Databases

The subscription resources marked with a padlock are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.

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Aerospace Research Central (ARC) External This link opens in a new window
The research portal for publications produced by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The Library has access to all of the AIAA's journals (past and present), published proceedings, and online standards.
American Chemical Society Publications External This link opens in a new window
ACS Publications provides searchable full-text access to over 140 years of original research in chemistry, including more than 1,300,000 articles dating back to the inaugural volume of the Journal of the American Chemical Society in 1879. ACS publishes more than 65 peer-reviewed journals as well as news stories, books, and reference materials across a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines.
Applied Science & Technology Full Text (H.W. Wilson) External This link opens in a new window
Applied Science & Technology Full Text provides abstracts and indexing for over 750 of the leading periodicals in science and technology. Contains information on management, careers and employment, and financial trends in the scientific and technological fields. Also indexes interviews, meetings, conferences, exhibitions, product reviews, buyers' guides, directories, and conference proceedings. Indexing (1983- ), Abstracting (1993- ), select Full Text (1997- ).
The simultaneous user limit for this resource may result in temporary delays.
Applied Science and Business Retrospective External This link opens in a new window
Provides a single resource for seven decades of articles on the most important events, issues and trends in the history of business and industry (including the complete file of Industrial Arts Index (1913-1957), plus the most important historical sources in the applied science and technology field for the 20th century. It provides cover-to-cover indexing for more than 2,000 periodicals that include more than 4.5 million articles. It is an excellent resource for tracking down important studies, exploring historical controversies, finding papers by innovators, researching the development of a particular technology, and more.
Derwent Innovations Index External This link opens in a new window
Covering over 14.3 million basic inventions from 40 worldwide patent-issuing authorities, Derwent Innovations Index provides researchers a powerful tool to conduct patent and citation searches of inventions in Chemical, Electrical, Electronic, and Mechanical engineering. The resource merges the value-added patent information from Derwent World Patents Index with the patent citation information from Derwent Patent Citation Index, allowing additional descriptive information and coding to uncover a patent's significance and its relationship to other patents.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online External This link opens in a new window
ECCO and ECCO Part II contains digital images of over 150,000 books, broadsides, pamphlets, sermons, sheet music, and ephemera published during the 18th Century. ECCO includes the full text of many significant English-language and foreign-language titles (Dutch, French, German, Italian, Latin, Spanish, Welsh, and others) printed in the United Kingdom, along with thousands of works from the Americas. Contains material on the whole of European and American life in the eighteenth century, with accounts of:
- Agriculture, military technology, natural philosophy, scientific education and the treatment of diseases.
- Business practices, covering banking, taxation and lotteries, manufacturers and merchants, artisans and skilled workers.
- Development of law in the British Empire.
- Eighteenth-century essayists, novelists, poets and playwrights.
- Government acts, with texts of parliamentary papers, political satire, political essays, speech/addresses, handbills, parish registers, and poll books.
- Music, painting, theater and architecture.
- Voyages and discoveries.
Subjects covered: architecture art business fine arts geography history law literature and language medicine military technology music philosophy and religion science, technology and medicine and the social sciences. Citations without the full text of the work in ECCO contain links to Early English Books Online (EEBO) documents.
Engineering Village External This link opens in a new window
Compendex is one of the most comprehensive engineering literature databases available to engineers. With 14 million records across 190 engineering disciplines, Compendex delivers the comprehensive, precise information and insights that researchers need. Available on Engineering Village, users get results that are consistently accurate, relevant, up-to-date and easy to find. Compendex indexes 1,031 journals that contain articles-in-press. Compendex covers subjects in every engineering discipline including: Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Mining Engineering. The Engineering Index Backfile provides a comprehensive, historical view of engineering developments and innovations described in literature from 1884-1969. Over 1.7 million records have been digitized from the original Engineering Index print indexes. Information is fully searchable, for easy user access to original records chronicling virtually every major engineering breakthrough from the late 19th through 20th centuries. Available on Engineering Village, the combined searching capability of Compendex and the Ei Backfile offers the most comprehensive resource for engineering available anywhere.
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine External This link opens in a new window
Describes journal articles, conference proceedings, books, book reviews, and dissertations in the history of science, technology, and medicine and allied historical fields. The database integrates four bibliographies: the Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science , the Current Bibliography in the History of Technology (Technology and Culture), the Bibliografia Italiana di Storia della Scienza, and the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine.
IEEE Conference Proceedings Archive External This link opens in a new window
IEEE Conference Proceedings Archive maintains perpetual access to nearly 50 years of archival conference content. Organizations can now gain perpetual access to leading technology content from more than 475,000 IEEE conference papers across 850+ conference series. The IEEE Conference Proceedings Archive includes more than 3,600 historical IEEE proceedings with coverage dating from 1951 through 1999, across numerous areas of technology. The collection includes all of the IEEE conference material currently available in IEEE Xplore for the years specified.
IEEE conference papers are authored by visionaries of pioneering technologies that laid the groundwork for many innovations of today and tomorrow. Includes papers from thousands of authors, including classic papers from legendary pioneers in engineering. Covers a wide range of disciplines in electrical engineering and computing and supports many programs at institutions including engineering, computer science, medicine, information science, and business.
