Database Selection Guide

The Database Selection Guide is designed to assist users of our web site in choosing the appropriate database for a specific research project. If you already know the appropriate database to choose, you can you the Quick Select menu below. If, after reviewing this Guide, you still need assistance in making a selection or would like to discuss your research project in more detail you may call our Reference Desk at 215-951-2848, contact us by e-mail or complete our "Ask a Reference Question" form.

All Gutman Library database systems, with the exception of the library catalog, are restricted to members of the Philadelphia University community having currently valid ID cards.

There is additional information available on how to connect to the Gutman Library databases from off-campus locations.

Gutman Library Database Options [TOP]

Key: FT=primarily full-text    FT-AB=combines full-text and abstracts  AB=abstracts or index only

Library Catalog: PhilaFind is the online public access catalog of Gutman Library. Use it search for books and journals held within our collection. The catalog may be searched by author, title, subject, general keyword and several other ways. It provides basic, guided and advanced search modes, and there it includes link online documentation. A separate module on this system allows users to check their circulation records.

Library SuperSearch is a multiple database search interface. It allows you to choose library databases individually, in pairs, groups or even all the databases together (which will take more time to process). This can save time and allow for the search of business databases as one databases or both textiles research databases. Use Library SuperSearch as a starting point to identify which of the library databases has the best potential for your search or use it to combine multiple databases to save time and locate some relevant articles quickly.

Lexis/Nexis Academic Universe: Provides access to thousands of full-text newspaper, magazines, journals and documents from a wide range of global sources. Sources are categorized into five major areas: news, business, medical, legal research and general reference. This database provides more popular, general interest and trade/industry publication, while it is weak on scholarly literature. It's strength is access to full-text information. Articles can be e-mailed. More information about Academic Universe is available here. To determine if Academic Universe has a publication you want to find in full text, go to the Source List.

ProQuest: ProQuest is a database provider that Gutman Library uses to offer access to multiple research databases. To determine if our Proquest Direct databases have a publication you want to find in full text, go to the Source List. The databases Gutman Library subscribes to are:

• Research Core: Search the core for basic coverage of all subject areas including: arts, business, children, education, general interest, health, humanities, international, law, military, multicultural, psychology, sciences, social sciences, and women's interests. Covers approximately 2,500 publications (popular, scholarly, newspapers) with over 1,100 offered in full-text format.
• ABI/Inform Global: The premier business and management database providing extensive coverage of North America and the world. Find research on advertising, marketing, economics, human resources, finance, taxation, computers, and more. Covers approximately 1,100 business and trade journals. Approximately 600 titles are available in full-text format. Also, information on 60,000+ companies. ABI is now accompanied by two companion business databases:
• Business Dateline - provides full-text articles from approximately 150 regional business newspapers such as Philadelphia Business Journal, Crain's New York Business, and many more from all regions of the United States. Also use EBSCO's Regional Business News.
• Trade & Industry - provides access to approximately 700 industry trade journals from nearly every industry imaginable.
• Wall Street Journal: The Wall Street Journal is the financial newspaper of record. It offers in-depth coverage of national and international finance as well as first rate coverage of hard news. The full text is provided retrospectively to 1984. WSJ is included in the "research newspapers" segment of ProQuest. This segment also includes the full text of the New York Times, USA Today and Barrons. The full-text of the WSJ will also be retrieved in searches of ABI/Inform Global.
• ProQuest Newspapers: Includes coverage of 27 newspapers including the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times plus other important U.S., international and minority interest papers
• Health & Medical Complete: Provides access to the full text of 900+  journals in the fields of medicine and health care.

Academic Search Premier provides full text for more than 4,650 publications, including full text for more than 3,600 peer-reviewed journals. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles. This database is updated on a daily basis via EBSCOhost.

Business Source Premier  provides full text for nearly 8,350 scholarly business journals and other sources, including full text for more than 1,100 scholarly business publications. Coverage includes virtually all subject areas related to business. It provides a variety of company and industry reports. This database provides full text (PDF) for more than 350 of the top scholarly journals dating as far back as 1922. This database is updated on a daily basis via EBSCOhost. BSP includes:

First Search: First Search offers several index databases in the areas of the health sciences, social sciences, geography and geology, environmental science, business, applied science and technology, and arts and humanities.

