Databases by type: Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

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Database Description Coverage

Britannica Academic  provides access to high-quality, comprehensive information.

1998-present
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Includes six titles: CQ Almanac; CQ Researcher; CQ Magazine; Political Handbook of the World; Politics in America; and Supreme Court Yearbook.

1945-present
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CQ Reference Books at Sage Knowledge is a collection of government and political eBooks.

2010-present
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Provides access to the CRC Handbook of Chemistry & Physics

Current
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Credo Reference provides access to hundreds of reference books (encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographies, quotations) from over 70 academic publishers.

2000-present
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Featuring comprehensive literary biographies, you'll find profiles of more than 143,000 past and present authors, historians, journalists, screenwriters, publishers, and playwrights.

1978-present
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Part of the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

2004
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Contributors are scholars and specialists in health-realted fields. 

2008-present
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Contributors are scholars and specialists including geographers, political scientists, chemists, anthropologists, medical practitioners, development experts, and sociologists. 

2008-present
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Containing 27,000 entries and over 6,000 new entries, the online edition of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music includes 50% more material than the print Third Edition, and is part

1900-present
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Co-published by the National Association of Social Workers and Oxford University Press, the Encyclopedia of Social Work is widely considered the cornerstone of reference in its field.

2008-present
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(formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library)

Provides full text access to more than 250 reference sources, primarily encyclopedias.

2000-present
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Gale Literary Sources provides combined access to Dictionary of Literary Biography, Literature Criticism Online and to Something About the Author Online.

1400's-present
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Gale Literature Resource Center offers up-to-date biographical information, overviews, full-text literary criticism, and reviews on more than 150,000 writers in all disciplines,

Varies by Publication
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Oxford Art Online contains the full text of the 34-volume The Dictionary of Art with over 45,000 articles compiled over a period of 15 years.

Prehistory-present
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Contains full text for 31,098 plot summaries, synopses and work overviews, nearly 100,000 articles/essays of literary criticism, and nearly 140,000 author biographies.

Varies with topic
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Gale Literary Sources provides combined access to Dictionary of Literary Biography, Literature Criticism Online and to Something About the Author Online.

1400's-present
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Literature Resource Center has become Gale Literature Resource Center.

Literature Resource Center offers up-to-date biographical information, overviews, full-text literary criticism, and reviews on more than 150,000 writers in all disciplines,

Varies by Publication
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The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, along with The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz and The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, provide unsurpassed authority on all aspects of music.

Ancient Times - Present
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Oxford Art Online contains the full text of the 34-volume The Dictionary of Art with over 45,000 articles compiled over a period of 15 years.

Prehistory-present
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The Oxford Dictionary of Music brings together over 12,500 entries covering musical subjects of all kinds including entries on composers, performers, conductors, musical terms and forms,

Ancient times-present
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One concurrent user

Biographies of men and women who have shaped British history and culture, worldwide, from the Romans to the 21st century.

Romans to 21st Century
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The OED traces the usage of words through 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts and

The last millennium-present
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Each handbook takes an aspect of its discipline, explaining the key issues, the classic and contemporary debates on those issues, and setting the agenda for how those debates might evolve.

2000-present
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Oxford Music Online provides access to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, which includes The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz and The New Grove Dictionary

Ancient times - PresentT
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Oxford Digital Reference provides access to nearly 100 online encyclopedias covering history and culture, literature and language, arts, law, and the social sciences.

Ancient world to present
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Political Handbook of the World provides thorough and accurate information on the major aspects of each country's government and political party system.

2015-present
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Sage Knowledge provides full text access to more than 200 social science encyclopedias and over 100 handbooks.

1994-present
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Provides full text access to subject encyclopedias, primarily about American history.

Ancient times to present
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