IEEE Xplore Digital Library External This link opens in a new window
IEEE Xplore provides Web access to more than 4-million full-text documents from some of the world's most highly cited publications in electrical engineering, computer science and electronics.
INSPEC Archive - Science Abstracts 1898-1968 External This link opens in a new window
Inspec Archive - Science Abstracts represents the digitized version of the original Science Abstracts series. Complementing the main Inspec database by adding coverage from 1898-1968, Inspec Archive contains nearly 874,000 records in all fields of physics, chemistry, electrical engineering and electronics, computing and information technology. Source materials include conference proceedings, books, journals, dissertations, and reports. Interface also available in Chinese (Classic and Simplified), Japanese, and Korean. Click here to access INSPEC from 1969 to present.
INSPEC External This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive index to the global journal and proceedings literature in chemistry, physics, electrical/electronic engineering, computing, control engineering, mechanical engineering, production and manufacturing engineering, and computing and information technology. Includes Inspec Thesaurus, Classification Codes and other specialized finding aids. Includes abstracts for over 6 million articles published worldwide. Source materials include: Physics Abstracts, Electrical and Electronics Abstracts, Computer & Control Abstracts. Interface also available in Chinese (Classic and Simplified), Japanese, and Korean. Click here to access INSPEC Archive - Science Abstracts 1898-1968.
The simultaneous user limit for this resource may result in temporary delays.
Knovel External This link opens in a new window
Contains the full text of over 700 leading science and engineering reference handbooks, technical data and reports, textbooks, and conference proceedings. Some of the contributing publishers are CRC Press, McGraw-Hill, Institute of Physics, Butterworth-Heinemann, Kluwer, and Reed Elsevier. Popular titles include: Chemical Properties Handbook (McGraw-Hill) CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics Lange's Handbook of Chemistry Machinery's Handbook Marks' Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers and Perry's Chemical Engineer's Handbook. Users can browse works page-by-page or search across titles and manipulate interactive tables, graphs, equations, spreadsheets, and other structured information. The chemical structure-searching feature allows users to draw the chemical compound before searching.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online External This link opens in a new window
Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO) is a multi-year global digitization and publishing program focusing on primary source collections of the long nineteenth century. NCCO includes a variety of full-text, fully searchable document types--monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, statistics, and more--sourced from a wide range of noted libraries and archives and unites them in one central, cross-searchable location. There are twelve collections currently available: Asia and the West British Politics and Society British Theatre, Music, and Literature Children's Literature and Childhood Europe and Africa European Literature, 1790-1840 Mapping the World Photography Religion, Society, Spirituality, Reform Science, Technology and Medicine, 1780-1925 (Parts I & II) and Women.
- Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange
- British Politics and Society
- British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture
- Children's Literature and Childhood
- Europe and Africa: Commerce, Christianity, Civilization, and Conquest
- European Literature, 1790-1840
- Mapping the World
- Photography: The World Through the Lens
- Religion, Society, Spirituality, Reform
- Science, Technology and Medicine (Part I)
- Science, Technology and Medicine (Part II)
- Women: Transnational Networks
ProQuest Science Database External This link opens in a new window
This database is a resource for anyone studying both the applied and general sciences. With coverage dating back to 1986, ProQuest Science Journals features over 1030 titles, with more than 760 available in full text. Subjects covered include Aerospace, Engineering, Computers, Physics, Telecommunications, Transportation, Military, General and Materials sciences.
SciTech Premium Collection External This link opens in a new window
The SciTech Premium Collection includes the Natural Science Collection and Technology Collection databases and provides full-text titles from around the world, including scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, government publications and more. For researchers who need to conduct comprehensive literature reviews, this database includes specialized, editorial-controlled A&I resources for discovery of relevant scholarly research and technical literature critical to the discipline. Topics covered include: Biology Earth sciences Environmental studies Medical sciences Agriculture Fish and fisheries Education Geography Veterinary science Food and food industries Pharmacy and pharmacology Meteorology Public health and safety Water resources Conservation Forests and forestry Materials science Engineered materials Mechanical engineering Civil engineering Environmental engineering Earthquake engineering New technologies in engineering Aerospace Computer and information systems Telecommunications Electronics Physics.
Web of Science Core Collection External This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary database covering the journal literature of the sciences, arts and humanities, and the social sciences. It indexes thousands of major journals across more than 200 disciplines. Because the information stored about each article includes the article's cited reference list (often called its bibliography), users can also search the database for articles that cite a known author or work. Web of Science Core Collection includes:
- Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) --1900-present
- Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) --1900-present
- Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) --1975-present
- Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science (CPCI-S) --1990-present
- Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Social Science & Humanities (CPCI-SSH) --1990-present
- Book Citation Index Science (BKCI-S) --2005-present
- Book Citation Index Social Sciences & Humanities (BKCI-SSH) --2005-present
- Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) --2015-present
- Current Chemical Reactions (CCR-EXPANDED) --1985-present (Includes Institut National de la Propriete Industrielle structure data back to 1840)
- Index Chemicus (IC) --1993-present

