Use the resources listed on this page to find relevant information on topics in Archaeology. They will give you access to both primary and secondary sources of academic information.
L'Annee Philologique provides references to journal articles, books and book chapters for all subjects as relate to classics, from 1924 to the present day.
References for historical writing dealing with the British Isles, and with the British Empire and Commonwealth, from 55BC to the present.
Google Scholar is the academic version of Google. It allows you to search for scholarly literature (journal articles, books, patents) from a variety of sources, including academic publishers, professional societies, and online repositories.
Gives references to journal articles, books, reviews and selected chapters in subjects including anthropology, economics, political science and sociology.
Access to articles in over 500 journal titles in arts, humanities and social sciences.
Gives references to journal articles, books, conference proceedings and patents in all subjects. Also offers extensive tools to analyse results, and measure impact for articles, journals and authors.
Use to search across a number of databases covering a range of subject areas. Provides references to journal articles, books, conference papers, patents, research data and other materials.
A multidisciplinary database containing references to journal articles covering all subject areas from 1990 onwards. Browse specific journal issues to keep up-to-date with articles published in journals of interest.
Access to all titles published in the British Series, from 1974 to 2021. Individual titles are listed on Enterprise.
Covering visual arts in all media from around the world with references to journal articles, monographs, exhibition catalogues and other material.
Contains primary and secondary sources about Britain and Ireland from 1100 to the mid-20th century, with a particular focus between 1300 and 1800.
Find definitions in dictionaries and other reference works in all subjects.
Map data of Great Britain. Includes Ordnance Survey, historic, geological and environmental map data and aerial imagery.
A two part registration is required to use Digimap:
1. Connect to Digimap using the link above and complete a registration form
2. Accept the licence agreements associated with each collection
You will need to re-accept the licence terms annually, in August of each year.
Edina's Digimap registration pages give more information and guidance. Please pay particular attention to the Privacy Notice.
Access to thousands of films for the arts & humanities.
Merged online catalogues of many major UK and Irish academic, National libraries and specialist libraries.
Oxford Reference allows you to search across multiple dictionaries and reference titles. We have access to the Premium, Literature and Western Civilization collections.
Gives references to journal articles, books and chapters in psychology and psychological aspects of related disciplines including education, linguistics, medicine, and physiology. Includes links to full-text articles in PsycARTICLES.
Access to articles in journals published by Elsevier from 1995 to the present, plus access to older articles in some subject areas. Also gives access to Elsevier e-books we have purchased.
Essentially a vast Library catalogue. Gives references to books, theses, and other published materials in all subjects.
If you are on campus you will be able to access most e-journals and e-books, and some databases, without entering a username and password because your IP address identifies you as being at the University of Reading.
For any that require a login, see the Off-campus tab.
When you use our e-resources you are agreeing to our Terms of Use. Please take a moment to look at these by following the link below:
When you are off-campus you will need to login to identify yourself as a member of the University of Reading to gain access to our protected databases, e-books and e-journals.
Your login details
You login in the same way as for Blackboard - via Microsoft. Just enter your University username followed by @student.reading.ac.uk (e.g. ab123456@student.reading.ac.uk) and your password. If this is the first time you have logged in via this method when off-campus you will be asked to complete a Multi-Factor Authentication. For more information see:
Watch this short video on how you login to use Library resources.
This playlist of two videos shows you how to prepare for and perform a literature search. The first video introduces literature searches and their role. The second video covers using the search operators AND and OR to create a search statement, and explains the role of wildcards and truncation in constructing a comprehensive search. This information is also available in written guides - see the links below.
Reading University theses and dissertations
The Library receives a copy of all theses accepted for the degrees of PhD and MPhil by the University. All theses held by the Library can be found on the Enterprise catalogue. Recently submitted theses might also be available to download from the University's Institutional Repository, CentAUR.
Masters theses can usually be consulted in the relevant school or department.
Finding theses from other institutions
There are a number of specialist sources for finding theses produced at other institutions around the world. Many more are becoming available online making it much easier to get the full-text. For more information see our guide to finding theses.
See our guide to finding theses for more information:
Maps can be used in nearly all disciplines to either research or display spatial information. The University Library contains about 70,000 maps and atlases, covering the whole world. They include original and facsimile maps from medieval to modern times, and access to online resources is also available.
To find out how maps can help you, see our presentation on Using maps for your research:
For more information see the following guide:
For digital maps of Great Britain, the best place to start is Digimap. This includes nine datasets, including contemporary Ordnance Survey maps; historical Ordnance Survey maps; geology maps; environmental land cover maps; marine charts and thematic data; aerial imagery; census and socio-economic data; detailed building and land cover data and world maps. Maps can be printed out or data downloaded for use in a geographical information system.
Our Inter-Library Loans service can get articles, books and other publications not held at Reading from other libraries (usually from the British Library).
For more information see our webpages: