Bibliographies arrange citations related to particular topics. They provide a guide to the literature on specific subjects or by a specific author. Bibliographies are useful for identifying core texts within a given field of inquiry. You may also see the term or title “Index” alongside bibliographies; indices guide users specifically to citations from newspapers, magazines, or other periodicals and are typically organized along a few “entry points” including subject, geography, date, or publication. Annotated bibliographies are typically used to gather background research and obtain a succinct summary about a specific topic within a discipline.
Directories compile contact and background information about individuals and organizations, usually with a thematic and/or geographical focus. They are issued serially in order to provide up to date information. Directories are particularly useful for international research. They are also helpful for marketing and outreach efforts. Historical directories may be useful for genealogy or corporate history.
In addition to the search strategies detailed further on the page, you can filter our databases to "Abstracts & Indexes" to find more bibliographies, directories and indexes.
Finding bibliographies can be challenging. Because books’ tables of contents often appear in catalog metadata, if a “chapter” is named “bibliography,” the item may surface in your search results even though it is not a comprehensive bibliographical work. Use two Subject search fields in the Advanced Search in order to narrow your scope to bibliographic works AND your topic. You can also apply the “Bibliography” or “Bibliographies” Genre filter after performing a search.
Scoping your search to “Library Catalog (Excluding articles)” will remove any articles from databases from the results, but you will still see entries from online reference texts such as Oxford Bibliographies that are categorized as “Other.”
Oxford Bibliographies are highly authoritative scholarly sources compiled by experts in a given field of study. They are arranged by subject and browsable alphabetically. Entries are routinely updated to ensure that relevant developments and citations are added.
This database indexes about 1,700 arts and humanities journals. Dates of coverage: 1975 to present.
Adjust settings to expand your searching to include the Social Sciences Citation Index, the Science Citation Index, the Book Citation Index, and others.
The Bibliography of American Literature describes the works of America's most important literary writers from the time of the Revolution to 1930. This database is based on the print Bibliography of American Literature (Yale University Press, 1955-1991) compiled by Jacob Blanck and completed by Michael Winship and Virginia L. Smyers.
Tips for searching for directories:
Foundation Directory Online is a database of over 100,000 public and private foundations, corporate giving programs, and grantmaking public charities in the U.S. It provides comprehensive information on grant-makers and their grants. Includes Candid's "Foundation Grants to Individuals Online".
