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13 online resources for sociology students

New to the University or just wanting a handy list of places to search for Sociology information. Then here are some of our suggestions to help you find the information you need.

1. Library Search for ebooks and articles

Whether you are on or off campus you can access the full collection of ebooks, electronic journals and professional magazines, newspapers, conferences and more, from Library Search.

Watch our short video showing how to search for eBooks.

We’ve put together a page of tips and help videos all about Library Search on our finding information skills guide .

To find academic journal articles from across our collection that match your topic keywords, use the everything search option and filter your results on the left to peer-reviewed journals.

Find out how to search for electronic journal articles in this short video.

2. Your Subject Guide

The Subject Guide for Sociology draws together in one place, the resources available from the library to help you with your academic work. Use the Journals and Database page to access subject databases such as Social Sciences Premium Collection, Scopus and JSTOR.

You can contact the Liaison Team for one-to-one support or send your questions to Library Help, where there are staff logged into our live chat service, 24/7.

Between Library Search and your Subject Guide, you will be able to find excellent information to use in your academic essays, but there are many other resources you may want to try.

3. Social Sciences Premium Collection

The Social Sciences Premium Collection is a brilliant place to start if you would like to refine your results to sociology and the social sciences, while still searching broadly across different information types. It is a collection of social sciences databases, covering a range of information types including articles, reports, conference papers and theses, so you are able to find results that match your keywords from a variety of global sources.

Find out more about the Social Sciences Premium Collection, how to search it successfully and use the advanced features in the video guide below. It is a brilliant resource for sociology and excellent to use for any academic assignment.

Watch our introduction to the Social Sciences Premium Collection to explore basic and advanced searching.

4. JSTOR

JSTOR is a full-text collection, giving you online access to scholarly journals, books and book chapters in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

It has basic and advanced search options that allow you to search by topic keyword, author, subject area, title or publisher

Screenshot showing the JSTOR homepage

5. Scopus

Scopus is a large, multidisciplinary database, which indexes peer- reviewed journal articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings and trade publications.

One of the main advantages of using Scopus is that it provides a lot of useful information about the articles it indexes. This includes full reference lists for articles and cited reference searching, so you can navigate forward and backward through the literature to uncover all the information relevant to your research.  

You can also set up citation alerts so you can be informed of new, relevant material automatically. Other useful tools include citation overviews, author and affiliation searching, visual analysis of search results, a journal analyser, and author identifier tools (if you are interested in publishing work).Watch this video from Scopus about how to expand your search from a known article reference.Watch this video from Scopus about how to expand your search from a known article reference.

https://youtu.be/qCu-obYMFsE
Watch this video from Scopus about how to expand your search from a known article reference.

6. Government publications

Government publications provide information in a variety of subjects. Statistics, White Papers, Parliamentary Bills and a whole range of Official Legislation published by the Government. The provide a good, reliable, source of accurate statistics, and can give support to your argument in essay topics.

We have put together a resource guide for government publications that will give you quick access to the United Kingdom gov.uk publications search and the Office For National Statistics, European and international official publications.

7. OECD iLibrary for statistics and global reports.

OECD iLibrary is the online library of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and gives you access to books, analytical reports and statistics, covering a broad range of topics relevant for studies in sociology.

OECD iLibrary is certainly worth searching to provide reputable supporting information for your academic work. The Social Issues, Health and Migration section would be a good place to start.

8. Statista for easy statistics and global outlook

Statista is an extensive statistics platform covering over 1.5 million data sets. It includes reports, statistics and forecasts on a range of topics. So if you want to know which social media platforms are most popular across the globe, compare homelessness statistics, explore education trends or how many people read every day, Statista is a brilliant place to start.

Statistics and reports can be exported in a range of formats including images and PowerPoint, giving you flexibility to include the visuals in your assignments. The statistics source is included, giving you the information that you need to cite it successfully.

Find out more about Statista with this brief introduction.

You will find a similar sources on our Statistics and Market Research resource guides.

9. Current newspapers with LexisLibrary

Newspapers are an excellent resource to explore, to provide a range of perspectives on a topic. You can find opinion pieces, social commentary and identify trends in public opinion.

We have a huge range of newspaper archives, historic newspapers and international sources such as Nexis that can mostly be access online and off campus. Our Newspapers resource guide collates all of our resources and will guide you through how where to look.

LexisLibrary is an excellent place to start. It provides access to UK national and regional newspapers, from the 1990s to today. It includes the copy text without the images or formatting and all of the details you need to create a citation are on the article page.

Once you have followed the Library Search link to access Lexis, make sure you click on News at the top of the page for full text access to all UK publications.

As so many articles are published every day, you will need to refine your searching using date ranges, combined keywords or by selecting specific newspapers or publication type (i.e. broadsheet or tabloid).

Remember to use your critical skills when using newspapers however, and watch out for Fake News. They are biased sources and are best used in balance with other sources. You can find our tips on our Evaluating Information skills guide.

10. Box of Broadcasts

Box of Broadcasts can be used to access TV and radio broadcasts from over 65 channels, including most of the UK’s freeview network, all BBC TV and radio content from 2007, and several foreign language channels. It’s a great resource to use to find documentaries or critical opinions.

You can view archived programmes, record new ones, create clips and playlists and see transcripts to help with citation and translation. You can also search for other user’s public playlists to help you in your own search. 

Unfortunately, Box of Broadcasts is not available outside the UK.

11. Joseph Rowntree Foundation

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is a British social policy research and development charity, that funds UK-wide research and development programs. It aims to understand the root causes of social problems, and how social needs can be met in practice.  The charity produces excellent topical research reports on cities towns and neighborhoods, housing, income and benefits, people, society and work.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation homepage with browse and search.
The website is easy to search and browse by topic.

12. British Library Social Sciences Blog

Written by the Social Science team at the British Library and guest contributors, it gives insight into their work, projects they are involved in as well as events, interesting resources and research methods related to the social sciences.

There is some great content on the blog and they run free, online short courses, with recent topics including things like propoganda and research methods for historical, society focused, research. This is definitely a blog worth bookmarking.

13. Mass Observation Online

This a major resource for British social history from 1937-1967. It contains material generated by the Mass Observatihttps://libsearch.ncl.ac.uk/permalink/f/1jraif3/NCL_ALMA21112401630002411on social research organisation, including all the day surveys, diaries and subject directives from 1937-1967, a wide range of themed topic collections, together with other material such as images and essays.

The online exhibitions are an accessible way into the collections and highlight the wealth of information and documents available in the database.

To get started, browse by topic and you will quickly get a sense of the range of information that would be useful for your written assignments

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10 online resources for Education students

As well as following your reading lists from your module leaders you will also need to find your own good quality resources. Here are some of our suggestions to help you find the information you need.

1. Library Search for ebooks and articles

When working off campus, you can still access the full collection of ebooks, electronic journals and professional magazines, newspapers, conferences and more, from Library Search.

Additional ebook titles are being added to the collection every day while we are all working remotely. Search by author, title or keyword to find books to help you with your essay topic.

We’ve put together a page of tips and help videos all about Library Search on our finding information skills guide .

Our video will get you started with searching for eBooks.

To find academic journal articles from across our collection that match your topic keywords, use the everything search option and filter your results on the left to peer-reviewed journals.

Find out how to search for journal articles in this short video.

2. Your Subject Guide

The Subject Guide for Education draws together in one place, the resources available from the library to help you with your academic work. Use the Journals and Database page to access subject databases such as Social Sciences Premium Collection ERIC and JSTOR.

The Social Sciences Premium Collection is a brilliant place to start if you would like to refine your results to education and the social sciences, while still searching broadly across different information types. Find out more about the Social Sciences Premium Collection, how to search it successfully and use the advanced features in the video guide below. It is a brilliant resource for education.

You can contact the Liaison Team for one-to-one support or send your questions to Library Help, where there are staff logged into our live chat service, 24/7.

Between Library Search and your Subject Guide, you will be able to find excellent information to use in your academic essays, but there are many other resources you may want to try.

3. ERIC and British Education Index

ERIC is the most widely used education database, that covers a broad spectrum of education literature including journal articles, books, conference papers and reports. It has global coverage although can be a little skewed towards American education.

It includes basic and advanced search options, and has a built in thesaurus that allows you to select subject headings for your search, that take into account the differences in how education levels or topics may be described internationally, e.g. elementary education versus primary education.

