How To Find Out in the Built Environment

This guide is aimed primarily at students and staff of Heriot-Watt University, however it may also be of use to anyone looking for printed or electronic information on the Built Environment.

Whilst all networked resources mentioned are accessible from Heriot-Watt campus, accessibility from off-campus may vary. For Distance Learning and Off Campus Access, see: http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/distance.html. Details of the Heriot-Watt Virtual Private Network (HW Connectra VPN) service, which is the best way to access materials from off-campus, are at: http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/hwvpn.html

Whether you're looking for information for a project or dissertation, or just some facts, figures, or addresses, this guide should point you in the right direction. The guide is not exhaustive, but the main sources of information, and especially those available in Heriot-Watt University Library, are listed. Other useful sources on related subjects may be found in the various other How to Find Out guides published by the Library.

A large number of sources of information are detailed in this guide. Depending on your needs, you may only need to consult one or two of the most appropriate sources in order to find some references on your topic.

Remember that when you use a subscription-based service or database, you may print or download a reasonable quantity of information for your personal, non-commercial use. You may not systematically print or download substantial quantities, or distribute information to unauthorized third parties.

Summaries, general information, etc
Encyclopaedias, books, and scientific reviews may give you enough information. There are sections on each of these sources in the following pages.

Detailed information
The best sources of more detailed information are usually articles appearing in periodicals, published conference proceedings, reports, and sometimes patents or standards. There are sections on how to find all of these.

There are various ways of searching the literature for information on a topic. It is worth thinking about exactly what you are looking for, and where you are most likely to find it. If you need help at any point in this process, contact your Subject Librarian. It may be worth taking the following steps:

810.61 RUD
Rudestam. Surviving your dissertation: A comprehensive guide to content and process

371.3 WAL
Walliman. Your research project: a step-by-step guide for the first time researcher

810.61 SIL
Silyn-Roberts. Writing for science: a practical handbook for science, engineering and technology students

Remember! If you have any problems with your literature search, ask a member of the Library staff for help.

Note all references in full as you find them, even if you are not sure how useful they might be. Also, keep a note of where you find your references - you may need this if you apply for an inter-library loan. Keep your references in a database or notebook, or use services such as CiteUlike or EndNoteWeb. If you take a photocopy, make sure that you keep a note of the periodical title and volume number, or book details, from which it was taken, in case you wish to cite it. It can be very difficult to check back later.

The correct reference for a book includes author, initials, title, edition (if not first), place of publication, publisher and year of publication. e.g.

The correct reference for a periodical article includes author and title of article, periodical title, volume and part number, year and pages, e.g.

British Standard BS 1629:1989. Recommendations for references to published materials.

British Standard BS 5605:1990. Recommendations for citing and referencing material.

List of style manuals
http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/manual.html
This has information on MLA, used in English and the humanities; APA, used in psychology and the social sciences; Chicago, used in history and some humanities; and CSE, used in biology and other sciences.

Quick Reference
810.61 LI
Li. Electronic styles: a handbook for citing electronic information.

You may want to use a guidebook to get a broad overview of the available information sources. These published guides give sources of information on particular subjects, just like this How to Find Out guide. They may be more comprehensive, and will list sources not necessarily held in Heriot-Watt University Library.

Quick Reference
016.5 HUR
Hurt. Information sources in science and technology

Quick Reference
720 NUR
Nurcombe. Information sources in architecture and construction

Quick Reference
690 LOY
Loyd. Information sources in building services

Quick Reference
620 SCA
Scanlon. Guide to information in engineering project management

Encyclopaedias and dictionaries are useful for getting a basic outline of a subject, and for finding keywords and subject terms which can be used when searching other sources. Examples are:

Quick Reference
503 MCG
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology

Quick Reference
690 COW
Cowan. Dictionary of architectural and building technology

691 MOA
Moavenzadeh. Concise encyclopedia of building and construction materials

If you're looking for specific data, the following handbooks may provide the information you need:

Quick Reference
690 BLA
Black. Builders reference book.
A general reference guide to sources of information relevant to the building industry, legislation affecting it, standards of workmanship and materials, and methods.

Quick Reference
690 PER
Perry. Building systems reference guide.
A reference guide for design, operation, and maintenance.

To find books on a subject you can look in the catalogues of various libraries, or in general or subject-specific bibliographies. It is a good idea to work outwards from those immediately available to those that may have to be obtained elsewhere or through Inter-Library Loans.

