Research Guides: Building Construction: Research in Building Construction

Head, Art & Architecture Library

Cathryn Copper

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Art & Architecture Library
100 Cowgill Hall

540-231-4986

Subjects:Architecture, art, and design

Art & Architecture Library Information

Looking for RS Means?

Building Construction Cost Data Get the confidence and know how you need to deliver more accurate cost estimates and improve profitability. The 76th edition of this bestselling cost guide has been updated and expanded to provide you with the information you need to estimate projects with confidence and accuracy, improve project planning and budgeting, and reduce risk.
Call Number: TH435 .B84
ISBN: 9781946872012

Contact the librarian for access to RSMeans online.

Interlibrary Loan Services

All current Virginia Tech students, faculty, and staff, regardless of your location, may request through ILLiad for materials:

not owned by Virginia Tech (books, articles from journals and conference proceedings, book chapters, standards, and technical papers)
owned by Virginia Tech but are unavailable for use (print books)
owned by Virginia Tech and available in print (scans of articles from journals and conference proceedings, book chapters, standards, and technical papers)

We ship requests via UPS to users outside the immediate Blacksburg area (Montgomery, Giles and Pulaski counties).

Articles, book chapters, and many technical papers are delivered in PDF format to your ILLiad account. Occasionally, due to copyright restrictions, a paper copy of an article or standard are sent to the mailing address listed on your account.

General Research Databases

Academic Search Complete from EBSCOhost
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Academic Search Complete indexes citations, abstracts, and full text from journal articles, books, reports, and conference proceedings in all subject disciplines. Full text provided in PDF and HTML. Searchable cited references are provided for nearly 1,000 journals. Searches can be limited to peer reviewed sources. Indexing 1887-present, most full-text content 1980s-present.

General Building Construction Databases

ASCE Library
The ASCE Library contains the full text of journals (from 1983), conference papers (from 2000), standards (current and historical), and ebooks.

ICONDA
International Construction Database developed, coordinated and hosted by Fraunhofer IRB

Building Codes

MADCAD
MADCAD indexes full-text building codes, evaluation standards, design standards, and technical bulletins from ACI, ASCE, ASHRAE, ASME, ASTM, FEMA, NFPA, and SMACNA, plus state codes from Virginia in HTML and PDF. 1981-present
ASTM Compass
ASTM Compass is the portal for the ASTM full-text standards, technical engineering reports, journals, manuals, ebooks, and data series. These materials cover a wide range of engineering disciples: aerospace, biomedical, chemical, civil, environmental, geological, health and safety, industrial, materials science, mechanical, nuclear, petroleum, soil science, and solar engineering. The site includes all current issues and backfiles of all ASTM journals, all symposia papers (published in book format as Special Technical Publications), and all ASTM manuals and monographs. The library also includes current and historical ASTM standards. 1931-present.

Green Building

Building Green
BuildingGreen includes online versions of GreenSpec, "Environmental Building News", a database of green products (product descriptions and articles about the products), and a database of more than 160 high-performance building case studies (all in HTML). This information is searchable and cross-referenced by CSI MasterFormat division, LEED credit, or green building topic. 1992-present.
GreenFILE from EBSCOhost
GreenFILE indexes citations, abstracts, and full-text articles, books, case studies, conference papers, speeches and interviews, letters, and reports covering all aspects of human impact to the environment including agricultural, architectural, engineering, education, and the social sciences. Full text is available in HTML and PDF. You can limit to peer-reviewed sources. Free access version is also available. 1913-present.

Building Materials

Material ConneXion
Material ConneXion provides full-text data on materials used in architecture, interior and industrial design, fashion and apparel, and landscaping. Materials include polymers, ceramics, glass, metals, cements, and natural materials. Processing and sustainability information, physical and usage properties, and manufacturers are listed.
Engineered Materials Abstracts from ProQuest
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Engineered Materials Abstracts indexes citations and abstracts from journals, conference proceedings, technical reports, trade journals, patents, books, and more on all engineering and physical science aspects of engineered materials. You can limit to peer reviewed sources. 1986-present.

The growing importance of polymers, ceramics, and composites in a variety of structural and other advanced applications requires the in-depth coverage provided by Engineered Materials Abstracts. Citations taken regard the research, manufacturing practices, properties and applications of these materials. Begun in 1986, Engineered Materials Abstracts is an electronic database containing Ceramics, Composites and Polymers subfiles.
Sources covered include over 3,000 periodicals, conference proceedings, technical reports, trade journal/newsletter items, patents, books, and press releases.
Materials Science & Engineering Database from ProQuest
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Materials Science & Engineering Database indexes citations, abstracts, and full text of materials journals, conference papers, and government reports including bibliographic records from METADEX, Copper, and Polymer Library databases. 1965-present.

Maps

FIMo Fire Insurance Maps Online
Large-scale maps of towns and cities in Virginia and Washington, D.C., useful to urban specialists, social historians, architects, geographers, genealogists, local historians, planners, and environmentalists. Data contained includes the outline of each building; size, shape, and construction materials; functions of structures; locations of windows and doors; street names, street and sidewalk widths, property boundaries, and house and block numbers.
PolicyMap
PolicyMap provides data through interactive maps about communities and markets across the U.S., for research, market studies, business planning, site selection, grant applications, and impact analysis.

Videos and tutorials about using PolicyMap are available on the Support Page. For information on PolicyMap datasets, visit Data Indicators.

