Database List: Open Access and Freely Available Resources

A

Administrator/Teacher Reference Center

• Indexes over 250 titles from the most popular teacher and administrator trade journals, periodicals, and books.

Air University Library's Index to Military Periodicals (AULIMP)  

• Subject index to significant articles, news items, book reviews and editorials from 63 English language military and aeronautical periodicals.

American Archive of Public Broadcasting  

• Thousands of hours of historic public radio and television programs available to stream.

American Mineralogist Crystal Structure Database  

• Crystal structure database that includes every structure published in the American Mineralogist, The Canadian Mineralogist, European Journal of Mineralogy and Physics and Chemistry of Minerals, as well as selected datasets from other journals.

ARTSTOR Public Collections

• "Approximately 1 million freely accessible images, videos, documents, and audio files from library special collections, faculty research, and institutional history materials, as well as hundreds of thousands of open access images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

arXiv.org  

• Open access to more than a million scholarly articles in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, and economics.

B

Best Free Reference Web Sites

• An index of the websites included in the 1999-present annual lists issued by the Mars Best of Free Reference Web Sites Committee of the American Library Association.

Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA)  

• The Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) and the Répertoire international de la littérature de l'art (RILA) is provided for free by The Getty. BHA is an art bibliography covering European and American visual arts from late antiquity to the present.

C

Canadian Music Periodical Index  

• Index of over 30,000 articles dating from the late-19th century to the present day from Canadian music journals, newsletters and magazines.

Congress.Gov  

• Access to Congressional publication including bills, laws, and committee reports

Consortium on Electronic Literature (CELL)  

• The Consortium on Electronic Literature (CELL) is an open access, non-commercial resource offering centralized access to literary databases, archives, and institutional programs in the literary arts and scholarship, with a focus on electronic literature. CELL was founded by the Electronic Literature Organization (ELO).

COVID-19 Database: Global Literature on Coronavirus Disease  

• The latest international multilingual scientific findings and knowledge on COVID-19 compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO). Literature is updated daily (Monday through Friday) from searches of bibliographic databases, hand searching, and the addition of other expert-referred scientific articles.

COVID-evidence  

• Data on worldwide planned, ongoing, and completed trials on any intervention to treat or prevent SARS-CoV-2-infections.

Creative Commons Search  

• Creative Commons Search is a portal that provides access to images and other media that can be freely used and shared.

D

DART-Europe  

• A single European Portal for the discovery of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs).

Data Repository for University of Minnesota (DRUM)  

• DRUM is a publicly available collection of digital research data generated by U of M researchers, students, and staff. Anyone can search and download the data housed in the repository, instantly or by request.

Data USA  

• Data USA provides an open, easy-to-use platform that turns data into knowledge. It allows millions of people to conduct their own analyses and create their own stories about America – its people, places, industries, skill sets and educational institutions. Ultimately, accelerating society's ability to learn and better understand itself.

data.census.gov  

• data.census.gov is now the primary platform to access data and digital content from the U.S. Census Bureau, including the American Community Survey, the American Housing Survey, The Decennial Censuses (10 year surveys), Economic Census and Census Bureau surveys.

DataBank (The World Bank)  

• Hundreds of economic and social indicators, with 40 years of data for some series, for every country in the world.

Digital Commons Network (bepress)  

• The Digital Commons Network aggregates full-text open access peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, dissertations, working papers, conference proceedings, and other original scholarly work.

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)  

• The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is an all-digital library that aggregates over thirteen million photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States.

Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)  

• The primary aim of DOAB is to increase discoverability of Open Access books. The directory is open to all publishers who publish academic, peer reviewed books in Open Access and should contain as many books as possible, provided that these publications are in Open Access and meet academic standards.

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)  

• Directory of Open Access Journals covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals of all subjects and languages.

Dissertations and Theses | University of Minnesota  

• The dissertations and theses in the Digital Conservancy are submitted through the Graduate School in accordance with University standards. Works contributed to the University Digital Conservancy serve as a permanent University of Minnesota record of graduate student scholarship. Electronic submission of dissertations to the Digital Conservancy date from 2007. Master's Plan A theses date from 2009.

E

EBSCO - Free Databases

• Free research databases covering a variety of subjects for students, researchers and librarians.

