Objective To explore the characteristics and data collection sources of featured literature databases in universities/colleges in Yunnan in order to provide evidence for building featured literature databases. Methods Key information about three types of featured literature databases was retrieved online, which included those being constructed jointly by some universities or colleges in Yunnan, owned by universities or colleges in Yunnan, and already in use in China Academic Library and Information System ( CALIS) , respectively. Comparison was performed among these featured literature databases in regard to data characteristics and collection sources. Results Among all the featured databases being constructed, 58.8% were based on literature on local resources, 17.6% on disciplines and specialties, and 11.8% on library literature. In-use featured databases in Yunnan were mainly based on local resources and disciplines, and the data were collected within their own organizations or through multi-sources. The featured databases in CALIS were of local resources, disciplines, and people, while their data were collected mainly within their own organizations, through other organizations and multi-sources. Conclusion Yunnan featured databases are of unique characteristics, but more should be done to define Yunnan style data, while it is necessary to collect data from a wider range of sources.