Free Databases
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DATABASE NAME
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DATABASE DESCRIPTION
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The APS Archive of Teaching Resources is a digital library of peer-reviewed science teaching resources that is free and open to educators worldwide. As of January 2009, the Archive contained more than 2,200 peer-reviewed teaching resources including audiovisual materials, lesson plans, teaching journal articles, and scientific content materials. (http://www.apsarchive.org/)
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| American Memory, from the Library of Congress, provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html) | |
| Artcyclopedia | The Artcyclopedia indexes over 700 arts sites to create a searchable database of visual arts images, information about visual arts and locations of original works. (http://artcyclopedia.com) |
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Biological Soil Crusts catalogs definitions and compositions of biological soil crusts, and links to related resources. Other names for these organic communities are cryptogamic, microbiotic, cryptobiotic, and microphytic crusts. (http://www.soilcrust.org/index.htm)
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BioMed Central is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All original research articles published by BioMed Central are made freely and permanently accessible online immediately upon publication. BioMed Central views open access to research as essential in order to ensure the rapid and efficient communication of research findings. (http://www.biomedcentral.com/browse/journals/)
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The Budget of the United States Government is a collection of documents that contains the budget message of the President, information about the President's budget proposals for a given fiscal year, and other budgetary publications that have been issued throughout the fiscal year. Other budget items, such as related publications and supporting materials, are included, which may vary from year to year. (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/)
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| The Bureau of Justice Statistics' mission is to collect, analyze, publish, and disseminate information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government. These data, offered free on the web, are critical to federal, state, and local policymakers in combating crime and ensuring that justice is both efficient and evenhanded. (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs) | |
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Cancer.gov is produced by the National Cancer Institute. This website provides consumer-friendly information on many forms of cancer and includes information on prevention, treatment, prognosis, and coping with cancer. (http://www.cancer.gov/)
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the CDC's primary online communication channel. From August 2007–July 2008, there were 489 million page views to the site, averaging 41 million page views per month. CDC.gov provides users with credible, reliable health information on: data and statistics, diseases and conditions, emergencies and disasters, healthy living and more. (http://www.cdc.gov/)
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The Checklist of Online Vegetation and Plant Distribution Maps provides vegetation and plant distribution maps from throughout the world, including links to other sites. (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/vegmaps3.html)
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ChemSpider is a free access service providing a structure-centric community for chemists. Providing access to millions of chemical structures and integration to a multitude of other online services, ChemSpider is the richest single source of structure-based chemistry information. (http://www.chemspider.com/)
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The Cheresources.com: Online Chemical Engineering Information provides the very best online content and tools to chemical engineers all over the world. They provide many FREE chemical engineering resources as well as premium ($$) content and software. (http://www.cheresources.com/indexzz.shtml)
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The Company of Biologists Journals is a United Kingdom website created by and for biologists. Access is provided to four peer-reviewed journals. Abstracts/summaries are available for free. (http://www.biologists.com/index.html)
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Copernicus Publications provides access to 21 open-access journals covering geography, chemistry and earth sciences. (http://publications.copernicus.org/open_access_journals/index.html)
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County Business Patterns provides annual economic profiles of business and industry by county, state, and the United States. Includes statistics, by industry, on employment, payroll, and number of establishments, arranged by SIC and NAICS code. (http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/index.html)
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DGRweb: American Chemical Society Directory of Graduate Research, from the ACS Directory of Graduate Research (DGR), is the most comprehensive source of information on chemical research and researchers at universities in the U.S. and Canada. It provides information on 668 academic departments; 10,118 faculty members; and 68,243 publication citations and covers a wide variety of subjects including chemistry, chemical engineering, biochemistry, medicinal/pharmaceutical chemistry, polymers and materials science, marine science, toxicology, and environmental science. (http://dgr.rints.com/)
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The Directory of Open Access Journals provides over 4216 open access journals (1500 of which are searchable at the article level) that include large collections in biology, education, health sciences, history, library and information science, mathematics and the social sciences. (http://www.doaj.org/)
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The Department of Energy (DOE) Data Explorer provides access to scientific research data - such as computer simulations, numeric data files, figures and plots, interactive maps, multimedia, and scientific images - generated in the course of DOE-sponsored research in various science disciplines. (http://www.osti.gov/dataexplorer/)
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The e-Skeletons Project is an interactive website that allows the user to compare human and primate anatomy. Primate skeletons included are: the chimpanzee, the orangutan, the common marmoset, and the ruffed lemur. Choose one bone, view it from all directions (dorsal, ventral, etc.) and compare it to other species' bones. (http://www.eskeletons.org/)