Heriot-Watt Library Catalogue
To find out what is available in Heriot-Watt University Library, use the catalogue and follow the instructions which appear on the screen. Books on the built environment may be shelved at a variety of classnumbers, including 690 and 711. It is usually better to use the catalogue than to browse round the shelves.

Other library catalogues
You can search the catalogues of the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh University Library and many other university libraries. See our Other Library Catalogues page.

Google Book Search
http://books.google.co.uk/
Search the full text of books to find ones that interest you.

British Library Integrated Catalogue
http://catalogue.bl.uk
The on-line catalogue of the UK's national library.

Amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.co.uk/
The UK branch of the well-known Internet bookshop has a searchable database of books in print.

BRE Bookshop
http://www.brebookshop.com/
This online bookshop from the BRE contains details of 40,000 publications from publishers and professional organisations

If you find details of a book you wish to read, but it is unavailable either in Heriot-Watt Library or in a local library, you may wish to use the Inter-Library Loans Service to get hold of it. This allows us to find another library which has the book, and borrow it for you to consult for a short period. Ask for more details at the Inter-Library Loans desk.

Indexes of Journals
The number of different journal titles is enormous, but they are an excellent source of up to date information. To find out which periodicals are published in your subject area use the guidebooks mentioned earlier, and also:

PubList.com
http://www.publist.com/
PubList.com is an excellent comprehensive directory of information about more than 150,000 publications and more than 8000 newspapers around the world.

Genamics JournalSeek
http://journalseek.net/index.htm
Genamics JournalSeek is the largest completely categorized database of freely available journal information available on the internet.

jake: jointly administered knowledge environment
http://jake.openly.com/
jake can be used to find where a journal is indexed.

SUNCAT
http://www.suncat.ac.uk/
The Serials UNion CATalogue for the UK research community is a free tool to help researchers and librarians locate serials held in the UK. The catalogue contains information on both print and electronic serials, including journals, periodicals, newspapers, newsletters, magazines, proceedings, annual reports and other publications of a continuing nature.

Journal Citation Reports
Accessed via: ISI Web of Knowledge
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/websci.html
Journal Citation Reports is a comprehensive and unique resource that allows you to evaluate and compare journals using citation data drawn from over 7,500 scholarly and technical journals from more than 3,300 publishers in over 60 countries. It is the only source of citation data on journals, and includes virtually all areas of science, technology, and social sciences.

Quick Reference
011.05 DIR
Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists

Engineering E-journal Search Engine
http://www.eevl.ac.uk/eese/
This indexes free full text e-journals in engineering

Heriot-Watt University Library periodicals and electronic journals
Built Environment journals available in Heriot-Watt University Library are listed in our Journals List and also the Catalogue. Print Built Environment journals are normally shelved at 690 on Level 4 but relevant periodicals may be shelved in other sections.

A Selection of Built Environment industry news and trade journals
Some of the journals which give the news of the construction industry, with information on business and companies, are listed below. Find others through our Journals List which lists electronic and print journals.

There are many periodicals of a more academic nature. Some relevant titles are listed below, but more will be found through our Journals List which lists electronic and print journals.

In addition over 1,000 Elsevier Science journals are available, including:the the following which are of interest to Building Engineering and Surveying:

ScienceDirect
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/scidir.html
Advanced Cement Based Materials
Advances in Engineering Software
Applied Acoustics
Applied Ocean Research
Automation in Construction
Building and Environment
Cement and Concrete Composites
Cement and Concrete Research
Cities
Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering
Computers and Geotechnics
Computers & Structures
Construction and Building Materials
Design Studies
Ecological Engineering
Energy and Buildings
Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements
Engineering Failure Analysis
Engineering Fracture Mechanics
Engineering Structures
Envoronmental Impact Assessment Review
Finite Elements in Analysis and Design
Fire Safety Journal
Fusion Engineering and Design
Geotextiles and Geomembranes
International Journal of Fatigue
International Journal of Impact Engineering
International Journal of Project Management
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science & Geomechanics Abstracts
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
International Journal of Solids and Structures
Journal of Constructional Steel Research
Journal of Hazardous Materials
Journal of Safety Research
Journal of Terramechanics
Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics
Landscape and Urban Planning
Marine Structures
Mechanics of Materials
Mechanics Research Communications
Progress in Planning
Socio-Economic Planning Sciences
Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering
Solar Energy
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
Structural Safety
Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics
Thin-Walled Structures
Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology

Business Source Elite
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/ebsco.html
Provides access to the full text of over 1,000 academic and general business periodicals which includes approximately 450 peer-reviewed publications. In addition to this, Business Source Elite provides bibliographic information and abstracts for articles in approximately 1,800 journals.

Periodicals in other Libraries
If a relevant title is not held, it may be possible to obtain it elsewhere in Edinburgh, in the National Library of Scotland, or in Edinburgh University Library. Lists of periodicals held in these libraries are kept at the Inter Library Loans desk, and their holdings are also available through SALSER (Scottish Academic Libraries Serials).

This service covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals. It aims to cover all subjects and languages. There are over 1000 journals in the directory covering all subjects.

It is very difficult to read or scan all new publications appearing in any subject area. For those, such as lecturers and postgraduates undertaking research, who need to know on a regular basis what is being published in their areas of interest, there are various tools which can help.

To find out what new resources have been made available on the Internet, look in:

There are many sources for finding articles which have been published on any topic. If you need help in using any of them, or if you do not know how to find and use the electronic sources, please contact a Subject Librarian.

Some of the sources listed in the following sections will overlap in coverage with others, but each also index unique items. Depending on how complete you want your search to be, you may need to look in several sources.

If you find details of an article you wish to read, but it is unavailable either electronically or in Heriot-Watt University Library, you may wish to use the Inter-Library Loans Service to get hold of it.

Some of these services use the ATHENS authentication service to control access, and you may need to first register with ATHENS. To do this, ask at the Library Service Desk for an ATHENS username and password. You will be given an ATHENS leaflet with instructions on how to create a personal account. Some other services require different usernames and passwords, and yet more are freely available.

Google Scholar
http://scholar.google.com/
Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.

CSA Illumina
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/csa.html
CSA provide access to a number of databases which index many thousands of journals. Some of these databases are mentioned separately in the list below. They can be cross-searched at the same time through the CSA Illumina service.

ZETOC
http://zetoc.mimas.ac.uk/
With almost 15 million article and conference records, this database covers every imaginable subject in science, technology, medicine, engineering, business, law, finance and the humanities.

ScienceDirect
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/scidir.html
The ScienceDirect service is a Web database for scientific research that contains the full text of more than 1,000 Elsevier Science journals in the life, physical, medical, technical, and social sciences available through the Internet. The database of more than 1.7 million references can be searched.

Ingenta
http://www.ingenta.com/
This service is a large journal article database which includes fax and online delivery options. It gives free access to the article summaries of over 28,000 publications, and the full-text of some publications. It covers all disciplines.

ISI Web of Knowledge
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/websci.html
The Web of Knowledge is an online information service which provides access to several multidisciplinary databases: via ISI Web of Science there is the Science Citation Index (1981 onwards), Social Sciences Citation Index (1981 onwards), Arts and Humanities Citation Index (1981 onwards). The Web of Science databases give access to details of periodical literature (i.e. articles), details of papers which have been presented at conferences, and details of some reports and letters which have appeared in the periodicals indexed. You can search the databases using a variety of different fields such as topic, titles, authors, journal titles, author's addresses, and so on.

Engineering Village 2/ Compendex
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/compend.html
Compendex, available through the Engineering Village 2, is the most comprehensive interdisciplinary engineering information database in the world, with over 8 million summaries of journal articles and conference proceedings. It indexes over 5,000 international publications on most engineering subjects. It includes abstracts (summaries) of the contents of articles. Coverage includes literature from all major engineering societies, commercial publishers and research and development organisations, as well as from university presses and government agencies.

Applied Science and Technology Full Text
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/asti.html
Indexes 335 international English language periodicals in the applied sciences and technology, including air conditioning and heating, the construction industry, and acoustics.

Abstracts in New Technologies and Engineering (ANTE)
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/csa.html
Indexes 450 technical and applied science journals, with an emphasis on UK publications.
Accessed via CSA Illumina

TechXtra Xtra
http://www.techxtra.ac.uk/
Find articles from numerous databases via TechXtra which indexes over 4 million items.

informaworld
http://www.informaworld.com/
This is a service from Taylor & Francis which gives access to several titles covering property management, urban development, etc.

MetaPress
http://www.metapress.com/
You can search several thousand scholarly publications from numerous leading publishers at this site.

ICONDA (International Construction DAtabase)
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/iconda.html
Contains 300,000 citations to the worldwide literature on urban and regional planning, construction, and civil engineering. Covers structural engineering, construction equipment and materials, project management, building maintenance, financial planning, bridges, etc.

Construction and Building Abstracts (CBA)
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/cbaweb.html
This is an excellent database which indexes over 200 journals of interest to the construction industry. It covers planning, civil engineering and construction technology, and architecture, including the entire process from briefing, design, construction, maintenence and rehabilitation, to demolition of structures. Also covered are topics such as marketing, quality assurance, legislation and health and safety, law and management when they relate to the construction industry. CBA concentrates on UK sources, and is co-produced by Ove Arup Partnership.

RICS Library Direct
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/rics.html
The RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) Library Direct service provides Internet access to the RICS Library catalogue. It indexes over 65,000 items held in the Library, including books, RICS publications and guidance notes, articles, law cases, video and audio tapes, property market reports, and statutory publications. It covers such subjects as building and construction (contracts, control, defects and failure, projects, rehabilitation, services, etc.), commercial property, energy, housing, project management, quantity surveying, rating and valuation, urban renewal, etc.

ICE Virtual Library
http://www.iceknowledge.com/payperview/index.asp
The ICE's Virtual Library gives access to the largest repository of full text civil engineering papers in the world. From here you can search the ICE's archive of technical papers from 1836 to the present day, viewing papers (available on a pay per view basis) on screen in fully printable form.

CSA / ASCE Civil Engineering Abstracts
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/csa.html
Covers civil engineering and its complementary fields. Sources covered include over 3,000 periodicals, conference proceedings, technical reports, trade journal/newsletter items, patents, books, and press releases.
Accessed via CSA Illumina

ASCE's Civil Engineering Database
http://www.asce.org/publications/cedatabase.cfm
The Civil Engineering Database (CEDB) provides access to over 90,000 bibliographic and abstracted records. It is designed to provide easy bibliographic access to all ASCE publications. The database covers ASCE documents published since 1973. It provides access to all the ASCE journals, conference proceedings, books, standards, manuals, magazines, and newsletters. The database can be searched by a variety of fields. Topics covered include: aerospace engineering, architectural engineering, bridges, cold regions, computer practices, construction, earthquake engineering, education, engineering mechanics, environmental engineering, forensic engineering, geotechnical engineering, highways, hydrology, hydraulics, irrigation and drainage, management, materials engineering, structural engineering, transportation, urban planning, water resources, waterway, port, coastal and ocean engineering.

Emerald Fulltext
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/emerald.html
This database indexes and provides full text access to over 100 journals covering a spectrum of management disciplines plus a number of engineering, applied science and technology titles including ones on property management and TQM.

Construction Information Service
CIS provides fundamental industry information and legislation, as well as additional sector material.
Access via the SBE Resource Centre

CSA Social Sciences
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/csa.html
CSA provide access to a number of databases in the subject area of Social Science, including Sociological Abstracts and Social Services Abstracts. These databases cover international publications including journals and other serials publications, plus conference papers, books, and dissertations. Major subject areas include: Community development; Culture and social structure; Demography and human biology; Environmental interactions; Evaluation research; Family and social welfare; History and theory of sociology; Management and complex organizations; Mass phenomena and political interactions; Methodology and research technology; Policy, planning, forecast and speculation; Radical sociology; Rural and urban sociology; Economic development; Social development; Social differentiation; Social psychology, group interaction, poverty and homelessness.
Accessed via CSA Illumina

CSA Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/csa.html
Subject areas covered include: Air quality; Environmental engineering; Environmental impact statements (U.S.); Hazardous waste; Pollution (land, air, water, noise, solid waste, radioactive); Risk assessment; Safety science; Toxicology & toxic emissions; Water pollution; Waste management; and Water resource issues.
Accessed via CSA Illumina

IBSS: International Bibliography of the Social Sciences
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/ibss.html
The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences.
IBSS is one of the largest and most comprehensive social science datasets in the world, covering core disciplines of economics, sociology, politics and anthropology. It contains bibliographic references (but not abstracts) of articles, reports, papers, discussions, editorials, notes, reviews and other items from over 2,300 regularly covered journals, 1,000 less regularly covered journals and 6000 books per year.

British Humanities Index
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/csa.html
Indexes newspapers and periodicals in the humanities with selected non-specialist articles in science and technology. Several construction titles are indexed, and this is a good source of current affairs information.
Accessed via CSA Illumina

Edinburgh College of Art: Environmental Studies Library
APId (Architectural Publications Index on disc)
APId is the electronic equivalent of the printed Architectural Publications Index which is produced by the British Architectural Library at the Royal Institute of British Architects. APId indexes articles from over 400 periodicals on architecture published in some 45 countries from 1978 onwards. The subject coverage of APId includes every aspect of architecture and allied arts, both current and historical, together with construction technology, interior design, environmental studies, landscape, planning, conservation and urban history.

