LibGuides: Electrical and Computer Engineering: Encyclopedias, Handbooks, & Datasources

Selected Encyclopedias, Handbooks, and Data Sources

This is a a selection of encyclopedias, handbooks and databases with strong handbook content, especially noting titles from the Databases list. Other handbook and data sources may be found through the library catalog and through publisher collections such as ScienceDirect (Elsevier) and Taylor & Francis eBooks.

Also, government agencies are an especially important source of data compilation. See the Government Documents & Information guide for more information.

AccessEngineering This link opens in a new window
E-versions of McGraw-Hill books. Includes standard handbooks such as "Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook," "Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain," & "Mark's Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers."
Updated regularly. Provides access to hundreds of McGraw Hill handbooks, textbooks and monographs across all engineering fields, a materials properties visualization tool, downloadable spreadsheets, and instructional videos.
Aerospace Structural Metals Database (ASMD) This link opens in a new window
"Materials properties of high strength, lightweight alloys . . . more than 93,600 data curves and over 17,300 pages of critically evaluated information on over 254 alloys used in the aerospace and other industries."
Updated annually with the addition of selected new alloys. Contains approximately 80,000 data curves on over 200 alloys used in the aerospace and other industries. Physical, chemical, and mechanical properties are included, along with fabrication and other information for engineering design.
Developed by CINDAS LLC and provided through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the United States Air Force.
ASHRAE (American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) Standards This link opens in a new window
As a source for ASHRAE Handbooks. Includes the current versions of I-P and SI editions of the Fundamentals, HVAC Applications, HVAC Systems and Equipment, and Refrigeration.
1.Click on Engineering Workbench; 2.Search for the handbook you want; for example, "ashrae handbook si fundamentals."
Older volumes may be found in print using the library catalog.
Updated regularly. Engineering Workbench provides electronic full-text access of current ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers) standards. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers publishes standards for commercial testing methods and performance criteria pertinent to the refrigeration process as well as design and maintenance of indoor environments. Three types of standards are available: method of measurement or test, standard design, and standard practice.
ASHRAE standards are used by designers, manufacturers and installers of heating, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment. They are also used by architects and mechanical engineers to specify equipment.
ASM (American Society for Metals) Alloy Center This link opens in a new window
"Ferrous and nonferrous alloy data, including worldwide equivalencies for alloys, mechanical, physical and chemical property data, coatings data, and corrosion characteristics in various environments. Includes material datasheets from Alloy Digest and other ASM publications, heat treating data sheets from the Heat Treater's Guides, stress-strain curves, creep curves, time-temperature curves and other engineering graphs for thousands of alloy designations."
Updated regularly. Includes ASM property data, performance charts, and processing guidelines for specific metals and alloys.
Part of ASM Materials Information which includes the ASM Handbooks Online and the ASM Phase Diagrams.
ASM (American Society for Metals) Handbooks Online This link opens in a new window
Encyclopedic coverage of the structure, properties, processing, performance, and evaluation of metals and nonmetallic engineering materials. Topics from the extensive database of the ASM, formerly the American Society for Metals.
Updated regularly. Includes the complete content of all twenty volumes of the ASM Handbook plus two ASM Desk Editions.
Part of ASM Materials Information which includes the ASM Alloy Center Online and the ASM Phase Diagrams.
CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics This link opens in a new window
The standard handbook for chemical properties, plus other basics for supporting scientific work.
A first-stop reference source containing a wealth of basic chemical and physical data for compounds, as well as many other useful tables, constants and formulas, and definitions in the physical sciences.
Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology This link opens in a new window
For all areas of engineering.
Contains authoritative articles on chemical substances—including their properties, manufacturing, and uses; industrial processes and unit operations in chemical engineering; fundamentals and scientific subjects related to the field; environmental and health issues concerning chemical technology. (Due to rising costs of scholarly information and a diminished collection budget, this resource was recently evaluated. We will continue to have access to this resource but articles that are updated after January 2018 will not be available to us.)
Material Connexion This link opens in a new window
Find sustainable materials for design and for construction. Inspiration included.
Material Connexion is the world’s leading material resource allowing users to browse thousands of innovative and sustainable materials from over 6000 manufacturers, learn about trending topics in materials, and source materials for projects.
Microelectronics and Composite Materials Database (MCMD) This link opens in a new window
Properties for electronics packaging materials.
This database is the upgraded and expanded version of the MPMD. It contains everything in the MPMD plus much new data on more than 200 composite materials, including ceramic matrix composites, both particulate and whisker reinforced as well as GLARE materials (Glass Laminate Aluminum Reinforced Epoxy also known as GLAss REinforced laminate). The MCMD includes 1,550 new data sets, with 4,629 additional curves.
NIST Chemistry WebBook This link opens in a new window
Chemical and physical property data.
Updated regularly. Provides users with easy access to reliable chemical and physical property data (thermochemical, thermophysical, and ion energetics) for chemical species. The data provided in the site are from collections maintained by the NIST Standard Reference Data Program and outside contributors. Data in the WebBook system are organized by chemical species.
Statista This link opens in a new window
Statistical data from reliable sources including government agencies and industry groups. Searchable and downloadable.
Statista provides statistical data from thousands of institutions and sources. It provides access to data from market and opinion research institutions, as well as from business organizations and government agencies.
Statista includes data on more than 85,000 topics from 18,000 sources. About 20 percent of the total data in Statista comes from sources available free online, such as the World Bank and the U.S. Census, but the data also includes numerous exclusive sources which include industry, marketing, and trade groups. Much of the data is related to marketing, demographic, government and industry information, and is international in scope. Data can be downloaded in JPG, PowerPoint and Excel.
While historical and time series data are not a focus of Statista, the metadata about each table provides all the necessary information to go to the table’s source, where historical information may be available.
Thermophysical Properties of Matter Database (TPMD) This link opens in a new window
The TPMD contains data and information on thermophysical properties for over 5,000 materials categorized into 85 material groups, 107 properties, and with over 51,700 data curves.
Updated regularly. Covers 60 properties of nearly 5000 inorganic, metal, and composite materials and alloys, totaling nearly 50,000 data curves and 21,000 data sets. Browse or search by material or property.

Google Books

Google Book Search This link opens in a new window
Allows searching the text of books to identify material that would otherwise remain hidden. If the text excerpt is not enough, check the library catalog for the book.
Updated daily. Searches complete text of books from selected library collections and publishers. Search works just like a regular Google search -- when book content contains a match for selected search terms, Google provides links to it in the search results. Depending on a few factors, Google displays everything from a few short excerpts to the entire book.

Each book includes an "About this book" page with basic bibliographic data like title, author, publication date, length and subject. For some books, additional information like key terms and phrases, references to the book from scholarly publications or other books, chapter titles and a list of related books.

Interlibrary Services

Interlibrary Loan & Scanning
Staff in this department provide interlibrary loan service (obtaining copies of books) and also provide the scan service (obtaining copies of papers and book chapters). If needed, they arrange for the purchase of material.