Searchguide – BTH English

Performing a subject search in a specific field can mean that you need to make use of a number of different sources, printed as well as electronic, to get the desired result.

Prepare your search

Regardless of which subject field you are searching within, the general instructions for search technique and search strategy that you find in the section Search guide apply. You must always think over and plan your search carefully. There are no short cuts. It does not matter if you are a beginner or an experienced searcher.

Don’t rush

If you want to make a search that covers your topic you must be aware of the fact that you need to allow plenty of time for the search. Performing a good literature search is not done in one coffee break. A good advice is to allow yourself and your search plenty of time. Prepare your search and consider carefully what result you want from the search. Ultimately, it will pay off.

Subject specific sources

Apart from general advice which applies to all literature searches, there are more specific advice and tips depending on which subject you are going to search information about. For each subject there is as a rule one or more subject specific databases, books, encyclopaedias and journals. Books, encyclopaedias and journals exist in print and well as electronically. Most subject fields have their own unique terminology – their own technical language. Being familiar with the terminology that prevails in a certain field is often a prerequisite for achieving a good search result. The amount of sources with relevant material for your work varies depending on what subject you are searching information about.

Anne-Marie Pettersson
2010-02-04

The programme in spatial planning spans a number of different subjects. Apart from the general sources, which are described more detailed elsewhere in The Searchguide, there are some sources that are of particular interest for you.

General sources

If you want to find full text journal articles you should search Summon@BTH. Here you will find articles in diverse subjects and there are many articles in subjects that may be of interest for you. When you are searching Summon@BTH, keep in mind that you need to be inventive about the search terms. When you are searching here you are searching a great number of databases simultaneously and thus there is no common thesaurus.

Another very valuable full text resource is ebrary which contains about 45.000 books in full text. It spans a diversity of subjects and it also contains much that may be of interest for you as a student in spatial planning. One tip is to search for the ebrary books in LIBRIS where you actually have better search opportunities than in ebrary. There is a link to e-resources in the upper part of the LIBRIS search page.

Byggtorget – Byggdok

Byggtorget – Byggdok is a reference database (see section Databases for an explanation of the term) which refers to a lot of material in the fields of building, environment, architecture and planning. Information from the Nordic countries prevails, but there is also a lot of material that deals with international conditions. You will find references to and abstracts of research reports, articles, books etc. If the material is free to access on the web, there is also a link to the full text. Byggtorget is not being updated anymore. The database got it’s last entries in 2006.

Digitala kartbiblioteket

Digitala kartbiblioteket is a web service for students and staff at Swedish universities and university colleges. In the service you can view a selection of Lantmäteriet’s maps and pictures, for example Sverigekartan, terrain maps and urban maps. Registered users can also download maps and geographical data via this service. It is free of charge. Read more about this in the section Database guide.

Transguide

The Library at The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (Statens väg- och transportforskningsinstitut) provides Transguide, a portal for both wide and deep information in the field of transport and telematics.

Constitutions and laws

Although much of the legislation (both Swedish and EU-legislation) is available via search engines like Google, Yahoo etc., it may be good to know where you can search solely for laws and constitutions.

On the website sverige.se you will find a common entry for information from the Swedish public sector and there is also an entry for LAGRUMMET which is the public administration’s joint website for Swedish legal information.

The European Union law portal is called EUR-Lex and there you have access to all official legislation, case-law, treaties and legislative proposals. Read more about this in the section Database guide.

Statistics

At Library Gräsvik we have for example Statistisk årsbok and Bostads- och byggnadsstatistisk årsbok as printed publications.

A great part of the official Swedish statistics is also available online. You can find existing tables and reports, but you can also compose “your own” statistics. One starting page is Svenska statistiknätet which links to statistics from about twenty different authorities. You can also go directly to Statistics Sweden’s (Statistiska centralbyrån, SCB) webpage. SCB also refers to international statistics. If you are unable to find what you need that way you can use Webstat which is a database of statistical sources on the web. If you choose advanced search you have the option of limiting your search to individual countries. Read more about this in the section Database guide.

Anna Stockman
2006-05-04

Here you can read about good sources for searching literature in language, literature and history.

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Books

In Blekinge Institute of Technology’s Library catalogue you can see what books are available at BTH’s libraries in Karlskrona and Karlshamn. Sometimes you might need other material than what our Library offers. Then the Library can purchase new books or order them from other libraries by interlibrary loan. To make further searches for books you can use LIBRIS.

In LIBRIS you can search among 5 million titles in Swedish libraries. Libris is a national Swedish library database where you will find books that are held at Swedish university- and university college libraries. Here you will mainly find references for books, but also some articles. It is a good place to search for Swedish research, because all Swedish dissertations are registered here. You will also find a lot of international material.

