Your Library Online

Databases

There are over 300 databases at the Library, all listed on our A-Z Databases page. Each database might specialise in a different subject and offer different types of content, from articles to videos.

You can find A-Z Databases in the Search & Discover menu from the homepage:

or at the top of the catalogue:

Which is the most suitable database for your search?

For help selecting the best database to begin your search, visit the A-Z Databases page and filter by subject to see:

• recommendations in the 'yellow box' - these are the most comprehensive and popular database relating to that subject
• a description under each database, detailing its strengths and scope
• any relevant research guides (right-hand side) for more resources and advice specific to that subject.

TIP: Remember to Clear Filters for each search

TIP: Multi-subject databases include many individual databases and a vast range of topics. For example, I could search for international business articles on ProQuest Business, if I choose ProQuest Central this includes a conglomeration of 70+ ProQuest databases, including business.

OR, AND, NOT are Boolean operators. Advances in online searching has limited the need for these searches but they can be useful on occasions, particularly when using databases.

Brackets work in the same way that they would work in a mathematical equation, i.e. you work out the bit inside the brackets first. Be careful, as the placement of brackets in a search will make a huge difference. If you are struggling with brackets, consider using an Advanced Search builder instead. 

AND is useful for including two search terms, and excluding results where one of the search terms isn't present. Searches will automatically apply an AND between two search terms. 

• Football AND Richmond will yield the same results as Football Richmond

NOT can be useful for eliminating irrelevant terms when the same word means very different things.

• Crane NOT bird - when looking for the machine
• Borchgrevink NOT (Antarctic OR Polar) - when looking for someone of that name but not the Antarctic explorer

OR can be used to include two different terms or phrases for the same concept.

• Supermarkets OR "grocery stores" - for results about either supermarkets or grocery stores.
• "Price of fuel" won't find "cost of petrol". Try using an OR search instead: "price of fuel" OR "cost of petrol"
  • what about cars AND "price of fuel" OR "cost of petrol"? This is creating two searches, one for  cars AND "price of fuel" and a second search just for "cost of petrol". See the example below for the varying outcomes

Diagram explaining Boolean operators. Credit to Cecelia Vetter, CC By-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Example: Supermarkets – price gouging  Coles Wolworths

Searching the catalogue for books

• a term like gouging is unlikely to appear as a book subject
• first search using specific terms such as Coles or Woolworths
  • there is one book from 2015 which will give good background on the Woolworths/Coles duopoly
    • Supermarket monsters : the price of Coles and Woolworths’ dominance / Malcolm KnoX
• we could search ALSO using more general terms
  • supermarket prices 

Searching the catalogue for articles

• the most current information will be in journal or newspaper articles
• your searches will search the full text of articles so your search can be more specific
  • supermarket price gouging coles woolworths
    • this is an article search
    • this is newspaper search
  • from these searches we can find that there was a Senate select committee on supermarket prices”
  • amendments to the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Fair Go for Consumers and Small Business) Act 2024 can be found with a general internet search
  • as can the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Supermarkets Inquiry 2024-25

Searching the SLV catalogue will search content that SLV has access to. 

Many of our databases contain articles that will be discoverable in our catalogue via an Article search or News Article search. If you are not sure which database to search, you might want to begin your search in our catalogue. Note that searches will perform differently in our catalogue than in individual databases. 

See more information on the Catalogue page of this guide. 

When searching, the aim is to find relevant information and to eliminate as many irrelevant items as possible.

• choose several terms that best describe the information you are looking for

  • it is good to choose three to five terms
  • if your search is for a person, an event or anything with a proper name it is likely to be easier to locate relevant items especially if the name is unusual.

Not enough results?

Unlike modern search engines like Google, library databases rarely perform well when asked questions in a conversational style. 

A question such as: What is the impact of climate change on bushfire frequency in Victoria? will likely return no results, as there are too many search terms in the phrase. Instead try distilling down to the key terms in the concept that you are researching. For instance: Climate Fire Victoria.

Too many results?

A very general search might give more results than you can possibly get through yourself. A search in our catalogue for History Victoria yields over 78,000 results. Adding an additional search term narrows down your results to a more manageable number with more relevance to your research. History Victoria Eltham has less than 100 results to look through.

A catalogue search is not case sensitive, including for names and places. For example a search for isabella fraser and a search for Isabella Fraser will give you the same results. Punctuation however can make a difference to search results, for example adding or removing an apostrophe will give different results and may be the reason you are not finding something you are sure that we hold.

Each database will offer a range of Filters, usually to one side of the results. Reflect on what you are seeking and use filters accordingly:

• Date range: Are you seeking the most recent research or looking for content created in a particular point in history? Adjust the date range as needed.
• Full text
• Peer reviewed

Below is an example from the SLV catalogue:

Filters applied will appear at the top of the list as 'active filters'

You can use the lock icon to lock that filter so that it remains in use for subsequent searches, or the x icon to remove it

Starting a new search will clear all unlocked filters

Advanced Search offers a range of options, these can differ across different databases. You might search within areas of the article record by using the following:

• narrow to Abstract or Title etc.
• specify a range of dates
• narrow to 'Peer Reviewed' items -meaning item is assessed by several experts prior to publication
• use "quotation" marks to indicate a phrase. NOTE - be careful as variations to a phrase or name may be excluded from your search

We recommend sticking to one "concept" per line in an Advanced search. Below is an example from the SLV Advanced Search:

Quotation marks

Enclosing multiple words in quotation marks will search the words as a phrase. 

• global financial crisis will search for all three words anywhere in a record. This will yield a high number of results
• "global financial crisis" will search for the words as a phrase, so will only return results where the words have been used together, in that order. This will yield fewer results, but they are likely to be more relevant to what we are searching.

Wildcards

Many search platforms or databases will allow the use of wildcard operators such as * or ?. Check the database's 'how to' guide to see if it supports wilcard searching. 

• the asterisk ( * ) wildcard can be used to allow for different word endings. nurs*  will search for nurse, nurses, nursing. cultur* will search for culture, cultured, cultural, culturally. 
• the question mark (?) wildcard can be used to allow for different spellings within a word. globali?e  will search for globalise and globalize. Ric*ards will search for both Richards and Rickards. 

You've found exactly what you were seeking - how do you ensure you can find this again in future? 

Most Library catalogues and databases offer a mix of tools to save and export item information. Our Library catalogue has buttons to print, email and share what you have found. 

If you're a Library member searching our catalogue, you can sign in to your account to view your search history, save searches & alerts, and add items to a favourites list.

Some of the save/export options you might see include:

• Email
• Print
• Cite
• Download PDF, if applicable and available

Ask one of our librarians.

You can also find updates on any known issues affecting to our online collections on this Library Systems Status page.