EDGAR Search and Access  

• Alternative Name(s): Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval system - Find file registration statements, periodic reports, and other required forms submitted by all companies, foreign and domestic.

ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)  

• ERIC indexes education research found in journal articles, books, and grey literature. Some full-text is openly available to the public.

F

FDIC Bank Data & Statistics  

• Alternative Name(s): Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation - Find information on specific banks, their branches, and the industry.

Federal Register  

• Daily official publication of Rules, Proposed Rules, and Notices of Federal agencies and of Executive Orders and other presidential documents

Federal Reserve Data Download Program  

• Download detailed data on topics including consumer credit, industrial production, and interest rates.

FRASER (Federal Reserve Data Archives)  

• Digital library of U.S. economic, financial, and banking history—particularly the history of the Federal Reserve System.

FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)  

• Hundreds of thousands of economic data time series from scores of national, international, public, and private sources.

G

Google Scholar

• "Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web."

govinfo  

• Alternative Name(s): FDsys (Federal Digital System) - Discover U.S. government information and official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.

GPO Catalog of U.S. Government Publications  

• Catalog of United States federal government publications since 1994.

Green's Dictionary of Slang  

• Historical dictionary of English slang covering over 500 years of slang from c.1500 onwards.

H

HathiTrust Digital Library  

• The HathiTrust Digital Library brings together the immense collections of partner institutions in digital form, preserving them securely to be accessed and used today, and in future generations. You can search and access fully viewable materials in HathiTrust, and download materials where there are no third-party restrictions (~26% of the collection is in the public domain).  Access Note: For additional access, click "Log In" in the upper right corner and choose "University of Minnesota" as your partner institution.

HowStuffWorks

• Articles at this web site explain how ordinary "stuff" works, such as electricity, car engines, the human body, government organizations, tattoos, etc.

I

IMF eLibrary Data  

• Portals and dynamic visualization showcasing the following datasets: International Financial Statistics, Balance of Payment Statistics, Government Finance Statistics, and Direction of Trade Statistics.

Indigenous Studies Portal (iPortal)  

• The Indigenous Studies Portal (iPortal) is a database of full-text electronic resources such as books, articles, theses and documents as well as digitized materials such as photographs, archival resources, and maps focusing primarily on First Nations and Aboriginals of Canada with a secondary focus on North American materials and beyond.
  
  This initiative began in 2005 at the University of Saskatchewan as a resource for faculty, students, researchers, and members of the community and currently links to nearly 50,000 items. Anyone can use the freely available materials in the iPortal but some resources are licensed and may only be available from your own library.

International Data Base  

• Provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, the International Data Base is a series of estimates and projections that provide a consistent set of demographic indicators, including population size and growth and components of change for more than 200 countries and areas.
  
  The International Data Base can also be viewed as a map.

International Financial Statistics (IFS)  

• One of the International Monetary Fund's principal statistical datasets, containing country data for most Fund members. Available indicators normally include a country's exchange rates, international liquidity, monetary statistics, interest rates, prices, production, and more.

IPUMS  

• Alternative Name(s): Integrated Public Use Microdata Series - IPUMS provides census and survey data from around the world integrated across time and space. IPUMS integration and documentation makes it easy to study change, conduct comparative research, merge information across data types, and analyze individuals within family and community context.
  Access Note: Create a free account for access.

J

JSTOR American Prison Newspapers, 1800-2020: Voices from the Inside 

• Periodicals from U.S. penal institutions of all kinds, with special attention paid to women's-only institutions.

K

Kathryn A. Martin Library: All Campus Catalog  

• Alternative Name(s): MNCAT Discovery - Searches all University of Minnesota campus catalogs for books and media.

L

Legal Information Institute (LII)  

• Housed at the Cornell Law School in Ithaca, New York, the LII publishes electronic versions of core materials in numerous areas of the law, both on the web and in other electronic products. They range from the Constitution to the U.S. Code, from Supreme Court decisions to the Code of Federal Regulations.

Library of Congress National Screening Room  

• The National Screening Room showcases the vast moving image collection of the Library of Congress. It includes otherwise unavailable movies, both copyrighted and in the public domain, freely accessible to viewers worldwide.

LitCovid  

• A curated literature hub for tracking up-to-date scientific information about the 2019 novel Coronavirus, providing a central access to thousands of relevant articles in PubMed.

M

MedlinePlus  

• Use MedlinePlus to learn about the latest treatments, look up information on a drug or supplement, find out the meanings of words, or view medical videos or illustrations. MedlinePlus links to the latest medical research on your topic or find out about clinical trials on a disease or condition.

more...

MetaLib (U.S. Government Publishing Office)  

• MetaLib is a federated search engine that searches multiple U.S. Federal government databases, retrieving reports, articles, and citations while providing direct links to selected resources available online. View complete list of available government databases.

Middle English Dictionary  

• Newly revised and expanded (2018-) from its original 15,000 pages, the Middle English Dictionary offers a comprehensive analysis of lexicon and usage for the period 1100-1500, based on the analysis of a collection of over three million citation slips, the largest collection of this kind available.

Minnesota Compass  

• Minnesota Compass is a social indicators project that measures progress in our state, its seven regions, 87 counties and larger cities. Compass tracks trends in topic areas such as education, economy and workforce, health, housing, public safety, and a host of others.

Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub, 1849-2020  

• Minnesota newspapers made freely available by the Minnesota Historical Society.

Minnesota Historical Election Archive  

• Explore over 160 years of election results in Minnesota.

Minnesota Public Health Data Access Portal  

• The Minnesota Department of Health is working to make important public health data available. Visit the Minnesota Public Health Data Access Portal for interactive charts, maps, and data specific to Minnesota that may be useful for research, grants, projects, and more.

Minnesota Reflections  

• Alternative Name(s): Minnesota Digital Library - Collection of images and documents from historical societies, public libraries, special archives, universities, and colleges that depict the history of Minnesota.

Minnesota State Demographic Center  

• Statistical data on Minnesota, population, land use, crime, education, health, substance abuse, and retail sales

N

Native American Resources:

NCJRS Virtual Library Search (National Criminal Justice Reference Service)  

• Bibliographic information and abstracts of more than 230,000 collection resources and over 80,000 online materials, including all known Office of Justice Programs' works.

O

Ojibwe People's Dictionary  

• Searchable, talking Ojibwe-English dictionary that features the voices of Ojibwe speakers.

Open Access Theses and Dissertations  

• Open access graduate theses and dissertations from around the world. OATD currently indexes over 1.5 million theses and dissertations.

Open Folklore  

• Open Folklore is devoted to increasing the number of useful resources, published and unpublished, available in open access form for folklore studies and the communities with which folklorists partner including books, journals, web archives, and gray literature.

Open Textbook Library  

• Open textbooks are textbooks that have been funded, published, and licensed to be freely used, adapted, and distributed. These books have been reviewed by faculty from a variety of colleges and universities to assess their quality. These books can be downloaded for no cost, or printed at low cost. All textbooks are either used at multiple higher education institutions; or affiliated with an institution, scholarly society, or professional organization.

P

Penn World Table  

• Database with information on relative levels of income, output, input and productivity, covering 183 countries between 1950 and 2019.

PubAg  

• PubAg is a portal to USDA-authored and other highly relevant agricultural research. At launch, it delivers over 42,939 full-text journal articles by USDA staff and includes nearly 1,527,273 citations. The Library will add about 20,000 citations each month. The new release also previews its directions for intended functionality and will serve as the foundation for further enhancements.

PubMed --- Public Version  

• NCBIs primary text search and retrieval system that integrates the PubMed database of biomedical literature with 38 other literature and molecular databases including DNA and protein sequence, structure, gene, genome, genetic variation and gene expression.

PubMed Bookshelf  

• NCBI provides free online access to books and documents in life science and healthcare via Bookshelf.

R

Retro Report Films  

• Short documentaries and video series produced by Retro Reports in partnership with The New York Times, PBS, the New Yorker, VICE, Scientific American, NBC News, Politico, Time, The Guardian, Univision and others.

S

Sanborn Maps  

• Fire insurance maps published by the Sanborn Map Company housed in the collections of the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress. Includes over 25,000 sheets from over 3000 city sets online in the following states: AK, AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, GA, ID, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NV, OH, OK, PA, SD, TX, VA, VT, WY and Canada, Mexico, Cuba sugar warehouses, and U.S. whiskey warehouses.

Science.gov  

• Science.gov is a gateway to over 50 million pages of authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. government agencies, including research and development results.

SORA (Searchable Ornithological Research Archive) 

• Covers birding and ornithology journals, with a focus on North America.

Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1878-2012  

• Alternative Name(s): Statistical Abstracts Series The authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States.

T

TED Talks  

• TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.

TRID  

• TRID is an integrated database that combines the records from TRB's Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) Database and the OECD's Joint Transport Research Centre's International Transport Research Documentation (ITRD) Database. TRID provides access to more than one million records of transportation research worldwide.

U

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)  

• Provides data on national accounts, international accounts, regional accounts, and industry accounts. Excellent source for local (state, county, MSA) economic data.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)  

• Statistics and aggregate data on inflation, employment, unemployment, pay and benefits, consumer spending, time use, productivity, and workplace injuries.

U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Tax Statistics Search  

• Tables, articles, and data that describe and measure elements of the U.S. tax system.

U.S. International Trade Administration (ITA) Research Center  

• Trade data and analysis from ITA's trade specialists and partners from around the world.

Umbra: Search African American History  

• Umbra: Search African American History (UmbraSearch.org) is a freely available search tool that brings together the most extensive digital collection dedicated to African American history and culture from US archives, museums, and cultural heritage institutions.

UMedia  

• Discover 193,954 images, maps, manuscripts, video, audio, and more. UMedia provides open access to digitized materials from across the University of Minnesota.

United States Code  

• The United States Code is a consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is prepared by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives.

University Digital Conservancy (UDC)  

• This online service and space will permit the Kathryn A. Martin Library to continue its rich legacy of collecting, preserving, and making information accessible to students, faculty, researchers, and community members.

University of Minnesota Digital Content Library  

• A database of images, sound, and video files based at the Twin Cities campus, with content added by academic departments in the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Design at the Twin Cities, and the School of Fine Arts at UMD.

US Census Bureau | Census of Population and Housing  

• The census tells us who we are and where we are going as a nation. The census helps our communities determine where to build everything from schools to supermarkets, and from homes to hospitals. It helps the government decide how to distribute funds and assistance to states and localities. It is also used to draw the lines of legislative districts and reapportion the seats each State holds in Congress..

USA.Gov Statistics  

• A trusted source for federal statistical information since 1997. FedStats supports a community of practice for over 100 agencies engaged in the production and dissemination of official federal statistics, and provides the public with a showcase of information, tools and news related to official federal statistics. Information covers demographics, business, taxation, environment, politics, crime, employment, military, climate, health, and education.

USDA National Agricultural Library SEARCH  

• Alternative Name(s): AGRICOLA, PubAg, NAL Digital Collections (NALDC) Bibliographic database of citations to the agricultural literature created by the National Agricultural Library and its cooperators.

V

Vermont Online library Gale K12 Resources

• Search Magazines, Newspapers and More...

Vocabulary.com

• Vocabulary for learners and educators contains book-specific vocabulary lessons.

W

Wolfram Alpha Computational Knowledge Engine

• Answer questions; do math; instantly get facts, calculators, unit conversions, and real-time quantitative data and statistics; create plots and visualizations; and access vast scientific, technical, chemical, medical, health, business, financial, weather, geographic, dictionary, calendar, reference, and general knowledge—and much more.

WomanStats Project  

• The WomanStats Project is a comprehensive database on the status of women cross-nationally. It contains over 170,000 data points and is growing every day, it covers over 350 variables for 175 nations with populations greater than 200,000 persons. The WomanStats Project began in 2001 with the aim of investigating the link between the security and behavior of states and the situation and security of the women within them.

World Development Indicators  

• The primary World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially-recognized international sources. It presents the most current and accurate global development data available, and includes national, regional and global estimates.

World Factbook  

• The World Factbook, produced for US policymakers and coordinated throughout the US Intelligence Community, marshals facts on every country, dependency, and geographic entity in the world. It provides information on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 250+ world entities.

World History Encyclopedia  

• Free online world history encyclopedia with text, images, audio, video, and interactive features.

WorldCat -- Public Version  

• WorldCat is the world's largest network of library content and services. WorldCat libraries are dedicated to providing access to their resources on the Web, where most people start their search for information.