Edinburgh College of Art: Environmental Studies Library
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
The Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals is one of several networked databases accessible to staff and students of Edinburgh College of Art via the Library's ECALIN (ECA Library Information Network) service. The Avery Index database is a comprehensive index to the current literature of architecture and design, produced at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University. The database indexes over 700 international periodicals (from 1977 onwards), more than 75% of which are not indexed elsewhere. Subjects covered include architectural and interior design, history and practice of architecture, city planning, landscape architecture and historical preservation.

Engineering E-journal Search Engine
http://www.eevl.ac.uk/eese/
The Engineering E-journal Search Engine searches the full text of over 150 engineering e-journals

Urbadisc
Contains various databases, including Acompline and Urbaline. This is an excellent source for urban planning and policy in the UK and Europe. All aspects of urban studies and policies are covered, including town and country planning, sociology, population, housing, social planning and servives, traffic engineering, transportation, and local government. Material indexed in the database includes books and journals, statistics, reports, government publications, theses, etc. This database is available on CD-ROM. To use it, ask at the Library Service Desk.

Environment Abstracts
This provides access to nearly 250,000 citations taken from around 800 core sources, including journals, newspapers, reports, and conference proceedings. Subject covered include air and water pollution, waste management, solid toxic wastes, recycling, renewable energy sources, toxicological effects, and redediation and control technologies. Also included is the Energyline database covering technical and policy-orientated energy issues. This database is available on CD-ROM. To use it, ask at the Library Service Desk.

School of the Built Environment Resource Centre
Planning Exchange: Planex
A database compiled by the IDOX Information Service covering all subject areas of local polict and governance.
Access is available via Margaret Inglis, SBE Resource Centre

School of the Built Environment Resource Centre
Barbour Property & Facilities Manager
A full text database that covers technical information, legislation, journal articles, etc.

ABS (level 4)
Abstracts and Reviews: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
Subscription ceased 2004. Produced by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, this monthly publication with separate annual indexes covers such subjects as Building and construction (contracts, control, defects and failure, projects, rehabilitation, services, etc.), commercial property, energy, housing, project management, quantity surveying, rating and valuation, urban renewal, etc. Also available as a networked dataset.

ABS (Level 4)
Acoustics Abstracts
Subscription ceased 1999. Covers fundamental acoustics, diagnostic techniques, measurements, noise, architectural acoustics, vibration and shock, etc. Part A indexes over 400 periodicals, and Part B covers a few core journals.

ABS (Level 1)
British Humanities Index
Subscription ceased 2005. Indexes newspapers and periodicals in the humanities with selected non-specialist articles in science and technology. Several construction titles are indexed, and this is a good source of current affairs information.

Other databases of a more general nature can assist in searches for conference papers, dissertations, reports etc. For more details contact the Subject Librarians.

Digital Repositories are collections of electronic documents. They are sometimes called e-print repositories, archives or institutional repositories.

Digital repositories allow authors to deposit copies of output in a publicly accessible resource (often in conjunction with publishing in peer reviewed journals or other published sources). Journal articles found in digital repositories may be pre-prints - a term used to refer to an article at any stage prior to publication - from peer-reviewed and awaiting publication to documents not yet submitted to a journal for consideration. As well as journal articles, digital repositories may also include theses, conference papers, working papers and learning & teaching materials.

The E-prints UK service allows cross searching of around 30 institutional repositories. The search facility is still in development but the demo version can be used at present.

The popular Internet search engines, though very useful, don't index everything. The popular search engines may not index some of the subscription-based services mentioned in this How To Find Out guide.

A good starting point for Internet resources is PINAKES, which is a subject launchpad to quality internet resources.

Try also:

TechXtra
http://www.techxtra.ac.uk/
This site can help you find articles, books, the best websites, the latest industry news, job announcements, technical reports, technical data, full text eprints, the latest research, teaching and learning resources and more, in engineering, mathematics and computing.

Gateways to quality resources in the built environment include:

aecportico: a guide to architecture, engineering and construction.
http://www.aecportico.co.uk/

Cyburbia
http://www.cyburbia.org/
Cyburbia is an urban planning portal, with a resource directory, forums, etc.

SAPLING
http://www.sapling.org.uk/gateway/
SAPLING stands for Architecture, Planning and Landscape INformation Gateway

Athenus
http://www.athenus.com/
Engineering and Science Search

GlobalSpec
http://www.globalspec.com/
GlobalSpec is a fully integrated platform of engineering search engines, content, and tools.

