Melinda M Livas
Research Support Services
Physical Sciences and Engineering Librarian
530-752-5248
Mechanical Engineering
Library resources for Mechanical Engineering.
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Mechanical Engineering Databases
AIAA Meeting Papers Database
AIAA meeting papers contain the most recent discoveries in aerospace and related fields. Coverage: 1963 – present.
Applied Mechanics Reviews
Contains abstracts and bibliographic citation information on articles in mechanics and related fields published in over 500 international journals. Available at PSE TA1.A6, V.1, 1948-2004.
ASCE’s Civil Engineering Database
The database provides access to over 97,000 bibliographic and abstracted records. Coverage: 1956-
ASME Digital Collection
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is the premier professional membership organization for more than 127,000 mechanical engineers and associated members worldwide. ASME also conducts one of the world’s largest technical publishing operations in the world, offering thousands of titles including some of the profession’s most prestigious journals, conference papers and proceedings, and ASME Press books. The entire collection can be searched via the ASME Digital Collection.
Compendex
The most comprehensive bibliographic database of engineering research literature, containing references to over 5000 engineering journals and conferences. About half the citations (from 2600 journals and conferences) include abstracts and indexing in the records.
INSPEC
Citations from scholarly journals, conference proceedings, books, reports, and dissertations in physics, electrical engineering and electronics, computers and control, and information technology. Coverage: 1898 – present.
iEEE Xplore
Provides access to full-text IEEE transactions, journals, conference proceedings, and standards and IEE/IET journals and conferences. Offers basic, advanced, author and table of contents searching.
NACA Digital Library
Contains abstracts and full-text documents (1917-1958) to NASA’s predecessor the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
National Technical Reports Library
NTRL (National Technical Reports Library) is from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). NTRL indexes government-sponsored research, development and technical reports and provides full-text access to reports that have been digitized. Searches over 2 million reports with links to over 500,000 full-text reports. Our academic subscription provides access to “Digital-on-demand”, which will digitizes reports not currently full-text that UCD users find in the NTRL database.
NASA Technical Report Server
Keyword searchable database of NASA-wide technical reports.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
NREL Publications Database covers subjects related to sustainable energy technologies from 1977 to present.
National Transportation Library
The National Transportation Library is a repository of materials from public and private organizations around the country.
SAE Digital Library
SAE is a database of technical papers, magazine and journal articles, books, reports, and standards published by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Coverage: full-text technical papers 1906 – present, full-text journal articles 1998 – present.
SPIE Digital Library
The SPIE Digital Library is a comprehensive, online tool for locating papers on optics, photonics, optoelectronics, and imaging. Subject coverage is broad across optical technology, including astronomy, aerospace, remote sensing, biomedical optics, communications & fiber optics, electronic & medical imaging, lasers, microelectronics & micromachining, nanotechnology, optical physics, chemistry & biology, and signal & image processing. About 15,000 papers are added annually. The SPIE Digital library provides access to the papers published in: Proceedings of SPIE, Optical Engineering, Journal of Electronic Imaging, Journal of Biomedical Optics, Journal of Microlithography, Microfabrication, and Microsystems, Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, and Journal of Nanophotonics. Coverage: varies; as early as 1962-present.
TRID (Transport Research International Documentation)
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. Coverage: 1920s – present.
Additional Databases
Web of Science
Use Web of Science to find scholarly articles in all disciplines, including chemical engineering and materials science. This database can also be used to identify articles that cite an author or article that you specify. Coverage: 1900 – present. Cited Reference Searching: 1900 – present.
Scopus
Scopus indexes, selectively abstracts and provides citation analysis for approximately 20,000 peer-reviewed journals from more than 5,000 international publishers, as well as 2,600 open access journals, published sets of conference proceedings, trade publications, books, patents (from the USPTO, European Patent Office, Japan Patent office, World Intellectual Property Organization and the UK Intellectual Property Office) and millions of selected web pages. Coverage extends across disciplines in the life and health sciences, the physical sciences, the social sciences and the arts and humanities.
Academic Search Complete
Articles from popular magazines and scholarly journals for the humanities, social sciences, physical and biological sciences, engineering, business and interdisciplinary fields, with over 5,500 full-text periodicals. Also includes indexing for some newspapers, books and primary sources. Coverage: 1887 – present.
Journals
ALL Journals (that UC Davis subscribes to):
Use the UCD Library Catalog or MELVYL catalog to find which journals we subscribe to, either online or in print.
