What is a Database? - Activity 1
Introduction | Prep | Presentation | Activity 1 | Activity 2
Compare library catalogs (10 minutes)
One of the searchable interfaces you’ll use most often is your library’s catalog. All scholars need to adjust to different catalog interfaces throughout their career.
Take a few minutes to explore some library catalogs.
- Vanderbilt University Links to an external site. or Southern Illinois University Links to an external site. - these are both on the same platform as UK's InfoKat Discovery.
- Lexington Public Library Links to an external site. or New York Public Library Links to an external site. - these are on platforms that are different from UK's InfoKat Discovery.
- Choose your own! Pick any library catalog you like.
Tip: Try different test searches. For example, search for a citation you already know, and for a topic you want to explore. Play around with the filter and advanced search options. Try to find the options for accessing materials. How do the variety of options compare to your institution’s library catalog?
Is it a catalog or a discovery layer? (5 minutes)
Take your best guess: is the catalog you explored:
- A traditional library catalog
Books, journals, objects, and archival collections held by the library. Sometimes called the OPAC (online public access catalog).
- A library discovery layer
A large all-in-one search tool that combines an articles index with the library catalog
Most academic libraries in the US offer a catalog search that pulls in a huge amount of data from other sources. This is called a “discovery layer,” and it typically provides article-level searching.
Discovery layers across different libraries often look and behave in similar ways. In part, this is because a handful of companies produce the software that runs these systems.
Those companies also compile the article citations. The discovery layer can feel like a cross-database search, but that is not exactly what is happening.
Introduction | Prep | Presentation | Activity 1 | Activity 2