Introduction to Electronic Resources
Electronic materials in the library include e-books, journals, databases, and digitized materials. These materials can be accessed in several different ways:
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Catalog searches using the LBBL Catalog or WorldCat Discovery.
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The A-Z Database List.
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Individual webpages.
Note that you may need to authenticate through OpenAthens using your MyNSU login credentials in order to access content. For more information, visit the following guide How to Access Databases from Off-Campus.
Searching the Catalog - Electronic Resources
You can locate electronic materials by searching the library's catalog on the library homepage: https://libguides.nsu.edu/
1. Enter your search terms and click the "Submit" button in the box to search the LBBL Catalog. By default, the system will use a keyword search looking for your terms across the entire catalog.
If you would like to limit the type of search:
- Use the left-side dropdown menu to change the type of search from Keyword to Title, Author, Subject, Call Number, ISBN/ISSN, or Resource Name.
- Leave the default right-side dropdown menu option "Search Entire Catalog" to search for electronic resources.
2. The results list has icons to indicate what type of materials are available. In order to select only electronic resources, such as E-Book results from the catalog, click the "Modify Search" button at the top of the results page:
3. On the "Modify Search" page you can use the "Add Limits" field to select a specific material type. For example, click "E-BOOKS" to limit the search results to only E-Books. (note that you can use "Ctrl + mouse click" to select multiple options. Click the "Submit" button to view the modified search results.
4. Click on resources in the results list to view the item record. The item record will have a link at the top of the page that will take you to the electronic resource.
Note that you may need to authenticate through OpenAthens using your MyNSU login credentials in order to access content.
For more information, visit the following guide How to Access Databases from Off-Campus.
WorldCat Discovery searches the LBBL Catalog and libraries world-wide. This search will also return results for articles within journals.
1. Enter your search terms and click the green "Search" button to search WorldCat Discovery. By default, the system will use a keyword search looking for your terms across the entire catalog of the Lyman Beecher Brooks Library and libraries world-wide.
[This broad search capability makes WorldCat Discovery very useful for discovering a wide variety of materials even if they are not available at the Lyman Beecher Brooks Library. If you find resources that you need that are only available at other libraries, you can place a request with our Interlibrary Loan department to request to borrow the materials.]
2. The results list has multiple options for refining the search that can be customized using the filtering options contained in the left-side menu or the "Group & Refine This Search" menu on smaller screens.
3. In the filtering menu, check the boxes to apply limits and refine your results. For example, check the boxes for Norfolk State University and eBook to limit the results to eBooks with full text availability through the Lyman Beecher Brooks Library.
4. Click on resources in the results list to view the item record or click View eBook straight from the results list to visit the electronic resource.
Note that you may need to authenticate through OpenAthens using your MyNSU login credentials in order to access content.
For more information, visit the following guide How to Access Databases from Off-Campus.
Searching Databases
The Lyman Beecher Brooks Library (LBBL) can connect you with hundreds of databases to help you build general knowledge, to perform background research, to connect your with scholarly resources, and even find some entertainment with streaming movies and audio.
Many databases are specific to content type or discipline and will have specific best practices and strategies for getting the best search results. Visit the Library 101 - Advanced Research Techniques guide to learn more.
Note that you may need to authenticate through OpenAthens using your MyNSU login credentials in order to access content.
For more information, visit the following guide How to Access Databases from Off-Campus.
All students, faculty, and staff at NSU have access to FREE subscriptions to the Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Sign up for an account to have access to current and archival coverage from some of the world's best news outlets. Please visit the following guide for details: Newspaper Digital Subscriptions for Students, Faculty, and Staff
In addition to the newspaper subscriptions above, the NSU research databases include access to historical newspapers, news aggregators, and business reporting platforms. Try out the following resources or visit the full A-Z database list for more: A-Z Databases
- FactivaFactiva is a Dow Jones business intelligence platform that includes content from 33,000 news, data, and information sources from 200 countries and 32 languages. The archive has more than two billion articles. The oldest dates from 1944, and 2,300 sources have more than 20 years of archived articles.
- Mergent Online Premium
Mergent Online Premium includes: Mergent Online, Horizon, and Analytics with information on over 35,000 publicly traded companies, 24,000 international public companies and 10,000 extinct (due to merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, etc) global public companies. Company histories and over 200,000 annual reports in PDF, thirty (30) years of stock prices, and more.
- Mintel
Every Report contains a comprehensive overview of the market size, including a five-year forecast, brand share, category trends, consumer attitudes and behaviors, and analysis on what’s working, what’s not working, and what’s coming next. Users will be able to dive into specific consumer survey questions to identify key demographics or target markets using the interactive databook and create customized tables and presentations.
