Databases

Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD) is the world's largest database for completely identified inorganic crystal structures. ICSD contains about 156,000 peer-reviewed data entries, including their atomic coordinates, dating back to 1973.
ICSD contains:
• 1,675 crystal structures of the elements
• 30,075 records for binary compounds
• 58,371 records for ternary compounds
• 55,754 records for quarternary and quintenary compounds
About 119,000 entries (75.9% of entries) have been assigned a structure type. There are currently 6,357 structure prototypes.

On May 23, 1783, South Carolina became the 8th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. I searched the catalog for "South Carolina" and was surprised at how much material we have in our collection about the 8th state. While many of the books deal with the Civil War, Reconstruction, and race, but there is a lot of online material from as far back as 1729! Some of our online resources include speeches, state assembly acts and resolutions, association and society constitutions, and a whole lot more. Much of these online resources can be found in the Early Americana database.

       

Twentieth Century Advice Literature provides the instructional, prescriptive, behavioral, and etiquette literature that defined standards of personal conduct for millions of Americans and reflected the prevailing social mores across the twentieth century. Included are handbooks, manuals, textbooks, etiquette guides, self-help books, instructional pamphlets, and how-to books that illustrate both how Americans actually behaved and how they felt they ought to behave.

On May 22, 1813, noted German opera composer Richard Wagner was born. Wagner was a colorful figure. Because of his political involvement, he was exiled and spent time in Venice, Switzerland, and Paris. He was invited back to Munich by King Ludwig (Mad King Ludwig) and eventually settled in Bayreuth where he supervised the design and construction of a new opera house. An annual Wagner festival, the Bayreuth Festival, is held at this opera house.

The library has many books about Richard Wagner and the Bayreuth Festival, and we have some musical scores written by Wagner. Watch dozens of performances at the Bayreuth Festival in Naxos Video Online, listen to hundreds of tracks composed by Wagner in Classical Music Library, and see a few more Wagner operas in Classical Music in Video.

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Our subscription to Filmakers Library Online has been updated with more than 40 new films. When this new addition to our subscription (Volume 2) is complete, it will include 100 of the most influential issue-based documentaries of 2009 through 2013.

ProQuest Statistical Datasets is now called Data-Planet Statistical Datasets. Data-Planet Statistical Datasets provides access to statistical information produced by U.S. federal agencies, private companies, and intergovernmental organizations. Create maps and reports from data you select from over 640 datasets. Subjects include health, crime, population, finance, industry, and marketing.

Several new resources have been added to the Brill Online Reference Works. These online books and databases primarily cover Religious Studies, Classic Studies, Medieval & Early Modern Studies, and Middle East & Islamic Studies.

1. Indo-European Etymological Dictionaries Online includes dictionaries of Armenian, Greek, Latin, Proto-Germanic, Slavic, and several others.
2. Middle Eastern Manuscripts Online 1: Pioneer Orientalists
​3. Middle Eastern Manuscripts Online 2: Ottoman Legacy of Levinus Warner
4. Israel's Messenger - the "Official Organ of the Shanghai Zionist Association"
5. Moses Maimonides, unparalleled editions - includes imprints from the 16th to the 20th century, some of which constitute landmarks in the history of Hebrew printing. Some bilingual works are also included (Latin, Judeo-German, or French).
6. Africa Yearbook Online - covers major domestic political developments, the foreign policy and socioeconomic trends in sub-Sahara Africa – all related to developments in one calendar year.
7. African Studies Companion Online - over 1,800 entries covering guides and resources for African languages, Africa cartography and maps, African film, African studies journals, the African press, African studies library collections worldwide, national archives in Africa, centers of African studies and African studies programs worldwide, and a wealth of other subjects.
8. Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism - presents the latest research on all the main aspects of the Hindu traditions.
9. Brill's Medieval Reference Library Online - includes Encyclopedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles of the British Isles c. 450-1450, Encyclopedia of Medieval Pilgrimage, and Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle.

If you try to access research databases over the summer, you might get a 403 error. This normally happens when you try to access e-books, online journals, and other online resources through our website, but are not registered for the current semester. The vendors for our research databases do not allow off-campus access to students who are not registered for the current semester.

If you are not registered for a class during the spring/summer semester, you have two options:
• Access a research database through MeL. Look for a purple next to the database name on our website. Click on the purple instead of the database name. These databases are available to residents of Michigan, but you will need to log in using your Michigan driver’s license number. (You can also go directly to MeL Databases to access these.)
• You can come in to the library and use guest access computers.

World Newsreels Online, 1929-1966 includes the full run of newsreels on significant historical events from throughout the 20th century. It also includes the "March of Time" series, and selected videos from American History in Video and World History in Video, but adds new material from France, Japan, the Netherlands, and other countries throughout the world.

       

On May 15, 1963, the spacecraft Faith 7, piloted by Gordon Cooper, was launched. Faith 7 was the last of the Mercury-Atlas missions. This was the longest mission to space up to that time (22.5 orbits and more than 34 hours).

See newsreel footage of the event in American History in Video, listen to a prayer by Gordon Cooper on his 14th orbit at the Internet Archive, and see pictures and video commemorating the 50th anniversary of Faith 7 at the NASA website.

           

Black Studies in Video features award-winning documentaries, newsreels, interviews, and archival footage surveying the evolution of black culture in the United States. In partnership with California Newsreel, the database provides unique access to their African American Perspectives collection, and includes films covering history, politics, art and culture, family structure, social and economic pressures, and gender relations.

ProQuest Digital U.S. Bills and Resolutions 1789 – 2013 has been added to our ProQuest Congressional database.

Digital U.S. Bills and Resolutions 1789 – 2013 offers one place to go for the full text of ALL versions of ALL U.S. public and private bills and resolutions from 1789 – 2013. You no longer need to search multiple sites or books to find the version of a bill you are looking for. The comprehensive coverage is ideal in providing the big picture for researchers looking to see how a bill changed between versions of a bill, or those just looking to see the final version.

On May 13, 1913, Igor Sikorsky test piloted the first four-engine aircraft. However, he is better known for his work on helicopters, including the Sikorsky R-4, which became the world's first mass-produced helicopter in 1942.

The library has several online books about helicopters as well as chapters in online books through ENGnetBASE.

       

On May 10, 1863, one of the most famous figures of the Civil War died. Confederate General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, better known as "Stonewall" Jackson died of pneumonia after having been shot by his own troops at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863. He was only 39 years old. The library has several biographies about Jackson (both books and e-books) and the history databases have much information about both him and the Civil War.

       

On this date in 1963, the James Bond movie Dr. No was released. This was the first James Bond movie starring Sean Connery.

The Mardigian Library does not have a copy of Dr. No, but you can order both the movie and the book the movie was based on -- and many other movies and books -- through MeLCat.

If you would like to find out more about Dr. No -- or another movie -- check our Film databases for plot descriptions, cast lists, production credits, and lots of other information. For example: