Searching for resources
There are two key library catalogues you may use when studying at Cambridge:
- Girton Library catalogue (Heritage) – search Girton Library’s collection and see if items are available or already on loan. See our eGuide for further information.
- iDiscover – to search across the University’s print and electronic collections (including books, eBooks, journals, newspapers, articles and much more). Most, but not all, of Girton’s collection can be found here. See our iDiscover: eGuide for further information.
You will be able to borrow from Girton’s Main Library and the University Library. A useful subject specific library is the Department of Psychology Library. However, there may be other libraries within Cambridge which stock useful resources. For a full list of the Cambridge libraries see the directory and check each library for access guidelines.
Search Spacefinder to find places of study outside of College.
Subject-specific resources
For information on searching general databases and journals see our eGuide: Beyond books: finding articles and journals. To find links to specific databases and journals see the eresources and ejournals LibGuide. Relevant resources can also be found within subject Psychology LibGuide. Some key resources include:
PsycINFO Produced by the American Psychological Association, PsycINFO is an electronic bibliographic database providing abstracts and citations to the scholarly literature in the psychological, social, behavioural, and health sciences. There is a tick-box to limit search results to human psychology.
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences IBSS contains bibliographic information from an international selection of publications (including over 2800 journals) in the fields of economics, political science, sociology, and anthropology.
ASSIA: Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts Covering a range of subjects within health and social sciences, ASSIA contains records from over 500 journals.
International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences This contains 4000 articles which can be browsed thematically, alphabetically or by an author and is the online edition of the 26-volume printed Encyclopedia.
Finding ebooks
You can find most of the university’s ebooks via iDiscover. To understand what an ebook is, and what ebooks are available – read Introduction to ebooks. For help with searching for ebooks read Finding and using ebooks.
Other Websites
For information on searching for websites, see Effective internet searching. An introduction to using the web, aimed specifically at psychology students, is available from the Virtual Training Suite.
- Oxford Bibliographies: Psychology
- Oxford Scholarship Online
- SAGE Research Methods Online
- Scopus
- Web of Science
- DSM-5 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
- BNA List
- Oxford Handbooks Online To browse the Psychology collection, click on the link to Psychology at the top of the Oxford Handbooks Online homepage.
- Oxford Very Short Introductions Click on ‘Browse by subject’ and you will find a link to VSO Psychology and Neuroscience books under ‘Science and Mathematics’.If you create a personal profile (top right) you can annotate VSI content. Further details here.