Also remember that your public library could have interesting titles. You will find the library catalogue from the municipality’s homepage.

E-books

Ebrary is a database that contains about 20.000 books in full text. It spans many different subject fields, and it contains interesting titles in language, linguistics and literature. You can read the books on the screen or print interesting parts.

Older fiction titles can be found in full text archives which are free to access on the Internet. The most well-known archive is Project Gutenberg and a Swedish counterpart is Project Runeberg.

Articles

Although you might find some journal articles in LIBRIS, ArtikelSök is the foremost source for finding Swedish articles. In this database about 550 Swedish journals and more than 30 newspapers are indexed. It covers the years from 1979 onwards. Here you will both find scientific articles from research journals and shorter articles from newspapers. Articles from some of the journals that the library subscribes to can be found here, for example ‘Ord och Bild’ and ‘Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap’. In ArtikelSök you can set some limits before you start searching, you can for instance choose to search only among reviews. Some of the newspaper articles found here have links to full text. If you find an article that is published in a journal that is not held at our Library you can ask for it at Karlskrona public library which subscribes to a large number of journals. If they do not have the article either, we can order a copy for you.

To find older texts about Swedish authors you can use ’Samlaren’. This is a journal in literary history published since 1880 which contains an annual bibliography of Swedish research in literary history. Library Gräsvik holds ‘Samlaren’ from 1880 onwards, but there are some gaps. Volumes from 1989 and older are stored, ask staff for help if you want to use them. Volumes from 1990 and onwards are placed on the open shelves in the library and you will find them together with other books on Swedish literary history on shelf Gc.

If you want to search journal articles in full text you should use the database Summon@BTH. Here you will find articles in a variety of subjects, but there are also many articles in subjects that may be of interest for you. Most articles are in English and you must also use English search terms.

The reference database MLA
If you want to make a thorough search to find out what has been published internationally about your subject you should use a subject specific reference database. Read more about different types of databases in the section Database guide. If the subject you are searching for relates to other subjects it can also be worthwhile to search special databases for those subjects.

In MLA you will find referenses for books, dissertations, book chapters and journal articles, which make up more than half of the contents. These texts can not be accessed directly in MLA, but by clicking the reference’s SFX-button you can check if the book or article can be accessed in the BTH library or by interlibrary loan.

Dictionaries and encyclopaedias

In encyclopaedias like Nationalencyklopedin and Encyclopaedia Britannica you can find definitions of terms and good and rather extensive overview articles. For definitions and shorter explanations of terms dictionaries are useful. Both general and subject specific like Routledge dictionary of language and linguistics, The concise Oxford dictionary of linguistics, The concise Oxford dictionary of literary terms and The Oxford companion to American literature.

HISTORY

Books

If you search the Library catalogue you can see what books are held at BTH’s Library. Sometimes you might need other material than what our Library offers. Then the Library can purchase new books or order them from other libraries by interlibrary loan. To make further searches for books you can use LIBRIS.

LIBRIS

is a national Swedish library database where you will find books that are held at Swedish university- and university college libraries. Apart from books you can also find articles from Swedish journals and book chapters. If you want find out if any research has been conducted on a certain subject you can search LIBRIS, here all Swedish dissertations are registered.s are held at BTH’s Library. Sometimes you might need other material than what our Library offers. Then the Library can purchase new books or order them from other libraries by interlibrary loan. To make further searches for books you can use

Also remember that your public library could have much history literature. You will find the library catalogue from the municipality’s homepage.

Electronic books

can be searched in ebrary. Here you will find the complete contents of the books on the computer screen. Titles are in English and they mainly focus on American or international conditions.

Articles

You can search for articles in ArtikelSök, which is a database of Swedish newspaper- and journal articles from 1979 onwards. You will find references to articles from some of the journals that the library subscribes to here, e.g. Historisk tidskrift, Scandia and Scandinavian Journal of History. Some of the newspaper articles you find will have links to the full text of the article. If you find an article that is published in a journal that is not held at our Library you can ask for it at Karlskrona public library which subscribes to a large number of journals. If they do not have the article either, we can order a copy for you.

Summon@BTH

If you are searching for articles the full text databases may be interesting. By using the search tool Summon@BTH you search several full text databases simultaneously. In these databases you will find complete articles which you can read on your computer screen or print.

Local material

If you are writing an essay with a subject that has a local connection you may find the public library’s Blekinge collection useful. This collection partly corresponds to Databas Blekinge. Here you will find books, articles and other texts with a connection to the county.

There are usually equivalents to the Blekinge Collection in other countries.

Encyclopaedias

In Nationalencyklopedin (Ne.se) you can look up terms for an overview or a definition. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online is a British equivalent.

