Databases and online resources

You can access materials online via our wide range of databases and digital resources, which are listed alphabetically below.

If you come across an article, journal or book online that Birkbeck Library doesn't subscribe to, you can go and access it from another library or order it via the Interlibrary loan service.

Do have a look at Free Access to Online Resources guide as it includes free-to-access content and any trials arranged for Birkbeck staff and students.

Browse our digital resources

Find databases and digital resources for your subject

If you are not sure which databases and digital resources are best for your subject, consult our Academic Subject guides.

A-Z list of databases and digital resources

U-Z

UK Data Service - you need to register before using this service. See a comprehensive list of the datasets via the 'Statistical databases' entry below.
Victorian Database
Visual Arts Data Service (VADS)
The Vogue Archive
Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900
Westlaw UK - the first time you access this you will be asked to set up a OnePass profile - you will only have to do this once. Having completed it, you will be taken through to Westlaw. Read how to access this resource via OpenAthens and the OnePass profile.
WARC (World Advertising Research Center)

NEWSPAPER DATABASES

British Periodicals
Carl Giles Trust Collection (cartoons)
FT.com - is now accessible only to BEI students, who can sign-up via their academic subject guide
European Newsstream - covers local, national, and international newspapers
Illustrated London News Historical Archive (1842-2003)
Nineteenth-Century British Newspapers
Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (NCSE)
Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Burney Collection
The South Eastern Gazette Archive (1852-1912) - access ends 1 August 2023.
The Times Digital Archive (1785-2010)
Cross-search newspaper databases:
- Artemis Primary Sources - you can cross-search all the Gale historical databases:
- British Newspapers 1600-1900 - you can cross-search Nineteenth-Century British Newspapers and the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Collection.

STATISTICAL DATABASES

Bloomberg - management and economics staff and students can access this via the Bloomberg terminal, which is near the Library helpdesk on level one and must be booked in advance. Find out how to create a Bloomberg account and how to install the Bloomberg Excel add-on.
Census data - you must register before using this resource.
Eikon and Datastream - these are only available in the Library for Birkbeck students and staff. There is one Eikon/Datastream computer located near the helpdesk on level one of the Library. Book a slot on the Eikon/Datastream computer.
Eurobarometer Surveys
European Social Survey
European Values Study
International Monetary Fund (IMF) eLibrary - no username and password required
International Social Survey Programme
London Datastore - a free and open data portal that provides over 700 datasets to help you understand the city and develop solutions to London’s problems.
UK Data Service - you need to register before using this resource. Help in using this resource is available. The following datasets are included:
- 1970 British Cohort Study
- Annual Population Survey
- British Household Panel Survey (BHPS)
- British Social Attitudes Survey
- Census data
- Citizenship Survey
- Community Life Survey
- Continuous Household Survey
- Crime Survey for England and Wales (formerly British Crime Survey)
- English Housing Survey
- English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)
- European Election Study
- European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions Datasets
- European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions
- European Working Conditions Survey
- Eurostat New Cronos
- Families and Children Study
- Family Expenditure Survey
- Family Resources Survey
- General Lifestyle Survey
- Health Survey for England
- IMF Balance of Payments Statistics
- IMF Direction of Trade Statistics
- IMF Government Finance Statistics
- IMF International Financial Statistics
- IMF World Economic Outlook
- International Energy Agency (IEA) World Energy Statistics
- Labour Force Survey
- Life Opportunities Survey
- Living Costs and Food Survey
- Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)
- National Child Development Study (NCDS)
- National Food Survey
- National Travel Survey
- Next Steps (previously known as Longitudinal Study of Young People in England)
- OECD Education Statistics
- OECD International Development (Debt and Aid) Statistics
- OECD International Direct Investment Statistics
- OECD International Migration Statistics
- OECD International Trade by Commodities Statistics (ITCS)
- OECD International Trade in Services
- OECD Main Economic Indicators
- OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators
- OECD Measuring Global Statistics
- OECD National Accounts
- OECD Social and Welfare Statistics
- OECD STructural ANalysis (STAN)
- Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (formerly ONS Opinions Survey and ONS Omnibus Survey)
- Time Use Survey
- UNIDO Demand-Supply databases
- UNIDO Industrial Statistics
- Vital Statistics
- World Bank Africa Development Indicators
- World Bank International Debt Statistics
- World Bank World Development Indicators
- Young People's Social Attitudes Survey
United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN COMTRADE)
World Values Surveys