Online subscriptions: the catalog will give the link. NOTE: we sometimes get online content for different years from different sources, R-E-A-D the fine print.
Print subscriptions: the catalog will give you the call number, location, and indicate whether or not it is checked out.
Electronic Journals A-Z List:
Lists only online journals that UC Davis has an online subscription to. If we have a print subscription, the journal will not be listed here.
Books: Print and Online
| LIBRARY CATALOG
(formerly Harvest Catalog) The Library Catalog tells you what the UC Davis library owns, what the call number is, where it is located, and whether or not it is checked out. If there is an electronic version that we subscribe to, the link will be in the catalog. Use the catalog to locate books, journals, government documents, dissertations, maps, music scores & recordings, movies, and any other materials the library owns. |
MELVYL UC LIBRARY CATALOG MELVYL HELP
The MELVYL catalog tells you what all UC campus libraries own, and also searches other institutions. As with the UCD Library Catalog, MELVYL gives records for books, journals, government documents, dissertations, maps, music scores & recordings, movies, and other materials. The REQUEST button:
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Google Books Google Books-Help
Library catalogs only search catalog entries (author, title, subject indexing, etc) not the full text of the book.
Google Books searches full-text of books (only titles that Google has scanned), but you cannot access most of them (because they are still under copyright).
But you can use Google Books to identify titles you might be interested in.
–Use Google Books to search for phrases or topics you are intereted in (works well for technical terms).
–Then search for the title of the book(s) in the UCD Library Catalog or Melvyl
WorldCat Catalog
OCLC catalog: millions of records for books, journal titles and materials in other formats from approximately 12,000 libraries worldwide.
Coverage: 1000 A.D. to the present.
eBooks
| More Publisher Collections
Springer eBooks include more than 60,000 titles in English (and selectively in German) from every scientific discipline and many social sciences.
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| Wiley Online Library Ebook Collection – NOTE: Interface does not separate ebooks from Wiley ejournals.
Over 2,000 books with 2011-2016 publication dates. The Wiley ebook license comes with broad and favorable rights for, scientific, scholarly and educational uses.
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| UC Press eBooks Collection [via eScholarship]–
The University of California eBooks Collection includes about 2,000 titles and is made available through a partnership between the University of California Press and the California Digital Library’s eScholarship program.
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Books is a searchable database of books, but not all the content is available for free. To search for full-text books only:
- Go to the Advanced Book Search
- Specify your search criteria
- Make sure you select Search: Full View Only
HathiTrust is a collection of books digitized by US research libraries. You can search the full-text of over 10 million books, but access to some of the content is restricted. To search for full-text books only:
- Use theFull-text Search
- Enter your search terms
- Limit to: Full View Only (UC Davis is a partner member of HathiTrust. If you would like to download full PDFs of public domain books, you must login.)
Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
| Dictionary of Mechanical Engineering Abbreviations Signs and Symbols | PSE Reference TJ9.D5 |
| Encyclopedia of Fluid Mechanics | PSE Reference TA357 E53 1986 |
| McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Mechanical and Design Engineering | PSE Reference TJ9.M395 1984 |
Handbooks & Tables
| ASHRAE Handbook. Fundamentals (I-P ed.) | PSE Reference TH7201 A82 |
| ASHRAE Handbook. Heating, Ventilating, and Air-Conditioning Applications (I-P ed.) | PSE Reference TH7005 A82 |
| ASHRAE Handbook. Heating, Ventilating, and Air-Conditioning Systems and Equipment (I-P ed.) | PSE Reference TH7005 A825 |
| ASHRAE Handbook. Refrigeration (I-P ed.) | PSE Reference TH7011 A48 |
| ASME Steam Tables | PSE Reference TJ270 A4 1993 |
| CRC Handbook of Mechanical Engineering | Also: PSE Reference TJ151 C73 2005 |
| CRC Handbook of Tables for Applied Engineering Science | PSE Reference TA151 C2 1973 |
| CRCnetBASE | Fluid Flow Calculator |
| Engineering Reference Book on Energy and Heat | PSE Reference TJ260 E54 1992 |
| Handbook of Heat Transfer | PSE Reference QC320.4 .H36 1998 |
| Handbook of Mechanical Engineering Calculations | Also: PSE Reference TJ151 .H327 2006 |
| Heat Exchanger Design Handbook | PSE Reference TJ263 H38 1983 |
| Instrument Engineers’ Handbook | v.1 Process measurement and analysis
v.2 Process control and optimization PSE Reference TS156.8 .I56 2003 v.1-2 |
| Inrternational Steam Tables | MatWeb: The Online Materials Information Resource |