Jenny Gunnarsson & Anette Pettersson
2011-03-02

Here you can get tips on how to find material in the subjects of e-government and media technology.

E-government

The subject e-government is relatively new, which can mean that the usual information sources do not give as much results as you are used to. Here it is particularly important to collect useful key words that turn up along the way and be aware that the terminology increases all the time.

The English term E-government does not yet have a Swedish corresponding term. The Swedish terms that first come to mind are ‘e-förvaltning’ (e-administration), ‘e-tjänster’ (e-services), ‘e-demokrati’ (e-democracy) and ‘24-timmarsmyndigheter’ (24-hour-authorities). These key words and their English equivalents can be good starting points for further searches.

Dictionaries

In NE, Nationalencyclopedin, the term e-government is not used presently, there you must search for 24-timmarsmyndigheter.

The Internet

Many documents in this subject are free to access on the Internet. But searching for information on authorities’ home pages can sometimes be more difficult than just typing the search terms on Google. If you can not find the information by using a search engine you can go directly to the website and search there.

Useful web sites:

Sverige direkt: sverige.se
Riksdagen: http://www.riksdagen.se/
Government publications (e.g. SOU): http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/574
Statskontoret (Swedish agency for public management) http://www.24-timmarsmyndigheten.se/

Full text databases

In Summon@BTH you can find international articles in English. First you get a list of results for your search terms, and then based on an abstract you can decide whether you want to get the whole article. In case you do – click the full text button.

If for example you search for e-government in Summon@BTH you will find such a great amount of articles that it would be too time-consuming to go through them all. In this situation it is good to refine the search by adding a few more words that make your search more nuanced and precise (e.g. democracy). Analyse the list of articles you found (the result list) to see if they meet your expectations, otherwise you can try using other words (electronic government, e-democracy, egov etc.).

The e-book library ebrary

In ebrary, which is a great collection of international e-books (about 20 000 titles), you can read the book directly on the screen, but first you must install a special program (ebrary reader) which enables you to see the text. When you are searching ebrary you can choose to search through all text in the books. This mostly results in a very long list which is difficult to grasp, but limiting the search by adding more terms to the search string pays off.

Reference databases

The point of a reference database is to make documents searchable from a number of angles. What you find in a reference database is not the full text itself, but a reference to where it may be found. For a journal article for example, you get the article’s author and title, the journal name, year, volume, number and page reference.

ArtikelSök

is a very useful reference database when you want articles about Swedish conditions. You will not find scientific articles, but articles from newspapers and popular press. By using ArtikelSök you can for example find articles on how people work with e-government in public administration in different places in Sweden. Plus, it can be a good starting point for further searches. Also note that every article is provided with a couple of subject words, and if you click them you will get new result lists that may contain interesting material. Save words that lead to interesting articles, they may be useful for a later occasion. Searching for e-government in ArtikelSök does not give very many records at the moment. Instead try: 24-timmarsmyndigheten, e-tjänster, förvaltning, informationsteknik, internet, demokrati and/or different combinations of the search terms based on your own question/problem. Other examples of useful words: offentlig service, medborgare, medborgarinflytande, nättjänster, offentlig förvaltning. The idea of listing these words is of course not that they must be used, but rather to show how terms which are very similar and synonyms can give completely different results and that you must be creative and reflect on your search order to get good results.

Media technology

The term ”media technology” is mainly used as a name for educational programmes in those fields that involve publishing of digital information, i.e. web technology, video, sound, programming, design, games, 3D, animation etc. The phrase “media technology” is rarely used in books, articles etc. about these subjects. This is why the specific terms are best used when searching. If you particularly want to search for information which comprises several of these subjects, “multimedia” is probably the best term to use – though the use of this term is decreasing because a great part of what is published digitally is integrated between several of these fields. Regarding the really big software names you must also include the software names in the search, e.g. Maya, Photoshop, Cubase.
The most important sources for searching are available for free from search engines like Google and different kinds of “social software”. In bookmark sites like http://del.icio.us for instance, you can see examples of what bookmarks most users have made in different subjects – tags.
One important source that is reached from the Library web page is ebrary. Ebrary has loads of media technology books and they are always available. The books can also be searches, and you can also write comments and make bookmarks. For example you can easily search for a function or a bit of code and the go directly to the place where it is mentioned in a particular book. It is like searching on the Internet, but with some advantages.
Printed books can be found through the Library’s online catalogue. It does not matter which of our libraries hold the book. If it is held at Piren in Karlshamn for example, you look up their mail address on the library web page, send an e-mail where you state your name, library card number, book-title and that you want to collect the book in Karlskrona. When you want to choose books to use it can be good to search for them in a system with social navigation (grades and reviews from readers), like Amazon.com.
Scientific journals are found electronically in full text from Summon@BTH on the Library web page. From the library’s web pages you can also find Mediearkivet and Presstext, if you need to search for newspaper articles. Besides Nationalencyclopedin you will also find a number of dictionaries on the library web page.
If you have questions you are likely to find the answer in the Quick Search Guide or elsewhere on our web pages, otherwise we are always at your service

Peter Giger
2005-12-14

Here you can read about good sources for searching literature in pedagogy, psychology and sociology.

