A library database is an online resource that the library subscribes to that contains articles and information from print sources such as magazines, newspapers, journals, and reference books.
Databases are not "internet" sources (usually)
Although you access our databases from the internet, most of the articles you find in them are reprinted from real live print sources. Most of the things you find in our database cannot be found by searching Google or Yahoo. These are subscription services that the library pays for. They are every bit a part of our library's collection as the books on our shelf, and unless you want to buy your own subscription, you must go through the library's website to access them. Look carefully at what you find--the description will be listed--book, journal article,
You must login to use these databases from off-campus
Because these subscription services are paid for by the library, you can use them from any Lake Land computer on campus and you won't have to login. But if you are trying to access these from an off-campus computer (from home, or work, or Iceland), you will have to log in to prove that you are associated with Lake Land college. You do this by entering the same login and password that you use for IRIS.
The Lake Land Library subscribe to dozens of different databases that cover a wide range of subjects, so choosing the right one for your information need is important to finding the best information. For instance, you're not going to find very much information on hybrid cars if you're searching a nursing database.
On our Databases webpage, you can find links to all of Lake Land's subscription databases. At the top of the page are our major vendors, which combine several smaller databases within them. (ProQuest, for example, searches many different databases at once.) Our general databases/vendors include ProQuest, Gale, and EBSCO.
In addition to the general vendors, we have a list of more subject-specific databases organized by subject.
Here are some general tips and strategies you can use whenever you search a library database.
Articles in a database will be available in:
Full Text: the entire text of the article (sometimes with pictures) reproduced on a web page in the database.
PDF Full Text: An actual photocopied image of the page exactly as it appeared in the original source.
Abstract: a short summary of an article. You can read this to see if it's worth trying to get the full-text.
Citation: Information on how to find the article somewhere else. A citation includes things like the title, author, source, date of publication, and page numbers.