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EarthTrends is a comprehensive online database, maintained by the World Resources Institute, that focuses on the environmental, social, and economic trends that shape our world. (http://earthtrends.wri.org/index.php)
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Educational Media Reviews Online Database contains more than 3500 reviews of educational videos, DVDs and CD-ROMs, written by librarians and teaching faculty from the United States and Canada. The University at Buffalo-SUNY sponsors the database, which focuses on adult media, but also contains reviews for grades K-12 media. (http://libweb.lib.buffalo.edu/emro/search.asp)
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The EIA Library provides policy-neutral data, forecasts, and analyses to promote sound policy making, efficient markets, and public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment. The website includes energy-related databases, directories, software applications, and full-text publications from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. (http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf.html)
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The Encyclopedia of Life includes individualized pages for more than 1,000,000 species of plants, animals, and microorganisms (though some pages are less complete than others). Eventually, the Encyclopedia will be an online reference and database on all 1.8 million species currently known to science and will stay current by capturing information on newly discovered and formally described species. The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is an ambitious, even audacious project to organize and make available via the Internet virtually all information about life present on Earth. (http://www.eol.org/)
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The Energy Citations Database provides free access to over 2.6 million science research citations with continued growth through regular updates. There are over 218,000 electronic documents, primarily from 1943 forward, available via the database. Citations and documents are made publicly available by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). ECD includes scientific and technical research results in disciplines of interest to DOE such as chemistry, physics, materials, environmental science, geology, engineering, mathematics, climatology, oceanography, computer science and related disciplines. It includes bibliographic citations to report literature, conference papers, journal articles, books, dissertations, and patents. (http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/)
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The European Geosciences Union is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence and free, universal accessibility of scientific publications in all areas of geosciences and planetary and solar system sciences for the benefit of the scientists worldwide. Provides full-text to 18 journals and several book series provided by the European Geosciences Union. (http://www.egu.eu/publications/list-of-publications.html)
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| Eyewitness to History is a free site providing access to lots of primary sources. The site contains materials from the ancient world to present. Text, photos, audio, and film clips are all included. It does include some advertisements. (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/) | |
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FBI Uniform Crime Reports |
The FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program was conceived in 1929 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police to meet a need for reliable, uniform crime statistics for the nation. In 1930, the FBI was tasked with collecting, publishing, and archiving those statistics. Today, several annual statistical publications, such as the comprehensive Crime in the United States, are produced from data provided by nearly 17,000 law enforcement agencies across the United States. (http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr) |
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Field Biology Electronic Field Guides were created by students in the Field Biology class at Brandeis University from 2002 - 2006. While not a truly authoritative resource, these are interesting to see and are useful for background information. (http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/fieldbio/)
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The Gateway to Educational Materials allows you to search for educational resources, such as lesson plans and curriculum units. GEM draws from some of the country's best museums, universities, and government programs, including NASA, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, the National Science Foundation, and the Exploratorium in San Francisco. GEM is sponsored by the National Education Association (NEA). (http://www.thegateway.org/)
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| Google Art Project | Google Art Project provides images from seventeen museums across the world. Users can zoom in on selected works, review information about the artwork and find out more about the creating artist. (http://www.googleartproject.com) |
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Household Products Database from the National Library of Medicine links over 8,000 consumer brands to health effects from Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) provided by manufacturers and allows scientists and consumers to research products based on chemical ingredients. (http://hpd.nlm.nih.gov/)
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The Indian Academy of Sciences aims at promoting the progress and upholding the cause of science in pure and applied branches. Major activities include publication of scientific journals and special volumes, organizing meetings of the Fellowship and discussions on important topics, recognizing scientific talent, improvement of science education and taking up other issues of concern to the scientific community. The subjects included in the journals include chemistry, mathematics, earth science, genetics, and science education. (http://www.ias.ac.in/)
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International Plant Names Index
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International Plant Names Index is a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of seed plants, ferns and fern allies. Its goal is to eliminate the need for repeated reference to primary sources for basic bibliographic information about plant names. The data are freely available and are gradually being standardized and checked. IPNI will be a dynamic resource, depending on direct contributions by all members of the botanical community. (http://www.ipni.org/index.html)
