No Longer Databas-ic

Students concerned with potential difficulties in researching topics for papers or projects need
no longer live in abject terror. As of January 5, Concord University, through the Marsh Library, has been
given access to a new database with the intention of making research a faster, easier, and more
streamlined experience than ever before.
“Have you ever had to find peer-reviewed texts for a class or for a project?” asked Connie
Shumate, Director of the Library, “With the old databases, it would often give you only the abstract, and
nothing else. We are usually able to track down whatever it is students are looking for, but a 24 hour
warning period. Needless to say, that’s not only frustrating, but it also not conducive to research,
especially if you need the information right away. With these new databases, all of the texts available
are peer-reviewed, full-text, and available.”
This new database, called Sage Premier Journals, is a recent addition to the many databases
currently available to Concord University students. “Without a doubt,” said Shumate, “it was an
expensive thing to purchase for our students. However, none of the money came from school funding.
Access to Sage Premier was paid for by a grant that Dr. Smith wrote.” Dr. Smith is the Professor of Social
Work for the Graduate Program here on campus. “It’s this kind of cooperation that makes Concord such
a satisfying place for me to work,” Shumate said “You don’t often see this help and support from the
departments in other colleges and universities, so it makes the job worthwhile to see it here.”
After explaining this, Mrs. Shumate gave a demonstration of how the new Sage Premier Journals
works. “This database is not only fast and efficiently laid out, it is also incredibly easy to use,” she
explained, “ The database itself is can be browsed not only by academic journal title, but also by
discipline. Since I imagine most students would browse by discipline, I'll tell you how that works. Each
subject is divided into four distinct disciplines: health sciences, life and biomedical science, material
science and engineering, and social sciences and humanities. Within each of these four disciplines, a lot
of different subsections are found. Let’s say you’re in a Marketing class and you have a project, for
instance. You’d click on Social Sciences, scroll down until you find the section ‘Marketing’, and then it’s
as simple as finding a journal that might suit your needs. This is bound to come in handy, especially if
you’re looking for a topic to research.”
Shumate then picked out a journal from a rather large list and showed just how extensive the
Sage Premier Journals can be. After opening a link to the journal known as “Cornell Hospitality
Quarterly,” several options appeared. After showing links to read the current issue, she clicked on a link
to display all issues. The dates listed for its back catalog were from 1960 to 2015. It would seem that
Sage Premier has the entire back catalog of some journals available for students to peruse to their
heart’s content.
With all of this in mind, Sage Premier Journals appears to be a simple, effective way to research.
However, Shumate also stated that it might not always be an appropriate choice for all research.
“Infotrac and Ebsco are two other databases we have that contain more general knowledge than Sage
Premier,” she said, “So I would encourage Concord students to check those databases out, as well.” Those looking to try Sage Premier Journals for themselves need only go to Concord’s website, go to the
quick access tab, find “Library” under the Admin. Departments/Offices Tab, follow the link, and then
click on databases in the sidebar. Sage Premier Journals will be the 16th database listed.