Online Planning Resources
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/sbe/planbiblios/

Open Directory Project: Urban & Regional Planning
http://dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Urban_and_Regional_Planning/

Open Directory Project: Business: Construction & Maintenance
http://dmoz.org/Business/Construction_and_Maintenance/

Planetizen
http://www.planetizen.com/
Planning and Development Network

Construction IT Resources
http://itc.fgg.uni-lj.si/ICARIS/cr/
Excellent lists of publications on planning topics, plus links to web sites, etc.

Centre for Education in the Built Environment
http://www.cebe.ltsn.ac.uk/index.html
The purpose of CEBE is to provide discipline based support for learning and teaching in the built environment subject communities of Architecture, Town Planning, Landscape, Building and Surveying.

School of the Built Environment Resource Centre
RUDI.net
Urban design web site and offers high quality information about good practice in urban design.
Access is available from the SBE Resource Centre

Email mailing lists can be a good source of information. See:

JISCmail
http://jiscmail.ac.uk/
JISCmail mailing lists allow you to discuss topics with other academics via electronic mail. Two Mailbase mailing lists of particular interest are:

construct-it
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/construct-it.html

total-quality-construction mailing list
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/total-quality-construction.html

A good way to keep up to date with new Internet resources is to consult the Library's own:

Internet Resources Newsletter
http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn.html

If you want to find out more about using the Internet to find information, try:

The Online Netskills Interactive Course (TONIC)
http://www.netskills.ac.uk/TONIC/
TONIC is an easy-to-understand, structured course, offering step-by-step, practical guidance on major Internet topics, ranging from basic through to advanced.

Intute Virtual Training Suite
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/

In particular, use the guides:

Internet Civil Engineer
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/tutorial/civil/index.htm

Internet Town and Country Planner
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/tutorial/town

Internet for Construction
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/tutorial/cons

For the best search engines, see:

Internet Search Tools
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/websearch.html

try also

del.icio.us
http://del.icio.us/
Shared favourite websites

BLOGS

A blog is a website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.

Several Blog search engines are available.

The Academic Blog Portal
http://www.academicblogs.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Lists blogs

The Library's own blog is Spineless?

NEWS

Built Environment industry news and trade journals are listed in the Journals section above. Another source of industry news is:

OneStep Industry News
http://www.techxtra.ac.uk/onestepnews/

Buildingtalk
http://www.buildingtalk.com/
Buildingtalk is a news and information website aimed at Architects, Civil Engineers and Building Services Contractors throughout the world.

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Often the first results of new research are reported at conferences. Some conference papers are listed in various abstracts, indexes, and online databases, but for another way to find out if any conference papers have been published on your subject check:

ISI Web of Knowledge: ISI Proceedings
This database is available through the Web of Knowledge (see above). It indexes papers presented at over 3,000 conferences worldwide. Papers can be retrieved by keyword, author/title, etc.

TECHNICAL REPORTS

Many research organisations make their research reports available for general use. Some reports are listed in the databases mentioned earlier. Others may be found in:

ABS (Level 4)
British National Bibliography for Report Literature
Section 05O is on architecture, 13C on construction equipment, materials and supplies and 13N in on building sciences. Also available online as part of the SIGLE database.
This ceased publication in 2003. Technical Reports are included in the British Library Integrated Catalogue: http://catalogue.bl.uk

CCLRC ePublication Archive
http://epubs.cclrc.ac.uk/
Contains details of some UK Reports, from the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils.

GrayLIT Network
http://www.osti.gov/graylit/
The GrayLIT Network is a portal to US Federal gray literature, including technical reports.

NTIS (U.S. National Technical Information Service)
http://www.ntis.gov/search.htm
A searchable database of technical reports from U.S. government sponsored research issued since 1990.

TechXtra
http://www.techxtra.ac.uk/
Find reports from a number of databases via TechXtra

CIRIA
http://www.ciria.org.uk/
The Construction Industry Research and Information Association, produce Reports and Technical Notes on various subjects. These are catalogued individually, and can be found in the Library catalogue under their titles or under the title CIRIA Report.... etc.

BRE
http://www.bre.co.uk/

School of the Built Environment Resource Centre
Focus.net and SPN (Scottish Property Network)
Provides commercial property information - deals, town reports, property reports, etc

GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS & INFORMATION

Government publications, often known as official publications, are produced by governments, government departments, and such bodies as the European Community.

A useful guidebook is:

Quick Reference
016 NUR
Nurcombe. Information sources in official publications

For lists of many British Official Publications, see:

Quick Reference
015.42 GOV
HMSO Annual Catalogue

For government publication sources available on the Internet, see:

Directgov
http://www.direct.gov.uk/
Public service information for the UK

Her Majesty's Stationery Office
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/
HMSO is a division of the Cabinet Office with a number of functions, most importantly as Queen's Printer responsible for publishing Acts of Parliament, Statutory Instruments and other official publications. From the late 1990's many of these documents are available in full from the web site.

The Stationery Office (tSO)
http://www.the-stationery-office.co.uk/
The Stationery Office is the official publisher of statutory, Parliamentary and government information and has been the official publisher to Parliament for over 200 years. ClicktSO.com http://www.clicktso.com/ is the business and professional bookshop from The Stationery Office. Created specifically for the UK business and professional market it offers a comprehensive range of books, as well as quick and simple access to over one million UK publications.

The Planning Inspectorate
http://www.planning-inspectorate.gov.uk/
The Planning Inspectorate works for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (previously the DTLR) and the National Assembly for Wales on a range of casework under Planning and Environmental legislation.

City of Edinburgh Council (Capinfo)
http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/

City of Edinburgh Council: Planning and Building Control
http://tinyurl.com/rrexs
This is a good source of local planning information.

Science.gov: Buildings and Construction
http://www.science.gov/browse/w_113L.htm
Science.gov is a gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. Government agencies, including research and development results. This is the Buildings and Construction section.

For a detailed description of the treatment of UK official publications in this Library, see our leaflet How To Find Out - Government Publications.

Other material of interest includes:

School of the Built Environment Resource Centre
Technical Indexes Construction Information Service
Provides full text of standards, legislation and other material in building, civil and structural engineering.

School of the Built Environment Resource Centre
Barbour Index Property and Facilities Manager
A full text database covering technical information, legislation, articles, etc., on housing and property and facilities management.

For European Information:

This Library has a number of books about the European Union and some publications produced by the various European official bodies. All are listed in the catalogue or Periodicals List. We have some useful guides to European publications:

Quick Reference
337.142 EUR
European information in Scotland: directory of information providers

Quick Reference
337.142 RAM
Ramsay. European Union information
Very useful introduction to the structure and operations of the European Union, with details of a range of printed and electronic information sources.

European Union Online (Europa)
http://europa.eu.int/

Other useful web sites for European Union information include:

CORDIS - the Community Research & Development Information Service
http://www.cordis.lu/

EUROSTAT - Statistical Information Service
http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/

This Library has a wide range of EU material, but by no means a comprehensive collection. The Europa Library at Edinburgh University is a depository library for EU material, so you will find most official European publications unavailable here in that Library. Access arrangements are the same as for other parts of Edinburgh University Library.

For other links see:

Governments on the WWW
http://www.gksoft.com/govt/
Contains links to governmental institutions in over 200 countries which provide information on the web.

STATISTICS

Statistics can be difficult to trace. Use one of the guidebooks mentioned earlier to find out what has been published. See our leaflet How To Find Out - Statistical Series for details of statistics held in the Library. For British official statistics the main guides are:

Quick Reference
051 CEN
Central Statistical Office. Guide to official statistics

The 2000 edition of the Guide is also available on the Web:
Government Statistical Service: Guide to Official Statistics
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/GOS2000_v5.pdf

National Statistics
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/
This site contains the latest comprehensive range of official UK statistics and information about statistics as well providing free access to a selection of recently released publications. http://www.statsbase.gov.uk/

Statistics Collection
Statistical News
This keeps the Guide to Official Statistics up to date.

For unofficial sources see:

Quick Reference
051 MOR
Mort. Sources of unofficial UK statistics

Other guides will be found at Quick Reference 051

Of interest may also be:

Statistics Collection
Housing Statistics Great Britain

Housing Statistics - Scottish Executive
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/14844/1759

Statistics Collection
Monthly Digest of Statistics.
Section 12-1 deals with construction

Statistics Collection
Construction Forecasts
This is one of several publications of the National Economic Development Office which gives estimates on the future economic outlook for housing, construction, maintenance, etc.

Statistics Collection
Digest of data for the construction industry

In addition, there is the following guide:

Quick Reference
690 FLE
Fleming: Spons guide to housing, construction and property statistics

STANDARDS

A standard, or standard specification, indicates the properties, dimension, performance, qualities and testing to which manufacturers and services are recommended to conform.

British Standards online
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/bsonline.html
British Standards Online includes asearchable catalogue of British Standards and the full text of: current, historic, and draft British Standards more than 16,000 BSI adopted European and international standards

ILI
http://www.ili.co.uk/
The ILI web site features a free searchable web catalogue of Standards linked to an Internet Ordering facility. This catalogue, which is searchable by Standard number, or by title, lists Standards from a large number of issuing bodies including: ANSI, API, ASHRAE, ASTM, BS, CECC, EIA, DIN, IEEE, ISO, SAE.

