Articles, E-Books & Government Publications
Agricultural & Environmental Science Database [via ProQuest]
Coverage of the agricultural and environmental sciences, including scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, and government publications. Includes the AGRICOLA, TOXLINE, Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management, Ecology Abstracts, and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) databases.
AGRIS, International Information System for the Agricultural Sciences and Technology [via FAO]
AGRIS covers all aspects of agricultural sciences and technology, including grey literature not available through normal publication and distribution channels, such as unpublished scientific and technical reports, theses, conference papers and government publications.
BIOSIS Previews [via Web of Science] [via Clarivate Analytics]
BIOSIS Previews is a database designed by biologists for researching the biological sciences literature.
Provides citations and abstracts to the international agricultural literature, including veterinary medicine, human and animal nutrition, forestry, rural development, as well as other related topics such as tourism and human ecology. Covers over 11,000 journals & conference proceedings and selected books in agriculture. Produced by CAB (Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux) International (CABI) with more than 10 million records.
HISTORICAL SCOPE: Archive abstracts added in August 2005 go back to 1910 with 1,860,000 additional records. CAB DATABASE PDFs: As of January 2009, hard-to-find literature may be available as CAB Database PDFs (so noted *below* the UC-eLinks button). These CABI Full Text items give users automatic access to over 350,000 journal articles, conference papers and reports – 80% of which are not available electronically anywhere else. NOTE: the default UCD Search Type is set to Advanced Ovid Search.
Critical reporting on daily news and events pertaining to the climate and its effect on business, society and the environment.
Compendex [via Elsevier, Engineering Village]
Compendex is the broadest and most complete engineering literature database available in the world with over 22 million indexed records from 77 countries across 190 engineering disciplines.
Coverage: 1884-present
Tags:
Aerospace,
Agricultural Engineering,
Automation,
Automotive Engineering,
Bioengineering,
Chemicals,
Communications,
Computers,
Engineering,
Food Technology,
Forensics,
Mechanical Engineering,
Standards,
Technology,
Transportation
Related links:
Engineering Research Profile,
Help
EPA National Service Center for Environmental Publications
EPA’s central repository of all EPA documents with over 7,000 titles available in paper or electronic form.
Covers literature on geology, paleontology, and geophysics.
Comprehensive, daily coverage of environmental and energy politics and policy, includes summaries of important energy and environmental policy coverage from hundreds of print, broadcast and online sources, including editorials. Greenwire's archive of key documents provides direct links to reports, analyses, memos, court cases and over 30,000 Greenwire stories. Includes new video and transcripts.
Access to journals and book series from the Geological Society of London. Includes Special Publications, Engineering Geology, Geological Society Memoirs, and Petroleum Geology Conferences.
PAIS Index [via ProQuest]
Indexes all types of materials in the area of public affairs and public policy - journal articles, books and book chapters, reports, government documents. Topics include agriculture, banking, demographics, education, environment, finance, government, health, law, legislation, political science, social sciences, and statistics.
Large interdisciplinary abstract and citation database to academic journal literature, conference proceedings and books with broad coverage across the sciences and social sciences, includes citation tracking tools.
Springer eBooks includes more than 60,000 titles in English (and selectively in German) from every scientific discipline and many social sciences. Coverage: 2005-2020. This online interface enables all books to be searchable at the full-text level. Scope (textbook areas are starred) ranges from Architecture and Design, *Behavioral Science, *Biomedical and Life Sciences, *Business and Economics, *Chemistry and Materials Science, *Computer Science, *Earth and Environmental Science, *Engineering, *Humanities & Social Sciences and Law, *Mathematics and Statistics, *Medicine, *Physics and Astronomy, to Professional and Applied Computing. NEW books are added monthly.
NOTE: Springer puts out new year titles 6 months before the new year date. Our contract is from Jan-Dec so a very recent book may not be accessible the first months of the new year. For example a 2021 book may be released in August 2020 but is NOT accessible until well into 2021.
Taylorfrancis.com is a brand new platform for all academic, science, technology and medical e-Book content from Taylor & Francis and its imprints: CRC Press, Routledge, and Garland.
