Free Online Databases

As study is compelling (erm, inspiring) me to expand my information literacy, I've just cornered our Corporate Librarian, Nina, and asked for a hand selecting professional journals for regular reading.

Nina gave me a very thorough introduction to the free online databases provided by CityLibraries Townsville and the State Library of Queensland (accessible to staff and patrons through the SLQ website and our own website).

Of course I knew of the existence of our online databases, and I'd used them very occasionally for simple searches. But having a highly skilled professional give you a guided tour -- and more than a little instruction on how to search -- just made me think these databases are an absolute hidden gem.

Among other things, they provide full-text articles from hundreds of encyclopediae, newspapers, journals and magazines covering the entire gamut of human knowledge, fully searchable, with the ability to set up e-mail alerts and RSS feeds to subjects of interest.

After demonstrating how to use all this to easily take care of keeping my information literacy current, Nina then showed me how to use the databases (particularly ProQuest Science, available through SLQ) to research for purposes of writing or pursuing a hobby, and again the amount of good, reliable, searchable information available (full-text or abstract, with a number of options for setting up alerts) was simply breath-taking.

Which is to say to my colleagues if, like me, you haven't explored our free online databases, do and, if you do, Nina is a supremely skilled and cheerful guide.