Find out how to do a basic search on the EBSCOhost platform, that hosts ERIC.

If you want to refine your search to UK education, use British Education Index instead. It is on the same platform as ERIC so is searched in the same way, but will refine your results to a British focus.

4. JSTOR

JSTOR is a full-text collection, giving you online access to scholarly journals, books and book chapters in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

It has basic and advanced search options that allow you to search by topic keyword, author, subject area, title or publisher

Screenshot showing the JSTOR homepage

5. Scopus

Scopus is a large, multidisciplinary database, which indexes peer- reviewed journal articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings and trade publications.

One of the main advantages of using Scopus is that it provides a lot of useful information about the articles it indexes. This includes full reference lists for articles and cited reference searching, so you can navigate forward and backward through the literature to uncover all the information relevant to your research.  

You can also set up citation alerts so you can be informed of new, relevant material automatically. Other useful tools include citation overviews, author and affiliation searching, visual analysis of search results, a journal analyser, and author identifier tools (if you are interested in publishing work).Watch this video from Scopus about how to expand your search from a known article reference.

https://youtu.be/qCu-obYMFsE
Watch this video from Scopus about how to expand your search from a known article reference.

6. Government publications

Government publications provide information in a variety of subjects. Statistics, White Papers, Parliamentary Bills and a whole range of Official Legislation published by the Government. The provide a good, reliable, source of accurate statistics, and can give support to your argument in essay topics. This includes OFSTED reports, Department for Education advice, policy and publications.

We have put together a resource guide for government publications that will give you quick access to the United Kingdom gov.uk publications search and the Office For National Statistics, European and international official publications.

7. OECD iLibrary for statistics and global reports.

OECD iLibrary is the online library of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and gives you access to books, analytical reports and statistics, covering a broad range of topics relevant for studies in education.

OECD iLibrary is certainly worth searching to provide reputable supporting information for your academic work.

8. Statista for easy statistics and global outlook

Statista is an extensive statistics platform covering over 1.5 million data sets. It includes reports, statistics and forecasts on a range of topics. So if you want to know which social media platforms are most popular across the globe, compare homelessness statistics, explore education trends or how many people read every day, Statista is a brilliant place to start.

Statistics and reports can be exported in a range of formats including images and PowerPoint, giving you flexibility to include the visuals in your assignments. The statistics source is included, giving you the information that you need to cite it successfully.

Find out more about Statista with this brief introduction.

You will find a similar sources on our Statistics and Market Research resource guides.

9. Current newspapers with LexisLibrary

Newspapers are an excellent resource to explore, to provide a range of perspectives on a topic. You can find opinion pieces, social commentary and identify trends in public opinion.

We have a huge range of newspaper archives, historic newspapers and international sources such as Nexis that can mostly be access online and off campus. Our Newspapers resource guide collates all of our resources and will guide you through how where to look.

LexisLibrary is an excellent place to start, including TES and The Guardian education. It provides access to UK national and regional newspapers, from the 1990s to today. It includes the copy text without the images or formatting and all of the details you need to create a citation are on the article page.

Once you have followed the Library Search link to access Lexis, make sure you click on News at the top of the page for full text access to all UK publications.

As so many articles are published every day, you will need to refine your searching using date ranges, combined keywords or by selecting specific newspapers or publication type (i.e. broadsheet or tabloid).

Remember to use your critical skills when using newspapers however, and watch out for Fake News. They are biased sources and are best used in balance with other sources. You can find our tips on our Evaluating Information skills guide.

10. Box of Broadcasts

Box of Broadcasts can be used to access TV and radio broadcasts from over 65 channels, including most of the UK’s freeview network, all BBC TV and radio content from 2007, and several foreign language channels. It’s a great resource to use to find documentaries or critical opinions.

You can view archived programmes, record new ones, create clips and playlists and see transcripts to help with citation and translation. You can also search for other user’s public playlists to help you in your own search. 

You can get help at anytime during your studies by contacting your Social Science Liaison Team; Karen and Louise who are based in the Philip Robinson Library.

mailto:libliaison@ncl.ac.uk
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New resource: Oxford Handbooks Online

The Library has bought permanent access to several collections in the Oxford Handbooks Online series.

