Librarians may not be available during all open hours but will answer ASAP.
ALUMNI RESOURCES
Congratulations! You have graduated and accomplished your goal!
You do not have access to library services and databases once you graduate, but we still want to support your lifelong professional and personal learning.
We have collected these open access resources that are free to you.
- Directory of Open Access Books This link opens in a new windowA collection of nearly 1,500 free, peer-reviewed ebooks covering a wide range of topics in the humanities and social sciences.
- Directory of Open Access Journals This link opens in a new windowA searchable database of full-text, quality-controlled scientific and scholarly journals, covering all subjects in many languages.
- EBSCO Open Dissertations This link opens in a new windowEBSCO Open Dissertations now includes the content from American Doctoral Dissertations. It is a free database with records for more than 1.4 million electronic theses and dissertations from more than 320 universities around the world.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowGoogle Scholar offers a simple way to broadly search online for scholarly literature available from academic publishers, universities, professional societies, etc. Enter "Indiana Wesleyan" under Library Links to see material available for free at IWU.
- SpringerOpen This link opens in a new windowFreely available works in all areas of science, technology, medicine, the humanities, and social sciences. SpringerOpen has high-level peer-review and production processes that guarantee the quality and reliability of the work. Browse journals by title or subject.
- Dictionary of Open Access Books This link opens in a new windowDOAB is a community-driven discovery service that indexes and provides access to scholarly, peer-reviewed open access books and helps users to find trusted open access book publishers. All DOAB services are free of charge and all data is freely available.
- Dictionary of Open Access Journals This link opens in a new windowDOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high-quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals.
- EBSCO Open Dissertations This link opens in a new windowEBSCO Open Dissertations now includes the content from American Doctoral Dissertations. It is a free database with records for more than 1.4 million electronic theses and dissertations from more than 320 universities around the world.
- Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)ERIC is an online library of education research and information, sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowGoogle Scholar offers a simple way to broadly search online for scholarly literature available from academic publishers, universities, professional societies, etc. Enter "Indiana Wesleyan" under Library Links to see material available for free at IWU.
- MERLOT This link opens in a new windowThe MERLOT collection consists of tens of thousands of discipline-specific learning materials, learning exercises, and Content Builder webpages, together with associated comments, and bookmark collections, all intended to enhance the teaching experience of using a learning material.
- SpringerOpen This link opens in a new windowFreely available works in all areas of science, technology, medicine, the humanities, and social sciences. SpringerOpen has high-level peer-review and production processes that guarantee the quality and reliability of the work. Browse journals by title or subject.
- Learning NurseIf you’re looking for a simple way to study or simply find out more information, LearningNurse.org is a free, online resource network filled with free modules, tests, apps, videos and much more. They even have an online nursing library!
- Manuel’s Web Nursing CalculatorFrom conversion to clinical to drug calculators, this site features any calculator you may need as a nursing student for quick reference.
- Nurse.comAs a nurse, staying up-to-date with the latest news and career opportunities within the competitive and always changing field is crucial. Nurse.com has a useful news section and a jobs section where nurses can check out what’s new.
- PubMed CentralPubMed Central® (PMC) is a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM).
- RxListStudent nurses need to know about prescription drugs. Physical drug guides are big and bulky, and it could take a while for you to find the drug you’re looking for. RxList has a search bar function, which allows nurses to quickly search any drug they need the down low on.
- SpringerOpen This link opens in a new windowFreely available works in all areas of science, technology, medicine, the humanities, and social sciences. SpringerOpen has high-level peer-review and production processes that guarantee the quality and reliability of the work. Browse journals by title or subject.
Bible and Bible Reference Works
- 2LetterLookupA tool for searching lexicons for Biblical studies, including Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Arabic etc.
- Bible Web AppOnline Bible study application with features for studying Greek (SBL) and Hebrew (WLC) developed by Digital Bible Society. You can view multiple translations and languages side by side.
- Bible Gateway This link opens in a new windowOver 170 versions of the Bible in 69 languages, including Greek, Hebrew, and over 40 in English. Search by keyword, phrase, Scripture reference, or topic. Also offers the Asbury Bible Commentary, an evangelical Wesleyan commentary.
- Blue Letter Bible This link opens in a new windowStandard Bible translations linked to Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic lexicons, multimedia commentaries, dictionaries, concordances, encyclopedias, and Spanish Language resources.
- Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English LexiconBased on the 1906 edition originally published by Clarendon Press: Oxford.
- The Complete Tanakh (Chabad.org)English translation of the entire Tanakh with Rashi's commentary. This Hebrew Bible was edited by esteemed translator and scholar, Rabbi A.J. Rosenberg
- German Bible SocietyThe official site of the German Bible Society. Access the Scriptures in Greek, Hebrew and Latin. The site has the text of the Biblica Hebraica Suttgartensia (BHS), Novum Testum Graece (ed. Nestle-Aland, NA 28), UBS Greek New Testament, Septuagint (ed. Rahlfs/Hanhart) and Vulgate (ed. Weber/Gryson) online.
- The Online Liddell-Scott-Jones Greek-English LexiconThe full version of the Lidell-Scott-Jones Greek-English Lexicon, commonly called The Great Scott, is available online for free. You need to register for a free account to acess the lexicons.
- Open Access Digital Theological Library This link opens in a new windowThe Open Access Digital Theological Library (OADTL) curates high-quality content in religious studies and related disciplines from publisher websites, institutional repositories, scholarly societies, archives, and stable public domain collections.
- Society of Biblical Literature Greek New TestamentSBL and Logos Bible Software have partnered together to offer the SBL’s Greek New Testament as a free download. This is an excellent free Green New Testament for those who do not always have an internet connection.
- STEP BibleSTEP - Scripture Tools for Every Person a robust free online Bible study tool from Tyndale House, Cambridge.
Church History
- Center for Reformed Theology and ApologeticsThe Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics has a number of historical documents from the Reformed Tradition, as well as the Ancient Creeds.
- Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) This link opens in a new windowThe Christian Classics Ethereal Library is a digital library that provides free electronic copies of Christian scripture and literature texts.
- BiblIndexBiblIndex is an index of biblical references found in early Christian literature, both Western and Eastern texts, so far covering the first three centuries, along with part of the following century. BiblIndex lets users search for references to specific passages in the Church Fathers and compare biblical text with the Bible correspondences.
- Early Christian WritingsEarly Christian Writings has English translations of Christian documents from the first three centuries of the C.E. The documents are arranged chronologically.
- Fourth Century ChristianityFourth Century Christianity, which is maintained by Wisconsin Lutheran College, has a host of resources for studying the Church in the fourth century C.E. There are a number of primary texts, along with a plethora of secondary materials.
Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
- Dictionary of Targumim, Talmud, and Midrashic LiteratureThe Dictionary of Targumim, Talmud, and Midrashich Literature by Marcus Jastrow, a lexicon for Rabbinic Hebrew, is available online from Tyndale.
- Encyclopedia of Religion and SocietyThe Encyclopedia of Religion and Society, a standard reference work, is also available online for free.
- International Standard Bible EncyclopediaThe International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, also known as the ISBE provides detailed information on the language and literature of the Bible world, their cultures and the historical and religious environments of the people of the Bible
Language (Dictionaries, Grammars, etc.)
- 2LetterLookupA tool for searching lexicons for Biblical studies, including Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Arabic etc.
- Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English LexiconBased on the 1906 edition originally published by Clarendon Press: Oxford.
- Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon ProjectThe CAL is a text base of the Aramaic texts in all dialects from the earliest (9th Century BCE) through the 13th Century CE, currently with a database of approximately 3 million lexically parsed words, and an associated set of electronic tools for analyzing and manipulating the data, whose ultimate goal is the creation of a complete lexicon of the language. IT IS A WORK IN PROGRESS, not a completed dictionary.
- Teknia Greek DictionaryA free, online Greek-English dictionary developed by Dr. William Mounce (author of Basics of Biblical Greek). Each definition includes the word's semantic range, parsing information, and Strong's and GK numbers.
Biblical Archaeology
- Biblical Archaeology SocietyThe Biblical Archaeology Society (BAS) was founded in 1974 as a nonprofit, nondenominational, educational organization dedicated to disseminating information about archaeology in the Bible lands. They have many free books for download.
- Biblical Archaeology Society DigsFind A Dig lists many current archaeological digs that you can learn about.