Books

In Blekinge Institute of Technology’s Library catalogue you can see what books are available at BTH’s libraries in Karlskrona and Karlshamn.

In LIBRIS you can search among 5 million titles in Swedish libraries. Here you will mainly find references for books, but also some articles. It is a good place to search for Swedish research and other literature. You will also find international material, but LIBRIS does not have full coverage of international research in these subjects.

Ebrary is a database which contains about 45.000 books in full text. It spans many different subject fields, and it contains interesting titles in pedagogy, psychology and sociology. You can read the books on the screen or print interesting parts.

Articles

In ArtikelSök you can search for Swedish articles from about 15 newspapers and about 550 journals from 1979 onwards. Here you will both find scientific articles from research journals and shorter articles from newspapers. Like LIBRIS, ArtikelSök is a good source for finding Swedish research. Some articles come in full text, but for most of them you only get the reference. If you find a reference for an article which does not come in full text, but seems interesting – keep the reference and check if the journal is held at BTH’s Library or if it can be ordered from another library.

If you want to search journal articles in full text you should use Summon@BTH. It contains complete articles that you can print directly. The Library subscribes to a number of such databases, but to facilitate your search you can use Summon@BTH. From here you can search most of our full text databases simultaneously. It is important to remember that these databases cover a lot of different subjects, and you might need to use other search terms than when you search a specialized psychology database like PsycInfo.

It is also good to bear in mind that you might need to try synonyms to a greater extent because you are searching different databases which might not use the same subject words. Here you will find articles in a variety of subjects, but there are also many articles in subjects that may be of interest for you. Most articles are in English and you must also use English search terms.

Reference databases

If you want to make a thorough search to check what has been published internationally about your subject you should use a subject specific reference database. Read more about different types of databases in the section Database guide. If the subject you are searching for relates to other subject fields it can also be worthwhile to search special databases for those subjects.

In ERIC you will find references for books, dissertations, research reports, articles from books and journals etc. This material can often not be accessed directly from ERIC, but you have to save the reference and then check where you can locate the text you want, either at the library or via Inter library loan.

In psychology the most important database is called PsycInfo. Much of the material in the databases are scientific (mainly in PsycInfo), but not all. If you are uncertain about what signifies a scientific article you can read more in Vad är en vetenskaplig artikel?

PsycInfo is produced by the American Psychological Association and it contains references for articles, book chapters, reports etc in the subject of psychology. It covers 1.400 journal articles, most of which are in English. Library Gräsvik subscribes to several peer reviewed psychology journals whose articles you can find in PsycInfo, e.g. Journal of Applied Psychology, Psychological Bulletin and Psychological review. Some of the articles found in the database may also be available in one of the Library’s full text databases. When you can not find the article among the Library’s journals or in full text, you can order a copy.

In the reference database Sociological abstracts you will find references for books, dissertations, research reports, journal articles etc. in the subject of sociology. This material can often not be accessed directly from the database, so you have to save the reference and then check where you can locate the text you want, either at the Library or by Interlibrary loan.

Dictionaries and encyclopaedias

In encyclopaedias like Nationalencyclopedin and Encyclopaedia Britannica you can find definitions of terms and good and rather extensive overview articles. For definitions and shorter explanations of terms dictionaries are useful. Both general and subject specific like for example A Dictionary of Sociology and A Dictionary of Psychology. General dictionaries and encyclopaedias do not always suffice when you are looking up a term that is used in a limited subject area. Then it might be good instead to look it up in a subject specific dictionary.

Jenny Gunnarsson
2010-12-06

Here is a list of good resources in the field of management.

Books

Libris
is a national library catalogue where you can search for titles held by Swedish university-, university college- and special libraries. It contains references to books, but also to some articles and international material.

Ebrary
contains about 20 000 e-books in full text from more than 180 international publishers in a great number of subjects. In order to save notes, bookmarks and to create your personal bookshelf you must create a personal account, which is free of charge.

Journals and other resources

Affärsdata
contains articles from Sweden’s biggest newspapers and business journals, stock exchange prices, plus Swedish companies with complete closing of the books information about all Swedish public limited companies, plus basic information about other companies.

Summon@BTH
where you can search for journal articles from several full text databases simultaneously. The articles are in English and you use English search terms.

