Databases are paid subscriptions to:

! Scholarly journals ! Published articles ! Academic research ! Reference texts

None of which are available on the free Web

have access!
Numbers based on the monthly usage reports provided by the database companies and a student population of 18,000 2012-2013.

Passwords are available in the library; databases can be accessed ANYWHERE students have internet
(links are on schools website)

Sea Kings do use databases.

Last year s stats average to 15.8 academic, peer-reviewed, published articles read per student.

While public library memberships are free, not all students will get them (especially as the more essential library cards are out of district), which creates a problem of ACCESS.

Relying solely on public libraries would either:

Diminish the rigor of class assignments and reduce students education regarding information literacy or Create a large disparity in access to class materials between students

What Students Say:

"I have had an incredible experience with Palos Verdes High School's library databases. As a student at PVHS, they were important when writing papers, especially when working on Senior Capstone, specifically the preparation for the essay, in which sources needed to be cited and credible. More importantly, using these databases has prepared me for university-level work and research. This skill is imperative to students studying in the 21st century; being comfortable using information databases has put me miles ahead of other students here in college who have never used them before. The databases here at Notre Dame are vast, and I can't imagine trying to delve into them without knowing how to use one from prior experience. And when writing a 15-page research paper, having this skill has been an important aspect of my work." -- Connor Parker, Class of 2013, University of Notre Dame "I began using the databases freshman year at PV, and I honestly couldn't have found half the information that I did find without them. The databases are a more efficient way of researching, especially when you're a high school student trying to balance six or more classes and extracurriculars. ... Even recently as a freshman in college, I found myself lost in all the research I had to do for a political science paper. It was then that I realized how much simpler life would be if I just had that yellow pamphlet with all the database usernames and passwords on it." -- Pecko Lin, Class of 2013, University of Southern California "As a student at PVHS, the databases available for us to utilize helped me immensely, especially when I was working on my senior project research paper. The library staff and their knowledge of the databases made it so much easier to navigate what was then a daunting and intimidating research assignment. I remember relying heavily on the databases to help with my research not only for senior project but other projects throughout high school as well. Taking this resource away from students will only hurt them and set them a step back from learning vital skills needed in college and beyond: How to conduct research & How to distinguish a good and credible source from a bad one. I have no doubt that without access to these databases, students will turn to Google and Wikipedia for information, without having any way of weeding out sources that are misleading or not credible. -- Yumnah Syed, Class of 2008, University of California San Diego "I definitely used the PV High databases a lot my junior and senior years for our research projects. Databases are awesome -- anything you could ever want to research is on them -- and they only get better in college because of Library loans, etc. I remember my freshman year [at college] our English professor teaching us how to use them and other people we're blown away -- they couldn't believe how short-changed they'd been by their high school educations. "Students can download the majority of articles on databases as PFDs, which is phenomenal. There's no printing to keep them and they're entirely mobile. (They also create the citations for you.) Databases were made for Millennials." -- Paul Finkelman, Class of 2008, University of Tennessee, Chatanooga

"Databases contain peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific journal articles that are not readily available on the open web. These articles are typically authored by experts in their fields, that is, scholars and scientists at major research universities in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and beyond. Students who are preparing for college and university study need to be able to use these databases to retrieve relevant scholarly and scientific literature. This literature will give the students opportunity to acquaint themselves with disciplinary vocabulary and research methods in their fields of interest as well as how to access and evaluate relevant information. "In our digital world, much of the world's scientific and scholarly literature remains locked behind pay-walls, that is, the literature is available only through these databases. While many of us think this is unfortunate, it's still the reality that we must pay for access to the best research. Librarians and teachers need to be able to demonstrate to students the full range of research sources that are available to them." -- Kelly Miller, Librarian at University of California Los Angeles