Subject Guides: Lifelong Learning: Resources

Searching the Library Catalogue

The Library Catalogue YorSearch is accessible from any computer. We also have computers in the Library buildings where you can search the catalogue.

For further help, please refer to the YorSearch help pages on the Library website.

Search for books and journals on YorSearch

Newspapers & Magazines

Historic and contemporary newsreel, newspaper & magazine collections. These resources can be a valuable tool when researching, giving insight into how a specific topic has been perceived by the general public over time.

17th & 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers This link opens in a new window
A digitised version of the newspapers, news-books, pamphlets, ephemera, and other early forms of newspapers from the Reverend Charles Burney Collection held at the British Library. The collection includes almost 1 million pages from around 1,270 titles and while the majority of these originate from London, there are also some English provincial, Irish and Scottish papers, and a few examples from the colonies.

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17th & 18th Century Nichols Newspapers Collection This link opens in a new window
This collection gives access to the full text of material from the Nichols newspaper collection held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The collection covers the years 1672 to 1737 and includes more than 300 newspaper and periodical titles along with over 250 pamphlets and broadsheets.

The material covers a broad range of important events and topics in both British and international early modern history, including the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the Jacobite rebellion, the deaths of notable monarchs and the Treaty of Utrecht.

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19th Century UK Periodicals, Part 1: Women's, Children's, Humour, and Leisure This link opens in a new window
Formerly 19th Century UK Periodicals Series 1: New Readerships
Provides access to facsimile editions of almost 100 periodicals from the 19th century focusing on women, sports and leisure, children, and humour and satire. The collection is mainly based on the repositories of the British Library and the National Library of Scotland.

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American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1 (1749-1900) This link opens in a new window
Includes approximately 15,000 broadsides printed between 1820 and 1900 and 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed between 1749 and 1900 all reproduced as full colour digital editions.

The broadsides cover a range subjects from contemporary accounts of the Civil War, unusual occurrences and natural disasters to official government proclamations, tax bills and town meeting reports.

The ephemera includes such items as: clipper ship sailing cards, early trade cards, billheads, menus and invitations for civic, political and private celebrations, stock certificates illustrated with manufacturers’ vignettes, theater and music programs, autobiographies and dying confessions of convicted criminals, theater playbills, sheet almanacs, publishers’ prospectuses, advertisements, newspaper carriers’ addresses, patriotic and popular songs and poems and more.
American Historical Newspapers (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
A collection of full text archives of American newspapers with page and article facsimile images. The University has access to: Atlanta Constitution; Atlanta Daily World; Chicago Defender; Chicago Tribune; New York Times; New York Tribune; Washington Post.

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Artforum Archive,1962-2020 (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
This archive gives access to the full text of Artforum (later Artforum International) from 1962 to 2020. Artforum is the leading magazine for coverage of international contemporary art reporting on art in all media through features, reviews, and interviews relating to artists, exhibitions, publications, and other art world events / trends.

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British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Includes: Parts I & II (1800-1900); Part III (1741-1950); Part IV (1732-1950); Part V (1746-1950); Part VI (Ireland, 1797-1950).

Also known as: 19th Century British Newspapers
A major collection of almost 6.4 million facsimile pages from more than 240 national, regional, and local newspapers published between the 1700's and 1950. The collection includes both daily and weekly publications with titles from established country or university towns, the industrial towns of the Midlands and the North, and from Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Newspapers associated with particular political or social movements such as Reform, Chartism, and Home Rule have also been included along with penny papers aimed at a working class and clerical readership.

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BUND: British Universities Newsreel Database This link opens in a new window
160,000 digitised records of British cinema newsreels, 80,000 digitised production documents, online texts, a Who's Who of British Newsreels and much more, dating back to 1910.

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Daily Mail Historical Archive, 1896-2016 This link opens in a new window
The Daily Mail from 2017 onward is also available via YorSearch.
More than one hundred years of this major UK national newspaper can be viewed in full digital facsimile form, with copious advertisements, news stories and images that capture twentieth-century culture and society. As well as the regular edition of the newspaper, the Daily Mail Historical Archive also includes the Daily Mail Atlantic Edition, which was published on board the cruise ships that sailed between New York and Southampton from 1923 to 1931.