ABI/Inform global
contains 1800 journals with focus on the field of economy. It is included in Summon@BTH but if you search directly in ABI you can make more advanced searches. You can also decide what kind of material you want, e.g. peer-reviewed articles, articles from business journals, newspapers etc. You will also find information about international companies.

Emerald
with about 110 journals from MCB in full text. Subject coverage is mainly economy and marketing, but there are also journals in library- and information science, education and technology.

Kent Pettersson
2011-03-02

Searching for literature in health and nursing care often involves using a number of different sources in order to make a thorough search.

Reference databases

If you are taking one of the educational programmes at The School of Health Science or if you study public health science or if you are taking a separate course in health there are mainly two big reference databases (see section Database guide) that are of interest for you in the fields of medicine and nursing care, with a lot of material of scientific character. They are called Medline and CINAHL, and they are two big international databases in this field.

The database Medline also exists in a free version on the web under the name PubMed. Medline and the version PubMed contain references for articles in medicine, nursing care, odontology, veterinary medicine and health care systems. It covers about 4.800 journals in biomedicine from most parts of the world and the time span covered is from 1966 onwards. Medline contains more than 12 million references to articles. On top of this, PubMed also gives access to the so called OldMedline which contains about 2 million references, dating from 1950-1965. These older references have not been provided with subject words.

The database CINAHL covers the field of nursing care and is mainly intended for nurses and health care staff. It contains references to articles from largely all English-language journals in the field. It also contains documents from The American Nurses’ Association and from The National League for Nursing. CINAHL covers subject fields such as care, nursing care, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, chiropractics, health- and medical care. About 2.500 journals are indexed in the database from 1982 onwards.

Also the database PsycInfo, whose contents focus on the subject psychology, can sometimes be of interest. If for instance you are searching for material about parents reactions to sudden infant death it might be appropriate to search this database also. It is a big international database with references to journal articles, books and book chapters, dissertations in psychology and related subjects such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing care, sociology, pedagogy, pharmacology, physiology etc. It covers the time from 1887 onwards. The database contains material from more than 1.300 journals.

Another reference database in this field with mainly Nordic material is the database SveMed+ It contains references for Nordic journals in the field of medicine and some of the material has a popular science character. It does not only contain references for Swedish journals, but also Norwegian and Danish, plus some references to articles in English. The time covered is from 1977 onwards.

Full text databases

If you want to search for journal articles in full text you should use the database  Summon@BTH. Here you will find articles in a variety of subjects, but also many articles in fields of specific interest for you. When searching Summon@BTH, bear in mind that you need to be inventive about search terms. When you search here, you search a large number of databases simultaneously and thus there is no common thesaurus.

Here, more than in other databases, you need to be observant about the subject words or key words you find among the records from the search result. If for example you want to search for articles about terminal care there are several possible terms to search for, e.g. terminal illness, palliative care, palliative medicine, palliative treatment, end-of-life care, hospice care and of course terminal care. These words can be found by examining the keywords which almost all records in the database are provided with.

Ebrary is another valuable full text resource, which contains about 20.000 books in full text. It spans a diversity of subjects and it also contains much of interest for you as a student at The School of Health Science. For example you will find many books about nursing care, public health and related subjects there.

Evidence based medicine

The Cochrane Collaboration is an international organisation which aims to facilitate the making of well-founded decisions about measures in health care. This is done by the publication of systematic overview articles on the effect of different measures in health care. The Cochrane reports are created by a network of researchers and they are updated continuously. They can be said to be the international equivalent of the SBU reports.

The Cochrane Library – which is the main product of the collaboration – is updated quarterly and consists of a collection of databases in evidence based medicine. The most important one, The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, contains the so called Cochrane reports where current knowledge development in different medical fields is examined and compiled. The Cochrane Library is considered to be the best single source of documentation about the effects of health care. It is mainly intended for people who provide or receive health care and for those who are responsible for research, education, financing or administration at all levels.

SBU

SBU, The Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care, is commissioned by the government to assess different methods in healthcare from a collected medical, economical, ethical and social perspective. The SBU reports should point to the best available scientific evidence on benefits, risks and costs associated with different measures. SBU thus describes which methods are all in all most beneficial and least harmful, and point to the best way to economize health care resources. SBU should also identify methods which are used but which are not useful, which have not been studied or which are not cost efficient.
The purpose is to produce an impartial and scientifically based material for decision-making. SBU-reports are directed to all people who make decisions about which healthcare should be provided – both people who work directly with patients and those who organise and plan health care. The results also concern many patients and relatives.

On the SBU:s web site you can read more about what evidence based medicine means and you can also search among SBU’s material. Some publications are available in full text.

