Introduction to Library Research

What are open access databases?

A large number of research institutions, academic institutions, and government agencies around the world create databases that contain articles, documents and datasets on nearly every conceivable academic field. Many of these databases are available free on the World Wide Web through individual portals or websites, or can become part of a library-provided discovery service, such as ours, Summon. Some of these databases are discoverable in Summon, but others are not, or they provide more robust search features outside of Summon.

If you are interested in seeing a classified and categorized collection of linked Open Access Databases which you can access from a single portal, go to Listing of Open Access DataBases (LOADB).

Open Access Databases in Summon

When you conduct a search in Summon, you will be able to discover content that is available from these databases.  Do not assume that all of the content contained in these databases is 100% discoverable in Summon, and that sometimes by searching the open access database independently of Summon is the best way to assure that you have made a comprehensive, exhaustive search of the content available in that database (see list of Open Access Databases with robust search parameters to the right of this list).

Open Access Databases with Robust Search Parameters

These Open Access Databases, although their content is searchable in Summon, offer very robust or advanced search parameters, such as genre, series, popularity, and medical subject headings, if searched outside of Summon. They are also very large databases, consisting of more than a thousand titles each.

Advanced Search Options include:

• publications
• authors
• subjects
• scientific names

Browse Options available:

• Title
• Author
• Date
• Collection
• Contributor

Going directly to this platform allows the user more advanced search options, including searching by:

• states
• newspaper title
• date range (1789-1963)
• key terms/phrases
• language

Search Filters for Cornell University Library include:

• Year
• Topics & Subjects
• Collection
• Creator
• Language

Go to DOAB platform to:

• Browse by: title, subject, or publisher
• Advance search options include: title, ISSN/ISBN, Author, Keywords, Abstract, and Publisher

Search facets:

• by journals
• Articles
• Subject
• Publisher

Some advanced search options include:

• ISSN
• DOI
• ORCID ID
• Journal's alternative Title

There are many advanced search options in EEBP including:

• Basic search of type of works
• Boolean search of type of works
• Proximity search
• Bibliographic Search 
• Word Index
• Browse

Search for journals on this platform by:

• medical topic
• timeline for free access
• journal's impact
• title
• language

Browse Collections by: Painting, Architecture, Conservation, Open Access, Photographs, and Antiquities

Additional search facets on this platform include:

• Imprint/Program
• Publication Type
• Subject Category
• Series

Advanced Search Options include searching by:

• ISSN
• Publication date
• Subject
• Author
• Title

Search by:

• Headlines
• Full coverage
• Local coverage
• Publication
• Interests

Browsing options include by:

• Bestsellers
• Audiobooks
• Latest issues of magazines
• Shared community uploads including: court filings, business templates, and academic papers

A search on the National Library of Medicine's NCBI Bookshelf, offers the ability to browse by title and many advanced search options including:

MeSh Major Topic
MeSh Subheading
Disease
Gene Name
Grant Number

The MOA platform offers additional searching techniques including:

• Subject browsing
• Author browsing
• Filtering by date (1800-1935)
• Advanced searching using boolean operators, proximity, bibliographic, and word index

If you go directly to this platform, in addition to searching by title, you can also search using these facets:

• Author
• Language
• Popularity
• Recently Posted
• Special Categories (different formats, such as audio book, music, pictures, etc.)

You can limit your search by:

• Creators/contributors 
• Place of Origin 
• Publisher 
• Creation Date 
• Language 
• Genre
• Culture 
• Subjects 
• Places
• Series 
• Digital Format

Open Access Databases Outside of Summon

These Open Access Databases must be searched outside of Summon.