Encyclopedias and Other Special Databases - ME 333T - Engineering Communication - LibGuides at University of Texas at Austin

Special Databases for Help in Understanding Terms and Topics

Among the library databases are products which don't index articles but instead provide topic overviews, explanations of concepts, and definitions of terms. (Additionally, this category of special databases includes products giving materials properties, statistical information, and business data.) Among those of interest for members of this class:

AccessEngineering This link opens in a new window
Includes valuable handbooks for engineers. For example, "Marks' Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers" and "Pump Handbook."
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.
ASM (American Society for Metals) Handbooks Online This link opens in a new window
Covers 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.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Use this to find background information and to help with understanding new topics.
Updated regularly. A database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources. Fully searchable across all files.

For more information on ebooks see the Ebook Guide
Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology This link opens in a new window
For all areas of engineering and chemistry, too.
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.)

A Special Database for Statistical Information

Statista This link opens in a new window
A index to (downloadable) statistical information. Includes government and industry sources.
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.