(Source: SBU utvärderar sjukvårdens metoder)

Dictionaries and other aids

To search the international databases English must be used as the search language. It is not always easy to find relevant search terms using an ordinary dictionary. A good aid in the field of medicine is the database Svensk MeSH. MeSH database is a database of the controlled vocabulary that is used with every article in Medline. There are nearly 22.000 MeSH-terms. Karolinska Institutet has translated these terms to Swedish in Svensk MeSH. It offers good help when you want to translate search terms to either English or Swedish. You simply type the term you want to translate either in Swedish or English in the search box. If the word you entered was not found you will get suggestions for related terms. It says …”or click here for suggestions”.

Many of the big databases on different subjects have a thesaurus, which is a list of the subject words used in that specific database. When using the thesaurus it is easier to find relevant subject words that will give more exact search results.

If you are just looking for a shorter explanation of a term a dictionary is a good aid when you are about to search. Here you can get good, short explanations for the terms you are looking for. Here are some examples of subject specific electronic dictionaries on the subjects of care/nursing care and psychology:

Encyclopaedias

A good and rather exhaustive overview article can often be found in both general encyclopaedias as well as in more subject specific ones. Nationalencyclopedin and Encyclopaedia Britannica are examples of two great and extensive general dictionaries.
McGrawHill Encyclopedia of Sciene & Technology is a large encyclopaedia in technology and science. It includes many good articles in the field of medicine such as psychiatry, surgery, public health/epidemiology, infectious diseases etc. All three encyclopaedias exist electronically.

Anne-Marie Pettersson
2011-02-14

If you are a student in mechanical engineering and related subjects you should be familiar with and use the following information sources in the field of technology. Here they are grouped by type.

References

COMPENDEX
Database with references from the worlds leading publications in engineering and technology. Material from 1970- within the subject fields energy, environment, geology, biology, electricity, automation, nuclear science, space technology, computers, robots and industrial robots. Covers close to 3000 journals.

INSPEC
Contains references to articles, books, proceedings etc. in the fields of physics, computer science, electronics, electrical engineering, information technology etc. Whether you click the Compendex link or the Inspec link in the Library’s list of databases, both databases are searched jointly from the same interface.

ISI
Offers search facilities in three citation databases: Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Citation databases are used when you want to know who has quoted a certain researcher, in short “Who quotes who in science”. This can be of help if you want to try to identify “the great” names in a field of science.

Material

Apart from these big commercial databases, there are also some free resources that can be recommended:
MatWeb, The Online Materials Information Resource (Information about different materials); PSI, Polymer Search on the Internet (About Polymer material) and Worldwide Composites Search Engine (About composite materials).

Patents

It is important to know about patents in all product development. Patents protect technical solutions and inventions. A patent gives you the sole right to use the invention professionally. This means that nobody else has the right to use it, e.g. for manufacturing or selling. On our web page you will find links about patents; what patents are, how to search, laws and regulations and a number of patent databases. Here you will also learn more about the patent system and its possibilities.

At the Swedish Patent and Registration Office web site you will find, among other things, “Svensk Patenttidning” where all Swedish patent applications and patents are announced. In this journal you will also find rejected applications, new patents and objections. The journal also contains announcements of European applications and patents. At www.prv.se you also find the PRV Library. There you can search the databases that the library produces, order copies and loans from the Library’s collections, use electronic journals, plus get access to a collection of links to quality assessed Internet resources in the authority’s field of work.

To search documentation about patents oneself can be both time consuming and hard work. PRV has a department, InterPat, that conducts searches for the public at cost price. Good, free access resources in patents are:
Esp @cenet, Europe’s Network of patent databases. In the database there are more than 30 million national and international patents searchable since 1980.
USPTO WebPatent Databases – US Patent from 1976 onwards in full text.
Read more about patents in the section Database guide.

Standards

For engineers it is also important to know something about standards and to know how to search for standards. Much of what you need to know is available in the document “Information about Standards”. Here you will find basic information about the use of standards, plus methods for seeking standard documents.
ISO (The International Organization for Standardization) is an International organization where 130 countries cooperate. The organization’s database is open for free searches.
Also Swedish standards can be searched for free via SIS, Swedish Standards Institute’s database. There is also a search function for foreign standards. You can search quickly among 516 000 standards from ISO, DIN, BSI, IEC, AFNOR among others directly from your own computer. Read more about standards in the section Database guide.

Product- and company registers

Product- and company registers can often be useful for technicians. One such register is the Swedish Kompass where you can find facts about Swedish companies and their products.

Full text

If you want to find full text journal articles you should search Summon@BTH. Here you will find articles in various subjects, but also many articles in subjects that might be of interest to you. Something to bear in mind when searching Summon@BTH is to be inventive about search terms. When you search here, you search a large number of databases simultaneously and thus there is no common thesaurus.