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Daily Mirror Historical Archive, 1903-2000 This link opens in a new window
The Daily Mirror from 2001 onward is also available via YorSearch.
A full text archive of the Daily Mirror from 1903 to 2000 and the Sunday Mirror from 1916 to 2000 (know as the Sunday Pictorial from 1916 to 1963). All issues are fully searchable with facsimile images of the original pages available to view and download.

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Early American Newspapers, Series I-V, 1690-1922 (America's Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window
Early American Newspapers gives access to the full text of over 1200 newspaper titles from across the United States published between 1690 and 1922.
Economist Historical Archive, 1843 - 2015 This link opens in a new window
A complete facsimile edition of The Economist with full-colour images, topic and area supplements and surveys, a gallery of front covers and a selection of exportable financial tables.

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Education Magazine Archive (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
An archive of the backfiles of 26 magazines and trade publications in the field of education covering the period 1910 to 2015. The titles were originally aimed at teachers, policy makers, administrators, and other education professionals, and offer insights into educational history, theory, and perspectives while reflecting more than a century of evolving trends, issues, values, and practice in areas such as teaching methods, policy, administration, and resources.

The archive includes general titles, subject-specific publications, titles aimed at educational leaders, and titles devoted to women and ethnic minorities in education. Many educational sectors and levels are represented including early years teaching, higher education, vocational education, independent schools, and distance learning.

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European Newsstream (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
European Newsstream gives access to the full text of over 550 news sources from across Europe including newspapers, newswires, websites, blogs, magazines, trade and scholarly journals, and reports. It includes UK national daily and regional newspapers alongside major European titles such as Le Monde.

The database is updated daily and the back issues archive varies by title.

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Financial Times 1982 onwards (excluding the last 30 days) (Nexis) This link opens in a new window
Due to a problem with Nexis you cannot currently search the Financial Times as a specific source but you can still access it, see More info for further details.

Due to a problem with Nexis you cannot currently search the Financial Times as a specific source (i.e. select to search just the Financial Times), however results from the Financial Times will be returned from general searches and you can then use the Publication Name filter to only show results from the Financial Times.

Please note that the Financial Times coverage in Nexis excludes the last 30 days.

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Financial Times Historical Archive, 1888-2010 This link opens in a new window
This fully-searchable facsimile edition of the FT offers the complete run of the London edition of the paper from its first issue onwards. Every individual article, advertisement and market listing is included and shown individually and in the context of the full page and issue of the day.

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Guardian, 1821-2003 and Observer, 1791-2003 (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
The Guardian from 2004 onward is also available via YorSearch.
The Observer from 2004 onward is also available via YorSearch.
A full text archive of page and article facsimile images of the Guardian (1821 - 2003) and the Observer (1791 - 2003).

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Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003 This link opens in a new window
The complete facsimile archive of the Illustrated London News, the worlds first fully illustrated weekly newspaper published between 1842 and 2003. The archive includes over 260,000 pages of text and more than 1.5 million full colour images.

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Irish Times, 1859 onwards (excluding the most recent 2 years) and Weekly Irish Times, 1876 - 1958 (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
The Irish Times current content is also available via YorSearch.
A full text archive of page and article facsimile images of The Irish Times (1859 onwards, excluding the most recent 2 years) and The Weekly Irish Times (1876 - 1958). Coverage includes The Times Pictorial.

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LGBT Magazine Archive (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
The University has access to Collection 1 .
This archive documents more than six decades (1954 - 2015) of the history and culture of the LGBT community through the full text of the most influential and longest-running serial publications covering LGBT interests. Titles available include: The Advocate, Gay Times, The Pink Paper, Transgender Tapestry, and Man and Society.

Due to the rarity of some of the original print volumes, there are small gaps (issues or pages) in the runs of some publications.

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Listener Historical Archive, 1929-1991 This link opens in a new window
The Listener Historical Archive gives access to a fully searchable facsimile archive of The Listener, the BBC periodical published from 1929-1991. The online archive consists of the complete 62 year run of the paper, with 129,000 pages and more than 226,000 articles, all digitised from originals in full colour.

