Image credit: Wordle created by Lori Wienke, 2015, CC0
Search Tips for Databases
Databases are searchable online catalogs for research materials such as scholarly journals, articles, books, primary source materials, audio-visual material, and streaming content. Milne Library's databases are included on our A-Z List page.
Use "advanced" search functions in databases
For best results, use Advanced Search options. Try combining a few keywords about the topic, such as the name of a region or country AND a Biology-related term to find scholarly articles.
Filter your search results
Look for "filter" options in your search results that enables you to choose specific types of sources. You can filter for a publication date range, for example, if you need a recent article. If you are looking for a certain kind of research material -- like a full-text article, a book, or an audio file -- you can often filter for type, too. Look for a peer-reviewed option if you need to filter for that specific type of scholarly material.
Databases
Museum Studies is an interdisciplinary field so you might need to search a variety of subject databases to find sources, depending on the subfield you are researching: history, art history, or education. From the A-Z list, you can select "Cooperstown Graduate Program" from the subject list and see what databases have been tagged for museum studies research.
Databases that are best bets for research in museums studies subject areas:
- AATA Online This link opens in a new window
Database containing abstracts of literature related to the preservation and conservation of material cultural heritage.
- American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 1 This link opens in a new window
Consists of over 850,000 pages including the full-text of almost every seventeenth- and eighteenth-century American title published before 1821. Areas covered include Afro-Americana, children's literature, education, eighteenth-century imprints, leisure and hobbies, medicine, religion, the trades, and women's literature.
- American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 2 This link opens in a new window
Presents over 1000 full-text titles dating from 1821 through 1837. Areas covered include agriculture, entertainment, history, literary criticism, and politics.
- American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 3 This link opens in a new window
Consists of over 850,000 pages including the full-text of almost every seventeenth- and eighteenth-century American title published before 1821. Areas covered include Afro-Americana, children's literature, education, eighteenth-century imprints, leisure and hobbies, medicine, religion, the trades, and women's literature.
- American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 4 This link opens in a new windowProvides a diverse record of life leading up to and during the Civil War, from 1853-1865. News from the battlefront can be found in addition to science, literature, medicine, agriculture, women’s fashion, family life, and religion.
- American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 5 This link opens in a new windowConsists of over 850,000 pages including the full-text of almost every seventeenth- and eighteenth-century American title published before 1821. Areas covered include Afro-Americana, children's literature, education, eighteenth-century imprints, leisure and hobbies, medicine, religion, the trades, and women's literature.
- Art Index (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new windowProvides comprehensive indexing (with some full-text articles) of over 350 international art publications, including periodicals, yearbooks, and museum bulletins from 1984 to the present. Topics covered include art, archaeology, art history, crafts, fashion design, non-western art, painting, photography, pottery, sculpture, and textiles.
- Cambridge Core Ebooks & Journals This link opens in a new window
Search for e-books, e-journals, and articles across many subjects. Includes some open access content.
- Gale OneFile: Fine Arts This link opens in a new window
Search millions of articles about drama, music, art history, and filmmaking. Diverse resource for serious fine arts students.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Database provide full-text access to thousands of academic journals and e-books across most subject areas.
- Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Database includes full-text access to hundreds of journals and e-books from university presses and scholarly journals.
- Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new windowWiley's Online Library database enables searching of articles from hundreds of electronic journals published by Wiley and related companies, as well as a vast and growing collection of reference works and other online books.
- World Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Search collection of cultural heritage materials contributed by partner organizations worldwide as well as content from Library of Congress collections. Includes books, manuscripts, maps, and other primary materials presented in their original languages; more than 100 languages are represented, including many lesser known and endangered languages.
E-Book Collections
There are two ways to find eBooks from the library's collections. One method is to search in the Milne Library catalog. Navigate to the library homepage and click on 'Advanced Search.' Then enter your search terms.
- If you wish to find online books, limit the search scope to 'Online Access' and change the 'Material Type' to 'Books'.
The second method is to search directly in one of the library's e-book databases. All e-book databases are available in the A-Z List. Here are some best bets for museum studies:
- Cambridge Core Ebooks & Journals This link opens in a new window
Search for e-books, e-journals, and articles across many subjects. Includes some open access content.
- Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) This link opens in a new windowDOAB is a community-driven discovery service that indexes and provides access to scholarly, peer-reviewed open access books and helps users to find trusted open access book publishers.
- Academic Ebook Collection This link opens in a new window
Over 100,000 full-text e-books in categories including adult fiction and non-fiction, art, biography, business, economics, computer science, education, medicine, history, literature, philosophy, political science, psychology, and reference. Downloadable to portable devices.
- Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Search database of encyclopedias and reference sources within the Gale eBooks platform. For multidisciplinary research.
- Project Gutenberg Ebook Collection This link opens in a new window
Access a library of over 70,000 ebooks, including epub and Kindle formats that are free to download or read online. You will find the world’s great literature here, with a focus on older works for which U.S. copyright has expired.
- Ebook Central Academic Complete This link opens in a new window
Access to over 150,000 multidisciplinary ebooks.