Information Search in

Databases. Adminstrative

and Legal Information

Veronika Rogalevich, veronik@tlu.ee Tallinn University Institute of Information Studies

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Database• a collection of data/information that is organized

so that it can be easily accessed, managed, and updated

• Is a phone directory on paper or dictioanry a database?

• Database can be presented/created on different medias

• Electronic database consists of digital records and usually works in dialog-form – user sends query using computer device and database presents results (information records relevant to users’ query)

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Databases’ classification

• According to publication type: patents, legal documents, standards, scientific journals etc.

• According to access possibilities: open access and licensed databases;

• According to content type: bibliographic, full-text, numeric, images;

• Online and offline: most of them are online nowdays, but You can still find databases on compact disks or hard disks of computers for local use.

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Classification by Carol Tenopir

10 types of databases by content:1. Primary legal documents (laws, treaties, court

regulations)2. Adminstrative and governmental information,

regulations, patents and other ofiicial publications;

3. News and press-releases for journalists or other press-specialists;

4. Newspapers’ news5. News Agencies’ services6. Information bulletans, broschures, papers

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Continues...

7. Encyclopedias, dictionaries, reference guides, travel guides, lexicons;8. Books (bibilographic descriptions) and e-books;9. Scientific articles;10. General non-specified articles;

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Database industry• Electronic databases exist from early 1960-s• Online databases’ production industry developed

in 1980-ies.• There are many different institutions , who are

producing and developing databases: scientific centres, universities, commercial organisations

• But also publishers, who are publishing scientific journals and books;

• News agencies;• Database distributors;

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Publishers: electronic journals

• Most publishers have electronic versions of their journals and many are publishing only electronical journals and articles;

• Electronic journals are available only through internet (online);

• How to search them:o Browsing by titles of the journalso Browsing in thematic catalogs or online catalogso Searching in search engines using Advanced search

• Example: Journals, avaiable in Tallinn University Library: http://atoz.ebsco.com/Titles/4161?lang=en&lang.menu=en&lang.subject=en

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Main publishers• Wiley: http://eu.wiley.com/• Elsevier, http://www.elsevier.com/• Springer, http://www.springer.com• SAGE: http://www.uk.sagepub.com • Karger: http://www.karger.com/ (biomedical

science)• Pearson: http://www.pearsonhighered.com/

• Academic journals are mostly expensive and educational institutions buy an access to full texts

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Electronic books or e-books

• A book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both,

• Produced, published and readable on computers or other electronic devices

• Many academic publishers produce electronic versions of their textbooks and study literature

• Some e-book publishers: Harper Collins, Barnes & Noble, Academic Press, Cambridge University Press, O’Reilly, Palgrave McMillan, Routledge etc.

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Ebrary• Ebrary: http://www.ebrary.com/ e-books

distributor to libraries• more than 4,500 library customers around the

world serving more than 19.2 million end-users• Mostly static PDF-files with metadata• Part of ProQuest, available through databases, • It is possible to borrow e-books for short time

through ebrary• Tallinn University Library has access to Academic

Complete database on eBrary – an e-book collection spanning all academic subject areas.

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Search possibilities

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And more...• Borrow an e-book using ELLIBS Library• ESTER pin-code is needed!• List of publications (e-books) available for

borrowing: http://www.tlulib.ee/files/arts/200/Ellib03306c8e0a995f0c749b4c3c5bba6d94.pdf

• Different loan periods: from 1 day to 14 days.• For borrowing you need to download and install

Adobe Digital Editions. 

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Free e-books• Questia (www.questia.com), • Project Gutenberg (

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page) , • Google Books: http://books.google.com/ –

digitized (skanned) e-books, not allowed to copy or print

• http://www.e-book.com.au/freebooks.htm• Amazon textbook rental (20% of book cost, 30

days): http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000702481

• free Kindle reading apps for  mobile devices

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Database manufacturers or

publishers• Produce databases for libraries and other

information institutions• Emerald, ISI, EBSCOHost, Bowker-Saur, Lexis-

Nexis, OCLC, Ingenta • Development:• Bibliographic index databases (only short

bibliographic records);• Bibliographic databases with annotations;• Full text articles’ databases

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Database distributors• Companies that distribute databases from

producers to end-users.• Usually they provide database using environments,

web-based interfaces for searching in one or several databases.