Another valuable full text resource is ebrary which contains about 20.000 books in full text. It spans the most diverse subjects, but more than half of these are about technical subjects.

Dictionaries

In order to search the international databases English must be used as the search language. It is not always easy to find relevant terms with an ordinary dictionary. Many of the big databases on different subjects have a thesaurus, i.e. a list of the subject words that are used in that specific database. By using the thesaurus it is easier to find relevant the subject words that give the most exact terms for searching.

If you are just looking for a short explanation for a concept a dictionary can be a good aid when searching. On the web you find the site “Technical English dictionaries and glossaries” which lists a great many dictionaries in technology.

Encyclopaedias

A good and rather exhaustive survey article can often be found in both general encyclopaedias as well as more subject specific ones. Nationalencyclopedin and Encyclopedia Britannica are two examples of great and extensive general dictionaries.

A big encyclopaedia in technology and science is the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, as is the Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

This subject guide comprises subjects within electrical engineering represented by signal processing and telecommunications at BTH. Apart from the selected information resources below there is a collection of information resources in electrical engineering on the library web page.

REFERENCE DATABASES

Compendex
was established already in 1886 as a necessary result of the expansion of engineering research during the 19th century. The number of scientific publications had increased to an extent that made it impossible for the research community to retrieve information about what had been published in their own field of research. In 1970 the information started to become digitalized and it is from 1970 onwards that we can find references. Compendex comprises the research fields of science and technology. It contains about 8 million references in total and there is an annual growth of 250 000 new records. The majority of references come from journal articles and from scientific contributions to research conferences.

Inspec
is our other big reference database in science and technology. The two databases can be searched simultaneously in the joint interface. Inspec was established in 1898 and it has since become the most important reference source in physics, computer science and electrical engineering. A little more than half of the records belong to the field of physics, and in total Inspec contains over 8 million records, with an increase of 400 000 records each year. In the electronic database we can retrieve references from 1969 onwards. Quite recently Inspec has added 800 000 records from 1898-1969 to the database. They are not available when we search the database however. Inspec has also added full text links to references. When those links lead to electronic publications that we subscribe to, we can open the full text document directly. But quite a few links lead to documents which are not accessible for us directly in electronic format.

ISI – Web of science
is a citation database or rather three databases collected in one. The three fields of science covered are technology and science, social science and humanities, i.e. the classical fields of science. In the database you can find out who has quoted a certain author or the authors articles. This makes it possible to see how much influence certain people have had in a scientific field. Knowledge about this can be valuable as an indicator of what research results have received the most attention. Of course it might also be of interest to see if your own published articles receive attention and are quoted. The quotations themselves also provide important knowledge about the research that the people who quote conduct, by stating their articles as references in the database. Together this can contribute to giving a good overview of a field of science. ISI contains references from 1986 onwards and has also begun to index so called Open Access-journals.

MathSciNet
as the name implies it is a database with references for articles and literature in mathematics and statistics. The content in the database is taken from Mathematical reviews from 1940 onwards, from Current index to statistics 1975-, plus from Current mathematical publications.

FULL TEXT DATABASES

Electronic books

Ebrary
contains a large collection of electronic books in a large number of fields of science, in total about 15 000 titles. When you use ebrary for the first time you must first download ebrary reader in order to be able to read the books. The program is free and easy to access. It is possible to print from ebrary, but only 5-6 pages at a time. There is a quick guide which presents the functions in ebrary. You could say that the books in ebrary are more than just ordinary books. The electronic format makes it possible to connect a number of different functions to the text, as for example personal biographies, maps, translations and explanations of words etc.

Wiley’s electronic collection
Three different full text databases with variants within electrical engineering are included in this collection. They are the Communication technology collection, the Electronic and electrical engineering collection and the Wireless communication collection. The books are in PDF-format and there are no particular restrictions regarding printouts apart from the copyright rules valid from July 1st 2005. Apart from other search options like CrossRef there is a database that contains explanations of acronyms.

Electronic journals

Summon@BTH
conducts metasearches in (nearly) all of our electronic journals. It is particularly valuable that Summon@BTH also searches journals outside of our big package subscriptions, like for example JASA. Summon@BTH also searches many Open Access-journals.

IEEE Xplore
can probably be said to be the leading information source in electrical engineering. IEEE Xplore’s material is searchable through Summon@BTH, but the original source offers better search facilities, and of course the result is clearer when other sources are not included in the search. The database contains all IEEE journals, proceedings and standards from 1988 onwards, plus IEE journals and proceedings from 1988 onwards. Journals are published as soon as the printed versions are published. Proceedings are published 30-60 days after IEEE receives the printed editions.