| Machinery’s Handbook | PSE Reference TJ151 M28 2012 |
| Measurements Converter | McGraw Hill’s Access Engineering
250 engineering handbooks and a dictionary, searchable and online |
| Mechanical Design Handbook | PSE Reference TJ230 M433 2006 |
| Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual | PSE TJ159 L5 1995 |
| Mechanical Engineers’ Handbook | PSE Reference TJ151 M395 2006 |
| Mechanisms & Mechanical Devices Sourcebook (4th ed.) | PSE Reference TJ181 M32 2011 (5th ed.) |
| Metallic Materials and Elements for Aerospace Vehicle Structures (see MMPDS for latest edition) | |
| MMPDS (Metallic Materials Properties Development and Standardization handbook) | Phy Sci Engr Library Media TL698 .M48 2012 CD-ROM |
| Pump Handbook | PSE Reference TJ900 P79 2008 |
| Standard Handbook of Fastening and Joining | PSE Reference TJ1320 S74 1997 |
| Thermodynamic Data and Property Calculation Sites on the Web | Thermodex |
| Tool and Manufacturing Engineers Handbook | PSE Reference TS176 T63 1983 |
| Tribology Handbook | PSE Reference TJ1075 T762 1995 |
PATENTS
What are Patents?
Patents are defined as “A license to manufacture, sell, or deal in an article or commodity, to the exclusion of other persons; in modern times, a grant from a government to a person or persons conferring for a certain definite time the exclusive privilege of making, using, or selling some new invention.” (Oxford English Dictionary 2nd edition)
Patent literature is a rich source of technical and research data much of which is never published or disclosed elsewhere. In addition, patents and patent applications are often published earlier than academic papers.
There are generally 4 types of patents:
UTILITY Patents
Utility Patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or compositions of matters, or any new useful improvement thereof. This is the primary type of U.S. Patent.
DESIGN Patents
Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.
PLANT Patents
Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plants.
REISSUE Patents
Reissue Patents are granted if there is a substantial error or errors in the original patent.
In addition to the USPTO, esp@cenet and Google databases linked to below, there are a number of other resources available to UCD that index patent literature. Among those are: BIOSIS, NTIS and SciFinder Scholar. For information on how to access and search these resources, see the PSE Databases page.
Selected Patent Resources
| United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) | Conducting a Patent Search at a Patent and Trademark Depository Library (PTDL) |
| Patent Offices (list maintained by WIPO) | UC Davis Intellectual Property Management |
| Essentials of Patents (PSE T333 .G53 2003) | Patent fundamentals for scientists and engineers
3rd ed. (requires UCD IP) |
| Filing Patents Online: A Professional Guide (requires UCD IP) | Fundamentals of patenting and licensing for scientists and engineers (PSE T339 .M3 2009) |
| Title 35 — U.S. Code — Patents | Title 37 — Code of Federal Regulations Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights |
| FreePatentsOnline | Google Patents |
| pat2pdf.org |
STANDARDS
What are Standards?
Standards and specifications are documents that describe and/or recommend a set of rules and conditions for how materials and products should be manufactured, defined, measured, or tested. Standards are used to establish minimum levels of performance and quality and optimal conditions and procedures for the purpose of ensuring compatibility of products and services from different sources. Specifications tend to have more limited applications than standards and generally establish requirements for materials, products, or services. Standards and specifications may be issued by voluntary technical or trade associations, professional societies, national standards bodies, government agencies, or by international organizations.
The PSE Library has only a limited number industry standards and specifications in its collection. See Standards available at UCD for those that we do currently have access to. Please search either the UCD Davis Catalog or the Melvyl (usually by the title of the standard or specification) to determine whether we own standards from other standards organizations such as AASHTO, ANSI, ASHRAE, ASME, ISO, etc.
Most standards organizations have websites that allow you to search and order standards directly from the publisher. There are a number of more comprehenisve standards indexes available for searching and ordering as well.
IHS Demand Driven Standards
Need an industry standard for your research, teaching, or a project? The IHS Standards Expert (https://login.ihserc.com/login/erc?) database searches about 1.6 million standards from 370 technical societies worldwide.
The UC Davis Library will now purchase print copies of standards for UC Davis affiliated faculty and researchers for the library’s collection and make them available to you.
- There is no charge to the requester.
- Delivery times can vary, but should take 7 working days or fewer.
