The research toolkit collects links that help find and organize information. It comprises select library catalogues and portals, a range of referencing and knowledge management tools, digital collections, open access directories, and academic networking tools.
The library catalogues provide bibliographic data of print and online materials and point to the libraries that can make them accessible. In general, of course, only materials that do not require a subscription are available in their entirety through library catalogues and portals.
A small selection of free web tools for the management of data, references, and other information can aide your individual and collaborative research.
Library Catalogues and Portals
Berlin/Brandenburg Region
- KOBV Portal – Regional Library Portal for Berlin and Brandenburg
- VOEBB Catalogue – union catalogue of the Association of Public Libraries in Berlin
- ZLB Digital
digital services of the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin, including Overdrive (English fiction) and Pressreader (international press) - Freie Universität Berlin Library Portal
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin – Primus Gateway
- Technische Universität Berlin und Univesität der Künste – Knowledge Portal
- Staatsbibliothek Berlin Catalogues
International
- Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog KVK
book search interface for books and serials in library and book trade catalogues worldwide - Worldcat
union catalogue that itemizes the collections of libraries and territories that participate in the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) global cooperative
- EZB Electronic Journals Library
A service to facilitate the use of scholarly journals on the internet. It offers a fast, structured and unified interface to access full-text articles online. - GoogleScholar
Web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. - ZDB Zeitschriftendatenbank
shows the way to journals, newspapers, and databases in German and Austrian libraries.
Managing Information
- BibMe
Bibliography and citation creator - DOI Citation Formatter
supports more than 5,000 different citation styles - Easybib
bibliography and citation generator - JabRef
open source bibliography reference manager - Zotero
tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research
Open Access
- BASE Bielefeld Academic Search Engine
search engine especially for academic web resources. About 60% of the indexed documents are accessible for free - DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals - OAISTER
union catalogue of open access material aggregated using the interface OAI-PMH - OpenDOAR
directory of open access repositories - Sherpa/Romeo
publisher copyright policies and self-archiving
- Open Humanities Press
publisher with a focus on Critical and Cultural Theory – radically OA - OAPEN Library
online library and publication platform. Freely accessible academic books, mainly in the area of Humanities and Social Sciences - Paperity
multidisciplinary aggregator of Open Access journals
Digital Collections and Platforms
- The British Library Catalogues and Collections
- Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek
virtual library which networks cultural and research institutions - Digitale Sammlungen der Akademie der Künste
selection of manuscripts, books, photographs, models, paintings, drawings, and audio documents from the archive of the Berlin Academy of Arts - Europeana
a single access point to millions of books, paintings, films, museum objects and archival records that have been digitized throughout Europe - Gallica
the digital library of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France - IMSLP International Music Score Library Project
virtual library of public-domain music scores - Internet Archive
free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, movies/videos, moving images, and public-domain books - Project Gutenberg
full texts of public domain books - Sound Collection Guy Schraenen
platform for Sound Art collection at Zentrum für Künstlerpublikationen Bremen - Zeno
the largest fulltext online digital library in German language - ZLB digital
digital services of the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin
Academic Networking
- Academia.edu
platform for academics to share research papers - LinkedIn
professional network - Mendeley
reference manager and academic social network