EBOOK PACKAGES AND PLATFORMS

Here are some of the main ebook packages and platforms for individual book titles that we subscribe to. Please note that access to specific titles will depend on whether we subscribe to a particular subject collection or individual titles. For further information and help in using ebooks see our ebooks guide.
- Academic Complete UKI Multidisciplinary (via Academic Complete on the Library catalogue or via the ProQuest Ebook Central site)
- ACLS Humanities E-Books, Humanities & Social Sciences (via ACLS Humanities E-Books on the Library catalogue or via the ACLS Humanities E-Book site)
- Bloomsbury Collections (Hart Publishing 2019 and 2020) - law (via Bloomsbury Collections on the Library catalogue or via the Bloomsbury Collections site)
- Business Expert Press Business and Management (via Business Expert Press on the Library catalogue or via the Business Expert Press site)
- Cambridge Books Online Multidisciplinary (via Cambridge Books Online on the Library catalogue or via the Cambridge Books Online site)
- Cambridge Companions Online Multidisciplinary (via Cambridge Companions Online on the Library catalogue or via the Cambridge Companion Online site)
- Companion to British Literature Literature reference (via Publisher's site)
- Dawsonera Multidisciplinary, now hosted by VLebooks (Askew and Holt) (via Dawsonera on the Library catalogue). [Please note Dawsonera is no longer trading.]
- DoShorts Sustainability (via DoShorts on the Library catalogue)
- Drama Online A digital library of plays in English, from classical drama to contemporary.
- eDuke Books, Latin American Studies Cultural studies. Browse by Latin American subject under "Books".
- Early English Books Online (EEBO) via ProQuest Books printed between 1473 and 1700.
- Early English Books Online (EEBO) via JISC eCollections Historical Texts Books printed between 1473 and 1700.
- EBL Multidisciplinary (via EBL on the Library catalogue via Publisher's site, see Ebook Central below)
- Ebook Central Multidisciplinary (via ProQuest Ebook Central's site)
- ebrary Multidisciplinary (via ebrary on the Library catalogue or via Publisher's site, see Ebook Central above)
- Elgar Online Business, Organisational Psychology, Economics, and Law (via Elgar Online on the Library catalogue or via the Elgar Online site)
- IEEE Xplore Digital Library Computer Science (via IEEE Xplore on the Library catalogue or via IEEE's site)
- IGLibrary Law (via IGLibrary on the Library catalogue or via IGLibrary’s site)
- Knowledge Unlatched (via Knowledge Unlatched on the Library catalogue)
- LION - Literature Online English and American Literature.
- Manchester Medieval Sources Online Medieval History documents.
- MyiLibrary Multidisciplinary (via MyiLibrary on the Library catalogue )
- Open Book Publishers Multidisciplinary (via Open Book Publishers on the Library catalogue or via the Open Book Publishers site)
- Open Textbook Library Multidisciplinary (Open Textbook Library)
- OPEN Textbooks from SUNY Multidisciplinary (via OPEN Textbooks on the Library catalogue or via the OPEN Textbooks from SUNY site)
- Oxford Handbooks Online Archaeology, Business and Management, Classical Studies, Economics and Finance Law, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Literature, Philosophy, Psychology (via Oxford Handbooks Online on the Library catalogue or via the Oxford Handbooks Online site)
- Oxford Reference Online Multidisciplinary reference works (via Oxford Reference Online, on the Library catalogue or via the Oxford Reference Online site)
- Oxford Research Encyclopedias Multidisciplinary (via Oxford Research Encyclopedias on the Library catalogue or via the Oxford Research Encyclopedia site)
- Oxford Scholarship Online Business and Management, Classical Studies and Law, History, Philosophy, Politics (via Oxford Scholarship Online on the Library catalogue or via the Oxford Scholarship Online site)
- Past Masters Philosophy (via Past Masters on the Library catalogue or via Past Masters publisher’s site)
- Palgrave Connect Language and Linguistics, Media and Culture, Social Sciences (via Palgrave Connect on the Library catalogue or via Publisher's site, see Springer Link below)
- PEPWeb Psychoanalysis (via PEPWeb on the Library catalogue or via PEPWeb’s site)
- Routledge Handbooks Online Law, Philosophy (via Routledge Handbooks Online on the Library catalogue or via the Routledge Handbooks Online site)
- Safari Books Online Technology, digital media, and business (via Safari Books Online publisher’s site)
- Sage Handbooks Online Multidisciplinary (via Sage Handbooks Online on the Library catalogue or via Sage’s site)
- Science Direct eBooks Biochemistry, Genetics, Immunology, Microbiology, Molecular biology, Psychology (via Science Direct eBooks on the Library catalogue or via Science Direct publisher's site)
- Springer Link Computer Science, Language and Linguistics, Media and Culture, Social Sciences (via Springer Link’s site)
- Springer Protocols Science (via Springer Protocols on the Library catalogue or via Springer Protocol’s site)
- Taylor and Francis eBooks Multidisciplinary (via Taylor and Francis ebooks on the Library catalogue or via the Taylor and Francis site)
- VLebooks (Askew and Holt) multidisciplinary (via VLebooks (Askew and Holt) on the Library catalogue or via VLebooks(Askew and Holt) site)

Help with accessing digital resources

You will need to look for an OpenAthensMD link for some ejournals and a small number of databases or online resources if you are not prompted for your Birkbeck username and password.
You should always check the date of the journal article, as the Library's subscriptions are sometimes restricted to a particular date range.
For help, please contact the helpdesk. Outside of helpdesk opening hours, email us and we will get back to you as soon as the helpdesk re-opens. If you would like training to use digital resources more skillfully, please contact your subject librarian.
If you have difficulty accessing our digital resources via Discover (articles and more) or the above A-Z lists, you can try logging in via the Proxy Server. Alternatively, please contact us (eresources).

Accessibility statements of third-party content

The Library web pages are covered by the Birkbeck, University of London Accessibility Statement.
This web page and other Library web pages may contain third-party content. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the accessibility of this content, but we make best endeavours to work with the third party to improve its accessibility. This may include:
- Links to non-Birkbeck, University of London websites
- Content hosted on other websites, such as social media and digital and online resources:
See our Accessibility Statement links for third-party content of our Digital and Online Resources
See our ebook providers' Accessibility Statements, in our eBooks guide
These will be updated regularly.
To help accessibility compliance across the sector, Birkbeck Library supports searchBOX, a centralised, independent directory of third-party accessibility information.
searchBOX catalogues the contact information and accessibility statements of third-party suppliers enables the sharing of community-generated accessibility statements and allows users to map their supplier ecosystem. Birkbeck Library encourages all our partners and suppliers to support this effort by ensuring that their accessibility information is included in the searchBOX directory.
Users may directly source third-party accessibility statements using the free searchBOX Finder service.