1
NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE DATABASES
EVANSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY DATABASES AND YOU!: GENERAL INFO.
I. WHAT ARE DATABASES AND WHAT DO THEY DO?
Databases are online clearinghouses for past and current newspaper and magazine
articles
Databases work as a subscription service, so they are not free.
Databases do index full-text articles, often in various formats
Databases can be subject-specific and focus only on certain topics such as health,
business, medicine, etc.
II. WHAT DATABASES ARE NOT AND WILL NOT DO
Databases are not free
Databases are not always full-text (often, one will find a citation rather than an
entire article)
Most databases usually do not index articles prior to the 1980s
III. ACCESSING EVANSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY DATABASES FROM HOME
Go to the EPL homepage at www.epl.org
Click on the Catalogs & Research link at the center and top of the page
Databases (as well as library catalogs) are found throughout this page
Click on the desired database (you will then be prompted for your EPL Library
Card Number)
Enter all 14 digits from the front of your library card without any spaces and click
on CONTINUE.
2
NEWSPAPER DATABASE #1: ETHNIC NEWS WATCH
What is ETHNIC NEWS WATCH (ENW)?
Ethnic News Watch touts itself as an interdisciplinary, bilingual (English/Spanish)
database of the newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native
press. ENW titles offer additional viewpoints from those proffered by mainstream
publications.
I. ETHNIC NEWS WATCH: GENERAL OVERVIEW
What’s New – lists latest articles recently added to ENW from different
publications
Timeline – lists important dates and events affecting minorities in the U.S. and the
world since 1990
Publication Information – provides information on the date range, language, and
ethnic group of the publications indexed
Subject Thesaurus – directs users to alternate and/or synonymous subject terms
for searching
Search Tips – offers users tips for more thorough searching
3
II. ETHNIC