We have a lot of fantastic digital resources, many of them courtesy of the Arkansas State Library. Because we’re a library in Arkansas, we have access to their Traveler Database. For this entire year, every month, we’ve looked at the different features available on these databases. For December, the last post in the series, we’re going to focus on international resources.
To get to our international Traveler database resources, follow the directions in the first post of this series.
Once in the Arkansas Traveler database, click on International.
You will see several database options. With the exception of CultureGrams, which we covered a couple of months ago, these are all multidisciplinary databases that contain scholarly articles on a wide range of subjects.
What sets each database apart is all the content in it comes from a specific country or region around the world.
These databases are all also available, alongside American and Canadian sources, on ProQuest Central, which you also have access to on Traveler. (More on that in a minute.)
But if you’re working on a project connected to any of these regions or countries, these International Databases are a convenient and ready-made starting point.
Since all the databases look very similar and are set up the same way, we will use the Australia/New Zealand one as our guide for the day.
Just select it and you will be taken straight to the database.
Inspired by the recent news of a kangaroo romping around neighboring Oklahoma, I decided to put the database through its paces with a search on kangaroos.
As befitting a scholarly database that emphasizes Australian sources, there are lots of in-depth ecological research articles about kangaroos.
Turning our attention to New Zealand, let’s return to the Australia & New Zealand home page and search for Maori.
This time around, the Oceania-centered database generates lots of scholarly medical research.
You can use the filters on the side to narrow down or expand your research, as we have discussed in previous installments of this series.
You can also easily expand the focus of your search by clicking on the ProQuest Central link on the main Australia & New Zealand page (as mentioned above).
Thanks so much for spending this year exploring our database resources. They are a wonderful part of our collection that you can easily access at home even when we’re closed. If you would like more information on how to navigate any of the databases, stop by the library and ask!
Next year, we are going to be doing a monthly deep dive into the world of genre and explore a variety of genres available at the library. Who knows, you may just find a whole new slew of things to read or watch! Stay tuned. 🙂
What’s your favorite digital resource the library offers? Do you use the Traveler databases? What topics do you find yourself researching the most? Tell us in the comments!
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