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| IPL2 | The Internet Public Library (IPL2) provides a free index for online resources covering a wide range of subjects. The user can browse by subject and by audience. (http://ipl.org) |
| The Islamic Collection at the Met includes 12,000 items, including 712 Islamic manuscripts. (http://metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/islamic_art/listview.aspx?page=1&sort=6&sortdir=asc&keyword=manuscript&fp=1&dd1=14&dd2=0&vw=0) | |
| The Islamic Heritage Project, part of the Open Collections at Harvard University, has more than 280 manuscripts in subjects ranging from literature, Sufi texts, law, theology, and more. (http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ihp/) | |
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National Academies Press is the publisher for reports produced by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council. Over 3000 titles at this site are online for free, including new releases. To identify a full-text book, select a title link and look at the top left for the red tab labeled, "Read This Book Online, Free!" (http://www.nap.edu/topics.php?browse=1)
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National Center for Biotechnology Information has been charged with creating automated systems for storing and analyzing knowledge about molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics; facilitating the use of such databases and software by the research and medical community; coordinating efforts to gather biotechnology information both nationally and internationally; and performing research into advanced methods of computer-based information processing for analyzing the structure and function of biologically important molecules. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/)
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National Criminal Justice Reference Service |
The National Criminal Justice References Service (NCJRS) is a free government database offering extensive reference and referral services to help you find answers to your questions about crime and justice-related research, policy, and practice. Search Questions & Answers to access hundreds of questions related to juvenile and criminal justice, victim assistance, drug policy, and NCJRS services. (http://ncjrs.gov/index.html) University of Maryland provides a guide to using NCJRS.(www.lib.umd.edu/guides/ncjrs.html) |
| National Digital Newspaper Project | The National Digital Newspaper Project, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress, is a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable database of U.S. newspapers with descriptive information and select digitization of historic pages.(http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/) |
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National Environmental Publications Information System is the EPA’s premier site for accessing EPA publications, with more than 7,000 in stock and 31,000 digital titles, free of charge! EPA’s print publications are available through the National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP), and EPA’s digital publications are stored in the National Environmental Publications Internet Site (NEPIS) database! You can search and retrieve, download, print and/or order only EPA publications from this site. (http://www.epa.gov/nscep/)
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National Image Library (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service) contains the National Image Library--the Service's collection of public domain still photos. You may search all the images through the National Image Library link, or you may search by individual collections, which are listed underneath. (http://images.fws.gov/)
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| National Institute of Justice | National Institute of Justice is the research, development and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. NIJ produces print and electronic publications, tools, and training materials about crime and justice. (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/publications/welcome.htm) |
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The National Institute of Standards and Technology Gateway provides access to a variety of databases covering everything from the structure of the HIV virus to biofuels to atomic weights and measures. Over 80 scientific and technical databases are available. (http://srdata.nist.gov/gateway/gateway?dblist=0)
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The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy. The official 2007 U.S. NAICS Manual, includes definitions for each industry, background information, tables showing changes between 2002 and 2007, and a comprehensive index. (http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/)
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O*NET serves as the nation's primary source of occupational information, providing comprehensive information on key attributes and characteristics of workers and occupations. This is a comprehensive database of the U.S. Employment and Training Administration that identifies and describes occupations, worker skills, knowledge, abilities, and workplace requirements. (http://online.onetcenter.org/)
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OAIster is a combined library catalog describing the digital collections of a number of libraries. Digital resources can range from an old-time advertisement of electric refrigerators (from the Library of Congress American Memory project) to Harriet Beecher Stowe memoirs (from the University of Michigan Digital Library Production Service Making of America collection). This resource provides access to resources from the "deep web" that are not normally returned by search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Some resources linked may have restricted access. (http://www.oaister.org/)
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The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a nationally recognized source of career information, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives. Powered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, OOH provides the employment outlook for hundreds of different occupations. Topics included for each occupation are: nature of the work; working conditions; employment, training, other qualifications, and advancement; job outlook; and earnings. (http://www.bls.gov/oco/)
