Re: Difference between database and electronic serial Peter Picerno 01 Oct 2008 14:21 UTC

It would be possible to differentiate between e-serials and databases in
the following way:
e-journals, for this purpose, would be subscriptions to full-text titles
which are either independent subscriptions (through your journal vendor)
or as part of larger publisher packages ... such things would include
society packages like the ACS, APA, Cambridge, Sage, etc. whereas
databases would comprise journals which are not subscribed
independently  but are aggreated into large collections such as Academic
Search Premier, Lexis-Nexis, etc. Sometimes the lines are a bit blurry,
but in general terms this can serve as a way to distinguish one 'genre'
from another. There are other databases which are not comprised of
journals at all but are indexes, repositories of art objects, or
gateways to many other types of information including websites, e-books,
position papers, etc.

Peter V. Picerno
Serials & Electronic Resources Librarian
Asst. Head of Resource Development
Green Library
Florida International University
11200 SW 8th Street
Miami, FL 33199
Ph: 305.348.6279
ppicerno@fiu.edu

Angelica Freitas wrote:
> Hello Serials people!!!
>
> I have a question!
> We all know that eventually most of our print collection will convert into
> electronic format.
> Here at our library we have a budget line for "database" and another for
> "serials" (any format, including electronic).
> Due to budget constraints, some of my colleagues have decided to "pay" for
> some of their databases from the serials budget. I am a bit confused by all
> of this and I would like to know if anyone out there knows the difference
> between a database and electronic journal???
>
> Sorry if I sound confusing
>
> Angelica Freitas
> Serials Administrator
> Sarah Lawrence College Library
> One Meadway
> Bronxville, NY
> 10708
> TEL: 914-395-2477
> FAX: 914-395-2473
> EMAIL: afreitas@slc.edu
>