Many student ask why search library databases when you can find information with a quick Google search. Fair enough, and both resources have their benefits.
Library databases are highly organized collections of academic information, news sources and multi-media content. They are provided to you for free to help you in your academic work.
Search engines, including Google, provide a way to find information on the Internet about a variety of topics, but advertising may be mixed in with results. Until a few years ago, Google did not tag advertising.
Search Engines
| Defining Scope: | Searches and indexes Web sites and provides a way to find information on almost any topic imaginable. |
| What's included: | Allows searchers to quickly find information on topics. Usually provides millions of results, with advertising prominently featured. |
| Information strengths | Information from organizations, governments and individuals. |
| Evaluating results | Anybody can post anything on the Internet and social media, so you have to carefully check the information you find. |
Library Databases
| Defining Scope: | Highly organized information enabling users to find information with high relevance to search terms. |
| What's included: | Collections of information that are organized by subject, theme, source type, etc. |
| Information strengths: | High-quality primary and secondary sources in a variety of formats, including books, Ebooks, articles, videos and datasets. |
| Evaluating results: | Mostly peer-reviewed or edited material, often from high-quality sources and publishers. |
In the example searches below, you see that a search in EBSCO, a library database collection, finds fewer than 200,000 results for a broad search about climate change. Sources found mostly include journals and magazines. The tools on the left side of the page quickly allow you to limit by date and/or by peer-reviewed sources.
The same search in Google finds millions of items of all sorts. Notice that the first several are Ads. (clicking on them generates money for Google). Commendably, the first non-advertising result is from the respected government agency NASA. The only way here to get less results is to add more search terms.
The little known Google Advanced Search is a great way to search for exact phrases, limit by domain type (.edu, .gov, .com, etc.) You can also limit by forcing your search terms to appear in certain parts of the page such as in the title.
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Based on information from Brown University.