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Geography and Environmental Studies: Geography and Environmental Studies Databases

A Complete Guide for Geography and Environmental Studies

How to access electronic databases?

The Library subscribes to over 104 electronic databases such as ScienceDirect, JSTOR, Emerald, etc. They include:

  • E-journals (full text & bibliographic)
  • E-books and other material

Access to e-Resources

In order to access UNIZULU Library’s electronic resources – whether on campus or off campus users have to sign-in using Open Athens which requires to use the same credentials for signing in to your UNIZULU email, WiFi, or Lab Access. On campus students/staff can activate their accounts at the UNIZULU computer labs ICT help desks and off-campus students/staff should send email to labs@unizulu.ac.za with request to reset their accounts.

After activating your account, please use the following steps:

1. Go to UNIZULU website www.unizulu.ac.za and click 'Library'

2. Click 'Off-campus' link

3. On the page 'Off-Campus Access', Click on 'Please click here'

4. Now you have to sign in to OpenAthens (select  'UNIZULU students’ or UNIZULU staff)

5. Enter user ID (institutional email) and password as if it is for checking your email (e.g.  nenef - user   ID and enter your password in the relevant box) click 'continue'.

This will take you to the list of the databases which you can search individually or

use Ebsco Discovery Service which allows to search through all UNIZULU subscribed databases (same as Google).

 

For training on how to use e-Resources consult your relevant Information Librarian.

What are Databases?

A database is a collection of information organized to provide efficient retrieval.

Databases provide various formats of information. Different databases provide different kinds of information.

Bibliographic databases provide a descriptive record of an item, but the item itself is not provided in the database. Information about the item is provided, including such things as author, title, subject, publisher, etc. The information provided is called a citation. Sometimes a short summary or abstract of the item is provided as well. Examples of bibliographic databases include LISA and Social Sciences Abstracts.

A full-text database provides the full-text of a publication. For instance, SA e-Publications provides not only the citation to a journal article, but the entire text of the article as well.

The library subscribes to a number of databases (E-Journals which are full text and other only have bibliographic information and also subscribes to E-Books).

We are using Open Anthens and this means for our E-Resources one has to login whether on or off campus. 

For Training on how to use e-Resources consult your Faculty Librarian Sizwe Mabena: MabenaS@unizulu.ac.za.

What are e-Resources?

The term is used to describe all the information products that a library provides through a computer network. This includes:

•electronic books
•e-journals
•theses & dissertations
•online databases (full text & bibliographic)
•e-Books
•Institutional Repository (IR)
•e-Newspapers
•e-Magazines
• web sites

One requires Internet to access e-resources.

These are all available at UNIZULU Library.

A-Z List of UNIZULU Databases

A-Z List of Databases and Trial Databases

These are all databases that UNIZULU Library subscribes to both multi-disciplinary and subject specific.

University of Zululand Library Guides