Full-text (aggregated) Databases

Full-text Aggregated databases are databases that “aggregate” or collect the full-text of electronic publications into unique, identifiable and searchable databases. Aggregated databases vary greatly in size, origin, scope, and price.

Aggregated databases may be subject specific (e.g., Proquest Medical Library) or multi-disciplinary (e.g. EBSCO Academic Search Premier).

The large, multi-disciplinary aggregator databases that aggregate electronic content from a wide variety of publishers and associations (e.g. EBSCO Academic Search Premier) can be problematic. Both librarians and users are never completely sure of what is included in the databases at any given moment. The producers of these databases provide title lists, but holdings information may be incomplete. Since the full-text content of these databases depends on the deals that the database producers can make with publishers (who are adopting and modifying their approach to electronic publishing and licensing content), there can be a significant amount of instability of the full-text content. New titles are routinely added; titles that were previously available are pulled from the database entirely or existing full text is left in the database but future issues are no longer made available in full text. And for many titles the full text access is embargoed, that means access can be delayed up to 36 months. Adding to the confusion is the fact that many of the database producers do not provide the option of title-level OPAC links to the specific publications included in their databases. Consequently, it takes a great deal of effort for libraries to integrate these holdings into their catalogs.