The Listener was initially developed as the medium for reproducing broadcast talks on radio, and in later years on television. It covered a diverse range of subjects, commenting and expanding on the intellectual broadcasts of the week. It also provided an important platform for new writers and poets, previewed major literary and musical programmes and regularly reviewed new books.

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Nexis This link opens in a new window
Personalisation is available via the link above.

Alternative link without personalisation if you have problems with the link above (please clear the cookies and cache in your browser): Nexis.
Nexis is a major source of global news and business information. It provides full-text access to over 34,000 publications, with more than 12,000 news sources including UK daily and regional newspapers, current affairs magazines, and professional journals. Updated daily; back issues archive varies by title.

Nexis also includes 80 sources of company information, plus thousands of biographies of government officials, politicians, celebrities, investors and business contacts.

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Sunday Times Historical Archive, 1822-2016 This link opens in a new window
The Sunday Times from 1985 onward is also available via YorSearch.
This archive gives access to the full text of The Sunday Times, including the supplements, with full page and article scans making over 800,000 pages and 3.5 million articles available for browsing and searching.

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Telegraph Historical Archive, 1855-2016 This link opens in a new window
The Telegraph from 2017 onward is also available via YorSearch.
Launched in 1855 as an affordable newspaper, by 1876 The Telegraph was the largest-selling newspaper in the world, with a circulation of 300,000. The Telegraph Historical Archive has over 1 million pages of content and includes the Sunday edition from its inception in 1961.

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Times 1985 - present (Nexis) This link opens in a new window
Also includes access to The Times website (thetimes.co.uk) from 2011.
Gives access to the full-text of The Times from 1 July 1985 and The Times website (thetimes.co.uk) from 23 December 2010.

For The Times 1785 - 2019 see the entry: Times Digital Archive, 1785 - 2019

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Times Digital Archive, 1785 - 2019 This link opens in a new window
A full-image archive of every page published by The Times (London) from 1785 until 2019. The text within the images is fully searchable at the article level.

For The Times from 2020 onwards see the entry: Times 1985 - present.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Times Higher Education (THE) This link opens in a new window
For access you need to register for a personal THE account at the site.

You must register using your York email address @york.ac.uk and create your own username and password (the username will display on public parts of the site e.g. comments).
Times Higher Education provides analysis, news, comment and insight regarding the world of higher education.

Our subscription gives access to all THE online content, including weekly digital editions and rankings supplements. To access the digital editions click the “Professional” tab, then click “Digital Editions”.

You can also access the THE app for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire devices. You can download the app from your app store provider.
Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive, 1902 - 2014 This link opens in a new window
Some Times Literary Supplement content from 2015 onward is also available via YorSearch.
This fully-searchable full colour facsimile edition of the TLS includes every page of every copy published from 1902 until 2014.

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Times of India, 1838 onwards (excluding the most recent 9 years) (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Times of India current content is also available via YorSearch.
A full text archive of page and article facsimile images of The Times of India from 1838 onwards (excluding the most recent 9 years).

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Vogue Archive (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
American Vogue, from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution colour page images. Every page, advertisement, cover and fold-out has been included, with indexing enabling images to be searched for by garment type, designer and brand name.

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Waterloo Directory of English Newspapers & Periodicals, 1800-1900 (Series 2) This link opens in a new window
The Waterloo Directory provides a comprehensive, dynamic bibliography of 19th century periodical literature with information about 50,000 titles from a wide variety of subject areas. Facsimile title pages are available for 9,000 titles and many entries have additional commentary drawn from secondary sources. Library locations are provided for the UK and North America and the Directory is regularly updated.
Women's Magazine Archive (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Women's Magazine Archive gives access to three collections of full text backfiles from leading women’s interest consumer magazines from the US, UK and Canada. Titles are scanned from cover to cover in high-resolution colour ensuring that the original print artefacts are faithfully reproduced and that valuable non-article items, such as advertisements, are included. Coverage ranges from the late-19th century through to 2005.

