Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies News

MEL’s Database of the Week for 8/20/10

August 23rd, 2010

Welcome to Database of the Week — a feature from the Management & Economics Library (MEL). These database snapshots will give you basic information about our most relevant and beneficial online resources.

This Week’s Featured Database: EconLit, from the American Economic Association.

Link: www.lib.purdue.edu/mel, in the pull down Quick Access to Business Databases alpha list right below the Libraries’ search box.

Description/focus: EconLit is an index of more than 30 years of economics literature from around the world.

Start with this hint: Note that EconLit is an index, not a full text database.  This is not a barrier to the full text of hits resulting from a search, however, because of the Find it at Purdue feature available in all of our databases.  The EBSCOhost interface for EconLit is simple to understand.  Use the option for advanced search so that you can narrow your search results by year or publication type.  As an example, enter the term “biotechnology” as a basic search and the database returns more than 4500 hits from journals, books, working papers and dissertations.  If you use  the Advanced Search and limit to the past 10 years of journal articles , then add “agricultural” as a subject, the result is a manageable list of 430 results. When you have identified a title that is applicable to your topic, click on Find it at Purdue which then generates a search in the Libraries’ eJournal Finder (SFX).

Why you should know this database: Because of its specialized subject coverage, any program that includes aspects of economics can include a list of resources developed with the use of EconLit.

How this database can be integrated into the curriculum: Students will find EconLit easy to navigate and will appreciate the options for refining results by year and source type.

Compared to Google: A search in Advanced Google Scholar for “economics” and “biotechnology” for the years 1999-2010 results in 17,900 hits.

Cost: No cost to Purdue University Libraries. EconLit is an Inspire database provided by the state of Indiana.  For more information contact mdugan@purdue.edu.

——————————

Database of the Week comes to you from the Management & Economics Library (MEL). Our intent is to give you a brief introduction to a database that you may not know.  If you would like more information about this database, or if you would like a demonstration of it for a class, contact kranlib@purdue.edu.  Database of the Week is archived  at https://blogs.lib.purdue.edu/news/category/MGMT/.  For more Purdue Libraries news, follow us on Twitter (@PurdueLibraries).

If you would like us to promote your favorite database, send an email to mdugan@purdue.edu.