Different colleges and universities may provide access to different databases depending on how much funding they have to spend on library-licensed resources and what academic programs they are trying to support. However, there are some databases and database vendors that you are likely to see regardless of your institution.

The Big Three: Ebsco, Proquest, and Gale

Libraries license access to databases from database vendors. There are three big vendors that you are likely to see: Ebscohost (often abbreviated as Ebsco), Proquest, and Gale. Each vendor offers a wide variety of databases, from large interdisciplinary databases to small databases focusing on specific disciplines or niche topics (more about these in the next section, on specialized databases). Each vendor contracts with different publishers to offer content from different periodicals or other information resources, such as e-books. For example, each vendor might offer a database, on, say, biology, but each vendor’s biology database will contain different articles based on what publishers they have contracted with. That’s why it’s usually worthwhile to search several different databases on the same topic. Each vendor uses a distinctive user interface, so their databases will all look similar, but they may have different features, such as browsable topic lists or different filters down the side of the search page, and they will definitely contain different content. That’s why it’s important to write down the name of a database (not just the vendor) when you keep a research log.

Ebscohost’s best-known interdisciplinary database is called Academic Search. Depending on your institution’s resources, you might have Academic Search Ultimate, Academic Search Complete, Academic Search Elite, or Academic Search Premier ⧉ (the larger, more expensive versions contain more resources). Proquest’s main interdisciplinary database is called Proquest Central. Gale’s main interdisciplinary database is called Gale OneFile, but it is also known for its “Gale in Context” databases, which focus on specific age groups or core disciplines. Depending on your institution, you may have access to all of these databases, or none of them. You may also have access to additional research databases through your local public library or through your state library. The best way to access library databases is from the database list webpage on your library’s website (some examples are below). If you try to go directly to the database through the vendor’s website, it may not offer you the correct log-in page to get access through your library.

• Fort Hays State University Tebo Library A-Z database list
• Hays Public Library online resources list
• State Library of Kansas A-Z database list

Other Common Interdisciplinary Databases

There are also some standalone interdisciplinary databases that you are likely to see. These include Jstor, Emerald Insight, and Wiley Online Library. Jstor is known for its arts and humanities coverage. Emerald and Wiley are both publishers as well as database providers; they each publish a large number of journals and then provide access to them through their databases. Again, depending on your library, you may have access to all of these or to none of them.