Information Sources: Choosing and Finding the Right Source

The Library subscribes to many databases to help students and faculty conduct research.  The majority of the information found in the databases is not available to the general public for free.  Databases are provided by vendors such as EBSCO, Gale, JSTOR & LexisNexis.  Some databases such as PubMed and HathiTrust are "open access" databases, which mean they are available for free without a subscription, to anyone.

The databases include:

• Digitized collections of citations to articles in newspapers, magazines, journals, along with the full-text of the article in many cases.
• Links to other media such as video, podcasts, blogs, as well as text.
• eBooks.

Because most of our databases are not free, you must login with a username and password when you access these resources from off-campus.  

The library catalog is a searchable collection of records of every physical item located in the library, along with an increasing number of electronic items (eBooks).  Regis uses the Minuteman Library Network catalog. 

When locating an item in the library, use the Call Number.  The Call Number is attached to every item in the catalog and can be found on the spine of every book, or on the face of an item like a music CD.  Academic libraries use the Library of Congress Classification system to catalog and organize their items.

• Anything found on the internet.  (Note: some information is delivered through the Internet, such as EBSCO databases, but are not part of the Internet nor are considered websites.)
• Covers every topic imaginable.
• Quality and reliability ranges from excellent to horrible.  Researchers need to know how to EVALUATE websites.  Start with the domain name:
  • .com ~ commercial ~ goal is generally to sell something; some are reliable, some are not.
  • .org ~ organization ~ some are reliable; some are not.
  • .edu ~ education ~ often good sources of information.
  • .gov ~ government - good sources of data, statistics, facts.
• Content can change at any time.
• Multi-media - text, images, videos, sounds.
• Information on the web is accessed through browsers, such as Google.

Examples of highly regarded websites

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) 

Pew Research Center

World Health Organization