Selected Web Sites

Associated Schools of Construction Conference Proceedings Archive
The ASC International Proceedings of the Annual Conference provides a way of disseminating information that contribute to the understanding of the issues, problems, and research associated with the construction industry and construction education.
Building Green Case Studies Online
From the Department of Energy

Engineering

AccessEngineering
AccessEngineering provides engineering handbooks and textbooks, plus instructional videos.
Knovel Library
Knovel provides a large collection of ebooks on engineering and related subjects. Each chapter is presented as a separate PDF. The entire collection is full-text searchable, and many results include interactive tables. Includes tables of properties for over 13,000 chemical compounds. Knovel is also searchable through the Engineering Village interface.

Our subscription includes:
Adhesives, Coatings, Sealants & Inks
Aerospace & Radar Technology
ASM International Alloy Information
ASM International Handbooks Online
Biochemistry, Biology & Biotechnology
Ceramics & Ceramic Engineering
Chemistry & Chemical Engineering
Civil Engineering & Construction Materials
Composites
Computer Hardware Engineering
Earth Sciences
Electrical & Power Engineering
Electronics & Semiconductors
Engineering Management & Leadership
Environment & Environmental Engineering
Fire Protection Engineering & Emergency Response
Food Science
General Engineering & Project Administration
Industrial Engineering & Operations Management
Manufacturing Engineering
Marine Engineering & Naval Architecture
Mechanics & Mechanical Engineering
Metals & Metallurgy
Mining Engineering & Extractive Metallurgy
Nanotechnology
Nondestructive Testing & Evaluation
Oil & Gas Engineering
Optics & Photonics
Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics & Toiletries
Plastics & Rubber
Process Design, Control & Automation
Regulatory Information
Safety & Industrial Hygiene
Software Engineering
Sustainable Energy & Development
Textiles
Transportation Engineering
Welding Engineering & Materials Joining
O’Reilly Safari Learning Platform: Academic Edition
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O’Reilly Safari Learning Platform: Academic Edition provides over 38,000 full-text ebooks (HTML) and 30,000 hours of videos in computer science, information technology, and business. You must create an account using your vt.edu email address. You can download ebooks through the O'Reilly mobile app.

Download the app called "O'Reilly" from Play Store for Android or Apple Store for iOS. Login to your personal O'Reilly account created with your vt.edu email address.

Architectural Plans

Building Types Online
Building Types Online provides information on buildings and structures around the world. Maps, architectural drawings, photos, and bibliographies are included.

Birkhäuser Building Types Online is a resource for the study and practice of architectural design. It is based on the publisher's high international standing in professional architecture books, on the knowledge of the authors and editors who are leading experts in their fields, as well as on the technical quality of the illustrations. The database offers highly flexible and detailed search and browse access to the contents of the Birkhäuser program on building types. All content was written and selected by internationally renowned authors in architectural design.

Business Databases

Business Source Complete from EBSCOhost
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Business Source Complete is a citation, abstracts, and full-text database that indexes journals; books; financial data; reference works; conference proceedings; company, industry, investment, marketing, and country reports; SWOT analyses; and case studies. Full text is provides as HTML and PDF. You can limit to peer-reviewed sources. 1886-present; most content is 1980s-present.

Business Source Complete is a scholarly business database, providing the leading collection of bibliographic and full text content. As part of the comprehensive coverage offered by this database, indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals back as far as 1886 are included. In addition to the searchable cited references provided for more than 1,300 journals, Business Source Complete contains detailed author profiles for the 40,000 most-cited authors in the database. Journal ranking studies reveal that Business Source Complete is the overwhelmingly superior database for full text journals in all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Additional full text content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses, faculty seminars (videos), and more.

Dissertations

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global
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Includes more than 2.7 million citations to dissertations and theses from around the world along with more than 1.2 million full-text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. More than 70,000 new full-text dissertations and theses are added yearly. Use ILLiad to request non-full-text theses or dissertations. 1637-present, full-text dissertations 1997-present.
VTechWorks
VTechWorks is Virginia Tech's institutional repository. It contains born-digital and scanned publication of Virginia Tech faculty and student, plus documents like Virgnia state publications. Most are available in full text (PDF and other formats) and have no restrictions on access.

Virginia Tech's open access institutional repository, publicizes and preserves the scholarly work of Virginia Tech faculty, students, and staff: journal articles, books, theses, dissertations, conference papers, slide presentations, technical reports, working papers, administrative documents, videos, images, and more. Most content is recent, published within the last 15 years, but there is also a great deal of older and historical content. The full text of all documents is available, often in PDF format, and all entries are indexed by search engines such as Google Scholar and Discovery Search. Any member of the Virginia Tech community can upload material to VTechWorks.
How VTechWorks benefits researchers

Research in VTechWorks is widely disseminated, free to anyone in the world with an Internet connection.
Research in VTechWorks is easily discovered, since it is indexed in Google Scholar, WorldCat, the Virginia Tech website, and the Library's Discovery.
Research in VTechWorks has increased impact: many studies show that openly accessible research is more frequently cited by journalists and scholars than research published in journals and books that must be paid for.
Research in VTechWorks has a persistent, stable link ("handle") that won't change even when current servers are replaced, which makes it more reliable for others to cite and to share on social media.
Research in VTechWorks will be preserved by the University Libraries for decades or even centuries, unlike research posted on a personal web page or published by a company that might go out of business.
Research in VTechWorks is preserved even if a researcher leaves Virginia Tech, but it can always be posted or published elsewhere, since Virginia Tech does not claim any unnecessary or additional rights to the material.

Building Construction: Research in Building Construction