Popular Resources for Tech Research

Use domain-specific or interdisciplinary databases below to discover important literature, including journal articles, government reports, newspapers, technical standards, and patents, in your research area. Such databases let you stay within the boundary of scholarly resources and refine your searches using their sophisticated filtering like document type, publication year, and keyword/vocabulary.


Interdisciplinary databases that cover all or many subjects include:

  • Cornell Library Catalog has records for nearly 8 million books, over 500,000 journals, and close to 5,000 databases
  • Scopus is an interdisciplinary database with records of over 83 million scholarly literature in the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities
  • Web of Science provides records to scholarly literature in all subjects from 1900 to the present

Domain-specific databases include:

  • ACM Digital Library
    provides full-text access to all publications by ACM and selected works by affiliated organizations in computing
     
  • arXiv.org 
    is an open-access archive for scholarly articles, typically preprints or pre-publication versions, in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, and many more
     
  • dblp: computer science bibliography 
    has records on major computer science journals and proceedings
     
  • Engineering Village
    is the best comprehensive engineering database with indexed records of over 20 million scholarly literature on applied engineering and physical science
     
  • IEEE Xplore 
    is the premier electrical and computer engineering database with full-text to articles, IEEE standards, and conference proceedings
     
  • Knovel
    provides access to reference materials in the fields of engineering and applied sciences, and includes interactive tables, equation plotters, and searchable materials property data
     
  • PAIS International
    contains records to public policy literature of economics, government, law, international business, political science, public administration, and other social sciences
     
  • PubMed
    has more than 34 million citations for publications on biomedical and life sciences topics
     
  • SPIE Digital Library
    has full-text access to scholarly literature in the fields of optics and photonics research from 1962 to present
     
  • Synthesis Digital Library of Engineering and Computer Science
    offers lectures and book series in subject areas like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Human-Centered Informatics, and Technology, Management, & Entrepreneurship
     
  • Urban Studies Abstracts
    provides records covering essential areas related to urban studies, including urban affairs, community development, urban history, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline

You can find more databases in the databases catalog and can get in touch with us if there are questions.

E-Book Libraries

Access e-books on import research or development topics at the tip of your fingers.

  • AccessEngineering
    has over 1,600 engineering e-books, including Perry's Chemical Engineers Handbook and Schaum's Outlines, online tutorials and DataVis, and case studies map to ABET learning outcomes
     
  • AccessScience from McGraw-Hill
    includes McGraw-Hill dictionary of scientific and technical terms as well as scholarly articles, text and video biographies of well-known scientists, image and video animations, and curriculum maps
     
  • Knovel
    has over 2,000 reference e-books in all fields of engineering, including interactive tables, equation plotters, graph digitizers, and ability to export to Excel spreadsheets, and large database of materials property data
     
  • O'Reilly (formerly Safari e-books)
    has a collection of e-books and videos on computer programming, user manuals, and business and management topics
     
  • Skillsoft percipio
    provides e-books and video courses on information topics, including networking, programming, languages, and desktop applications
     
  • SpringerLink
    provides access to over 65,000 e-books as well as to journals, book series, e-references, and protocols; their Synthesis Collection of Technology includes over 400 short books on artificial intelligence, communication networks, electrical engineering, informatics, synthetic biology, and life sciences (each book synthesizes an important research or development topic, authored by a prominent contributor to the field)

Sources of Standards

Standards and codes are needed to enhance productivity, facilitate trade, and improve quality of life. They may be developed by trade associations, industries or government agencies. Upon publication, the title is given as the acronym of the publishing organization together with a number and the current year, e.g., ASCE 49-2021.

You have online access to standards via Cornell University Library from:

  • ASTM (and AATC) via ASTM Compass
  • IEEE (except Draft standards) via IEEE Xplore
  • ASME Boiler Pressure Vessel Code Volume II (Materials)
  • ASQ (American Society for Quality), some available via Knovel
  • ICC (International Building Code and Commentary), some available via MADCAD.com
  • SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers), some available via Knovel

Freely available standards include:

  • MilSpecs (Military standards) via Everyspec.com and ASSIST Quicksearch
  • NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), some available via NFPA (you will need to register first) and some available in print
  • NISO (National Information Standards Organization) via NISO

Upon request, the library can purchase a limited number of individual standards in print. If you need a standard that we do not have or which you cannot find, please contact us at library@tech.cornell.edu.

Note that due to licensing and copyright restrictions, we can purchase individual standards in hardcopy format only. It would take around three weeks for the process.