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Cultural & Heritage Tourism: Databases

What is a database?

Databases are collections of references to journal articles, chapters in books, book reviews, conference proceesdings, reports and in some cases, theses and dissertations.


In many cases databases include the full text of journal articles. Access to these databases is paid for by the university.

In some cases only the abstract is available. In this case, you will need to search the library iCatalogue to see if the journal is available in print.

Online databases are most useful for finding articles when you do not know in which journals articles are published.

Some databases are multidisciplinary and cover a wide range of subjects e.g. Academic Search Complete on EbscoHost Research Databases , while others are subject specific, covering a particular subject or discipline e.g. Ecological Society of America. Other databases are limited to particular geographic areas, e.g Sabinet  covers Africa, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa.

Databases A-Z provides links to all of UKZN's subscription databases.

If the library does not subscribe to the journal you will need to get the article from another institution by using the Inter Library Loan facility.

Searching multiple databases

Google Scholar indexes much of the content in available databases. Click on the hyperlinks below  to search.

Google Scholar links up with the database subscriptions of UKZN to enable you to gain full-text access if it is available.

Some online databases

Online databases are most useful for finding articles when you do not know in which journals articles are published.

          
 

Some databases are multidisciplinary and cover a wide range of subjects e.g. Academic Search Complete, while others are subject specific, covering a particular subject or discipline e.g.Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide. Other databases are limited to particular geographic areas, e.g. African Journals Online (AJOL)  offers articles in scholarly journals published in Africa.

A selection of databases useful for tourism

The following are a selection of electronic databases that are helpful for Tourism:
 
African Journals Online (AJOL) provides bibliographic information on journal articles published in Africa.
 
EBSCOhost Research Databases provides access to many individual databases including the following listed below. Once in the EbscoHost site, click on the option called EbscoHost Web page. At the lsit of individual databases, click on the name of a particular collection or tick in the boxes next to database names to search more than one simultaneously:
       *Academic Search Complete
       *Business Source Complete
       *MasterFile Premier
 
 
Emerald Insight is a global publisher providing you with the highest quality, peer-reviewed research with a business focus.

IngentaConnect provides full-text articles from some journals to which the library has subscriptions.
 
JSTOR is a database of back issues of core journals. All issues of each journal are included in full-text except for the most recent 2 to 5 years.
 
Project MUSE offers full-text online access to a comprehensive selection of humanities and social science journals.
 
ProQuest is an international, multidisciplinary database. Search the following indexes:
     *Abi-Inform Global
     *Proquest Research Library: The Arts

Sabinet is an interdisciplinary database focusing mostly on South Africa but does include some African information. Search the following indexes:
      *Index to SA Periodicals (ISAP - no full-text)
      *SA Media
      *SAPA
 
ScienceDirect is a part of Elsevier and offers journal articles and book chapters from peer-reviewed journals and books.
 
Springer Link is a huge multidisciplinary database with full-text articles published in many of the journals to which the Library subscribes.
 
Taylor & Francis Online offers full text articles published in journals from Taylor & Francis, Routledge and Psychology Press.
 
Wiley Online Library hosts a broad multidisciplinary collection of online resources published by Wiley-Blackwell.

 

How do I access databases from off Campus?

Use the Off-campus Access link if you are not on campus.

  • You will need a valid LAN username and password to access databases from off-campus.  This refers to the username and password you use to access the computers on campus.
  • For more information on accessing UKZN library e-resources from off-campus, consult your Subject Librarian.

Searching a single database

  • From the 'Electronic Resources' tab on the Library's website choose 'Databases A-Z' (if you know the name of the database) and click on the name of the desired database; or click on 'Databases for subject' for a list of possible databases for a subject area. (See a list of selected databases below).
  • Type keywords into the search box and scan results. The results will indicate in which journals articles appear and whether full text is availalble.

Open access journal databases

Some examples:

               

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