The Web vs. Library Databases - A Comparison
The Web (Google, Wikipedia, About.com, etc.) Databases (SIRS, Gale, etc.)
Varies at best. Difficult to verify. Cannot limit to Easy to determine. Most databases have
Authority: professional, scholarly literature. Information on the scholarly/peer-reviewed filter or contain only
Web is seldom regulated, which means authority is scholarly literature. Authority and
often in doubt. trustworthiness are virtually guaranteed.
1000's, if not millions of hits, much of the same Dozens to hundreds of hits (sometimes 1000's
Number of information repackaged or duplicated. Duplicates but not 100's of 1000's) - a more manageable
Hits are not filtered out. number, and duplicates can be filtered out.
Lack of subject focus can result in numerous Focus by subject (business, art, American history)
Relevance irrelevant hits - or "junk" - to wade through. Much and/or format (journals, books, book reviews),
Web information is opinionated and biased. Unless which often means more relevant information
you are using a subject-specific search engine, and less time wasted dealing with junk.
expect "everything and the kitchen sink" in the Information comes from legitimate, quality-
results. Quantity does not mean Quality! controlled sources.
Varies by search engine, but often limited. Can limit Numerous advance search features determined
Search by document type (.doc, .pdf) or language, but by database subject focus, e.g. limiting by
Features limiting by publication date, format (article, book, publication type, date, language, document
etc.), scholarly/peer-reviewed and more is format, scholarly/peer-reviewed status. The list
unavailable. of features is as long as the number of databases
available.
Web information often lives and dies on the Web Databases deal only with published information;
Access to and can come from anyone with Internet access. that is information that originally appeared in
Published Seldom is the information coming from legitimate print: magazine and journal articles, books, etc.
Information published sources: magazines, academic journals They are more stable than the Web. Through the
books, etc. When it is, the user usually has to pay to library's paid access, all of this information is
access it. available to you, the user, for free.
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