- You will be notified when the standard is available for use in the collection.
Please keep in mind that we do already provide full-text online standards from ASTM, IEEE, ASCE, and ASABE and also have current print editions from a handful of other societies and standards bodies. If you aren’t sure if we already have access to a standard, please feel free to send an e-mail to Melinda M. Livas at mmlivas@ucdavis.edu.
Searching and ordering through the IHS Standards Expert database does require registration. Step by step instructions are available at http://guides.lib.ucdavis.edu/IHS_setup. You are not required to request standards through the IHS interface and/or if you happen to already know what standard you need, you can either request using the following order form or by contacting Melinda M. Livas at mmlivas@ucdavis.edu.
IHS Account Set-Up & Ordering Help
Use IHS Standards Expert resource to search for, and order specific Standards; please register to set-up an account.
Select link to Set-Up your IHS Account- http://people.lib.ucdavis.edu/~bobhg/IHS-Account-Ordering.pdf
ANSI (American National Standards Institute), University Outreach Program
Faculty interested in getting copies of ISO or IEC Standards for use in the classroom can now get copies for students via the ANSI University Outreach Program.
- Faculty select specific ISO or IEC standards and complete and return the University Outreach Pilot Project enrollment form.
- ANSI sends an e-mail to the faculty member with a unique URL and password for their students to access the standards online and ANSI provides faculty with the University Outreach Pilot Project License Agreement for distribution to all students given access to the free standards.
- Faculty distribute URLs, passwords and the License Agreement to their students.
- Faculty contacts ANSI with any additional requests for resources.
- As they become available, ANSI will contact faculty with additional teaching resources.
- At the end of the semester faculty participate in a brief evaluation of the pilot.
To learn more about access to complimentary standards, the University Outreach Pilot Program, or a copy of the enrollment form, please send a message to Melinda M. Livas at mmlivas@ucdavis.edu.
Standards available at UCD
| AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) | AASHTO specifications include Standard Specifications for Transportation Materials and Methods of Sampling and Testing PSE Reference TE200 .A615 2009; AASHTO Provisional Standards PSE Reference TE200 .A53 2009; Roadside design guide PSE Media TE228 .A49 2006 CDROM; AASHTO LRFD bridge design specifications PSE Reference TG310 .A43 2010; and Standard specifications for highway bridges PSE Reference TG310 .A6 2002 among others, please check the Library catalog. |
| AATCC (American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists) | Current Test Methods and Procedures are available via the AATCC Technical Manual Shields TP890 .A25. Earlier years and discontinued Methods are available from UCD/NRLF TP890 .A25 |
| ACI (American Concrete Institute) | Most recent edition of ACI manual of concrete practice is available at PSE TA682 .A5. Earlier print volumes are avaialble from UCD/NRLF TA682 .A5. |
| AISC (American Institute of Steel Construction) | AISC specifications can be found in the Steel construction manual in PSE Reference TA684 .A5 2011. |
| ASABE (American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers) | Web access to current ASABE standards requires UCD IP. Current paper copies are available at PSE Reference S671 .A41. Earlier versions in print are available from UCD/NRLF S671 .A41. |
| ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) | Online for standards 2016 to present. We should have a fairly complete set of current ASCE standards and provisions in print prior to 2016. Search the library catalog by the standard/provision title. |
| ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) | Online access to all ASTM standards (active, historic, and withdrawn) covering a broad range of engineering disciplines (aerospace, biomedical, chemical, civil, environmental, geological, health and safety, industrial, materials science, mechanical, nuclear, petroleum, soil science, and solar engineering). Standards are searchable by keyword or standard number, with full text access to all standards in either PDF or HTML format. ASTM Standards and Engineering Digital Library also includes online access to journals, e-books, manuals and symposia papers published by ASTM. 2011 standards, also available in print at PSE Reference TA401 .A68. Previous years available in print from UCB/NRLF TA401 .A53. |
| AWWA (American Water Works Association) | Most recent edition of Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, available at PSE Reference QD142 .A5. Ealier years are available at PSE & Shields QD142 .A5. |
| ICC (International Code Council) | PSE Reference K3538 .I68 2014, this set includes: [v. 1.] International building code — [v. 2.] International residential code — [v. 3.] International fire code — [v. 4.] International energy conservation code — [v. 5.] International plumbing code — [v. 6.] International mechanical code — [v. 7. ] International private sewage disposal code — [v. 8.] International fuel gas code — [v. 9. ] International property maintenance code — [v. 10.] International zoning code — [v. 12.] International existing building code — [v. 13.] International Code Council performance code — [v. 14.] International wildland-urban interface code — [v. 15.] International swimming pool and spa code. |
