Health and Human Services Library

Bibliographic Databases on the Internet

The following bibliographic databases are available free. These resources provide citations and abstracts of journal and report literature in specific disciplines.

  • AgeLine - from AARP; contains detailed summaries of more than 90,000 publications about aging and the 50+ population.

  • AGRICOLA - AGRICultural OnLine Access from the (US) National Agricultural Library; indexes journal articles, book chapters, short reports, and reprints, as well as books and other materials held by the NAL. Includes coverage of nutrition and food safety.

  • BIOSAFETY - this ICGEB (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology) database is a bibliographic collection of studies on biosafety and risk assessment in biotechnology relating to the environmental release of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). The database is updated monthly and contains scientific articles (full reference + abstract) published in international scientific journals from 1990 onwards.

  • Campbell Collaboration - Modelled on the Cochrane Collaboration in the health sciences, the Campbell Collaboration is an independent, international, non-profit organization that aims to help people make well-informed decisions about the effects of interventions in the social, behavioral and educational arenas. Prepares, maintains and disseminates systematic reviews of existing social science evidence, focusing on policies and practices in the fields of education, social welfare, and crime and justice.

  • Cancer Literature in PubMed - formerly CANCERLIT, a bibliographic database with more than 1.8 million citations and abstracts from over 4,000 sources including biomedical journals, proceedings, books, reports and theses. While CancerLit was retired in 2003, you can still search for cancer-related research in PubMed (1951 - present).

  • Child Abuse and Neglect (National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information) - see Child Welfare Information Gateway

  • Child and Family Canada - a unique Canadian public education website. Fifty Canadian non-profit organizations have come together to provide quality, credible resources on children and families.

  • Child Welfare Information Gateway- Formerly the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information and the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, Child Welfare Information Gateway provides access to information and resources to help protect children and strengthen families. A service of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Try their Publication Search.

  • ClinicalTrials.gov - developed by the National Institutes of Health (US), through the National Library of Medicine to provide patients, family members and members of the public current information about clinical research studies.

  • Combined Health Information Database (CHID) - produced by health-related agencies of the US federal government; lists a wealth of health promotion and education materials and program descriptions that are not indexed elsewhere. There are 18 topics on CHID: AIDS Education, Alzheimer's Disease, Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, Cancer Patient Education, Cancer Prevention and Control, Comprehensive School Health, Deafness and Communication Disorders, Diabetes, Digestive Diseases, Disease Prevention / Health Promotion, Epilepsy Education and Prevention Activities, Health Promotion and Education, Kidney and Urologic Diseases, Maternal and Child Health, Medical Genetics and Rare Disorders, Oral Health, Prenatal Smoking Cessation, and Weight Control. When searching CHID you can search either individual topics or the entire database.

  • CYFERnet - Child Youth and Families Education Research Network brings together the best children, youth and family resources of all the public land-grant universities in the United States.

  • Child Welfare League of America: National Data Analysis System (NDAS) is the most comprehensive collection of child welfare data available.

  • ERIC - the Educational Resources Information Center's database of more than 950,000 abstracts of documents and journal articles on education research and practice; the world's largest source of education information. Includes coverage of school health issues, health promotion and education, adult education, testing and evaluation tools, early childhood education, and child/family social issues.

  • ETOH - (U.S.) National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and (NIAAA)'s Alcohol and Alcohol Problems Science Database, the most comprehensive online resource covering all aspects of alcohol abuse and alcoholism.

  • Global Childnet - Compiles world-wide child health information in a series of databases.

  • Health-Evidence.ca - A web site designed to provide quality research evidence to public health decision makers by searching, screening, and rating the systematic review evidence and compiling it in a free, searchable online registry.

  • International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) - Launched by the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) at the National Institutes of Health on Jan. 6, 1999, the purpose of this database is to assist researchers, physicians, and the general public in locating scientific literature on dietary supplements. IBIDS contains published, peer-reviewed, international, scientific literature on dietary supplements that draws upon numerous medical and scientific databases already in existence. The first phase of IBIDS included published, peer-reviewed, international, scientific literature on dietary supplements from 1985 to the present. Phase II will add monographs, serials, and reports to IBIDS as well as peer-reviewed literature from the previous decade.

  • Intute: Social Sciences - a UK-based social sciences database of web resources for education and research, evaluated and selected by a network of subject specialists. Incorporates Altis and SOSIG sites.

  • MEDLINE - see PubMed

  • National Adoption Information Clearhouse- see Child Welfare Information Gateway

  • Native Health Database - "The Native Health Database contain bibliographic information and abstracts of health-related articles, reports, surveys, and other resource documents pertaining to the health and health care of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Canadian First Nations. The databases provide information for the benefit, use, and education of organizations and individuals with an interest in health-related issues, programs, and initiatives regarding North American indigenous peoples."

  • Online Mendelian Inheritance In Man - Search for information on human genetic disorders in OMIM, a catalog of human genes and genetic disorders.

  • PEDro - PEDro is the Physiotherapy Evidence Database. It has been developed to give rapid access to bibliographic details and abstracts of randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and evidence-based clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy.

  • PILOTS Database: An Electronic Index to the Traumatic Stress Literature - The PILOTS database is an electronic index to the worldwide literature on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental-health consequences of exposure to traumatic events. It is produced at the headquarters of the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in White River Junction, Vermont. Linked from the PTSD Information Center web site.

  • POPLINE®(POPulation information onLINE) - The world’s largest database on reproductive health, containing citations with abstracts to scientific articles, reports, books, and unpublished reports in the field of population, family planning, and related health issues.

  • Practice Environments and Patient Safety - The CNA Patient Safety Resource Guide is a web based, fully searchable database containing references related to all aspects of patient safety.

  • Population Index - Population Index, published since 1935, is the primary reference tool to the world's population literature. It presents an annotated bibliography of published books, journal articles, working papers, and other material on population topics; contains over 46,000 abstracts of demographic literature published in Population Index in the period 1986-2000.

  • Project CORK Catalog - The CORK file is an index to materials owned by the Project Cork Resource Center at Dartmouth College in the U.S. The materials (books, book-chapters, journal-articles, etc.) found here are about alcoholism and substance abuse. To obtain materials, send your requests to the HHS Library at HLTH.Library@gov.bc.ca.

  • PubMed the (U.S.) National Library of Medicine's free MEDLINE database, the premier medical database of articles from 3500+ medical and health sciences journals. [PubMed Help and PubMed Training Manuals]
    List of PubMed journals with some free full-text

  • Smoking and Health Resource Library - maintained by the U.S. Office on Smoking and Health, this database contains 56,000+ abstracts of journal articles, books and book chapters, dissertations, reports, conference proceedings and conference papers, government documents, policy or legal documents, editorials, letters, and comments on articles. Items in the database focus on the scientific, medical, technical, policy, behavioral, legal, and historical literature related to smoking and tobacco use and its effect on health.

  • Social Science Information Gateway - see Intute: Social Sciences, a catalogue offering access to thousands of Internet resources in the social sciences.

  • Substance Information Link (SILINK) Library - managed by the Centre for Addictions Research of BC at the University of Victoria, this is a collection of resources on the harms related to substance use and addictions. Available is an interface to review the most recent additions, find practical tools within selected toolkits, and access drug information collections to find information on specific drugs.

  • TOXNET - National Library of Medicine databases on toxicology, hazardous chemicals, and related areas.

Ministry of Health Services, Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport, and Ministry of Children and Family Development staff and other eligible B.C. public health and child welfare clients: Please contact the Library to learn how to access subscription-based databases like Social Work Abstracts Plus and CINAHL, along with other Health and Human Services Library services on the Web.