Database News: January 2006

Where can you find Joe McCarthy and Joe DiMaggio, Mae West and Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, Tom Paine and Tom Thumb, Nelson or Mary Baker Eddy? The American National Biography (ANB) has them all, along with 17,000 other persons who have made a contribution to the history and culture of our country. The ANB is the definitive biographical source for the United States, revising and expanding upon the classic Dictionary of American Biography. Biographical profiles have been contributed by leading scholars and can range from a few hundred to thousands of words; most essays include a bibliography listing additional sources or the location of manuscript collections.

Beyond easy name lookup, ANB users can search by a variety of criteria, such as birth or death date, gender, field of endeavor, or birthplace. In addition, special collections for African-American, Hispanic, Native American, or Asian-American history are available. The ANB also includes more than 900 articles from the Oxford Companion to United States History covering events, political parties, geographic features, and more.

The ANB provides the perfect compliment to the Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) which covers those who contributed to the history of Great Britain. Users should note that both the ANB and DNB include only deceased persons; for biographical information on living persons, try out the Biography Resource Center, which draws together biography information from dozens of sources, including Who's Who in America, the Dictionary of Literary Biography, and Directory of American Scholars (2002 edition).

Note: that the Libraries' ANB subscription is for 1 user at a time; be sure to log out when you have completed your search.

Browse a complete list of all our biography databases online.

Oxford Reference Online brings a premier collection of language and subject dictionaries to your desktop. Here, you can remember the difference between chiaroscuro and cha-cha, stalactites and stalagmites, or noisome and noisy. Oxford Reference Online covers subject areas from accounting to zoology, including maps and atlases as well as language dictionaries:

 

Art & Architecture A Dictionary of Architecture The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms The Oxford Dictionary of Art A Dictionary of Modern Design A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art The Oxford Companion to Western Art Bilingual Dictionaries The Oxford Business French Dictionary (English-French) The Oxford Business French Dictionary (French-English) The Oxford Business Spanish Dictionary (English-Spanish) The Oxford Business Spanish Dictionary (Spanish-English) The Concise Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary (English-French) The Concise Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary (French-English) The Concise Oxford-Duden German Dictionary (English-German) The Concise Oxford-Duden German Dictionary (German-English) The Pocket Oxford Irish Dictionary (English-Irish) The Pocket Oxford Irish Dictionary (Irish-English) The Pocket Oxford Italian Dictionary (English-Italian) The Pocket Oxford Italian Dictionary (Italian-English) The Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary (English-Latin) The Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary (Latin-English) The Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary (English-Spanish) The Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary (Spanish-English) The Pocket Modern Welsh Dictionary (English-Welsh) The Pocket Modern Welsh Dictionary (Welsh-English) Biological Sciences A Dictionary of Biology The Oxford Companion to the Body A Dictionary of Ecology A Dictionary of Plant Sciences A Dictionary of Scientists A Dictionary of Zoology Classics The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature Who's Who in the Classical World The Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary (English-Latin) The Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary (Latin-English) Computing A Dictionary of Computing A Dictionary of the Internet A Dictionary of Weights, Measures, and Units Earth & Environmental Sciences A Dictionary of Earth Sciences The Oxford Companion to the Earth A Dictionary of Ecology A Dictionary of Geography A Dictionary of Weather Economics & Business A Dictionary of Accounting A Dictionary of Business A Dictionary of Economics A Dictionary of Finance and Banking A Dictionary of Human Resource Management The Handbook of International Financial Terms Encyclopedia A-Z of Countries of the World World Encyclopedia English Dictionaries & Thesauruses The New Oxford American Dictionary The Canadian Oxford Dictionary The Oxford American Dictionary of Current English The Concise Oxford English Dictionary The Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd edition revised) The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary The Oxford American Thesaurus of Current English The Oxford Paperback Thesaurus English Language Reference The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language A New Dictionary of Eponyms The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Foreign Terms in English The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage Food & Drink An A-Z of Food and Drink Food and Fitness: A Dictionary of Diet and Exercise A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition History The Oxford Companion to American Military History The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology The Oxford Companion to Archaeology The Oxford Companion to Australian History A Dictionary of British History The Oxford Companion to British History The Oxford Companion to Canadian History A Dictionary of Contemporary World History Dynasties of the World The Kings and Queens of Britain The Oxford Dictionary of Local and Family History The Oxford Companion to Military History The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science A Dictionary of Political Biography The Oxford Dictionary of Popes The Oxford Dictionary of Saints Who's Who in the Twentieth Century The Oxford Guide to the United States Government The Oxford Companion to United States History The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military A Dictionary of World History The Oxford Companion to World War II