Mintel Trends:
Identify the biggest trends worth paying attention to and dive deep into how brands can benefit. Each trend is backed by observations, statistics and consumer data, examples of how leading brands are already responding and context to understand your market across different demographics and sectors. - Historical Newspapers: Norfolk Journal and Guide (ProQuest)Historical newspaper archive covering 1916 - 2003.
Reference databases are a great place to start your research. These databases include resources that are perfect for background information and broad coverage of topics, such as: encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, and manuals.
Try out some of the reference databases below to get started or visit the full database list here: A-Z Databases
- Credo Reference
Credo Reference provides full-text online access to hundreds of multidisciplinary reference book collections, including art, history, law, medicine, psychology, technology, bilingual dictionaries, and encyclopedias through a one-stop search platform. Search results often include articles from a wide array of publications and frequently present subject coverage from multiple perspectives. Using Credo Reference to approach a topic from different viewpoints can be a great way to expand your familiarity with the topic and it can help you develop new arguments and observations for your research.
- Oxford Music Online & Grove Music OnlineAn online music reference source, offering comprehensive coverage of music, musicians, music-making, and music scholarship. This platform is a powerful resource for music research with over 52,000 articles written by nearly 9,000 scholars charting the diverse history and cultures of music around the globe.
- Oxford English DictionaryA guide for researchers in any discipline to the meaning, history, and usage of over 500,000 words and phrases across the English-speaking world. As a historical dictionary, the OED is different from dictionaries of current English, in which the focus is on present-day meanings. You’ll still find present-day meanings in the OED, but you’ll also find the history of individual words, sometimes from as far back as the 11th century, and of the language—traced through 3.5 million quotations, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts, song lyrics, and social media posts.
- Oxford Reference PremiumThis reference database includes access to almost 400 dictionaries and encyclopedias of fully-indexed, cross-searchable works published by Oxford University Press with detailed information across a broad subject range of topics.
NSU research databases include access to current and historical resources ranging from primary resources to scholarly books and peer-reviewed articles.
Try out some of the research databases below to get started or visit the full database list here: A-Z Databases
Major research platforms that cover multiple disciplines include EBSCOhost and Proquest:
- Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost)
Academic Search Complete is a scholarly, multi-disciplinary, full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, and conference proceedings.
- eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
More than 2,000 eBooks offered on a wide variety of subjects and topics, including both fiction and non-fiction titles.
- eBook Central (ProQuest)eBook Central is a collection of nearly 250,000 academic e-books on a wide variety of subjects.
- ProQuest Platform (ProQuest)
Users can search, find and preview more than 900 million documents and retrieve scholarly full-text open access sources directly curated by ProQuest.
Primary resource databases include items such as original works and digitized historical materials:
- African American Historical Serials Collection (EBSCOhost)
The African American Historical Serials Collection features 173 periodicals spanning from 1816 through 1922. The periodicals in this collection include newspapers and magazines, in addition to reports and annuals from various African American organizations, including churches and educational and service institutions.
- American Poetry (ProQuest)
American Poetry contains over 40,000 poems by more than 200 poets, covering the Colonial period to the early twentieth century, and drawn from over 1,200 printed sources. A full list of titles is available for download beneath the search box.
- Gale Archives of Sexuality & Gender: LGBTQ History Since 1940, Parts I, II, III
The Archives of Sexuality and Gender program provides a robust and significant collection of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. With material dating back to the sixteenth century, researchers and scholars can examine how sexual norms have changed over time, health and hygiene, the development of sex education, the rise of sexology, changing gender roles, social movements and activism, erotica, and many other topical areas.
The library offers a wide variety of audio / visual databases from instructional lab videos to popular movies and jazz music.
Try out some of the audio / visual databases below to get started or visit the full database list here: A-Z Databases
- Academic Video Online (AVON)
Academic Video Online delivers video titles spanning a wide range of subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and more.
- Feature Films for Education (Infobase)
Infobase Feature films for Education Collection has almost 800 full-length titles. This collection focuses on both current and hard-to-find titles, including dramas, literary adaptations, blockbusters, classics, science fiction, environmental titles, foreign films, social issues, animation studies, Academy Award® winners, and more.
- JoVE Science Education
The Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE), a peer reviewed scientific video journal, is dedicated to teaching the practice and theory of scientific experiments through engaging and easy-to-understand visual demonstrations. All JoVE articles are indexed in subject-relevant indexing sites, including PubMed/MEDLINE, SciFinder and Scopus.
- KanopyKanopy is a video streaming collection with over 26,000 films ranging from documentaries, indie, foreign, classic and blockbuster movies in several subjects and sub-subject areas. PBS, New Day Films, Kino Lorber, and California NewsReel are just a few of the content providers.
- Naxos Music LibraryNaxos Music Library (NML) offers streaming access to more than 177,230 CDs of both standard and rare repertoire. Over 600 new titles are being added to the library each month.