A-Z Databases: B
List of the databases you can use to access journal articles, reports, conference papers, ebooks, newspapers, and many other resources.
B - Databases
- BBC Monitoring: Summary of World Broadcasts This link opens in a new windowBBC Monitoring was founded in 1939 at the start of WWII. Its purpose was to listen to radio broadcasts and gather open-source intelligence to help Britain and its allies understand global dynamics and assess emerging global threats. Over the next 60 years, the scope of its monitoring grew quickly. Trained specialists transcribed broadcasts of speeches, current affairs, political discussions, and social and cultural events worldwide. Transcripts, in turn, were translated into English, then read by experts who carefully selected critical content for publication. Finally, selections were summarized and curated into daily reports that comprise the Summary of World Broadcasts. These original daily reports often included commentary and evaluation by subject matter experts, as well as synopses and specialist briefings. Series 1:1939-1958 and Series 2: 1959-1973 available.
- BBC Shakespeare Archive Resource This link opens in a new windowhundreds of TV and radio programmes from the BBC’s Shakespeare collection, as well as more than a thousand photos from classic Shakespeare productio
- Bibliographie der Deutschen Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft This link opens in a new windowinternational bibliography of German language, literature and general Germanic studies
- Ben Jonson Online This link opens in a new windowa fully searchable version of the Print Edition, including all the original introductions, collations, and commentary. It also includes an array of textual and contextual materials.
- Bertolt Brechts Werke This link opens in a new windowThe work of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) holds up a mirror to the literary and political tumult of the twentieth century. In his dramatic, poetical and theoretical texts he involves himself time and time again with the turbulent events of the era in which he lived. In co-operation with the German publishers, Suhrkamp Verlag, this edition is based on Bertolt Brecht - Ausgewählte Werke in sechs Bänden - Jubiläumsausgabe um 100. Geburtstag, edited by Werner Hecht, Wolfgang Jeske and Jan Knopf, which collects Brecht's works and writings in six volumes with brief notes on each text.
- BFI Player This link opens in a new windowOver 11,000 archive films from the British Film Institute's national and regional archives.
- biab online This link opens in a new windowThe ADS Library brings together material from the British and Irish Archaeological Bibliography (BIAB), the ADS library of unpublished fieldwork reports as well as documents from the ADS archives and archaeological publishers such as Oxbow
- BibleWorks 10a powerful electronic Bible concordance and morphological analysis program. It includes texts of the Hebrew O.T., Greek O.T. and N.T. and a wide range of English and modern foreign language texts, Bible dictionaries and other aids.
- Bibliography of American Literature This link opens in a new windowThe Bibliography of American Literature provides nearly 40,000 records of the literary works of approximately 300 American writers from the period of the Revolution to 1930. (Formerly part of LION (Literature Online))
- Bibliography of British and Irish History This link opens in a new windowauthoritative guide to articles on British and Irish history, from the Roman period to the present day, from over 600 journals and essay collections. Covers British and Irish relations with the rest of the world, including the British empire and Commonwealth
55 BC - to present; updated 3 times yearly - Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) and Répertoire de la litterature de l'art (RILA) This link opens in a new windowfree resource from the Getty; covers over 4,300 European and American Art History periodicals, plus books, dissertations, exhibition catalogues, proceedings, etc. Covers fine, decorative and applied arts. Can be cross-searched with the Répertoire de la litterature de l'art (RILA)
1975-2007; updated quarterly - Bibliotheca Teubneriana Latina This link opens in a new windowThe BTL Online database provides electronic access to all editions of Latin texts published in the Bibliotheca Teubneriana, ranging from antiquity and late antiquity to medieval and neo-Latin texts. A total of approximately 13 million word forms are thus accessible electronically. The user interface allows various and differentiated searches. Classical scholars and ancient historians are provided with a valuable tool for both research and the preparation of teaching at school and university level. Each year, the database is extended by the texts of the newly printed Latin editions of the Bibliotheca Teubneriana
- BioDigital Human This link opens in a new windowBioDigital Human is an interactive 3D platform that allows users to explore and visualise detailed anatomical models and simulations, enhancing understanding of human biology and physiology
- Biographical register 1747-1897 This link opens in a new windowan online edition of the University of St Andrews’ Biographical Register, which holds details of St Andrews alumni, officers and graduates from 1747-1897
- Biosis Citation Index (via Web of Science) This link opens in a new windowIncludes cited references to primary journal literature on biological research, medical research findings, and discoveries of new organisms. It covers original research reports and reviews in botany, zoology, and microbiology, and related fields such as biomedical, agriculture, pharmacology, and ecology, and interdisciplinary fields such as medicine, biochemistry, biophysics, bioengineering, and biotechnology. Available with up to 18 million records from 1926.
