Library Database
Nearly
all libraries maintain a database of their holdings. Typically, librarians
give their local database a name; for example, Calvin's database
is called WebCat. The database is usually prominently displayed
on the library's webpage. See in this 
how newer, Web-based OPACs like WebCat seamlessly link to Web
resources such as electronic books, journals, and government documents.
While there are many similarities between the library's database and the research databases discussed earlier, there are also several differences. These are discussed below.
Characteristics of WebCat (Calvin's Library Database)
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Everything in WebCat is available or accessible on campus. Article databases—those we encountered earlier in this chapter—index far more than is owned by the library. |
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| WebCat contains more than 600,000 records. | ||||||
| Journal articles cannot be found in WebCat. You can search for the title of a journal, and WebCat will then provide information on whether a particular issue of that journal is housed in the library. But you must use research databases to locate individual articles. | ||||||
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WebCat contains many formats, including microforms, CDs, videos, government documents, electronic material, and journal titles. |
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WebCat provides seamless linking to Web resources. Somewhere in the record for Web sources will be a link that takes you to the source. WebCat contains hundreds of thousands of links to Web resources.
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| Like the research databases discussed above, WebCat also uses subjects. Use the same basic search techniques discussed above to locate useful subjects in WebCat. However, very narrow topics often are not found. Since a majority of the items in WebCat are books, the subject coverage tends to be broader than subject coverage in journal articles. Therefore, instead of searching for Aster ericoides (White Aster) you may have to use the subject "Wildflowers of the American West" and examine the table of contents or the indexes for references to Aster ericoides. Similarly, instead of searching for "prozac" and "children," you may have to use the subject "Depression in Children" and find references to Prozac. | ||||||
| See an
of the "Basic Search Option" in WebCat |
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| See
an
of the "Advanced Search Option" in WebCat |
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These pages were
written by Glenn Remelts.
and edited by Jeffrey L. Nyhoff and Nancy Zylstra
©2005 Calvin University (formerly Calvin College), All Rights Reserved
If you encounter technical errors, contact computing@calvin.edu.