| International Telecommunication Union Recommendations | Free web access to all currently approved ITU standards. |
| IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) | Web access to current IEEE & ANSI/IEEE approved standards requires UCD IP. |
| NISO (National Information Standards Organization) | Web access to all currently approved ANSI/NISO standards. |
| SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) | Current SAE ground standards are available via the SAE Handbook, PSE Media TL5 .S6 2008. Earlier years are available at PSE TL5 S6. |
| UBC (Uniform Building Code) | Replaced by International Building Code, see ICC above. |
Standards Searching and Indexing
| ASSIST | ASSIST-Quick Search provides direct access to Defense and Federal specifications and standards available in the official DoD repository. |
| Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC)s Scientific and Technical Information Network | Provides access to citations of unclassified unlimited documents that have been entered into DTICs Technical Reports Collection from December 1974, as well as the electronic full-text of many of these documents. |
| Document Center | Global Engineering Documents |
| ILI Standards & Specifications (requires registration) | NSSN: A Global Resource for Standards |
| Techstreet |
Wind Energy Resources
| American Wind Energy Association | British Wind Energy Association |
| California Energy Commission: Wind Energy in California | Canadian Wind Energy Association |
| Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT) | Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) |
| Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (DOE) | European Wind Energy Association |
| German Wind Energy Association | Institute for Wind Energy (TU Delft) |
| National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) | National Wind Coordinating Committee |
| National Wind Technology Center (NREL) | Renewable Energy Policy Project |
| RIS Wind Energy Department | Sandia Wind Energy Technology |
| United States Department of Energy (DOE) | Wind Energy Program (DOE) |
| Wind Energy (Danish Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association) | Wind Turbines (A Social Network for the Wind Turbine Community) |
| World Wind Energy Association |
EndNote & Citing Sources
EndNote is citation management software that allows you to store, manage, and format bibliographic citations, and easily change formatting of citations in Word documents. Available, and free to UC Davis students, faculty & staff (campus has a site license).
Two versions are available:
- Endnote client/desktop: Requires installation of software, more powerful, best choice for faculty and grad students.
- To download, log-on to MyUCDavis,
- RESOURCES > SOFTWARE > Type EndNote in the search box > Select download link that corresponds to your desktop’s operations system.
- For installation help, contact Campus IET or your department’s computer support.
- To download, log-on to MyUCDavis,
- EndnoteWeb: Requires online registration. EndNoteWeb allows you to store, share, and organize your research content.
- Web-based; able to access content 24/7.
- Perfect for sharing citations with a group.
CITING
Recommended Guides
Visit these reputable sources for examples of APA style citations.
Purdue OWL: APA Formatting and Style Guide
This comprehensive resource from Purdue University includes instructions on creating in-text citations and References lists.
Created by the University of California Libraries.
Citation Generators
These free tools prompt you to enter in the components of a citation, and configure the elements according to APA guidelines. Make sure you verify the accuracy of your results by consulting the Publication Manual!
Developed by the North Carolina State University Libraries.
This site is maintained by the Hekman Library at Calvin College in Michigan. Select ‘APA’ from the Citation Styles menu.
Select the type of source you are citing and complete the web form. For books, you can enter an ISBN to populate the form automatically.
This tool is useful if you only need to generate citations for a couple of sources.
Author ID/Track Research
What is it?
ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID)- distinguishes your research from other researchers by providing a persistent digital identifier.
What it does:
- resolve name ambiguity
- seamlessly links to multiple research formats, i.e., grants, manuscripts, etc.
- ensures that your work is recognized
Sign up for an ORCiD account:
Register in three easy steps: https://orcid.org/
What is it?
Altmetric provides a social media profile for an article, including: blogs, tweets, Facebook, Google+, CiteULike, Wikipedia, Mendeley, Connotea, Reddit, and news outlets that have referenced the article. Includes links to postings and metrics.
What it does:
- Provides a collated record of who’s saying what about your published work
- Helps you to monitor and track early engagement
- Identifies the most effective channels, i.e., Twitter, Facebook, eBlogger
Sign up for an Altmetrics Bookmarklet: it is FREE!!!
Go to http://www.altmetric.com/bookmarklet.php.
Grab and drag the ALTMETRICS Bookmarklet to your toolbar.
Altmetrics sells access to three products: Explorer, Embeddable badges, Altmetric API.