Kent Pettersson
2011-03-02

If you are a student at a program or course in computer science you will benefit from knowing about these information resources.

ARTICLES

Summon@BTH
is where you will find most of our electronic journals. Also articles from conferences and standards are available. Most articles can be printed in full text format.

If you want to refine your search you can search each journal database separately. Here are the most important journal databases:

IEEE Xplore
Is a database which contains full text documents from IEEE’s (Institute of Electrical Electronic Engineering’s) own journals, magazines, transactions (writings published by scientific expert groups), conference proceedings and standards from 1988- plus a selection of older material from 1950-. The content covers technical subjects and computer science among others. IEEE Xplore contains the usual search facilities. If you search By Author there is an index where you can collect the “correct” surname. If you have access to a reference management system, e.g. EndNote, you can save the reference after you have conducted a search in the Basic or Advanced Search field. Another search function is CrossRef Search. It enables simultaneous searches in IEEE Xplore and 36 other publishers’ academic full text publications.

ScienceDirect
Is a full text database produced by Elsevier. The database is divided in a number of science fields, and Computer Science is one of those. Choose the Search-button already from the beginning to limit the search to Computer Science and/or related fields. References can for example be saved in a reference management system, but they can also be saved via e-mail. By registering for free you can get an alert service via e-mail with new articles that contain the saved search query, and you can also get an alert when the latest issue of your favourite journal has arrived.

ACM Digital library
Is a database which covers different aspects within the field of computer science, e.g. programming languages, artificial intelligence, operating systems or human-computer interaction. The database contains full text articles from their own journals, magazines and transactions, proceedings and news letters. ACM also consists of a number of subject specific groups called Special Interest Groups (SIGs).  If you choose the Advanced Search form you can combine the search using index terms from ACM’s own classification system (CSS). When you are happy with the result you can save the search query or the article in a folder, in ACM DL it is called Binder. You can also share Binder with colleagues.

Inspec/Compendex
Unlike the above mentioned article databases, Inspec/Compendex is a reference database. This means that you can not print the whole article, but only an abstract of the content.

Compendex
Is the most extensive database today which covers the whole field of engineering. References are collected from more than 5.000 leading technology journals, proceedings and technical reports from the whole world from 1969 until today.

Inspec
The content of Inspec is more focused on computer science and related subject fields such as electronics, information technology and communication. References are collected from about 3.500 scientific journals and 1.500 proceedings and technical standards from 1969 until today. You can either choose to search both databases simultaneously, or if you prefer that, search one database at a time. Regardless of which search form you choose (Easy Search, Quick Search or Expert Search) you have access to different lists in the box Browse Indexes. E.g. the same author can occur in different name forms, and in the list Author you can choose the name forms that suit your search. The search result also depends on what subject word you choose, use the list Controlled term to see if your subject word is in the database.
Compendex/Inspec also have alert-service. If you register for free you can save your references and searches in your own folder.

BOOKS

The Library catalogue
Is the joint catalogue for the two libraries of Blekinge Institute of Technology, Campus Gräsvik in Karlskrona and Piren in Karlshamn. You can search the catalogue, make reservations and borrow books from all three places. To be able to make reservations or borrow media you must be a registered patron. Read about loan regulations under the heading Our services at the Library web page. If you can not find the title you want in the catalogue, you can order it as an interlibrary loan.

Libris
Use Libris when you can not find the title you want in the library catalogue. Libris is the national library system which all university and university college libraries, as well as authority libraries, are connected to. Libris offers free searching among close to five million titles in Swedish libraries. When you want to borrow a book as interlibrary loan, remember that it takes about 1-2 weeks for the book to arrive.

E-BOOKS

Today there is not only printed books in the library’s collections, but we also offer electronic books, so called e-books, which are collected in different e-book databases.

Ebrary
is one such e-book database. Since the database covers all subject areas, only about 1.500 of the titles belong to the field of technology and computer science. In order to open the books in ebrary you must download ebrary reader, which only takes a couple of seconds. By clicking the book title you get the table of contents of the book and using the arrows you can turn the pages of the book. You can also choose font size. If you want to print pages, make personal bookmarks or use the highlighter you must create a personal bookshelf. Several persons can read the same book simultaneously. You can only print 5 pages at a time.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS)
Is a book series from the publishing house Springer. The book series is also available in full text in their database SpringerLink. It is easiest to use subject words at article level.

Wiley InterScience
Collection Computer Science

For searching literature there are other catalogues than library catalogues or e-book databases.
Since computer technology and computer science are subject fields that often require recently published literature you can also use an Internet bookstore, e.g Amazon to find new literature. Then you can leave purchase suggestions at the Library web page. Choose Order a book. When the book has arrived you will get a message when you can pick up the book at the library.