• Database producers can also be distributors • OCLC, WilsonWeb, EBSCOhost • Distributors offer different types of databases from

different producers• Sometimes it is better to co-operate with

distributors and sometimes with producers (if You are looking for certain quality)

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Licenced databased in Estonia

• Estonian Libraries Network Consortium (ELNET Consortium): is purchasing many licenced databases of e-resources for Estonian academic libraries;

• The list: http://www.elnet.ee/projektid/yhishange/• Money for purchasing: consortium membership

fees + subsidies from governement• Every University or institution can order

additional databases and e-resources• Tallinn University Academic Library list of e-

resources and databases: http://www.tlulib.ee/?LangID=2&CatID=267

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EHIS- databases integrated search

• Login, select necessary databases (they are grouped by discipline) and click Continue-button.

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Integrated search possibilities

• Quick and Advanced search• Refine search;• Sorting the results (by date, by relevance);• Limitation of the results;• Saving the results to personal Folder;• Subject’s keywords list (thesaurus term); • List of found publications (by title);• Download/save full texts;• Sharing• Permalink• Articles in audio-form (in English only)

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E-newspapers• PressDisplay database:

http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx;

• provides access to over 1700 newspapers and magazines from more than 90 countries in 48 languages.

• Access to up to 60 days of back issues for each title. Limited to 5 concurrent users.

• Advanced search: boolean operators, newspaper title, language, date,

• Browsing possibilites on main page of database

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News agencies• News agencies create and sell news in real time• News databases, archives, portals• Possibilities: to read/listen/watch news, search by

different parameters and sort the results• BNS: http://www.bns.ee/en/• BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/• Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/• Associated Press: http://www.ap.org/• Interfax: http://www.interfax.ru/• STT (Finland): http://www.stt.fi/en

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Open Access databases of scholar publications:

DOAJ• Directory of Open Access Journals

www.doaj.org: 7314 journals, 3428 journals searchable at article level, 685 945 articles

• Browsing by Journals or topics (disciplines)• Search by keywords (from articles)

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Open access databases

• Open Science Directory: (journals mostly for developing countries, but also for other research institutions) http://www.opensciencedirectory.net/

• Resource Library: http://findarticles.com/ (Business specific articles, dated from 1950-ies)

• Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities etc.

• Advanced Search and Search Preferences, sorting results, refine search

• InfoMine (Scholarly internet Resource Collection) http://infomine.ucr.edu/

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State and administrative

information• eGovernment: use of information and

communication technology to provide and improve government services, transactions and interactions with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government.

• All European countries show eGovernment initiatives, mainly related to the improvement of governance at the national level.

• Significant eGovernment activities also take place at the European Commission level

• Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EGovernment_in_Europe

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eGovernment services in Estonia

• In Estonia: http://www.eesti.ee/eng • information and e-solutions for citizens,

entrepreneurs and officials• Requires login (with ID-card, through internet-

bank or through foreign citizen’s login)• General state information• X-road: e-services, official forms

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X-road possibilities for citizens

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Services for enterpreneurs

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Sources of legal/law information

• Bibliography of estonian legal information: http://bie.nlib.ee/ (BIE database);

• Riigi Teataja (State Gazette): https://www.riigiteataja.ee/ (official online publication of Estonia, all the legislation texts in electronic form)

• Introduction in English: https://www.riigiteataja.ee/tutvustus.html?m=1

• Free of charge• Complex advanced search in database

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European legal information

• EUR-Lex: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm (European Union Law)

• Pre-Lex: http://ec.europa.eu/prelex/apcnet.cfm?CL=en (database on inter-institutional procedures follows the major stages of the decision-making process between the Commission and the other institutions)

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International law databases

• http://www.law.nyu.edu/library/research/foreign_intl/index.htm (Guide to legal databases around the world)

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Databases of legal information by country

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Literature

• Sharing of good eGovernment practices: http://www.epractice.eu/

• eGovernemnt in Europe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EGovernment_in_Europe (Article in Wikipedia)