains videos that can be watched online.
• Streaming Audio means the database contains music, spoken word, or other audio content that can be listened to online.

Most databases on the list have the Nebraska "N" symbol next to them. This means that you need to log in with your UNL credentials to access the content. Other databases have an open lock symbol next to them, meaning they do not require a login.