This provides access to 250 handbooks in various subject areas across humanities, social sciences and science, in addition to collections we had previously bought. The new collections are:

You can access the content in various ways: for example, you can browse by the broad subject areas, to view individual books, and/or the articles within those books.

Once in a subject area, you can then refine your search to more specific sub-disciplines.

You can also search in various ways, e.g. by author or keyword.

The handbooks are all being individually catalogued and will be accessible via Library Search shortly.

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New ebook collections: Taylor and Francis

The Library has access to several new ebook collections from Taylor and Francis until March 2021.

The collections comprise over 1,200 titles in a wide range of subject areas across humanities, social sciences, science, technology and medicine.

Search filter box

All the books are individually catalogued on Library Search, or you can browse them on the Taylor and Francis site (click Show content I have access to in the search filter box to display the titles available to you).

After March 2021, we will assess usage of the titles.

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New dataset – Digimap Pilot

A new dataset is now available within Digimap called the Pilot Collection. This provides temporary access to data that EDINA are trying out and want feedback from users. This means the data will be replaced with other data sets over time as new sets become available.

Digimap Pilot is free for staff and students at current subscribing higher and further education institutions and research councils. All you will need to do is to accept the end user licence agreement which is available when you log into Digimap with your Campus ID and password. As these datasets will change regularly then you’ll need to re-accept each new licence agreement as sets are replaced.

Digimap Pilot comprises two applications, one for creating maps online, the other for downloading data which enables further analysis and investigation in other packages:

  • Use Roam to view, annotate and print maps online.
  • Use Data Download to download data and load it into a GIS or CAD package for further manipulation

As of April 2020, Pilot currently offers access to the following data.

Geomni data which consists of:

  • UKMap a modern, highly detailed, feature-rich mapping database of Greater London. Its unique, innovative design offers users a flexible choice of integrated map features within a single geographic information source.  It comprises addresses, retail names, detailed shopping centre data, building heights, a wide range of points of interest, aerial photography, together with Digital Terrain and Surface Models.
  • This one dataset has different components for Greater London. This includes UKMapLondon which provides aerial imagery with a resolution of 10cm, UKMap Upper Floors which shows more granular information e.g. which shops are on different floors of shopping centres, UKMap Tree Canopy which indicates tree canopies.
  • UKBuildings a unique database created and regularly updated to help you understand the age, structure, characteristics and use, of commercial, public and residential buildings across the UK.
  • UKLand a maintained, national land information database providing a detailed consistent breakdown of the use of land across the UK. There are 30 different land classes available e.g. woodland, water features, transport and commerical.

An EDINA Satellite data collection initially consisting of:

  • Sentinel 2 derived cloud free optical mosaic for Great Britain, 2019.
  • Sentinel 2 derived Near Infrared mosaic for Great Britain, 2019.

These 2 sections are currently available until the 31/07/2020.

Within the Pilot Data Download section you’ll also find some useful product information such as where the data comes from, it’s availability and sizing and Copyright information.

If you’re using mapping data already you might want to use this in conjunction with GIS if you’re manipulating or working with the data. Or doing a comparison to other maps you might have found freely available e.g. Google Maps.

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Resource on trial: Westlaw student textbooks

Westlaw logo.

We are pleased to announce we have trial access to Westlaw’s student textbooks, in addition to the standard Westlaw All Books collection we use on a daily basis.

The Sweet & Maxwell Academic collection gives access to an additional 19 titles to support studying at home during this pandemic. Titles include Winfield & Jolowicz on Tort, Treitel on the Law of Contract, Megarry & Wade on the Law of Real Property and Elliott & Wood’s Cases and Materials on Criminal Law, among others.

To access this content, log into Westlaw and click on Books in the menu at the top of the page.

An image of the Westlaw home screen with the Books option highlighted.

If you know the book you are looking for, search by a title keyword, e.g. tort.

An image of the Westlaw Books screen with Search highlighted.

If you want to browse these student-focused books, use the filters on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down and select ‘Sweet & Maxwell Academic’.

We hope you find this additional access to Westlaw useful; please leave feedback or contact libraryhelp@ncl.ac.uk you want to get in touch. The temporary access ends on May 27th 2020.

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10 online resources for Politics students.

