In this part of SAFARI we are going to cover information resources for Social Sciences. There are many Social Sciences resources available to Open University students through the Open University Library web pages and links to all of these resources can be found here:
Online Collections by Subject: Social Sciences
Social Sciences spans a number of other subject disciplines. For example, you may also want to look at resources for:
Click on the link to: Online Collections by Subject: Education
Click on the link to: Online Collections by Subject: Social Care
Click on the link to: Online Collections by Subject: Management
The Open University Library web pages provide access to electronic books as well as links to its own catalogue and the catalogues of other libraries.
The Reference Collection details electronic books like dictionaries and encyclopedias, which are useful for finding definitions, facts and figures.
To check what books are in collections worldwide, the library catalogues page lists the catalogues of public and academic libraries.
Electronic books relating to Social Sciences are starting to appear on the Open University's NetLibrary site. The books page details e-books and e-book collections.
Databases fall into two main types:
Databases are searchable and allow you to look for references on a subject in many different journals or books. There is a list of Social Sciences databases on the Open University Library web pages
Depending on your area of study, you may wish to look at databases covering other subjects such as:
You may also wish to look at all of the Databases available to you through the Open University Library web pages.
There are many journals available to Open University students through the Open University Library web pages. You can find lists of Social Sciences Journals from the main Social Sciences index page.
You may also find it useful to look at the lists for other subject areas:
or at the complete list of Electronic journals available through the Open University Library web pages.
For up to date information on what is happening in the world of Social Sciences, you may want to consult an online news resource.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with the plethora of green and white papers, reports of advisory committees, guidance notes and circulars relating to Social Sciences. You may be able to get access to some of them via the websites of relevant government departments and committees. Details of relevant sites for UK Official Publications (UKOP) and UK and EU Law are available from the Open University Library web pages.
You may need to obtain statistical data relating to Social Sciences and there are a number of databases available free over the internet. A list of general statistical sources is available from the Open University Library web pages.
There are many sites on the internet where you will find useful information for Social Sciences. A recommended gateway (website that directs you to other sources of information on the web) is INTUTE.
This subject is covered in more detail in Section 7.
SAFARI concentrates on resources that are available to Open University students through the the Open University Library web pages. However these are not the only resources that may be available to you. Think about investigating what is on offer through libraries in your area.
Does your workplace have a library or information service you can use? Do you belong to a professional organis ation or learned society? Many of these have specialist library and information services for their members and they often offer student membership rates.