Oxford LibGuides: Local History for Continuing Education: Oxford's online resources

Oxford's Online Resources

Oxford subscribes to a wide range of online resources which are available to students with an Oxford Single Sign on (SSO) from home. To browse the full list of these resources use the Databases A-Z.

If you do not have an Oxford Single Sign on (SSO) please see the 'Free online resources' tab.

If you are looking for a specific ebook or articles please see the tabs for 'Books' or 'Journals' instead.

Please find below information about resources including:

Online tools for literature searching
Key bibliographical databases

Online resources for literature searching

You can search for books, articles, conference papers, other publications and dissertations using SOLO, Google Scholar or Bibliographical Databases. Below you will find some brief notes about each of these tools followed by a list of bibliographical databases for Local History. For a more detailed comparison of the pro's and cons of SOLO, Google Scholar and Bibliographical Databases as literature searching tools please see 'Literature Searching Tools" under the 'Search Tips' tab.

SOLO
A keyword search in SOLO will return a wide range of results nearly all of which will be available in full to Oxford students. Although SOLO is an excellent tool for subject searching for books, it can be a blunt tool for searching for articles sometimes returning items which are less relevant to your topic.
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This is because SOLO casts a very wide net (searching across nearly all of Oxford's electronic and print resources). Whilst this can be an advantage in surfacing items from a range of disciplines and perspectives, it can also mean that you receive a lot of results some of which may be less relevant to you. The refine options on the left hand side of SOLO can help by narrowing your search
Google Scholar
A keyword search in Google Scholar will return vast numbers of results which nearly always include useful items but which may also include less relevant and in some cases less scholarly materials. Google Scholar will return some results where you will only see brief details (rather than the 'full text'). See 'more' for information on setting up Google Scholar for Oxford e-resources which will help with this.
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For the best results open Google Scholar 'Settings' and in 'Library Links' search for 'University of Oxford'. This will enable Google Scholar to link to Oxford's subscription eresources. However, Google will still return some results where you can't see the 'full text'.
Bibliographical Databases
Bibliographical Databases search across selected academic publications in a discipline and usually have searchable summaries, advanced search options and refinements. As a result they often return smaller numbers of results which are more focussed and relevant. One disadvantage is that they may include some items which are not available in "full text". Use "Find it @ Oxford" to help with this. You will find a selection of bibliographical databases for your subject below.

Key Bibliographical Databases

Here are some of the key bibliographic databases for Local History.

Bibliography of British and Irish History
Comprehensive for publications on British and Irish history, covering 55BC to the present. You can search by the dates you are interested in.
Archaeology Data Services
Use the ADS LIBRARY to access a number of journal titles, including older issues of local history society journals. This database is freely available on open access.
JSTOR
JSTOR includes many key scholarly history journals. However JSTOR doesn't usually include journal articles published within the last 3-5 years.
Databases A-Z
Choose History from the Subjects drop down menu to find other relevant databases.

Other useful databases

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
An illustrated collection of 50,000 specially written biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of Britain's past, from the fourth century BC to the year 2000. Includes useful references to printed and archive sources.
Country Life Archive
Full-text archive (1897-2005) of the weekly British culture and lifestyle magazine, Country Life. Focuses on fine art and architecture; the UK’s great country houses and their collections, gardens and landscaping; and rural life generally.