The following magazines are included in the archive:

Collection 1 - Better Homes & Gardens (US); Chatelaine (Canada); Good Housekeeping (US); Ladies’ Home Journal (US); Parents (US); Redbook (US).

Collection 2 - Cosmopolitan (US); Essence (US); Seventeen (US); Town and Country (US); Woman’s Day (US); Women’s International Network News (US).

Collection 3 - Company (UK); Cosmopolitan (UK); Good Housekeeping (UK); Prima (UK); She (UK).

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Dictionaries

Bloomsbury World Englishes Online Encyclopaedia This link opens in a new window
Volumes 1-3 of this series, which presents a comprehensive, detailed survey of English as it is spoken all over the world and includes maps, facts and detailed descriptions for each region.

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Dictionary of Irish Biography This link opens in a new window
Over 11,000 signed biographical articles outline the careers at home and overseas of prominent men and women born in Ireland, north and south, and the noteworthy Irish careers of those born outside Ireland. Articles describe and assess the careers of subjects in all fields of endeavour, including politics, law, religion, literature, journalism, architecture, painting, music, the stage, science, medicine, engineering, entertainment and sport.

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Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new window
An illustrated collection of 50,000 specially written biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of Britain's past, from the fourth century BC to the year 2000.

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Oxford English Dictionary Online This link opens in a new window
For access off-campus select the Sign in through your institution option on the OED site.
Search on words, definitions, etymology and quotations. The OED Online contains the complete text of the 20-volume Second Edition, first published in 1989, together with later additions. New and revised entries are added every quarter.

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Oxford Reference Online: Premium Collection This link opens in a new window
A fully-indexed, cross-searchable database of over 100 dictionaries, companions, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press.

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Finding journals

To discover which journals the Library subscribes to, search the YorSearch Library Catalogue for the title or subject of the journal (to locate both e-journals and print archives).

Click View Online for a secure link to the external host website. E-access may be offered by more than one host, so check which years are available from each service.

Or explore BrowZine to browse online journals by subject.

Bibliographic Databases

To start a more detailed search for articles and other research evidence, you'll need to use bibliographic databases. These are large indexes that allow you to search for articles from hundreds of different journals at the same time. The databases do not necessarily give you access to the full text, instead they will usually include the citation information and a brief abstract that gives a summary of the work. If you find citations for resources that we don't hold at York you can request the full text via the "Tell us what you need" link on YorSearch.

The University holds many subject specific bibliographic databases as listed below. If your work is more interdisciplinary we recommend using one of the larger databases such as Web of Science which, despite the name, covers all subject areas and allows you to search effectively across multiple disciplines.

Interdisciplinary Databases

Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Web of Science provides access to the Science Citation Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

For help using this resource for bibliometrics see Bibliometrics: a practical guide.

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Humanities Subject Specific Databases

Archaeology/History/Medieval Studies

Anthropological Index Online This link opens in a new window
Index to current periodicals in the Museum of Mankind Library (incorporating the former Royal Anthropological Institute library).
AnthroSource [accessible until 31st December 2024] This link opens in a new window
AnthroSource is a fully integrated information resource. Its powerful search engine makes precision research quick and easy.

AnthroSource is more than a content collection. It is an evolving, interactive repository of research and communications tools designed to bring the most credible and relevant of anthropological scholarship together in one place and to support a strong community of scholars, teachers, and students in the field.

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Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
Arts & Humanities Citation Index is a multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities.

For help using this resource for bibliometrics see Bibliometrics: a practical guide.

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BIAB: the British & Irish Archaeological Bibliography (via ADS Library) This link opens in a new window
The BIAB online database contains datasets covering publications from AD 1695 to the present day on archaeology and the historic environment, historic buildings, maritime and industrial archaeology, environmental history, and the conservation of material culture - with a geographical focus on Britain and Ireland.

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Bibliography of British and Irish History (Brepolis) This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Previously known as the Royal Historical Society Bibliography this is a comprehensive guide to historical writing about the history of Britain, Ireland, and the British overseas from 55BC to the present.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.
European Views of the Americas: 1493 to 1750 (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
A bibliographic database of European printed records relating to the Americas, created from "European Americana: A Chronological Guide to Works Printed in Europe Relating to the Americas, 1493-1750".

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International Medieval Bibliography Online (Brepolis) This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
This is an interdisciplinary bibliography of the Middle Ages, covering Europe, the Middle East and North Africa in the period 400-1500.

The publication years covered by this resource are from 1967 onwards.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.
Iter Gateway This link opens in a new window
A gateway to electronic resources for the study of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (400-1700).
Science Direct This link opens in a new window
The world's largest full-text scientific database of journals in the life, physical, medical, technical and social sciences.

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Scopus This link opens in a new window
Personalisation options are available via the link above.

Alternative link without personalisation if you have problems with the link above (please clear the cookies and cache in your browser): Scopus.
An abstracting, indexing and citation database covering peer-reviewed research literature and web sources in the natural sciences and medicine, social sciences, arts and humanities.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.
For help using this resource for bibliometrics see Bibliometrics: a practical guide.
For further information about Scopus metrics see Elsevier's Research Metrics Guidebook.

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Architecture

Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
Arts & Humanities Citation Index is a multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities.

For help using this resource for bibliometrics see Bibliometrics: a practical guide.

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Anthropological Index Online This link opens in a new window
Index to current periodicals in the Museum of Mankind Library (incorporating the former Royal Anthropological Institute library).
AnthroSource [accessible until 31st December 2024] This link opens in a new window
AnthroSource is a fully integrated information resource. Its powerful search engine makes precision research quick and easy.

AnthroSource is more than a content collection. It is an evolving, interactive repository of research and communications tools designed to bring the most credible and relevant of anthropological scholarship together in one place and to support a strong community of scholars, teachers, and students in the field.

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ASSIA (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
ASSIA (Applied Social Science Index and Abstracts) indexes around 650 English language social science journals. Subject coverage includes social services, health, employment, ethnic studies, education, criminology, and related areas.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Business Source Premier (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
The full text of articles from almost 8,200 journals, including more than 1,100 peer-reviewed business publications. This includes the Harvard Business Review back to the first issue in 1922, and most other journals included back to 1965. The database also includes other sources of full text information such as country economic reports from the EIU, and detailed company profiles for the world's 10,000 largest companies. Additional full text, non-journal content includes market research reports, industry reports, country reports, company profiles and SWOT analyses.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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English

African American Poetry (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
A database of nearly 3,000 poems by African American poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

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Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
Arts & Humanities Citation Index is a multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities.

For help using this resource for bibliometrics see Bibliometrics: a practical guide.

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Bibliography of British and Irish History (Brepolis) This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Previously known as the Royal Historical Society Bibliography this is a comprehensive guide to historical writing about the history of Britain, Ireland, and the British overseas from 55BC to the present.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.
LION - Literature Online This link opens in a new window
This resource is a searchable, online library of over 300,000 works of English and American poetry, prose and drama. It also provides access to a growing collection of online journals, reference works, author biographies and the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL).

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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History of Art

Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
Arts & Humanities Citation Index is a multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities.

For help using this resource for bibliometrics see Bibliometrics: a practical guide.

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Bibliography of the History of Art / Répertoire de la litterature de l'art This link opens in a new window
Bibliography of the History of Art / Répertoire de la litterature de l'art from the J. Paul Getty Trust covers international literature on the history of art in Europe and the New World. The database surveys the visual arts and material culture from late antiquity to the present. Included are both the fine arts (architecture, sculpture, painting, drawing and prints) and decorative and applied arts (popular art, folk art). BHA / RILA indexes and abstracts over 1,200 journals, as well as books, conference proceedings, essays, exhibition catalogues, selected art dealers' catalogues, doctoral dissertations and microform publications. Abstracts are in either French or English and the thesaurus for data from 1990 is in both languages.

Language & Linguistics

Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
The Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA) abstracts and indexes the international literature in linguistics and related disciplines in the language sciences. The database covers all aspects of the study of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Complete coverage is given to various fields of linguistics including descriptive, historical, comparative, theoretical and geographical linguistics. The database provides abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews drawn from over 1,500 serials publications, and also abstracts of books, book chapters, and dissertations. The database is updated monthly.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Music/Theatre/Film

American Film Institute Catalog (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
AFI Catalog is a national filmography documenting the history of American cinema. It currently covers the years 1893-1974 comprehensively, with additional records covering selected major films from 1975 onwards.

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Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
Arts & Humanities Citation Index is a multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities.

For help using this resource for bibliometrics see Bibliometrics: a practical guide.

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ASSIA (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
ASSIA (Applied Social Science Index and Abstracts) indexes around 650 English language social science journals. Subject coverage includes social services, health, employment, ethnic studies, education, criminology, and related areas.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology Online This link opens in a new window
An international database of bibliographic records for completed dissertations and new dissertation topics in the fields of musicology, music theory, and ethnomusicology, as well as in related musical, scientific, and humanistic disciplines.
LION - Literature Online This link opens in a new window
This resource is a searchable, online library of over 300,000 works of English and American poetry, prose and drama. It also provides access to a growing collection of online journals, reference works, author biographies and the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL).

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Performing Arts Periodicals Database (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Formerly International Index to Performing Arts Full Text
A major database of the journal literature on the performing arts and covers a broad range of areas including dance, film, television, drama, theatre, stagecraft, musical theatre, circus performance, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic, comedy, broadcast arts and performance art. Performing Arts Periodicals Database includes indexing and abstracts for more than 240 international titles and the full text of articles from over 80 journals.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
An international database of music scholarship, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature from Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale, covers all areas of music, including historical musicology; ethnomusicology; instruments and voice; librarianship; performance practice and notation; theory and analysis; pedagogy; liturgy; dance; criticism and music therapy. RILM also includes interdisciplinary studies of music and various other fields.

The database encompasses all significant writings on music from all types of scholarly works produced worldwide in the last 30 years, such as articles, books, bibliographies, catalogues, dissertations, Festschriften, films and videos, iconographies, critical commentaries to editions, ethnographic recordings, conference proceedings, and book, record and concert reviews. The majority of citations include abstracts written by professional music librarians and music scholars.

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Philosophy

PhilPapers This link opens in a new window
PhilPapers is a directory of online philosophy articles and books by academic philosophers. It monitors almost 300 philosophy journals, as well as online archives and personal websites, and takes submissions from users.

Audiovisual Resources

The resources below give you access to recordings of works created or adapted for live performance, film, & radio, in addition to interviews with composers, performers, authors, producers and a broad range of further related materials .

American Film Institute Catalog (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
AFI Catalog is a national filmography documenting the history of American cinema. It currently covers the years 1893-1974 comprehensively, with additional records covering selected major films from 1975 onwards.

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American Film Scripts Online (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
The University has access to Volume I.
Accurate and authorised versions of more than 1,000 copyrighted screenplays covering a period from 1903 to 2009. The screenplays are accompanied by detailed information on the scenes, characters and people related to the scripts. Facsimile images for more than 500 of these screenplays are also available. Many of these scripts have never been published before and are not available online anywhere else.

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American Song (Alexander Street) [accessible until 31st January 2025] This link opens in a new window
American history explored through music with songs by and about American Indians, miners, immigrants, slaves, children, pioneers, and cowboys. Topics covered include Civil Rights, political campaigns, Prohibition, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and anti-war protests, with a wide range of genres represented including country, folk, bluegrass, Western, old time, American Indian, blues, gospel, shape note singing, doo-wop, Motown, R&B, soul, and funk.

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Archival Sound Recordings This link opens in a new window
This website contains over 28,000 recordings from the British Library Sound Archive. Recordings can be browsed by collection and a keyword search is also available. Recordings can be downloaded and used for the purposes of teaching, learning and research.

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BBC Shakespeare Archive This link opens in a new window
To access the archive you will need to register for an ERA account at the site using your University of York email address. You can then login using your York email address and ERA password.
A collection of programmes and photographs from the BBC's Shakespeare archive. It includes Shakespeare’s plays, poems and sonnets, documentaries, interviews and over a thousand stills of classic Shakespeare productions, as well as entertainment programmes referencing Shakespeare.
BFI Player This link opens in a new window
11,000 free to view archive films from the BFI, national and regional archives including shorts, features, and 120 years of Britain on film.

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Box of Broadcasts (BoB) This link opens in a new window
You will need to register for an account the first time that you access Box of Broadcasts.

Please note that you may only access and use Box of Broadcasts in the United Kingdom..
Box of Broadcasts (BoB) is an on demand TV and radio service for education. Users can record programmes from over 65 free-to-air channels and access an extensive archive of programmes already available. Users can also create clips from programmes and compile playlists.

Please note that you may only access and use BoB in the United Kingdom.

For help with this resource, take a look at the BoB FAQs.

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British Council Film Collection This link opens in a new window
An archive of over 120 short documentary films made by the British Council during the 1940s and designed to show the world how Britain lived, worked and played.

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CHARM - AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music This link opens in a new window
A repository of over 2,000 digitised 78rpm recordings by British and Irish artists between 1900 and 1950, alongside information about the history of recording.

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Classical Music Library (Alexander Street) [accessible until 31st January 2025] This link opens in a new window
Classical Music Library is a database of streamed recordings with more than 50,000 tracks from over 30 labels. The repertoire ranges from vocal and choral music, to chamber, orchestral, solo instrumental, and opera.

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Classical Performance in Video (Alexander Street) [accessible until 31st January 2025] This link opens in a new window
Includes content previously available via Classical Music in Video.
Streaming video of classical music performances including major orchestral performances by leading orchestras, chamber music, oratorio, and solo performances, along with video of master classes and interviews with leading musicians from around the world and documentaries profiling classical artists and their work.

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Commercial Radio Archive This link opens in a new window
To access recordings enter "University of York" and select it from the list then log in with your York IT Services username and password.
Gives access to archives of Independent Local Radio from 1973 to 1996 including the: Independent Local Radio Programme Sharing Database; London Broadcasting Company/Independent Radio News Archive; Independent Local Radio Central Southern Archive.

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Contemporary World Music (Alexander Street) [accessible until 31st January 2025] This link opens in a new window
Presents music from all continents and regions of the world including important genres such as reggae, worldbeat, neo-traditional, world fusion, Balkanic jazz, African film, Bollywood, Arab swing and jazz, and other genres such as traditional music - Indian classical, fado, flamenco, klezmer, zydeco, gospel, gagaku, and more.

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Dance in Video (Alexander Street) [accessible until 31st January 2025] This link opens in a new window
Productions and documentaries by influential performers and companies of the 20th century. Selections cover ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, experimental, and improvisational dance, as well as forerunners of the forms and the pioneers of modern concert dance. Included are classic performances from top ballet companies; experimental works from up-and-coming dance troupes; documentaries by and about leading choreographers; videos on dance training; and other items covering a wide range of 20th century dance styles.

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Dance Studies Collection (Alexander Street) [accessible until 31st January 2025] This link opens in a new window
Dance Studies Collection presents the historical context of 20th and 21st century dance through 150,000 pages of periodicals, reference materials, books, dance notation, and photographs.

This collection includes exclusive access to the complete run of Dance Magazine (1927–present) in full text.

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Digital Theatre Plus This link opens in a new window
Provides an insight into theatre from production to performance through access to streaming video. The material in Digital Theatre Plus includes:

- Productions (high-definition films of leading British theatre productions).
- Behind-the-scenes documentaries and interviews with professional theatre makers.
- Study guides written by practitioners and academics.
- Teaching support demonstrating practical techniques.
- Curated collections of filmed performance from around the world.

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Drama Online (Bloomsbury Online) This link opens in a new window
You will not have access to all the content in Drama Online, please see More info for details of what is available.

If Drama Online does not recognise you as University of York then select the Log In option in the top-right of the page and under Helpful Hints select Shibboleth Login Page
Drama Online gives access to the full-text of over 2,000 plays from the very earliest Greek works right up to the present day, including the most current editions from the Arden Shakespeare series, contemporary plays from Nick Hern Books, Aurora Metro Books, and Oberon Books, selected works of commentary and criticism and hundreds of production stills from the Victoria and Albert Museum Performance collection. There are also videos of plays in performance from the National Theatre and Stage on Screen and two Shakespeare masterclasses.

The University has access to the following:
- Core Collection of plays
- Nick Hern Books Collection (titles published up to 10th April 2019)
- Aurora Metro Books Collection
- Oberon Books Collection
- National Theatre Collections 1 & 2 (Video)
- Stage on Screen Collection (Video)
- Shakespeare in the Present (Masterclass Video)
- Shakespeare's Heroes and Villains: Steven Berkoff (Masterclass Video)
- Maxine Peake as Hamlet (Video)

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Eighteenth Century Drama This link opens in a new window
Documents from the John Larpent Collection, an archive of almost every play submitted for licence between 1737 and 1824. Larpent was the English Inspector of Plays from 1778-1824 and preserved plays submitted for licence under the 1737 Licensing Act.

The collection includes over 2,500 plays, epilogues, prologues, addresses and songs submitted for licence along with the diaries of Larpents wife and professional collaborator Anna, recording her criticisms of plays, and hundreds of further documents including playbills, theatre records and correspondence between key theatrical figures.

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Jazz Music Library (Alexander Street) [accessible until 31st January 2025] This link opens in a new window
Features the work of thousands of jazz performers and ensembles, from greats to contemporary artists, across all major genres.

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Kanopy This link opens in a new window
Kanopy gives access to thousands of films as streaming video. The database gives access to films across a range of subject areas and includes documentaries, training films, classic and independent movies and world cinema titles.

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Media History Digital Library This link opens in a new window
A collection of classic periodicals covering cinema, broadcasting, and recorded sound available as digital facsimile images.
Opera in Video (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
Gives access to some of the most important opera performances, captured on video through staged productions, interviews, and documentaries. Selections represent the worlds best performers, conductors, and opera houses and are based on a works importance to the operatic canon.

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Performing Arts Periodicals Database (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Formerly International Index to Performing Arts Full Text
A major database of the journal literature on the performing arts and covers a broad range of areas including dance, film, television, drama, theatre, stagecraft, musical theatre, circus performance, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic, comedy, broadcast arts and performance art. Performing Arts Periodicals Database includes indexing and abstracts for more than 240 international titles and the full text of articles from over 80 journals.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Records of Early English Drama (REED) This link opens in a new window
Records, drawn from historical documents, containing evidence of drama, secular music, and other communal entertainment and ceremony from the Middle Ages until 1642.

This online version of REED includes records published from 2017 onwards. The REED website has links to PDF versions of some earlier print volumes of REED. To find print volumes available in the library please search YorSearch.
Screen Online This link opens in a new window
Screen Online is no longer being updated and film clips may not be available, for access to film clips see the free collections available via BFI Player.
Screen Online is a website covering the history of British film and television and Britain's social history as revealed by film and television. The site contains video clips from the collections of the British Film Institute National Film and Television Archive, stills, posters and press books and several hours of recorded interviews with film and television personalities.
Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries (Alexander Street) [accessible until 31st January 2025] This link opens in a new window
Streaming audio presenting an encyclopaedia of the world's musical and aural traditions. The database includes the published recordings owned by the non-profit Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label and the archival audio collections of Folkways Records, Cook, Dyer-Bennet, Fast Folk, Monitor, Paredon and other labels. A wide variety of musical forms are represented from across the world including music recorded around the African continent for the International Library of African Music and material collected by recordists on the South Asian subcontinent from the Archive Research Centre for Ethnomusicology.

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Web of Stories This link opens in a new window
Formerly known as: Peoples Archive
An archive of online movies featuring detailed life stories of the world's greatest thinkers, creators and achievers narrated in one-to-one interviews. The life stories are arranged into seven sections covering Arts, Film, Literature, Masters, Medicine, Politics and Science and are accompanied by transcripts with complete bibliographies or filmographies, external links to relevant websites and illustrations. Web of Stories is a dynamic resource with new life stories contiually being added.

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