- BIOSIS Previews (via Web of Science) This link opens in a new windowindex of journals, meetings, patents, and books in the life sciences and biomedical research covering pre-clinical and experimental research, methods and instrumentation, animal studies, and more. Freely available in perpetuity to all UK HE
- Birds of the World This link opens in a new windowNew resource merging Birds of North America & Handbook of the birds of the world alive. Birds of the World will be a living, scholarly publication that integrates content from several renowned ornithological resources, including Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive, Birds of North America, Neotropical Birds, Bird Families of the World, and the Internet Bird Collection. Integrated with millions of data points from eBird and rich media resources from the Macaulay Library, Birds of the World will be the definitive resource for pursuing questions about birds. Birds of the World will provide scientists, students, conservationists, and birders with the sharpest picture yet of the biology of the world’s birdlife, fostering understanding and protection of one of the earth’s most precious natural resources.
- Black Short Fiction and Folklore: African, African American, and diaspora This link opens in a new windowBlack Short Fiction and Folklore brings together 82,000 pages and more than 11,000 works of short fiction produced by writers from Africa and the African Diaspora from the earliest times to the present. The materials have been compiled from early literary magazines, archives, and the personal collections of the authors. Some 30 percent of the collection is fugitive or ephemeral, or has never been published before. The project unifies an astounding variety of traditions ranging from early African oral traditions to today’s hip-hop. It covers fables, parables, ballads, folk-tales, short story cycles, and novellas—all the writings included have fewer than 10,000 words. The presentation of this material in a single, cohesive, searchable form—together with extensive indexing—enables scholars to study the writings in a wholly new way.
- Black women writers This link opens in a new windowBlack Women Writers presents 100,000 pages of literature and essays on feminist issues, written by authors from Africa and the African diaspora. Facing both sexism and racism, black women needed to create their own identities and movements. The collection documents that effort, presenting the woman’s perspective on the diversity and development of black people generally, and in particular the works document the evolution of black feminism.
- Book History Online This link opens in a new windowAn international bibliography in the field of book and library history, BHO "provides a comprehensive survey of all scholarly publications written from a historical perspective. Included are monographs, articles and reviews dealing with the history of the printed book, its arts, crafts, techniques and equipment, its economic, social and cultural environment, as well as its production, distribution, preservation and description.
- Book Sales Catalogues Online This link opens in a new windowBook Sales Catalogues Online offers a comprehensive bibliography of book sales catalogues printed in the Dutch Republic before 1801, providing full access to some 4,000 digital facsimiles from ca. 50 libraries across Europe. The catalogues contain information on books from all over Europe in various languages, such as Dutch, French, and Latin.
- Books of modern China This link opens in a new windowThe database includes more than 120,000 Chinese books published in Mainland China during the period of 1840-1949. Many of them are the unique titles and only available through this digital collection from the Shanghai Library.
- Box of Broadcasts This link opens in a new windowBoB is Learning on Screen’s on demand TV and radio service for education; Users can record programmes from over 65 free-to-air channels and an extensive archive of tv and radio broadcasts. You can create and share playlists and clips. NB: BoB is NOT AVAILABLE outside the UK.
- Brepolis Cross Database Searchtool This link opens in a new windowBrepols’ Cross-Database Searchtool allows simultaneous searching of the Library of Latin Texts Series A & B; Monumenta Germaniae Historica; Archive of Celtic-Latin Literature and the Aristoteles Latinus Database
- BREPOLiS International Medieval Bibliography see International Medieval Bibliography This link opens in a new window
- BREPOLiS Latin This link opens in a new windowA database providing access to over 6,000 full-text e-books. Brepols’ home page includes access to the Library of Latin Texts Series A & B; Monumenta Germaniae Historica; Archive of Celtic-Latin Literature and the Aristoteles Latinus Database
- Brill Online This link opens in a new windowaccess to e-books and journals covering the humanities, international law and biology. Full-text access is available to titles subscribed to by the University Library.
- Britannica Academic Edition This link opens in a new windowprovides clear and current articles, biographies, country comparisons, e-books, images, news, 'On This Day', timelines, quotations, videos, world data analysis, etc - all clearly cited and referenced, providing research material for students and staff.
- British Association for the Advancement of Science – Collections on the History of Science (1830s-1970s) This link opens in a new windowThe Archive of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) and connected collections from UK universities covers astronomy, biology, technology, industrial design, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, agriculture, meteorology, physics, history of science and STEM, and government grants for scientific research. It contains primary sources, such as administrative records, correspondence, illustrations, manuscripts, photographs, prototypes, clippings, personal papers and gray literature.
- British Cartoon Archive This link opens in a new windownational collection of over 150,000 British social and political cartoons, the work of over 250 British cartoonists, held at the University of Kent; includes 15,000 cartoons from the Carl Giles Archive, which includes rare seaside postcards as well as political cartoons
- British Education Index This link opens in a new windowprovides information on research, policy and practice in education and training in the UK, with strong coverage of educational policy and administration, evaluation and assessment, technology and special educational needs.
- British History Online This link opens in a new windowBritish History Online is the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, it aims to support academic and personal users around the world in their learning, teaching and research.
- British Library Catalogue This link opens in a new windowA single site to search the British Library holdings
- British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new windownewspaper collections from the British Library which span from 1732 - 1950 and include both regional and local titles reflecting social, political and cultural events of the times
- British Library Sounds This link opens in a new windowOver 50,000 unique sound recordings from all over the world, covering the entire range of recorded sound - music, drama and literature, oral history, accents and dialects, sound recording history, wildlife and environmental sounds. Smaller subset of sounds is available without logging in at http://sounds.bl.uk
- British Literary Manuscripts Online: Medieval and Renaissance This link opens in a new windowBritish Literary Manuscripts Online presents facsimile images of literary manuscripts, including letters and diaries, drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works, and similar materials. Searching is based on tags and descriptive text associated with each manuscript. Images of the complete manuscript can be viewed, manipulated and navigated on screen.
Please note that the text of the manuscripts themselves is not searchable. - British Periodicals This link opens in a new windowThis database provides access to the searchable full text of hundreds of periodicals from the late seventeenth century to the early twentieth, comprising millions of high-resolution facsimile page images. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.
- British Politics and Society This link opens in a new windowCovering the long nineteenth century, the collection includes papers of British statesmen, Home Office records, ordnance surveys, working class autobiographies, and other unique collections. Part of Nineteenth Century Collections Online.
- British Theatre, Music and Literature: High and Popular Culture This link opens in a new windowContains primary sources related to the arts in the long Nineteenth century, including playbills, scrips and scores, curated by British Arts History experts. Part of Nineteenth Century Collections Online
- Brockelmann Online This link opens in a new windowIncludes both original volumes Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (GAL) by Carl Brockelmann (1868-1956), and three supplement volumes, including the indexes. Brockelmann’s Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur offers bio-bibliographic information about works written in Arabic and their authors, with an emphasis on the classical period. This originally multivolume reference work is divided in chronologically organized sections, which are subdivided by literary genre. Individual entries typically consist of a biographical section and a list of the author’s works in manuscript and print, with references to secondary literature.
- Burney Collection This link opens in a new windowlarge collection of 17th and 18th century mostly English news media - over 1,270 pamphlets, proclamations, newsbooks and newspapers - gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817).
- Business Source Premier This link opens in a new windowbusiness research database containing over 2,300 journals in marketing, management, accounting, finance and economics; also includes market research reports, industry and country reports, company profiles and SWOT analyses. Part of EBSCOhost. 1886 - present; updated daily