GALILEO and Other Databases Available Through GSW

A state legislature-supported consortium comprised of  most academic, school,  and many public libraries in Georgia, GALILEO is comprised of more than 200 databases.  In addition to several full text encyclopedia and other reference sources, there are hundreds of thousands of scholarly and popular articles available in full text through GEORGIA LIBRARY LEARNING ONLINE (GALILEO).  James Earl Carter Library (JECL) subscribes to several online full-text journals (ranging from the Journal of Nautical Archaeology to the Journal of Memory & Language) accessible through their web sites with the proper passwords.  Most must be accessed from an on-campus computer.

GALILEO can be accessed at http://www.galileo.usg.edu from any remote computer at the following address.

In order to use most of the databases off-campus, you will need to enter a password.  The password for GALILEO changes each semester.  You can get the current one by asking at the Circulation Desk, by calling (229-931-2259), or by emailing the library.  You have to be a registered student, and you will be asked for your name and ID number.  You may also enter your active library account number from the back of your GSW identification card in the "Home/Password" box on the GALILEO home page.

From the GALILEO home page, you can access gil@gsw, the library's electronic catalog of books, government publications, videos, and other material owned by the library.  Journal titles are included, but you can not search for specific articles in GIL.  

Which GALILEO databases will be the most valuable to you depends upon the assignment.  There are several ways of narrowing the selection to the most relevant, the quickest way being to enter a word or two in the "Find a database by name" box.  Choose the description-name radio button for a broader search.  This will identify databases that may be useful to your search.  Go ahead and try your search topic.  Type in one or two words.  If the topic is too narrow, you will need to broaden out your search for the appropriate database by entering terms such as sociology or literature.  You can also use the database category tabs that run across the top of the screen to find a subject that will then lead you to a list of suggested databases.

Not all GALILEO databases are accessible away from campus.  The most frequently used database to fall into this category is the LexisNexis database, which includes hundreds of thousands of full text newspaper articles as well as full text medical journals, almanacs, company reports, and other sources of information.  This database might be accessible through your local library, however.

Most GALILEO databases (including Academic Search Premier, ProQuest, and ERIC) work according to the rules of Boolean searching, similar to the search methodology for GIL.  Learning these techniques will assist you in finding relevant results from the thousands available.  See the "Basic Guide to Library and Online Research"  for instructions.  Librarians in Georgia have also prepared an official, in-depth GALILEO tutorial.  

Some of the most frequently used databases are:  

Academic Search Premier

Most users looking for periodical and newspaper articles consider Academic Search Premier the best starting point.  This database provides full text articles for about 3,300 of the 3,800 periodicals that are indexed.  The search  interface requires simple Boolean commands.  The search can be limited by date, periodical, full-text, or scholarly journals. 

AccessScience

AccessScience is an encyclopedia dedicated to all branches of science from astronomy to engineering to zoology.  In addition to reliable and concise scholarly articles, its "Student Resources Center" offers suggested topics for essays as well as Internet links and sample bibliographies by scientific discipline.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Perhaps the best known name in scholarly reference sources, the Encyclopedia Britannica is usually the best starting point on GALILEO for readers who need to quickly learn more about a topic before they can begin to research it in depth.  The licensed version available through GALILEO offers many features and much fuller articles than the free version available at http://www.britannica.com, including related Internet links at the end of each article chosen by experts in the field for reliability and objectivity. 

ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center)

This database is available from two providers on GALILEO (EBSCOhost and OCLC/FirstSearch) and is the most thorough database of education-related articles in existence.  Though none of the articles are available on ERIC in full text, the EBSCOhost version will link to full text sources if they are available on other EBSCOhost databases.  

LexisNexis Academic

Although this database is not available from your home computer, it may be available at a library near you.  Its features include indexing and full text of thousands of newspapers from around the world for the past twenty years and numerous full text medical journals.  In addition, the database provides access to business data such as corporate annual reports and tax law information.  For those students researching legal issues, LexisNexis is an important source of federal and state statutory and judicial full text information.  LexisNexis is an exceptional database in terms of content, but it can be difficult to use.  Please feel free to contact the reference librarians with any questions in using it.

MLA Bibliography

Produced by the Modern Language Association, MLA Bibliography indexes hundreds of literary journals and book chapters from 1963 to the present.  Although none of the articles indexed are available in full text,  they may be available in the JECL collection or requested through Interlibrary Loan.

Research Library (ProQuest)

Research Library  is not as large as Academic Search Premier, but it does provide full text articles as well as abstracts and indexing from many periodicals, scholarly and otherwise, not included in other databases.  It features an easy to use interface.  The user should note that the first search is only for 1999 to the present.  The search can be easily repeated in the backfiles using the drop-down menu.  Check GIL for JECL holdings.

WorldCat

WorldCat is an online catalog for the holdings of libraries throughout the U.S. and several other countries.  It contains several million titles and grows daily.  WorldCat does not contain full text or abstracts for its entries although note fields and other descriptive information is available on some records.  GSW students can use WorldCat to find books on a subject other than those in GSW or other Georgia libraries and then request the items through Interlibrary Loan.