Former CRCnetBASE collections are incorporated in this collection including: AGRICULTUREnetBASE, BiomedicalSCIENCEnetBASE, CHEMnetBASE, ENVIROnetBASE, FOODnetBASE, FORENSICnetBASE, MATHnetBASE, NUTRITIONnetBASE, STATSnetBASE and VETnetBASE (VetMed). Also included are newer Burleigh Dodds ebooks for agriculture.
USGS Publications Warehouse
The USGS Publications Warehouse contains: Full text and maps for over 40,000 USGS publications, citations for over 70,000 USGS publications, and USGS numbered series from as early as 1880. Biological series released by the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Biological Survey prior to creation of the Biological Resources Division in USGS are included in this database. Non-USGS series publications authored by USGS employees are currently NOT included.
Web of Science Core Collection [via Clarivate Analytics]
Scholarly journals, books, and proceedings in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Navigate the full citation network.
Archives, Dictionaries, and Encyclopedias
Encyclopedia of Estuaries
Encyclopedia of Lakes and Reservoirs
Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers
Encyclopedia of Water Science
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Hydrology
Comprehensive reference guide with complete definitions of terms in hydrogeology and other fields closely related to water practice.
Water Glossary
Glossary of water-related terms from the California Department of Water Resources.
Water Resources Collections and Archvies
The Water Resources Collections & Archives (WRCA) acquires, preserves, and provides access to materials that document water-related issues throughout the United States and beyond, with a particular emphasis on issues affecting the state of California. The physical archives are located at UC Riverside.
Water Science Glossary of Terms
Water-related terms compiled from a number of sources by the US Geological Survey (USGS).
California Water Resources
Aquapedia
The Water Education Foundation’s online water encyclopedia contains vetted information about the places, people and topics key to water in the West.
CADWR Land Use Viewer
Provides access to statewide and county land use survey data sets for the past 30 years.
California Data Exchange Center (CDEC)
The CDEC operates an extensive hydrologic data collection network including snow reporting gages and and precipitation and river stage sensors for flood forecasting.
California Department of Water Resources (CADWR)
DWR manages California’s water resources, systems, and infrastructure, including the State Water Project (SWP).
California Water Plan
The California Water Plan is the State government’s strategic plan for managing and developing water resources statewide.
California Water Science Center
California water data from the US Geological Survey.
California Water Virtual Tour
This tour is a compilation of videos describing the physical, legal and water management issues in the California water landscape. From the UC Davis Cooperative Extension Water Management website.
Disadvantaged Communities Mapping Tool
Tool from the Department of Water Resources that shows disadvantaged communities through out the state.
Groundwater Information and Educational Resources
From the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
PPIC Water Policy Center
The Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center which focuses on three critical challenges to California water: water supplies, healthy and resilient ecosystems, and droughts and floods.
Water and Drought News (Sacramento Bee)
California water & drought related news from the Sacramento Bee newspaper.
Water Data Library
Data from monitoring stations throughout the state of California.
Will you be starting a project from scratch that will require your attention for months, even years OR are you continuing a project started by somebody else?
The Data Management Program is here to help make both of these situations less painful. We can help you with
For more information, visit our website or contact us at dataserv@ucdavis.edu
Finding existing GIS data is a common but often difficult task. Sometimes the data you would like is simply not available, but other times it’s just difficult to find. Here are some strategies for finding data.
Search Engines
Searching for data online is going to require a search engine. Many search engines have advanced options that can help narrow down a search or restrict the results. For example, Google has menus for Settings and Tools, as well as searches targeted to specific results like images.
Search Terms
Keep your search terms broad. Also, try synonyms for terms you are interested in. For example, if you were looking for a shapefile of beaches in California, you might search try separate searches for “beach shapefile” or “coast shapefile”. Also, try synonyms for the data type. “GIS”, “map”, “geospatial”, and “shapefile” might find different but relevant results.
Think about how data might be developed or what kinds of layers would go into your analysis rather than terms that define your final product. For example, you might be interested in identifying areas considered a “food desert” but you might need to look for layers for “census data” and “grocery store locations”.
Results
Search results for geospatial data often fall into one of three categories.
- Good: blog posts explaining where to find data, why there is a lack of data, or what tools could be of use for your field.
- Better: Question board responses on sites like Stack Exchange. These can be a treasure trove of solutions, but also frustrating if your question was posted a while ago and has no answers.