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| Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention | The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provides national leadership, coordination, and resources to prevent and respond to juvenile delinquency and victimization. OJJDP supports states and communities in their efforts to develop and implement effective and coordinated prevention and intervention programs and to improve the juvenile justice system so that it protects public safety, holds offenders accountable, and provides treatment and rehabilitative services tailored to the needs of juveniles and their families. (http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org) |
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The Online Library of Liberty is where electronic versions of classic books about individual liberty are stored. These texts go back some 4,000 years and cover the disciplines of economics, history, law, literature, philosophy, political theory, religion, war and peace. They are in a variety of formats - facsimile PDFs so scholars can view the original text, HTML for ease of searching and attractive layout, and text-based PDF EBooks for personal use. The Library also contains bibliographic information about the books as well as other "metadata" about the authors and editors. (http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid=110)
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The PolicyArchive is a digital archive of global, non-partisan public policy research, including summaries and full texts, videos, reports, briefs, and multimedia material of think tank, university, government, and foundation-funded policy research. (https://www.policyarchive.org/)
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The Political Database of the Americas contains information about institutions and political processes, national constitutions, branches of government, elections, political constitutional studies, and other subjects related to the strengthening of democracy in the Americas. It contains 1,500 pages of information on 35 countries in the Western hemisphere. (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/)
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Preserving and Digitizing Plant Images: Linking Plant Images and Databases for Public Access is a result of a two-year project by the Missouri Botanical Garden, sponsored by a National Leadership Award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Their purpose was to create a repository for plant images to which other botanical organizations can contribute. Currently over 10,000 images are available. (http://www.mobot.org/mobot/imls/)
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| Project Gutenberg | Project Gutenberg is a collection of free digitized books whose copyright has expired. It contains more than 100,000 online books, which can be read on your screen or downloaded to an ebook reader. |
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The Public Library of Science is a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource. Journals are available for the fields of biology, medicine, genetics, and others. (http://www.plos.org/index.php)
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| ResearchGate serves as a "Facebook for scientists," allowing for publication sharing, job searching, and for easy collaboration on research. Get feedback from fellow scientists on questions you encounter or obstacles you're facing. (http://www.researchgate.net/) | |
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Science.gov searches over 38 databases and 1,950 selected websites, offering 200 million pages of authoritative U.S. government science information, including research and development results. (http://www.science.gov/)
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Scirus is a comprehensive science-specific search engine that searches over 300 million Web pages, preprint servers, digital archives, repositories, and patent & journal databases. Scirus enables users to find reports, peer-reviewed articles, patents, pre-prints and journals, including links to full-text articles and other useful resources. Scirus has both basic and advanced search options and, through Search Preferences, permits users to modify how results are displayed. (http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/)
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The Survey of Current Business is the Bureau of Economic Analysis' definitive source of information about its economic accounts. Articles in the Survey present the latest national, international, regional, and industry estimates; describe the methodologies used to prepare the estimates; provide information about major revisions; discuss on-going innovations; and generally keep users up to date on relevant BEA issues and initiatives. Each issue includes numerous tables and charts of various economic estimates. It includes full text articles and statistical data about current business at regional, national, and international levels. (http://www.bea.gov/scb/index.htm)
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| TEL Lesson Plans | TEL Lesson Plans are a collection of over 50 lesson plans available for use via the Tennessee Electronic Library portal. These lesson plans cover many different grade levels and subjects and incorporate the Curriculum Standards for Tennessee as well as a variety of the TEL databases. (http://tnsos.org/tntel/LessonPlans/index.php?showall) |
| Tennessee Virtual Archive (TeVA) is a program of the State Library and Archives to create a digital repository of Tennessee history and culture. Its mission is to bring electronic versions of the state’s rich collections to a wider audience. TeVA provides a searchable array of historical records, photographs, documents, maps, postcards, film, audio and other original materials of enduring value. (http://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/) | |
| Visual Arts Data Service | Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) is a searchabout collection of images "covering all subject areas of the visual arts, from textiles to architecture, including their practise, study and curation." (http://www.vads.ac.uk/index.php) |
| Volunteer Voices | Volunteer Voices is a statewide digital collection from Tennessee academic institutions. Among its goals are to develop digital collections that document Tennessee's history and culture and to facilitate use of these collections in K-16 classrooms and by the general public. (http://www.volunteervoices.org) |
| The World Digital Library, started as a joint venture between the Library of Congress and UNESCO, makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world. (http://www.wdl.org) | |
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The World Factbook is produced by the US Central Intelligence Agency and provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities. The Reference tab includes: maps of the major world regions, as well as flags of the world, a physical map of the world, a political map of the world, and a standard time zones of the world map. (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html)
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