A Comparison of the Iter Bibliography and the International Medieval Bibliography

Abstract

Librarians and researchers studying medieval history need a sophisticated understanding of the contents of relevant databases, including the Iter Bibliography and the International Medieval Bibliography, to develop effective research strategies. Such an understanding includes the strengths and usefulness of the individual databases and an appreciation of what materials are unique to each of the databases. A comparison of journal titles indexed by each of these databases does not provide adequate evidence of the databases’ coverage, strengths, and weaknesses. We undertook this study to gain an understanding of what a researcher using these resources could expect to retrieve from each database.