- Best: Sites like repositories with links to download the data you are looking for. Don’t forget to check for metadata so you have some provenance for your data.
Data Repositories
Data repositories are places that store data. Many public repositories are themed by subject or by the entity that produces the data. For example, many California counties, the State of California, and the federal government have their own repositories for GIS data, including repositories for specific agencies. Data Basin is an example of subject-specific repository that focuses on data for environmental stewardship.
Academic Publications
Researchers in your field may be using datasets that are useful for your research. Read the methods section and citations list to look for sources of datasets and links to how to access the data.
Ask for help
On campus, talk to the Library’s GIS Data Curator or ask on the Geospatial email list. If the data you need is from a particular place, such as a county or conservation organization, you may be able to contact the organization’s GIS, data, or IT staff to ask about the availability of data. Additionally, posting in online forums (such as the aforementioned Stack Exchange), websites, or social media using keywords that describe the data you need (see the discussion above about synonyms) and hashtags to get a broader audience can be fruitful.
Drop-In Hours
The UC Davis Library’s Geospatial Data Specialist provides Drop-In Hours on Mondays from 1:30-3:00 in the DataLab Classroom – room 360 in Shields Library. This time is set aside for any and all questions about spatial data, from simple to complex. Library patrons are always welcome to make an appointment for another time with the Geospatial Data Specialist, Michele Tobias, to discuss spatial data.
Email Lists
UC Davis affiliates can sign up for email lists through the UC Davis Information & Educational Technology’s Sympa list serve manager. The “Geospatial” email list is a widely-used list for UC Davis faculty, students, staff, and local community members who work with any type of geospatial data. The list can be used for announcements or questions.
Geospatial Software
The geospatial industry has a number of established, well-respected, and long running free and open source projects that may suit the needs of researchers and students. The Open Source Geospatial Foundation oversees many of these projects, including QGIS (which runs on Mac, Linux, and Windows).
Esri’s ArcGIS suite of software is available to any UC Davis affiliate. Information on product availability, and licensing guides can be found at http://arcgis.ucdavis.edu
GIS Workstation
The lower level of Shields Library has one GIS workstation that UC Davis students, faculty, researchers, and other staff may to use for a maximum of two hours per day. The workstation room is located near, but outside the Map Room and is open the same hours as the Library. The workstation has the full suite of ArcGIS 10 software (available to campus affiliates) and QGIS 3 (available to anyone).
An 11″ x 17″ color scanner is available for maps and aerial photography.
Workstation use must comply with UC Davis Computer Use Policies and the Library Computer Use Policy as well as the following guidelines:
- GIS software and data licensed by the library may not be used for commercial purposes.
- Software and spatial data may be licensed and subject to restrictions on who can use it and how it can be used. We provide GIS users with public domain data and any other data and software that we can under the terms of the licenses.
- It is advisable to save your data and project files to portable media.
COVID-19 Related Library Updates
Find the latest information about library resources and services during the COVID-19 response.
Access VPN
Connect to UCD Library resources from your own computer or from off-campus
Contact Your Librarian
Leyla Cabugos Feel free to reach out by phone, email, or to set up a web meeting in Zoom.
Need a basic question answered ASAP? Your fastest option is Ask A Librarian 24/7 chat. Note that this service is staffed collaboratively by libraries nationwide, so the librarian you talk with may not be at UC Davis.
Take Notes
Document your search process, so you can easily update and build upon it. This useful template for note taking was developed by Carrol Community College.
Manage Citations
Software to organize and automatically reformat your bibliographies. Compare popular citation management products: EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero, and F1000
Methods Pre-Registration
Funding for Open Access Publishing
Access up to $1,000 per article from the UCD Library toward publishing fees in fully open access journals.
UCD E-links
Most literature databases provide a description of articles, or other literature resources, that allows you to find them among thousands of sources. However, there is often another step required to access a full text copy. This extra step is facilitated through the UCD E-links button, found on the item record.
Not all articles will be accessible directly from a database, as UCD E-links can only connect you to material licensed or owned by the library. However, we can borrow material from other libraries, if you put in an Interlibrary Loan request.
Watch how to make an Interlibrary Loan request for articles not available in the library collection.
