Adam Siegel
Research Support Services
Researcher Services Librarian
530-754-6828
by Adam Siegel – November 24, 2020
The basic principle underlying the organization of any library is to describe the documents it contains so that they may be located. All libraries create sets of records which describe the documents in their collections. Catalogs are sets of records to documents that share a location. Indexes are sets of records to documents that share some other attribute (generally subject matter). Below are the most comprehensive and significant broad disciplinary article indexing databases for international (but English-language-centric) scholarship.
Research Support Services
Researcher Services Librarian
530-754-6828
Most people use the library for the following:
1. To find a book they already know they want;
2. To learn more about a topic they’re interested in;
3. To research a question they’ve already formulated.
To find a book you already know you want, use the library catalog.
To learn more about a topic you’re interested in, use the appropriate subject guide, or contact your subject librarian.
To research a question you’ve already formulated, use the appropriate catalog or index. [hint: in the sciences, start with the appropriate subject index; in the humanities, start with the library catalog.]
A comprehensive, indexed bibliography with selected abstracts of the world’s economic literature compiled from the American Economic Association’s Journal of economic literature and the Index of economic articles in journals and collective volumes. Topics include economic theory and history, monetary theory and financial institutions; labor economics; international, regional, urban economics; and other related subjects.
The Government Printing Office provides free online access to official U.S. Federal government documents and information. GPO is the recognized authoritative source for government information and has authenticated the documents on govinfo. Search for official versions of government documents and publications, browse by title, collection, congressional committee, date, and download publications.
TRID includes over 900,000 records covering transportation research from ITRD and TRIS. It includes TRB publications going back to 1923, including Highway Research Board, SHRP, and Marine Board publications. Also indexed are Environmental Impact Statements, theses, reports, and research in progress. TRID is the world’s largest and most comprehensive bibliographic resource on transportation research information, covering all modes and disciplines of transportation.
Der KVK ist eine Meta-Suchmaschine zum Nachweis von mehreren hundert Millionen Büchern, Zeitschriften und anderen Medien in Bibliotheks- und Buchhandelskatalogen weltweit.
The Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog is a meta-search engine for locating hundreds of millions of books, periodicals, and other media in library and book trade catalogues throughout the world.
The standard source for information on virtually every active and ceased periodical, annual, irregular publication, and monographic series published throughout the world (plus thousands of newspapers). Indicates whether a publication is a refereed (peer-reviewed) title.
NOTE: search by journal title, NOT article title. Ulrich’s provides information on the entire publication (journal, magazine, newspaper, annual review) NOT on the articles within.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) provides full-text searchable access to the digital images of 150,000 books and other materials published during the 18th Century. Based on the English Short Title Catalog bibliography, it includes English-language and foreign-language titles printed in the United Kingdom, along with thousands of important works from the Americas.
“The Making of the Modern World provides digital facsimile images of unique primary sources that track the development of the modern, western world through the lens of trade and wealth from 1450-1914.”
“Based on Joseph Sabin’s landmark bibliography, this collection contains works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900’s. Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents that provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and much more. With over 6 million pages from 29,000 works, this collection is a cornerstone in the study of the western hemisphere.”
Companion resource to Periodicals Index Online (PIO), PAO is a fulltext archive of hundreds of historical digitized journals published in the arts, humanities and social sciences; about 35-40 of the titles covered are philosophy journals.
The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. It includes large online collections of moving images, music and audio recordings.
The OAC brings together historical materials from a variety of California institutions, including museums, historical societies, and archives. It includes searchable finding aids for collections held in these institutions as well as a large selection of scanned images and documents from these collections.
ArchiveGrid is a database designed specifically for locating archival collections held in libraries, museums and other institutions. It combines all the archival records in WorldCat with others pulled from various archives Web sites. Included are all of the item records added to the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) after 1987, as well as many records from earlier years. (NUCMC includes records added before 1987, especially of smaller archives, that are not found in ArchiveGrid.)
“The vision of a national digital library has been circulating among librarians, scholars, educators, and private industry representatives since the early 1990s. Efforts led by a range of organizations, including the Library of Congress, HathiTrust, and the Internet Archive, have successfully built resources that provide books, images, historic records, and audiovisual materials to anyone with Internet access. Many universities, public libraries, and other public-spirited organizations have digitized materials, but these digital collections often exist in silos. The DPLA brings these different viewpoints, experiences, and collections together in a single platform and portal, providing open and coherent access to our society’s digitized cultural heritage.”
Direct access to several million digital objects: film, photos, paintings, sound recordings, maps, manuscripts, books, newspapers, and archival papers. Selected from previously digitized resources available in Europe’s museums, libraries, archives, and audio-visual collections. French and German cultural institutions are particularly well represented.
One of the world’s most advanced digital library collections, providing online access to millions of books, periodicals, images, videos, maps, sound files, manuscripts, and scores. Searchable in basic or advanced modes, and browsable by publication type. Originally an attempt to provide coverage of the Bibliotheque Nationale’s vast holdings in French literature from the Middle Ages to the present, it now has digital access partnerships with a number of other major library collections substantially increasing its offerings. Includes links to other relevant sites.
UC Davis Mabie Law Library Catalog