• WorldCat, a database of library holdings of libraries worldwide. .

STAT-USA: STAT-USA draws upon many government agencies to provide both domestic and foreign economics information. Statistics on economic indicators, imports / exports, and market research can be accessed. State of the Nation provides U.S. data; Globus & NTDB (National Trade Data Bank) provides foreign information.

Britannica Online: Britannica Online, is an electronic version of a comprehensive, basic encyclopedial. Graphics, maps and hyperlinks enhance and expand upon the basic entries, making this a good place to quickly find information on an unfamiliar topic.

Facts on File: Facts on File is a good source for information on significant news and events worldwide, dating from 1980 to the current day. Headline news stories are updated every hour. Editorials from major newspapers, biographies, information on foreign countries, and coverage of controversial issues are included, in addition to photographs and maps. Indexes to all the news stories are provided: a comprehensive index of the entire contents of the database, and an index of the current year’s top news stories. For Help using Facts on File, click here.

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals: Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals also covers interior design, urban planning, and historic preservation, in addition to architecture. Avery is strictly an index; full-text is not available. Almost 1,200 international journals are indexed, with coverage dating back to 1934.

America: History & Life  is a complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Published since 1964, the database comprises over 490,000 bibliographic entries for periodicals dating back to 1954, providing an incomparable research tool for students and researchers of US and Canadian history.

Country Watch: Almost all Philadelphia University students require comprehensive and authoritative country information for area studies courses, not to mention the L911 research project. As a world leader in providing country specific geopolitical intelligence on each of the 192 countries of the world, CountryWatch is a database that should be important to all PhilaU students. There are two main types of information in this database. One is a comprehensive report on the country (the Country Review) which is typically about 100 pages (in PDF format) and covers the history, economics, politics, and more. The other is the data file which provides many types of economic data for each country.

CCH Tax Research: CCH Tax Research is a comprehensive database for accounting and taxation information. This serves as an electronic equivalent to CCH's Standard Federal Tax Reporter. In addition it provides access to tax publications, IRS information and more. Many areas of the database can be searched by keyword. At Philadelphia University, CCH Tax Research is used most heavily by students in the Masters in Taxation program.

RIA Checkpoint: Checkpoint is taxation research database similar to CCH, and offers access to key tax publications. In addition it provides authoritative analysis from RIA editors, world-renowned WG&L authors and the best external content from partners such as BNA, PPC, AICPA, PLI and WorldTrade Executive. Like CCH Tax Research, RIA Checkpoint is used most heavily by students in the Masters in Taxation program.

Harrison's Online: Harrison’s Online turns the world’s leading textbook of medicine, Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, into an updated medical database that delivers the high-quality information synonymous with the Harrison’s name with the immediacy that only the online environment can provide. It is continually updated to provide the latest-breaking clinical trial news. It includes links to relevant sites, illustrations and self-assessment questions. Harrison's is recommended for students in the PA and OT programs, and all others seeking comprehensive medical information.

Literature Resource Center: Designed to meet the research needs of undergraduate students, the Literature Resource Center provides access to biographies, bibliographies and critical analysis of authors from every age and literary discipline. Combining Gale's most used literary databases in a single Internet-searchable service, the Literature Resource Center covers more than 90,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,000 of the most-studied authors. Search by Author Name, Title, Genre, Literary Movement or Literary Themes, or combine criteria to create a highly-targeted custom search path. More information on LRC will be found here.

WWD Online: WWD Online is the electronic, full-text vesion of WWD, a primary trade publication for the fashion industry. The online version will provide the full text of articles appearing in each issue of WWD, along with the fashion photography that appears in the issue. In addition to using this Web site to read WWD on a daily basis, there is a four-year archive of articles that have appeared in WWD. This is a searchable archive and can be used to find articles from WWD on specific topics. Students interested in this database may also want to search Worth Global Style Network, a one-stop online source of information on the fashion, apparel and textiles industries. To learn more, stop at the Gutman Library Reference Desk. Eligible students may also obtain their own access account for WGSN.

