LibGuides: Social Science & Public Policy: Home

Library Search and Databases A-Z

Library Search
If you want to check a specific book or article and find out whether it is held in the King's library collections then Library Search is a good place to start.

While you can search in Library Search with keywords to discover material you didn't know about, it will never give you the full flexibility and searching capacity that a specialist database can.

Where electronic versions of a book, article, or other material type are available, Library Search will give you a link to access it. You may then be prompted to login before being able to actually the thing you were interested in.
Databases A-Z list

Welcome

Welcome to the Collections Guide.

King's Libraries & Collections offer a huge multidisciplinary information resource base including over 1.2 million printed books and ebooks; more than 60,000 journals, reference tools, statistical data, official publications, maps, music scores, multimedia resources, photographs and manuscripts, as well as Archives (5 million items) and Special Collections of international standing.

This guide will highlight the online resources most relevant to your subject area.

General Databases

The following three databases and not subject specific and so are really useful tools for a wide range of subject areas. As different databases have different strengths, it is worthwhile learning how to use and get the best out of a number of different systems. Using databases effectively will allow you to discover material much more effectively than using search engines and in Library Search.

Google Scholar
While Google Scholar does not have the full range of features that other databases do, it has benefits in that it is really easy and intuitive to use, and also searches a really wide range of sources. It certainly shouldn't be the only place you use to search for material, but it is a really useful starting point.
Scopus
Scopus is a large multi-disciplinary database which allows you to search full-text articles, abstracts, and books. King's has a full subscription to Scopus, offering the full flexibility and power of this database.
Web of Science
While the title suggests that this is a database focused on science, the coverage is much wider. This is a powerful database giving full text access to material within our collections, and allowing you to search up and down citation chains.