New to the University or just not sure where to start other than the Politics reading lists you’ve been told to follow? Then check out our list for where you might to look.

1. Library Search for ebooks and articles

When working off campus, you can still access the full collection of ebooks, electronic journals and professional magazines, newspapers, conferences and more, from Library Search.

Additional ebook titles are being added to the collection every day while we are all working remotely. Search by author, title or keyword to find books to help you with your essay topic.

We’ve put together a page of tips and help videos all about Library Search on our finding information skills guide .

To find academic journal articles from across our collection that match your topic keywords, use the everything search option and filter your results on the left to peer-reviewed journals.

Watch our introduction to the main Library Search features.

2. Your Subject Guide

The Subject Guide for Politics draws together in one place, the resources available from the library to help you with your academic work. Use the Journals and Database page to access subject databases such as Social Sciences Premium Collection and JSTOR.

The Social Sciences Premium Collection is a brilliant place to start if you would like to refine your results to politics and the social sciences, while still searching broadly across different information types.

Find out more about the Social Sciences Premium Collection, how to search it successfully and use the advanced features. It is a brilliant resource for politics.

You can contact the Liaison Team for one-to-one support or send your questions to Library Help, where there are staff logged into our live chat service, 24/7.

Between Library Search and your Subject Guide, you will be able to find excellent information to use in your academic essays, but there are many other resources you may want to try.

3. JSTOR

JSTOR is a full-text collection, giving you online access to scholarly journals, books and book chapters in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

It has basic and advanced search options that allow you to search by topic keyword, author, subject area, title or publisher

Screenshot showing the JSTOR homepage

4. Scopus

Scopus is a large, multidisciplinary database, which indexes peer reviewed journal articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings and trade publications.

One of the main advantages of using Scopus is that it provides a lot of useful information about the articles it indexes. This includes full reference lists for articles and cited reference searching, so you can navigate forward and backward through the literature to uncover all the information relevant to your research.  

You can also set up citation alerts so you can be informed of new, relevant material automatically. Other useful tools include citation overviews, author and affiliation searching, visual analysis of search results, a journal analyser, and author identifier tools (if you are interested in publishing work).

https://youtu.be/qCu-obYMFsE
Watch this video from Scopus about how to expand your search from a known article reference.

5. Government publications

Government publications provide information in a variety of subjects. Statistics, White Papers, Parliamentary Bills and a whole range of Official Legislation published by the Government provide a good, reliable, source of accurate statistics, and can give support to your argument in essay topics.

We have put together a resource guide for government publications that will give you quick access to the United Kingdom gov.uk publications search and the Office For National Statistics, European and international official publications.

6. OECD iLibrary for statistics and global reports.

OECD iLibrary is the online library of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and gives you access to books, analytical reports and statistics, covering a broad range of topics relevant for studies in politics.

  • Agriculture and food
  • Development
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Energy and nuclear energy
  • Environment
  • Finance and investment, taxation and trade
  • Industry and services
  • Science and technology
  • Social Issues / Migration / Health
  • Transport
  • Urban, Rural and Regional Development

OECD iLibrary is certainly worth searching to provide reputable supporting information for your academic work.

7. Statista for easy statistics and global outlook

Statista is an extensive statistics platform covering over 1.5 million data sets. It includes reports, statistics and forecasts on a range of topics. So if you want to know which social media platforms are most popular across the globe, compare homelessness statistics, explore industry trends or how many people play video games, Statista is a brilliant place to start.

Statistics and reports can be exported in a range of formats including images and PowerPoint, giving you flexibility to include the visuals in your assignments. The statistics source is included, giving you the information that you need to cite it successfully.

Find out more about Statista with this brief introduction.

You will find a similar sources on our Statistics and Market Research resource guides.

8. Current newspapers with LexisLibrary

Newspapers are an excellent resource to explore, to provide a range of perspectives on a topic. You can find opinion pieces, social commentary and identify trends in public opinion.

We have a range of newspaper resources available from the Library, and LexisLibrary is an excellent place to start. It provides access to UK national and regional newspapers, from the 1990s to today. It includes the copy text without the images or formating and all of the details you need to create a citation are on the article page.

Once you have followed the Library Search link to access Lexis, make sure you click on News at the top of the page for full text access to all UK publications.

As so many articles are published every day, you will need to refine your searching using date ranges, combined keywords or by selecting specific newspapers or publication type (i.e. broadsheet or tabloid).

Remember to use your critical skills when using newspapers however, and watch out for Fake News. They are so biased sources and are best used in balance with other sources. You can find our tips on our Evaluating Information skills guide.

9. Newspaper archives and international news

We have a huge range of newspaper archives, historic newspapers and international sources such as Nexis that can mostly be access online and off campus. Our Newspapers resource guide collates all of our resources and will guide you through how where to look.

If you want to search across a range of newspapers, we suggest you start with Gale Primary Sources, as this gives access to nearly all our British newspaper archives, except for The Guardian and The Observer.

10. Box of Broadcasts

Box of Broadcasts can be used to access TV and radio broadcasts from over 65 channels, including most of the UK’s freeview network, all BBC TV and radio content from 2007, and several foreign language channels. It’s a great resource to use to find documentaries or critical opinions.

You can view archived programmes, record new ones, create clips and playlists and see transcripts to help with citation and translation. You can also search for other user’s public playlists to help you in your own search. 

Unfortunately, Box of Broadcasts is not available outside the UK.

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17 useful online resources for architecture essays.

1. Online resources in Library Search

You can access the full collection of ebooks, electronic journals and professional magazines, newspapers, conferences and more, from Library Search.

Additional ebook titles are being added to the collection every day while we are all working remotely. Search by author, title or keyword to find books to help you with your essay topic.

We’ve put together a page of tips and help videos all about Library Search on our finding information skills guide

2. Your Subject Guide

The Subject Guide for Architecture, Planning and Landscape draws together in one place, the resources available from the library to help you with your academic and design work. Use the Journals and Database page to access subject databases such as Avery and Building Types Online.

The Subject Specific Resources page gives you a curated list of good quality image and buildings websites which will be great to reference in your essays.

You can contact the Liaison Team for one-to-one support or send your questions to Library Help, where there are staff logged into our live chat service, 24/7.

Between Library Search and your Subject Guide, you will be able to find excellent information to use in your essay, but there are many other resources you may want to try.

Screenshot showing the subject guide homepage.

3. RIBA ebooks

The Library recently purchased 89 ebook titles, available through a partnership between RIBA and Taylor & Francis. You can access the RIBA ebooks in Library Search when books match your keywords, or you can find a full list on this blog post.

Screen shot showing RIBA ebook platform for reading online.

4. Building Types Online

Find excellent quality building examples for your academic work. The database includes case studies, articles, essays, building plans and photographs for different building types and construction methods. You can find out more about

5. Avery Index to Architectural

Published by the Getty Research Institute, the index is a comprehensive American guide to the current literature of architecture and design. It surveys more than 2,500 international journals and provides nearly 13,000 citation records for architects’ obituaries. Some of the articles have full-text attached, while others will link using the Find@Newcastle University button to take you back to Library Search to access the full-text if we have it.

You can filter your results to scholarly journals or the wider professional collection.

6. Art and Architecture Archive

A full text, full colour archive of 25 art and architecture magazines from the 19th to 21st centuries. You can search across the whole archive or individual magazines.

7. Architects Journal Buildings Database

The AJ Buildings Library is a digital database that showcases more than 1,900 exemplar projects, most from the last 20 years but including major projects back to 1900.

When accessing the database for the first time, you will need to set up an account using your Newcastle email on the Architects Journal website. Click on Sign In at the top left of the homepage, and then register, to complete the form. You will be able to log in to the Buildings Database.

You can search for projects by age, cost, architect, building type, footprint, location, and a combination of these. Each project featured in this digital database includes full project data (more than 20 items of information) and comprehensive architectural photographs and drawings (plans, elevation, section) – all provided at high resolution.

Drawings can be downloaded and printed out to their original scale. Vector pdfs and CAD files are not available for download and all copyrighted images are protected.

8. Box of Broadcasts

Box of Broadcasts can be used to access TV and radio broadcasts from over 65 channels, including most of the UK’s freeview network, all BBC TV and radio content from 2007, and several foreign language channels. It’s a great resource to use to find documentaries or critical opinions.

You can view archived programmes, record new ones, create clips and playlists and see transcripts to help with citation and translation. You can also search for other user’s public playlists to help you in your own search. 

Unfortunately, Box of Broadcasts is not available outside the UK.

9. JSTOR

JSTOR is a full-text collection, giving you online access to scholarly journals, books and book chapters in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

It has basic and advanced search options that allow you to search by topic keyword, author, subject area, title or publisher

Screenshot showing the JSTOR homepage with basic search

10. ArchDaily

ArchDaily is a great resource that provides news and information from around the world on all aspects of architecture. Founded in 2008, is is one of the biggest and most popular architecture websites in the world.

You can keyword search across the website, or use the browse options to find information about hot topics, different types of architectural project. The interviews section is well worth exploring.

11. Internet Archive

Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, videos, music, websites, and more. You can do a simple keyword search around your topic area, and refine by the information type. Or search within the ebooks for specific titles.

Screenshot of Internet Archive search results for concrete architecture

12. US Modernist Library

The US Modernist Library is the world’s largest open digital collection of major US 20th-century architecture magazines with approximately 2.7 million downloadable pages – all free to access. You can search for a specific modernist house, search by architect, original owner or keyword.

13. RIBApix

RIBA’s image library of over 100,000 photographs and drawings
from the RIBA Collections, available to view, buy and download. Many of the images are protected by copyright so will need to be used with caution.

14. Architectural Association photo Library

With over 8,000 images, the slides, negatives and prints of historical and contemporary architecture are all available in low resolution for educational purposes. It also includes photographs of work produced by students at the School of Architecture since the 1880s, as well as a video archive for its lectures, conferences, and seminars.

15. Pathé Newsreel Archive

Access over 85,000 high res videos on the British Pathe Youtube channel. The archive contains films produced from 1910 to 1970, and covers all sorts of subjects relating to architecture. Watch features on the construction of the Empire State Building, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Johnson Wax Building, Le Corbusier’s Couvent de la Tourrette, and Montreal’s Expo’ 67 and the construction of Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome.

16. archINFORM

This is the largest online-database about worldwide architects and buildings, including information about more than 81,000 built and unrealised projects. The information varies for each project but includes images, commentary, drawings and links to references to read more about the project.

You can search the database using your topic keywords, or by architect, building name or location.

17. Construction Information Service

CIS is produced jointly with the National Building Specification (NBS) especially for architects, civil and structural engineers, building control officers, building services engineers and other professionals in the construction industry. It provides industry information and legislation, along with full-text access to key professional publications, including Architects Journal.

The full-text documents cover all aspects of the building, engineering, design and construction process.

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SciFinder – a one-stop shop for chemical reactions, substances, and scientific literature.

SciFinder is a research discovery application that provides integrated access to the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative source of references, substances and reactions in chemistry and related sciences.

Accessible via Library Search this powerful, chemist-curated database from CAS offers reference, substance and reaction searching with sophisticated analysis tools. Substances can be searched by chemical structure, markush (for Patents), molecular formula, property or substance identifier. All alternative substance names are listed alongside CAS Registry numbers and commercial sources. Popular in industry, this database is vital for students and researchers in chemistry, pharmacy, forensic science, medicinal chemistry and chemical engineering.

To use SciFinder you must register and sign in when prompted. On doing so you can then set personal preferences, explore resources, and save your own searches. You can also browse your search history and set up alerts and notifications.

SciFinder Mobile allows you quick and easy access to references of published scientific research and information on substances of interest (including nomenclature, molecular formula and properties) from your smartphone.

If you’d like to know more or need a little help to get started CAS provide a range of online support and training. There are also a selection of instructional videos available on YouTube.

So get registered, sign in, and explore. You’ll be inputting structures using the drawing editor and conducting substructure searches in no time!

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Spotlight on IOP eBooks

Institute of Physics Ebook collections offer high-quality research across physics and related disciplines. They have been created to meet the needs of students, early-career researchers and established leaders in the fields.

An additional 255 IOP ebooks covering subjects such as astronomy, particle and nuclear physics, medical physics and biophysics, quantum science and more have just been added to the Library’s collection.

If you find a title that we don’t have full-text access to and you would like us to add it to the collection, just use our Books on Time form available on the Library website to request it.