Terms actually used for "database" etc.

John Kupersmith jkup at jkup.net
Wed Aug 2 12:50:42 EDT 2000


Following up on the recent thread on alternatives to the term "database,"
here is some information I've gathered from studying a group of library 
home pages (both the libraries' primary pages and those created for 
in-library public access stations).  

Below is a list of terms relating to electronic resources, databases,
electronic journals and books, and web links, that were found in 
examining 38 such pages, all from academic libraries.  Numbers in 
parentheses indicate the number of different pages on which a term 
was found.

Electronic Research Center
Electronic Resources  (5)
Library Research
Online Resources
Research Resources 

Articles and More
Databases  (14)
Electronic Databases  (2)
Electronic Indexes & Abstracts  (2)
Finding Information/Search Databases  (2)
Indexes and Databases
Locating Articles  (2)
Online Databases  (2)
Periodical Article Indexes  (2)
Periodical Articles
Periodical Indexes & Abstracts
Research Databases
Search for Articles

E-Journals  (2)
E-Journals and Newspapers
E-News  (2)
Electronic Journals  (5)
Electronic Journals, Periodicals, and Newspapers
Full Text Databases
Full-text journal or newspaper titles
Online Journals
Online Subscriptions
Serials & Newspapers

Electronic Books
Electronic Books, Short Stories, Poetry

Gateways
General and Subject Specific Links
General Reference
Government Information
Hot Spots to Great WWW Resources
Internet Reference Alternatives  (2)
Internet Resources  (3)
Net Resources
Ready Reference
Ready Reference Tools on the Web
Recommended Web Finding Tools
Reference Shelf  (2)
Search the Internet
Search the Web
Search Tools
Selected Communications Web Sites
Selected Web Sites  (2)
Subject-Specific Reference
Virtual Reference
Web Databases
Web Resources
Web Sites

Two of the pages had no evident links to any electronic resources 
other than the library catalog.

Based on this quick sample, there are some patterns in the terms 
that libraries use for electronic resources, but it looks like 
we have a way to go on the road to standardization!

For more information on this project, see: "The Other Home Page: 
Special-Purpose Entry Points for Library Web Sites"  
< http://www.jkup.net/other.html >

--jk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  John Kupersmith        jkup at jkup.net        http://www.jkup.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Assistant Reference Librarian       http://www.lib.berkeley.edu
  University of California, Berkeley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Not speaking for UCB in this message~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


More information about the Web4lib mailing list