Business Source Premier, released in January 1999, is one of EBSCO Publishing’s newest proprietary databases. With abstracting/indexing coverage of over 2,100 titles as of April 2000, it is the most comprehensive of EBSCO’s business periodical databases. (Business Source, Business Source Plus, and Business Source Elite, in increasing order of coverage, are the others.) Of these 2,100+ titles, nearly 1,400 are provided in full text, and over 600 of these are peer‐reviewed;earliest coverage for all sources begins with 1990. PDF images for articles in selected journals are also provided. Besides journal articles, Business Source Premier also includes selected country reports as well as Wall Street Words ‐ a business dictionary ‐ and a company directory. EBSCO provides complete title lists for all of their databases (in PDF, HTML, and Excel formats) via the URL http://www.epnet.com/maglists/maglist.htm
While Business Source Premier is also available on CD‐ROM (with the backfile on DVD), only the online version ‐ accessed via EBSCOhost ‐ will be reviewed here.
EBSCOhost is the native Web interface to EBSCO Publishing’s databases; it provides access to all databases purchased through this vendor, both proprietary and third‐party. Librarians can set up connections to their subscription databases using IP authentication, username/password combinations, individual patron files, patterned IDs (such as library card numbers), and more. Library preferences for authentication can be set up through EBSCOadmin, the administrative module, which will be discussed in greater detail later. It should be noted that provision for remote access is included in the subscription cost of all databases.
After logging in, users will see a list of all of the available EBSCO databases; clicking on the link for any of these will bring them to the main database search screen. The search interface is well designed: functional, attractive, and uncluttered. Blue/green buttons on a black background at the very top of the screen provide links to different pages within the interface. These include New Search, Subject Search (based on an authority file), Journal Search, and Wall Street Words. The Company Directory, a separate database included with purchase of Business Source Premier, provides brief company data from Dun & Bradstreet, including address, phone, line of business, employee range, and sales range. Complete reports on businesses found here may be purchased by credit card for $3.25 each. The inclusion of a fee‐based service at this point is rather deceptive, and one would hope that libraries supporting business programs would also provide access to a more complete source for company information. Finally, to list the remaining buttons, Choose Databases lets users select a different EBSCOhost database; Online Help is self‐explanatory; and Home Library can be set up to link back to a library’s home page.
Users next have the option of doing searches by Keyword or Natural Language, choosing more Advanced search strategies (by specific field name or additional limiters), selecting display Options, or viewing Search Tips. These five options are listed on the green toolbar located underneath the buttons.
In the center of the screen is the main search box, labeled Find, followed by whatever limiters the library administrator has selected to appear here (these may include limiters for journal title, date, publication type, and full text). Boolean searching is permitted. As one would expect, retrieved records may be marked, e‐mailed, or saved to disk. Librarians will wish to do some proactive campaigning in favor of students’ not using the Netscape/Internet Explorer buttons (back and forward); from personal experience, if these are used in place of the navigation buttons within EBSCOhost, users may receive unexpected results. In general, however, college students should find searching with EBSCOhost quite easy. Search tips and buttons are displayed prominently, and when viewing an article, users may even click on a button labeled Find More to display articles on similar subjects. Faculty will like the idea that students can limit their search to peer‐reviewed journals only. In addition, librarians will appreciate the fact that clicking on a journal name within the search results displays detailed publication information (ISSN, publisher address, phone, Web site, a description, and whether it is peer‐reviewed).
With the administrative module EBSCOadmin, librarians will find it easy to customize their interface to Business Source Premier. In addition to the ability to control authentication methods, EBSCOadmin also gives librarians the opportunity to compile statistical reports, select what limiters they would like their students to use, provide direct links to journal title searches from Web‐based online catalogs, and more. Administrators may also choose to provide messages indicating whether a periodical title is locally held (particularly easy to set up when the library’s serials subscription vendor is also EBSCO). I have always found EBSCOadmin fairly straightforward; its options truly assist the librarian in adapting the interface of the databases for a library’s particular needs.
Librarians can receive technical support for EBSCOhost products by telephone (toll‐free) as well as e‐mail. In addition, a mailing list has been set up for the dual purpose of company/technical updates from EBSCO staff as well as libraries’ communication with other subscribers.
The periodical content of Business Source Premier stands out when compared with similar products from other vendors. Bell and Howell offers a version of the ABI/INFORM database through ProQuest, but at most 600 full text titles are included. Likewise, the Gale Group’s General BusinessFile ASAP provides full text for 650 out of 1,300 covered periodical titles, though coverage for some titles dates back to 1980. In addition, investment reports are included; and its company directory, with SIC codes, sales figures, and names of officers, is much more comprehensive than that of Business Source Premier. Librarians will need to carefully compare all three products before making a decision as to which one would best suit their needs.
If recent journal content is a library’s main reason for selecting a business database, Business Source Premier is the obvious choice. In addition, EBSCOhost’s ease in searching and customizable interface cannot be beaten. Business Source Premier is highly recommended for use by academic libraries supporting coursework in business and management.
