In this part of SAFARI we are going to cover information resources for economics. There are many economics resources available to Open University students through the Open Library web pages and links to all of these resources can be found in the 'Online Collections by Subject' pages:
Economics spans a number of other subject disciplines. For example, you may also want to look at resources for:
Open Library provides access to electronic books as well as links to library catalogues and bookshops.
The reference collecton http://library.open.ac.uk/find/reference/index.cfm details electronic books like dictionaries and encyclopedias, which are useful for finding definitions, facts and figures.
The electronic books page http://library.open.ac.uk/resources/ebooks.html details e-books and e-book collections. Oxford Reference Online, for example, provide acess to books of interest to economics students. Electronic books relating to economics are starting to appear on the Open University's NetLibrary site. Electronic books relating specifically to economics can be found on the economics e-books page
To borrow hard copy books the catalogues page http://library.open.ac.uk/find/othercatalogues/index.cfm details the catalogues of The Open University Library and other public and academic libraries.
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 economics databases on the Open Library web pages in the economics subject section.
Depending on your area of study, you may wish to look at databases covering other subjects such as:
or at the complete list of databases available through Open Library:
http://library.open.ac.uk/find/eresources/databases/index.cfm
There are many journals available to Open University students through Open Library. You can find a list of economics journals on the Open Library Web Pages in the
You may also find it useful to look at the lists for other subject areas:
or at the complete list of titles available through Open Library:
http://library.open.ac.uk/find/journals/index.cfm
For up to date information on what’s happening in the world of economics you may want to consult an online news resource. Details of some relevant ones can be found at:
http://library.open.ac.uk/find/newspapers/index.cfm
It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with the plethora of official publications relating to economics. You may be able to get access to some of them via the websites of relevant government departments. There are also specialist sites for tracing official publications. See the list of websites for official documents for the UK and Europe on the Law and Legislation pages.
You may need to obtain statistical data relating to economics and there are a number of databases available free over the internet which can be accessed via the
There are many sites on the internet where you will find useful information for economics. Some gateways (websites that direct you to other sources of information on the web) and a selection of websites are listed on the general Social Science page.
This subject is covered in more detail in Section 7.
SAFARI concentrates on resources that are available to Open University students through the Open 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: http://library.open.ac.uk/help/otherlibs/index.cfm?id=6999
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.