American Association for Artificial Intelligence External This link opens in a new window

The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) (formerly the American Association for Artificial Intelligence) is a nonprofit scientific society devoted to advancing the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines. The AAAI Digital Library provides access to Journal articles, Magazine articles, Proceedings and Conference papers, and Technical reports.
Civil Engineering Database (CEDB) External This link opens in a new window

CEDB is a free bibliographic database offering over 200,000 records of all publications by American Society of Civil Engineers. It is updated at the end of each month. The update includes the journal content for the following month and all other content published in the previous month. The database covers all the journals, conference proceedings, books, standards, manuals, magazines, and newspapers. Journal papers with abstracts go back to 1970. Non-abstract journal records go back to 1958. The book records are complete dating back to the early 1900s.
DOE Data Explorer External This link opens in a new window

Use the DOE Data Explorer (DDE) to find 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. The DOE Data Explorer includes a database of citations prepared by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) based on the information found at data-hosting websites. The DDE is intended to be particularly useful to students, the public, and to researchers who are new to a field or looking for experimental or observational data outside their normal field of expertise. You may browse or search the database, then link to a data collection where it resides. You will often find specialized search interfaces and software toolkits developed by the data owners. These allow you to search deeper into the data files and help you understand, analyze, and use the data within the context of your own research interests.
National Technical Reports Library External This link opens in a new window
NTRL contains nearly three million scientific and technical reports (500,000 in full text) on US government-sponsored research and worldwide scientific, technical, engineering, and business-related information. The database includes unclassified and publicly available information from research reports, journal articles, data files, computer programs and audio visual products arranged by major subject categories from Federal sources. The NTIS NTRL also has information from international organizations and government departments including those from Canada, Japan, the former Soviet Union, and Western and Eastern European countries. Subject Categories include:
- Medicine & Biology
- Behavior & Society
- Military Sciences
- Physics
- Administration & Management
- Urban & Regional Technology & Development
- Environmental Pollution & Control
- Problem Solving Information for State & Local Governments
- Business & Economics
- Natural Resources & Earth Sciences
Recently the Department of Commerce National Technical Information Service (NTIS) has begun offering the American public free public access to a searchable online database of approximately three million federal science and technology reports through the National Technical Reports Library (NTRL). Of the three million documents in the NTRL, approximately 800,000 can be downloaded immediately in PDF format without charge. Individuals will need to create their own free NTRL accounts at: https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/user/signUp.xhtml
NIST Data Gateway This link opens in a new window

The NIST Data Gateway provides easy access to NIST scientific and technical data. These data cover a broad range of substances and properties from many different scientific disciplines. The Gateway includes links to selected free online NIST databases as well as to information on NIST databases available for purchase. Links are also provided to information on NIST Standard Reference Materials and NIST Calibration Services available for purchase. Search the NIST Data Gateway, browse data products by category or view a list of over 70 NIST web sites dedicated to Standard Reference Data including the NIST Chemistry WebBook, the Atomic Spectra Database, and the X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy Database.
Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) External This link opens in a new window

Formerly known as SciTech Connect, the newly launched by Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) incorporates the contents of DOEs two most popular databases: Information Bridge and Energy Citations Database, and employs an innovative semantic search tool enabling scientists, researchers and the scientifically-attentive public to retrieve more relevant information. SciTech Connect contains over sixty-five years of energy-related citations created and/or collected by OSTI. It also includes full-text DOE sponsored STI reports, technical reports, bibliographic citations, journal articles, conference papers, books, multimedia, and data information sponsored by DOE through a grant, contract, cooperative agreement, or similar type of funding mechanism from the 1940s to today. Collections from the early years represent a comprehensive worldwide collection of nuclear science literature. In addition to reports from the Atomic Energy Commission and other U.S. government agencies, this collection includes numerous non-governmental publications, as well as foreign and foreign language material. In the mid-1970s, the scope of the database expanded to cover all forms of energy-related scientific and technical information. The data site continues to grow as new scientific and technical information resulting from DOE research becomes available.

Engineering in History

Science & Technical Reports: Ask a Librarian

Databases