Customised Books
Books, journals and databases have been selected for each area of study to give you an idea of what is available.
Ebooks
Ebooks are like traditional books but are available online.
Ejournals
Ejournals are similar to magazines but the content is checked for its academic quality and they are available online.
Journals
Business School England publishes the educateUK higher education Journal and the Business Outlook International journal. These journals have peer reviewed research papers, research articles, innovation posters, interview and case studies.
It is indexed through the British Reference Library: educateUK® British Library Index and Reference, ISSN 2044-1355; BNB GBB8J2664; System number: 015536539
BusinessOutlook® . Journal of Business Review, Leadership and Innovation British Library Index & Reference ISSN 2044-2505 BNB GBB8J3870 System number: 015533327
Publicly available
There is a wide range of freely available information sources, including ebooks, full-text journals, images, reports, statistics and source material.
CORE
Database: The world’s largest collection of open access research papers. CORE’s mission is to aggregate all open access research worldwide and deliver unrestricted access for all.
Bookboon.com
Database: Free to download (pdfs). Over 500 textbooks in a range of subjects, 200 business books and 150 travel guides.
British Library catalogue : explore the British Library
Database: Catalogue of over 12 million items in the British Library’s collections in the London Reading Rooms and at the Document Supply Centre, Boston Spa
British Library online gallery
Database: Virtual books, online exhibitions, photographs and images from the British library, including sacred texts, maps, and historical documents
British Pathé
Database: This contains the entire 3,500 hour British Pathé Film Archive which covers news, sport, social history and entertainment from 1896 to 1976. Access and low resolution “preview” downloads are free. PLEASE NOTE: You may not download complete videos for free. Microsoft Windows Media Player is required to view the clips.
Catalogue of illuminated manuscripts
Database: Searchable catalogue the British Librarys’ collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, with descriptions and images
EDUCAUSE Resource Center
Database: An international repository for information concerning the use and management of information technology in higher education
Eldis: sharing the best in development policy, practice and research
Database: A free resource of over 26,000 full text documents for development research. Includes country profiles. From the Institute of Development Studies
The Open University also provides freely available materials for skills development, including:
Being Digital: a collection of short, easy to follow activities, which cover the skills we all need to be effective online. Whether it’s searching efficiently, critically evaluating information, communicating and sharing online, or selecting the right online tool for your needs, each activity should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.
Skills for OU Study: resources and activities providing tips about effective study skills in areas such as assignments, exams and thinking, reading and taking notes and a broad range of related areas.
OpenLearn: provides free online learning material taken from Open University modules in different subject areas which includes “Finding Information” in your chosen subject. OpenLearn also contains library related material on information skills and lists freely available resources.
Archives Hub
Database: The Archives Hub provides access to over 18,000 descriptions of unique and unpublished primary source material held in archives and manuscript collections in over 80 UK universities, colleges and research institutes. The Archives Hub forms part of the emerging National Archives Network and covers a broad range of subject areas.
BBC Writers Room
Database: BBC Writersroom is a cross-genre department. We work with Drama, Comedy, CBBC, CBeebies, Radio, Online – and others. We work with both new and experienced writers.
The Census 1901 website
Database: The 1901 Census for England and Wales Online service. The Census was taken on 31 March 1901. A searchable, comprehensive name index to over 32 million individuals. Also searchable by address, district and institution. Contains images of the original census pages as written by the census enumerator in 1901. Searching the index is free but viewing transcribed data is chargeable by the Public Record Office. See “How can I pay” section for further details
EUR-Lex : the portal to European Union law
Database: Part of the Europa portal for the European Union, the EUR-Lex site is designed to keep users up to date on legislation in force in the European Union and new legislation as it is enacted, with the intention to make EU law more accessible to the general public. The site has 8 sections: Treaties, The Official Journal, Legislation, Legislation in preparation, Parliamentary questions, Documents of public interest, Preparing Enlargment and Case-law. The site is searchable and is available in all official European Community languages. The full-text of many documents is available to download
The European Library
Database: Access to the collections of 48 national libraries of Europe and leading European research libraries. Includes full-text items as well as full records. No additional content added after 31 December 2016.
Google Books
Database: Google’s searchable and browseable book database. Search and browse for book titles. If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given permission, you’ll be able to see a preview of the book, and in some cases the entire text. If it’s in the public domain, you can to download a PDF copy.
Hansard
Database: Hansard online contains the official report of debates in Parliament, Commons 1988 to date, and Lords 1995 to date. You may also view live debates, and there is also a selection of short films about Parliament
Human development reports
Database: Searchable and freely available global, regional and national reports by the UN Development Programme on world development issues
Knowledge Unlatched open access ebooks
Database: Information about an initiative to make collections of ebooks from various publishers, freely available under a Creative Commons licence. This site gives information about the initiative and title lists of the books that have been made open access. The books themselves are made available on the OAPEN database.
Legislation.gov.uk
Database: A searchable database of original and revised UK legislation and statutory instruments from 1988. Managed by the National Archives.
The London gazette
Database: Searchable archives of the London Gazette, Britain’s continuously-published newspaper, dating back to the late seventeenth century. Includes the Edinburgh Gazette and Belfast Gazette. Note that to save searches users will need to register.
Nineteenth-century serials edition
Database: Fully searchable, free, online edition of six nineteenth-century periodicals and newspapers.
Old Bailey Online
Database: “A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London’s central criminal court.”
Open Library of Humanities (OLH)
Database: The Open Library of Humanities (OLH) is a charitable organisation dedicated to publishing open access scholarship with no author-facing article processing charges (APCs). They are funded by an international consortium of libraries who have joined them in their mission to make scholarly publishing fairer, more accessible, and rigorously preserved for the digital future. All of their academic articles are subject to rigorous peer review and the scholarship they publish showcases some of the most dynamic research taking place in the humanities disciplines today – from classics, modern languages and cultures, philosophy, theology and history, to political theory, sociology, anthropology, film and new media studies, and digital humanities.
Open Research Library
Database: The Open Research Library (ORL) is planned to include all Open Access book content worldwide on one platform for user-friendly discovery, offering a seamless experience navigating more than 20,000 Open Access books. This vital infrastructure is slated to comprise the most comprehensive collection of peer-reviewed Open Access books accessible for everyone.
Past Exam Papers
Database: Past exam papers for some OU modules are available free of charge for instant download from OUSA (Open University Students Association)
Philosophy bites
Database:
UK Data Archive
Database: The UK Data Archive is the curator of the largest collection of digital data in the social sciences and humanities in the UK. It provides resource discovery and support for the secondary use of quantitative and qualitative data in research, teaching and learning. To access/download/order data sets Login via the UK federation and select ‘The Open University (Athens)’ from the drop-down menu. You will then need to register individually to receive data sets.
UK Data Service
Database: UKDS provides access and support for an extensive range of key economic and social data, both quantitative and qualitative, spanning many disciplines and themes. It comprises a number of specialist data services that promote and encourage data usage in teaching and research. N.B. Registration required (on first visit only).
The World Bank : data and research
Database: National and international statistics, and searchable full text of policy research reports, world development reports and indicators and other documents.
The World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
Database: Open access ebooks, working papers and reports, and ejournals published by the World Bank.
World Digital Library
Database: Freely available primary materials from countries and cultures around the world, comprising images, sound recordings, journals and movies. Searchable, and can be browsed by topic, time, place and type of item. Supported by Unesco
WorldLII : World Legal Information institute
Database: Freely available access to global case law & legislation, for 1834 databases from 123 jurisdictions via 14 Legal Information Institutes.