There are a number of open-access resources that FSU students and faculty utilize in their research, and you can too! These resources do not require any university credentials or subscription, so they are accessible to everyone. FSU maintains an extensive list of open-access resources, many of which are available by topic in this box.
Note: these resources are subject to change.
State and Local Resources
Florida Electronic Library: provides articles, books and e-books, magazines, and media for residents of Florida, provided you are currently in Florida. Notable databases included in FEL are:
Leon County Public Library: public library system serving residents of Leon County, FL in-person and online
Open Online Resources
Directory of Open Access Journals (DoAJ): thousands of open-access journals in the sciences, technology, and the humanities.
Open Access Journals A–Z: MDPI offers 223 open access, peer-reviewed journals cover a diverse range of topics.
UNESCO Digital Library: online repository containing records of the institution's history, speeches, and publications.
Open Access Directory: contains an extensive list of preprint and postprint databases
Wikipedia: online encyclopedia edited by the public
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): Courses that are openly accessible online.
Open Research Library: this online resource seeks to include all available OA online books
Open Textbook Library: a catalog of peer-reviewed, open access textbooks
OpenStax: high-quality, peer-reviewed open access college textbooks
BC Campus: open textbooks that have been reviewed by BC faculty
Affordable Learning Georgia: a USG initiative to promote alternatives to expensive commercial textbooks
OER Commons: an online library of open educational resources
ArXiv:
Public Library of Science (PLOS): a non-profit, open access publisher of scientific and medical literature.
Nature Communications: peer-reviewed open access scientific journal
American Meteorological Society (AMS) Journals: eleven peer-reviewed journals on weather, water, and climate science
Chemical Science: produced by the Royal Society of Chemists, this journal includes research across the chemical sciences
USGS: the website of the US Geological Survey provides up-to-date data, tools, and software to interpret information about the natural world.
Open access STEM Journals provided by the MILNE library at Sturges University: this resource bundle can offer researchers options in a number of different fields
Journal of Biomedical Science: this peer-reviewed, open access journal includes all basic medical sciences
Open Science (Elsevier): Major academic publisher offers a number of peer-reviewed open access scientific journals
ACS Central Science: the first open access journal published by the American Chemical Society (peer-reviewed)
ACS Omega: a weekly peer-reviewed open access journal by the American Chemical Society
Wiley Open Access: peer-reviewed open access journals that cover a variety of disciplines
University of Tennessee lists several open access journal on its library site.
Science Nation: an archived video series by the National Science Foundation
PubMed (some articles are behind paywalls, but many remain open access)
U.S. Government Information: a service of the US Government Publishing Office, provides free public access to officially published documents from all three branches of the Federal Government.
United Nations Databases: contains a number of open access databases, multimedia, and archives produced and maintained by the United Nations
United Nations Audiovisual Library: preserves and makes available the audiovisual archives of the UN
Florida Laws: includes links to Florida laws, statutes, and the State Constitution
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository (OKR): the World Bank's open access repository for "research outputs and knowledge products"
Open Social Work Education: a collaborative project that produces open educational resources in the field of social work.
Scientific Inquiry in Social Work (Open Textbook): open access textbook for social work students with a focus on research
Open Learn - Social Work: free online courses on social work topics
American Academy of Social Work Webinar Series: YouTube series from the American Academy of Social Workers
Immigrant and Refugee Families (Open Textbook): openly accessible textbook on immigrant and refugee family issues
Lifespan Development (Open Textbook): open access textbook that explores lifespan development from a psychological viewpoint
Child Growth & Development (Open Textbook): open access textbook on child development
Journal of Human Sciences & Extension: peer-reviewed, open access journal covering topics such as human development, nutrition, staff development, and more.
Child Development (MOOC): free online course on child development from OER Services
Art
Dictionary of Art Historians: database containing biographical information on western art historians
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City) Open Image Database: open access database containing images of objects in the Met's collection
New York Public Library Digital Collections: openly available digitized copies of texts, photos, art, and correspondence in the New York Public Library's collections
Library of Congress Performing Arts Reading Room: digital collections of musical scores, music literature, and musical instruction materials
Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute: Searchable database including thousands of images of costumes, as well as access to publications on costumes
Europeana: open access to millions of digitized books, music, artwork, and more from European archives, libraries, and museums.
Digital Public Library of America: open access to millions of items held in the United States' libraries, archives, and museums
Classics
Perseus Digital Library of Ancient Texts: contains thousands of digitized texts, images
Ancient World Open Bibliographies: open collection of bibliographies on the ancient world
Digital Classicist: a host of digital resources on the ancient world
Ancient World Online: a blog that provides commentary on material related to the ancient world
Lacus Curtius: a bibliographic site on the ancient world
Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (Canon, Abridged, and Lexica): an open digital library on Greek literature
History
Documenting the American South - UNC Chapel Hill Resource
Do you need primary resources for your research? Are you uncertain about what a primary resource is?
Our handy Primary Resources Research Guide is here to help! It defines a primary resource as " the documents or artifacts closest to the topic of investigation that you will use as evidence to support your interpretation of the past. Often they are created during the time period which is being studied (e.g. correspondence, diaries, newspapers, government documents, art), but they can also be produced later by eyewitnesses or participants (memoirs, oral histories)." For more information on primary resources, how to use them, and where to find them, check out the Primary Sources Research Guide!
Check out some great primary resource databases below!
You can also access Open Access/Open Education Resources through searching FSU Libraries' website. First, go to lib.fsu.edu and select "Advanced Search" from the "All" box.
From the Advanced Search page, scroll down to the Library Location box and select "Open Access Educational Resources" from the list. These resources are accessible to anyone, not just FSU students or faculty. Then, scroll back up, enter your keywords, and continue your search.
Google Scholar is a powerful resource for researchers of all disciplines. While many articles and information resources are freely available on Google Scholar, many are only accessible through university credentials. While on FSU's wifi or guest computers, researchers can access the articles have access to. However, guests will not be able to access these FSU-facilitated materials once off-campus and off of our wifi.
For more in-depth knowledge and skills for using Google Scholar, check out our Google Scholar Research Guide.
Some handy tips for using Google Scholar:
1. Understanding author profiles:
Many authors of books and academic articles found on Google Scholar have their own profile as a clickable link on the results page. This can allow researchers to see their past works and how they have been cited in the past. However, not all authors have these profiles, so you may have to do a bit of extra legwork on your own to learn more about their work and history.
2. Limitations of Google Scholar:
Google Scholar's power is in its ability to find an incredible variety of resources from all over the web. However, this can lead to a sense of information overload. Since Google Scholar has fewer limiters than other databases (i.e. peer review, language) it is important to have a specific idea in mind in regards to what you are searching for.
While using Google Scholar, it's important to keep in mind that:
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