Resources by format

Here are listed guides for finding materials based on their formats.

Find a database

This search box finds library databases by their titles and descriptions. It does not search for articles within databases. Keyword searches won't work here. (If you don't know which database to use, try one of the links listed below.)

Alphabetical listings

If you know the beginning letter of the database you need, or you want to browse all databases, use the alphabet below. Note that these lists are long and unwieldy; the database search box on the left is more efficient.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | #

Subject categories

These pages group databases into broad subject categories. These can be useful to browse when your research topic crosses many disciplines. For more focused lists, use the databases recommended on our subject guides .

Research starter: This list includes databases in which you can begin many research topics. It includes databases catering to all levels of user, not just undergraduates. Content of these databases can include reference sources like encyclopedias or dictionaries; articles that give an overview of a topic, issue, controversy, or recent event; or that provide broad coverage to assist in narrowing or refining a research topic. After you have used these databases for background research on your topic, you can move on to more subject-specific databases.
Agriculture, biology, and natural resources: This subject category includes databases covering the life sciences: agriculture, biology, and natural resources. Use these databases for research and courses in the colleges of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Natural Resources, Science, and Veterinary Medicine.
Architecture, art, and design: This subject category includes databases covering architecture, art, and design. Use these databases for research and courses in the colleges of Architecture and Urban Studies, Engineering, the School of Architecture and Design, and the School of Visual Arts.
Business and economics: This subject category includes databases covering business and economics. Use these databases for research and courses in the colleges of Business and Science and programs in urban and international affairs.
Engineering and physical sciences: This subject category includes databases covering engineering and the physical sciences: chemistry, geosciences, mathematics, physics, and statistics. Use these databases for research and courses in the colleges of Engineering and Sciences.
General interest: This subject category includes databases are either basic or broad in scope. They include resources that cover multiple subject areas, such as general purpose encyclopedias, large article indexing databases, or newspaper article indexing databases.
Health and medicine: This subject category includes databases covering the medical sciences, including nutrition, fitness, physiology, and psychiatry. Use these databases for research and courses in the colleges of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, and the Carillion School of Medicine.
Humanities and performing arts: This subject category includes databases covering humanities and performing arts. Use these databases for research and courses in the college of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and the School of Performing Arts.
Languages and literatures: This subject category includes databases covering languages, linguistics, and literatures in English, foreign languages (especially languages taught by the Foreign Language department), and classics (Greek and Latin).
Social sciences and education: This subject category includes databases covering social sciences and human sciences, including anthropology, communication, education, history, human development, international studies, law, military science, political science, psychology, public administration, and sociology. Use these databases for research and courses in the colleges of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, Architecture and Urban Studies, and the School of Education.

Type/format

Databases are also listed by the type or format of the materials or resources they index. Examples included databases for conference proceedings, multimedia, newspaper articles, reviews, or statistics. For more focuses lists of databases, use the recommended databases listed on our Subject guides or our detailed find by format pages.

Academic search engines: Broad searching across multiple disciplines and scholarly subscription databases or free web search engines; Broad searching across a family of databases with a common interface (federated searching); Search results not restricted to a particular format
Article searching: Predominantly resources used to locate articles in published periodicals; Emphasis on scholarly research
Catalogs (about publications): Bibliographic tools that give additional information about a resource; Some include analytical tools or reviews about resources
Chemical and physical properties: Predominantly covers resources that provide factual information about matter; Includes tables, formulas, chemical compounds and structures, etc.; Information about DNA, genes, and genomic maps
Conference papers, preprints, and working papers: Predominantly resources used to locate information not (yet) published in periodicals; "Gray literature"
Countries and cultures: Predominantly full text narrative resources with some tabular/statistical information on countries and cultures
Ebook packages: Search for full-text electronic books offered through various collections; Most offer full text searching capabilities, though some limit search terms to the title, author, table of contents and notes fields
Ejournal packages: Search for full-text journals offered through a publisher's platform; Most offer full text searching capabilities, though some limit results to ejournals included in VT's subscription; Not comprehensive searching on a topic as it only includes journals listed by the publisher in that search interface; The individual ejournals will also be listed in the Journal Title Database
Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and almanacs: Encyclopedias, dictionaries,glossaries, almanacs, and other reference sources used to give researchers a starting point when in an unfamiliar area; Includes general and subject-specific sources
Freely accessible: This database has no access restrictions; it is freely accessible to anyone online.; Some databases provide free access to some content, but not all content; check the database description for details.
Funding opportunities: Student and faculty funding (grants, scholarships and research funding)
Governance: Sources, both indexes and full-text, documenting the operations of governments; Census resources are located in the Statistics and data sets category
Handbooks and manuals: Primarily for resources that are "how-to" guides; Subject specific and "library research" tutorials
Licensed for alumni use: Resource is licensed for Virginia Tech alumni access. Use Alumni Library Portal Sign In to access.
Multimedia: Predominantly resources where it only searches, or is possible to limit searches, to multimedia format types with a scholarly application; Scanned and electronically produced images of maps go here; GIS data appears in Statistics and data sets; Scanned images of music scores appear in Music Recordings and scores; Audio recordings of speeches, personal narratives and the like will be found in Narratives, diaries, and letters
Music recordings and scores: Scanned images of scores; Electronically produced scores (images, mp3, MIDI, etc); Streaming music databases
Narratives, diaries, and letters: Personal narratives, diaries, letters, speeches, memoirs, autobiographies, and other personal correspondences; Indexes and full-text; Includes audio recordings
Newspapers and magazines: Does not include articles from trade journals; Indexes and full-text; Popular magazine articles
Open Access: Contents are freely accessible online under open access guidelines
Patents and trademarks: U.S. and international patents and patent applications; Trademarks; Laws about patents and trademarks will be found in the Governance category
Poetry and short stories: Indexes and full-text collections of short format literature
Professional and trade literature: Literature for the profession; Gateways to trade journals; Indexes and full-text collections of articles from trade journals
Reports, standards, and financials: Technical standards; Official or formal record of the activities of a committee or corporate entity, a special investigation, or the proceedings of a governmental body; Publications that are a separately issued record of research results, research in progress, or other technical studies; White papers, technical reports, and periodically published in sources other than journals and magazines; Business assessments by third parties
Restricted to Virginia Tech users: This resources is restricted to current Virginia Tech students, faculty, and staff.; Off campus users should make use of Off Campus Sign In.
Reviews and critiques: Not limited to reviews of books and performances; Scholarly and non-scholarly; Reviews and critiques of books, articles, performances, artistic creations; Product reviews; Reviews of companies and industries will be in the Reports, standards, and financials category
Statistics and data sets: Compiled statistics and collections of survey instruments and raw data; GIS; Census data; Public opinion polls
Streaming video: Contents include documentaries, instructional, foreign films, classics, animated, kids films, and historical footage; No software beyond a modern browser required unless noted in the description; Coverage varies among providers (percentage or date range)
Theses and dissertations: Indexes and collections; Print and electronic; Individual theses and dissertations published at Virginia Tech will also be listed in Discovery Search
Virginia Tech related: Current and historical information; Includes information in all formats
VIVA, the Virtual Library of Virginia sponsored: Sponsored by VIVA, the Virtual Library of Virginia.