A library database is an online searchable collection of information (containing scholarly journals, ebooks, reports, conference papers, newspaper articles, standards, audio files, videos) that the library subscribes to for students.
When you open a document in a database, the column on the right contains a list of useful tools.
Save: Save the article to Google Drive, One Drive or on your device.
Cite: Click on 'cite' then scroll down to Harvard. It's a good idea to cut and paste the text into a word document so you can tidy up later in your reference list.
Email: Email article to yourself or someone else.
Add to folder: Create a folder for an assignment and save relevant documents as you go along.
Permalink: Access the URL of the document.
Boolean Commands
Boolean commands (or operators) allow you to narrow or broaden your search in many databases by linking keywords together in various combinations to research topics. They are advanced search tools.
AND - Allows you to combine keywords and tells the database to locate items containing both words. Example: Chinese AND Pottery. This command will locate records where both the words Chinese and Pottery appear. Narrows search.
OR - Allows you to search for items that contain either word. Example: Pottery OR Ceramics. This will locate items that contain either the word Pottery or Ceramics, or both. Broadens search.
NOT - Allows you to exclude terms from your search. Example: Pottery NOT Ancient. This will locate items that contain the word Pottery but any that also include the word Ancient. Narrows search.
Truncation *
Represented by an asterix (*), truncation allows you to search the root of a word with all possible endings. Example: child* will locate all endings of the word 'child' including children, childlike, childish etc.
Wildcard Symbols ? #
Enter a search term and replace each unknown character with the question mark symbol (?). Ebscohost will find all citations of that word with the ? replaced by a letter. Example: Type NE?T to find all citations containing neat, nest or next.
Enter search terms adding the hashtag symbol (#) in places where an alternate spelling may contain an extra character, Ebscohost finds all citations of the word that appear with or without the extra character. Example: Type COLO#R to find all citations containing color or colour.
| Database | Online searchable collection of information (journals, ebooks, reports, conference papers, newspaper articles, audio, videos). Each database contains different material depending on the subject. |
| Multisearch | Is the library's search engine that searches through all the databases we subscribe to (with a few exceptions). Multisearch can bring up millions of results whereas searching a database individually can bring up less, more specific results. |
| Full Text | Contains the full article or ebook whereas some databases only contain indexes and citations of articles. |
| Multi-disciplinary | Covers a range of subjects. |
| Standards | Agreed ways of doing things written down as a set of precise criteria so they can be used as rules, guidelines or definitions. Standards are put together by groups of industry experts, consumers, research organizations, government departments and more, all working together. Databases containing standards - British standards online, NSAI Standards, IHS. |
| Database | Limit |
|---|---|
| British standards online | FileOpen plugin required to access documents, |
| Naxos | Requires Adobe Flash Player. Limited to 3 simultaneous users. |
| NSAI Standards | Access available to I.S. 10101 only. |
| Oxford Music Online | Limited to 3 simultaneous users. |
If the database is not searchable with multisearch then log into that database and search from there.
Why should I use an individual database instead of doing all my searches in MultiSearch ?
MultiSearch is great for finding out the range of sources we have available on any given topic but once you start to research a topic in more depth you will want more flexibility to save your results and keep up to date with new publications.
Most databases allow you to save searches and set up saved search alerts that send you any new items that matches your search. This is one of the advantages of using the database directly rather than always using MultiSearch.
Add @student.dkit.ie to your username when signing in (@dkit.ie for staff).
Make sure you are using a valid password.
Switch browsers – if an article won’t open using Chrome, try Firefox.
Clear cookies/history/cache on browsers regularly. Clearing cache will delete all information on your browser, eg search history, frequently accessed sites and references on ZoteroBib (zbib.org). (To clear cache on Chrome, go to More tools or Settings, and clear browsing data, or hit Ctrl-Shift-Delete. Restart the browser. This will log you out of websites).
Make sure you are using the latest version of the browser.
Try restarting your device.
If you are still having issues, contact us at library@dkit.ie.
