About KYVL










How
How

Services: Databases

Interfaces | Passwords | EBSCO | FirstSearch | Trial Databases | Suggest a Database | Getting EBSCO Database Statistics | Getting FirstSearch Statistics
KYVL has contracted with two companies (vendors) to provide access to 32 different databases. These databases provide access to the bibliographic information (author, title, etc.), the abstracts (a short description), and sometimes the fulltext (the complete item). You can read more information about these two vendors and descriptions of the databases below under EBSCO and FirstSearch. Read descriptions of all the databases

The KYVL databases are for Kentuckians and Kentucky institutions' students/faculty. The databases can be freely accessed in a Kentucky library that is participating in KYVL. These include public libraries, publicly funded academic libraries, many privately funded academic libraries, K-12 libraries, and many special libraries. Access from home is available to officially registered patrons of Kentucky libraries.

The committee which makes recommendations on which databases to choose is the Collections Subcommittee.

Interfaces

An interface is how the information you use and the requests you make are formatted. If you have ever used Netscape and Internet Explorer to access the Web, you know that you get the same information using either one but the buttons you use and the look of the information is slightly different. The same thing is true of databases. The same data can be searched and formatted in many different ways depending on which interface you use.

  • Proprietary Interface - the interface provided by the vendor. Sometimes referred to as the native interface. This interface can be customized by individual libraries.

  • WebZ Interface - the interface provided by KYVL. It provides one common interface for catalogs and databases. You use this interface when you click on the "Catalogs and Databases" button.

    • If libraries prefer to access all KYVL databases via the gateway using the WebZ interface, you don't have to do anything.

    • To access the databases you should go through the Catalogs and Databases button on the main KYVL page.

Passwords

When you are at most institutions, you will not need to worry about a userid/password to access the databases because where ever possible we have used IP addresses for authentication (make sure that the person or place accessing the databases is allowed to).

For those that are dialing for access (the few institutions that do not have a static IP range and for those who are getting in from home), we have designed usernames and passwords. These are good for the WebZ interface. They have nothing to do with the native interfaces.

For 2001 the changes will occur:

Jan. - May:
The new set will go into effect Dec. 15. The old set for Oct. - Dec. 2000 will be cut off Jan. 31, 2001.
June - August:
The new set will go into effect May 15. The old set for Jan. - May will be cut off June 29.
Sept. - Dec.:
The new set will go into effect August 15. The old set for June - August will be cut off Sept. 28.

EBSCO

FirstSearch

Have questions about the databases? Call us at 1-877-740-4357.

Last Updated: 1/8/00

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