Religious Art
- Art in the Christian TraditionA freely available, regularly updated visual image internet resource. Designed for scholars, students, pastors, and religious educators, all of the images may be used for educational and/or religious non-profit purposes. - From the Vanderbilt Divinity Library
- Art Institute of Chicago Images (Christianity)The Art Institute of Chicago is pleased to offer free, unrestricted use of over 50,000 images of works in the collection believed to be in the public domain or to which the museum otherwise waives any copyright it might have. Such images are made available under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation and the Terms and Conditions of this website.
- Everett Ferguson Photo Collection (Early Christianity)Images include those of early Christian churches, basilicas and cathedrals as well as images of modern and ancient cities and archaeological sites in Israel, Turkey, Greece, ancient Rome, and throughout Europe. The objects photographed are from exhibits at the British Museum, the Ashmolean, the Louvre and other prominent museums of Europe and the Mediterranean countries.
Preaching, Liturgy, and Worship
- RUF HymnalThe hymnal of Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) is online, and visitors can browse the hymns by author or title.
- The African American LectionaryIntended as a resource that, among other things, sheds new light on the liturgical moments of significance to most African American Christians.
- The Text This Week: Lectionary, Scripture Study, and Worship Links and ResourcesIncludes links to artwork indexed by Bible theme and movie concordance related to scripture.
- Dictionary of Open Access Books This link opens in a new windowDOAB is a community-driven discovery service that indexes and provides access to scholarly, peer-reviewed open access books and helps users to find trusted open access book publishers. All DOAB services are free of charge and all data is freely available.
- Dictionary of Open Access Journals This link opens in a new windowDOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high-quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals.
- EBSCO Open Dissertations This link opens in a new windowEBSCO Open Dissertations now includes the content from American Doctoral Dissertations. It is a free database with records for more than 1.4 million electronic theses and dissertations from more than 320 universities around the world.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowGoogle Scholar offers a simple way to broadly search online for scholarly literature available from academic publishers, universities, professional societies, etc. Enter "Indiana Wesleyan" under Library Links to see material available for free at IWU.
- GreenFile (Open Access)GreenFILE is a free research database covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more.
- SpringerOpen This link opens in a new windowFreely available works in all areas of science, technology, medicine, the humanities, and social sciences. SpringerOpen has high-level peer-review and production processes that guarantee the quality and reliability of the work. Browse journals by title or subject.
You should identify a library near you that you can use. It may be a public library or an academic library.
PUBLIC LIBRARIES
Public libraries are convenient with local access. You are eligible to get a library card at your local public library and can check out materials. Most libraries have access to online databases, eBooks, and other electronic materials.
A public library serves your entire community, so the collection will likely have information on all topics. However, there might not be in-depth coverage unless it is a large city or county library.
When you need help, ask a librarian! They will point you to digital resources or help you get an Interlibrary Loan item from another library.
ACADEMIC LIBRARIES
Every community college or university has a library to support its students, faculty, and staff. Libraries have different areas of specialization (medical, law, etc.), and you will want to determine if the library near you has a robust collection in your subject area. This can be done by visiting the library’s website and browsing their catalog.
Many academic libraries allow the local community to check out items. There are some disadvantages of academic libraries.
- Keep in mind that you may not be allowed to check out books, use certain areas of the library, use library services, have access to Wi-Fi, computers, or printers if you are not a student at that college or university. It is best to call ahead and ask what their policies are for members of the local community.
- Academic libraries often operate on limited hours when their students are on vacation (Thanksgiving, Christmas, semester breaks, and summer).
GETTING TO KNOW A LIBRARY
There are some things to consider when selecting a library where you can do research.
- Will the library’s policies allow you to work efficiently?
- Are its hours convenient?
- Will you be allowed to check out materials?
- Are copiers, printers, computers, and Wi-Fi available?
- Will the library have enough information on your topic?
You can contact the library or check their website to find more information about their policies. The library may have enough information on your topic depending on where you are in your research and what you need to accomplish that day. You can visit a library’s website and browse their catalog to see what materials they have on your subject.
There are probably several types of libraries in your vicinity, which may be helpful for research.
FINDING A LIBRARY
- State Public Libraries - Public libraries in the US
- Worldwide Directory of Libraries - Directory of major libraries around the world
- WorldCat Library Catalog - Indexes large libraries around the globe