Law The Oxford Companion to American Law A Dictionary of Law The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions Literature The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature The Concise Oxford Companion to American Literature The Oxford Companion to American Literature The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature The Oxford Companion to English Literature The Concise Oxford Companion to Irish Literature The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms A Dictionary of Shakespeare The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English A Dictionary of Writers and their Works Maps & Illustrations Visual English Dictionary World Flags World Maps Medicine The Oxford Companion to the Body Concise Medical Dictionary An A-Z of Medicinal Drugs A Dictionary of Nursing A Dictionary of Psychology The Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science and Medicine Military History The Oxford Companion to American Military History The Oxford Companion to Military History The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military The Oxford Companion to World War II Mythology & Folklore A Dictionary of African Mythology A Dictionary of Asian Mythology A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology A Dictionary of English Folklore A Dictionary of Superstitions A Dictionary of World Mythology Names & Places A Dictionary of British Place-Names A-Z of Countries of the World A Dictionary of First Names Performing Arts The Oxford Companion to American Theatre The Oxford Dictionary of Dance The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music The Oxford Companion to Music The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera Who's Who in Opera The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre Physical Sciences & Mathematics A Dictionary of Astronomy A Dictionary of Chemistry The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics A Dictionary of Physics A Dictionary of Scientists A Dictionary of Statistics A Dictionary of Weights, Measures, and Units Politics & Social Sciences A Dictionary of Contemporary World History A-Z of Countries of the World A Dictionary of Geography A Dictionary of Political Biography The Oxford Companion to the Politics of the World The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics A Dictionary of Psychology Dictionary of the Social Sciences A Dictionary of Sociology The Oxford Guide to the United States Government Quotations The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations Religion & Philosophy A Dictionary of the Bible The Oxford Companion to the Bible The Oxford Guide to People and Places of the Bible A Dictionary of Buddhism The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church The Oxford Dictionary of Islam A Concise Companion to the Jewish Religion The Oxford Companion to Philosophy The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy The Oxford Dictionary of Popes The Oxford Dictionary of Saints The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions Science A Dictionary of Astronomy A Dictionary of Biology The Oxford Companion to the Body A Dictionary of Chemistry A Dictionary of Earth Sciences The Oxford Companion to the Earth A Dictionary of Ecology The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics Concise Medical Dictionary An A-Z of Medicinal Drugs The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science A Dictionary of Nursing A Dictionary of Physics A Dictionary of Plant Sciences A Dictionary of Psychology A Dictionary of Scientists The Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science and Medicine A Dictionary of Statistics A Dictionary of Weather A Dictionary of Weights, Measures, and Units A Dictionary of Zoology

Users can search or browser across the Oxford Reference database, or limit your search to specific subject areas, people, dates, or maps and images.

Note: that the Libraries' subscription is for 1 user at a time; be sure to log out when you have completed your search.

The Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life databases from ABC-CLIO have a new look for the new year. Now, you can quickly link to full text articles and theses from JSTOR, Project Muse, the History Cooperative, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. Users can now combine searches in a session with a new Search History function. In addition, users can check University of Arkansas holdings for journals with a "Check InfoLinks" link; items not held by the Libraries can be easily requested with a link to the ILLiad interlibrary loan system.

America: History and Life indexes articles, books, book chapters, book reviews, and dissertations about U.S. and Canadian history and culture; Historical Abstracts covers world history outside of North America from 1450 to the present. For history coverage prior to 1450, try some of our new databases, such as L'Année Philologique or International Medieval Bibliography.

Just in time for the 2006 mid-term election cycle, Lexis Nexis Congressional has a new interface that makes retrieval of congressional hearings, reports, biographies, and other information a snap.

Lexis Nexis Congressional provides access to:

• Committee Prints (1970-present)
• House & Senate Reports (1970-present)
• Hearings (1970-present)
• Legislative Histories (1969-present)
• House & Senate Documents (1970-present)

as well as to member biographical information and voting records, Federal regulations, the Congressional Record and House or Senate rules, and a section on hot topics and bills. The help section provides detailed examples for bill-tracking, compiling a legislative history, citing government documents, and more.