Grove Art Online: The Grove Dictionary of Art contains 45,000 articles on every aspect of the visual arts – painting, sculpture, graphic arts, architecture, decorative arts and photography – from prehistory to the present day. Compiled over a period of 15 years, it represents the work of more than 6,800 scholars from around the world, each writing on his or her own specialist field of study. It contains links to the Bridgeman Art Library and to image libraries on the web, so there are extensive links to actual artworks.

Access Science: A web-based version of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. It contains detailed articles on not only scientific and technical topics, but also fields such as computing technology. It contains a variety of aids to assist students with science research.

Hoovers Online: An easy to use database of company financial information, as well as profiles of industries. The database provides access to more detailed "subscriber" only areas of Hoovers. Use the "advanced" search to locate companies by criteria such as industry code, sales size and more.

Design and Applied Arts Index: If you're in a design field, this resource is for you. DAAI is an international index to current design and design-related journals. It includes research as well as material based on current interests. Use it to find citations and abstracts to various types of articles in a range of design fields including industrial design, graphic arts, textile design, fashion design, interior design, and architecture.

Bernan Government Information on the Internet is a database of nearly 5,000 U.S. government, state, local, international, and intergovernmental Web sites, that can be searched by keywords. The site may, but does not always lead to full-text government documents. Rather it is used to determine if an appropriate government web site exists on a particular subject. The Bernan record for that Web site will give a description of what it offers and has a link to the site.

CREDO provides over 100 reference books in a wide range of disciplines. There are sources on art, architecture, and business, sources for quotes and thesauri,standard dictionaries. To find find a term if you don't know the spelling, use the tilde (~) to find variants on a root spelling of a word (e.g., ~psycologist will find psychologist).

ScienceDirect is a full-text collection of electronic journals in the field of materials sciences.Philadelphia University subscribes to the Materials Science collection only.

NewsBank provides access to the two primary Philadelphia metropolitan newspapers, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News. The full-text of Inquirer articles is available from 1981 to the present, and the full-text of the Daily News is available from 1978 to the present.  There are over 400 other worldwide newspapers in Newsbank as well (see Access World News below).

Textiles Technology Index indexes articles primarily from the literature of textiles engineering. Its overage includes the various aspects of textile production and processing, and the automation and management systems of these operations. Coverage also includes many of the major resources of the apparel, home furnishings, flooring, and polymer industries. This database provides abstracts only.

Just-Style.com  is one of the most respected and fastest growing apparel, footwear and textile trade sites around. The site's unique content is produced and sourced by a network of correspondents and content partnerships, headed up by Leonie Barrie, former Editor of Clothing World magazine. This is a comprehensive source for news and feature articles about the industry. The content is searchable. Students need either an account log in from their instructor or may come to the Library Reference Desk where a library staff member can log you on to the system.

Business & Company Resource Center is an easy-to-search compendium of information about companies and the industries in which they operate. It brings together information from business magazines and journals, reference works such as the International Directory of Company Histories, analyst reviews of companies (Investext), market research reports, financials and other types of information about companies and industries. B&CR is an excellent starting point for company research, and public company research in particular.

Cochrane Library is of primary interest to students in medical-related fields of study (e.g., physician assistant, occupational therapy, midwifery) as it contains review-style articles on a multitude of health care topics. Its content is designed to reflect the field of evidence-based medicine.

Biography Resource Center combines award-winning biographies from respected Gale Group sources and also includes full-text articles from hundreds of periodicals. Search for people based on one or more personal facts such as birth and death year, nationality, ethnicity, occupation or gender, or combine criteria to create a highly-targeted custom search. Use this database to quickly find biographies of professionals and personalities from virtually every field of endeavor. 

Value Line Research Center will be familiar to business researchers and investors who have used the Value Line Investment Survey, a respected source for investor-oriented company and industry information. The Value Line Research Center includes on-line access to Value Line's leading publications covering stocks, mutual funds, options and convertible securities as well as special situation stocks. In addition to the standard company and industry reports, the Research Center features a powerful screening interface to search for companies that meet specific financial criteria. It will also add access to mutual fund information not previously available.

CIAO - Columbia University Press's International Affairs database, provides access to full-text reports from a unique group of international organizations, including the Cato Institute, The Conference Board, and the East West Institute. It publishes a wide range of scholarship from 1991 onward that includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs. CIAO is also widely-recognized source for teaching materials including original case studies written by leading international affairs experts, course packs of background readings for history and political science classes, and special features.

Colour Index - is the definitive guide for anyone who needs to know details of which companies manufacture and distribute dyes and pigments, or for anyone looking for technical details of these products. Colorants are listed according to the widely acclaimed system of Colour Index Generic Names and Colour Index Constitution Numbers. A detailed record of products available on the market is presented under each Colour Index reference.

World Data Analyst - Use this database to obtain a concise, information-packed report containing major statistical data for virtually every known country. In addition, special reporting features allow for country comparisons and rankings.

Dissertation Abstracts is a well-known database because it is the primary searchable system for identifying doctoral research by topic. This version of Dissertation Abstracts is on a slightly older searching version of ProQuest, so it just slightly different than the current ProQuest databases. However, it is easy to find dissertations by author, granting institution, or subject area. Now that we have this version, we will discontinue access to Dissertation Abstracts on FirstSearch. Please note that this is not a full-text database. It provides, at most, a 24-page summary of the article and research.

MRI Reporter Database provides data from 2003 (and two prior years) on a group of consumer products that includes apparel, beverages, health & beauty aids, and others. The data is used to find out who uses products and what media they use (tv, radio, magazines, etc.). You will need to create an account in order to use MRI Reporter, but this is easy to do. Just go to http://www.mriplus.com and click on "register for a free account".

Access World News is a database available through the NewsBank system (also provides the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News). It provides access to hundreds of full-text newspapers for countries around the world - all in english. There are over 1500 papers available. Over 500 of the papers are specific to the United States providing both metropolitan and regional news. For example, for the state of Pennsylvania along there are over 20 papers available representing all regions of the state. The search system is similar to many of our other databases. Use AWN in addition to Lexis/Nexis for getting world news.

Gale Virtual Reference Books provides access to previously print only reference books - and all the text in every reference book is searchable. The available reference books cover business (business plans, company histories), science (biomes, water science, geology), history (industrial revolution), social science (social trends and indicators). This collection will grow over time as new reference books are added. You can search all of the books together or search them individually. And as with most of our databases any information found can be saved, printed, or otherwise acquired several ways. Each virtual reference book is cataloged and searchable in the Gutman Library online catalog.

MaterialsConnexion provides access to a searchable database that provides information on all types of materials. Over 1,400 different materials are described. They can be searched multiple ways, including product name, process, application or keyword. Data and specifications for each material can be found in Material Connexion.

Plunkett Research Online is designed for market researchers and job seekers. It provide industry analysis and data for nearly 30 major industries, including apparel and textiles, retailing, technology, and advertising and branding. It can be used to locate information about companies within the industries, in addition to the market reports.

Chronicle of Higher Education is the premier reporter of the higher education industry and is highly regarded for its in depth coverage of issues related to higher education.

SocIndex With Full Text offers comprehensive coverage of sociology, encompassing all sub-disciplines and closely related areas of study. These include abortion, criminology & criminal justice, demography, ethnic & racial studies, gender studies, marriage & family, political sociology, religion, rural & urban sociology, social development, social psychology, social structure, social work, socio-cultural anthropology, sociological history, sociological research, sociological theory, substance abuse & other addictions, violence and many others.

Garden Literature Index includes horticulture, botany, garden and landscape design & history, ecology, plant and garden conservation, garden management, and horticultural therapy. A highlight of the database is its focus on environmentally sustainable horticultural and design practices.   Indexed and abstracted are more than 300 core titles.

TEXTILEnetBase is a collection of full-text books in the field of textiles published by the Taylor & Francis Group. The system can be searched for the occurrence of text in the entire collection of books, or by using the advanced search to limit the search to any one or any combination of books.

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