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More than half the faculty, postdocs, and other research and academic staff told us that they use library databases to search for e-journal articles, and almost the same number of faculty told us that they use Vera, the library’s gateway to electronic subscriptions.

Why would experienced researchers like faculty include Vera in their searching repertoire? Library databases—all of which can be accessed through Vera—generally offer information that is more consistently relevant and reliable (and may also be peer-reviewed). Google is quite fast with a single search box, is well embedded in many browsers, and can do a general search across all disciplines at the same time. Often, however, the information found in library databases is not, or cannot be, indexed in Google. Library databases on a subject are likely more in-depth, although they may not be quite as fast to search, and a single database generally does not cover all academic disciplines.