ANSI Online
http://www.ansi.org/
The ANSI (American National Standards Institute) online information service.

ISO Online (International Organization for Standardization)
http://www.iso.ch/
This service includes the catalogue of all ISO International Standards including drafts, complete lists of ISO members and technical committees and general background on ISO

Housing Management Standards Manual
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/hmsm.html
From the Chartered Institute of Housing. The Manual offers a comprehensive guide on all aspects of housing management, including legal duties and good practice examples. It's easy to use and it will save you and your staff time and effort in searching for answers to every day housing enquiries.

TechXtra Patents & Standards via Globalspec
http://www.techxtra.ac.uk/patents/index.html

PATENTS

There are various books in the Library which explain how patents work and how to take out a patent, for example:

608.7 HOW
How to prepare a UK patent application and then apply for a petent

References to patents are included in some of the abstracts and indexes mentioned earlier in this booklet. There are also several online databases, such as the WORLD PATENTS INDEX, INPADOC, CLAIMS/US Patent Abstracts, and PATDD (German) which list patents (for searching these databases, contact the Subject Librarians). For a complete search for a patent, follow the advice given in:

Quick Reference
Patent Office. Patents: a source of technical information.

Two good guides to patents are:

Quick Reference
608 RIM
Rimmer. International guide to official industrial property publications

608 DUL
Dulken. Introduction to patent information

608 BRI
British Library. The inventor's guide: how to protect and profit from your idea

A growing amount of patent information is also available on the Web. For details see:

Patent Information
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/subjpubtypepatents.html

The UK Patent Office
http://www.patent.gov.uk/
A large amount of information about patents is available at this site. Also available is Esp@ceNet, a searchable database of patent specifications published over the past two years.

Google Patents
http://www.google.com/patents

TechXtra Patents & Standards via Globalspec
http://www.techxtra.ac.uk/patents/index.html

DIGITAL IMAGES

Two services are:

Digimap
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/digimap.html
Digimap provides Ordnance Survey data for the whole of the UK. It includes details from the National Topographic Database, including housing; commercial, industrial, community and public buildings; communications (roads, railways,airports, transmission lines); and distinctive names. You can search by placename or postcode. The service allows you to generate maps online, or to download data for use with appropriate application software such as GIS or CAD.

Landmap
http://www.landmap.ac.uk/
Landmap is an online service, providing satellite imagery, radar data and DSM for the British Isles.

THESES and RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

For British doctoral theses see:

ABS (Level 4)
Index to Theses
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/theses.html
The Web version provides a searchable database detailing theses accepted from 1970 onwards, covering all of volumes 21 to date of the equivalent print publication Index to Theses. The print version provides coverage of theses from 1950 onwards.

Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD
http://www.ndltd.org/
The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination and preservation of electronic analogues to the traditional paper-based theses and dissertations.

ABS (Level 4)
British National Bibliography for Report Literature
This ceased publication in 2003

For American doctoral theses see:

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Abstracts
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/dissert.html
This lists mainly American theses.

Australian Digital Theses
http://adt.caul.edu.au/

Theses Canada
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/thesescanada/

Quick Reference 378 CUR
Current Research in Britain
A register of current research arranged by broad subject, with author and keyword indexes.

Periodicals 690
BRE Digest
Gives short descriptions of the research done by the Building Research Establishment on all aspects of construction.

Periodicals 690
BRE News of Fire Research

Periodicals 690
Research Focus: Promoting the Application of Research in Building and Civil Engineering

TRANSLATIONS

A few periodicals are translated into English. They are listed in:

Inter Library Loans Dept
British Library Document Supply Centre - Journals in translation

Quick Reference
011.05 CUR
British Library Document Supply Centre - Current serials received

Inter Library Loans Dept
British Library Reference Division - Japanese journals in English

SOFTWARE

Access to lists of available software can be important and is provided by

Quick Reference
001.64 CHE
CHEST Directory
http://www.chest.ac.uk/chestdirectory/intro.html
Contains details of about 700 software products available to the UK academic community at special discounts.

UK Mirror Service
http://www.mirror.ac.uk/
The mission of this service is to help users in the UK academic community to find and download all kinds of freely available information. It maintains copies of electronic archives from all over the world, providing access to a wide range of up-to-date software and other material which is available free of charge to anyone from the UK Higher Education community.

Geotechnical & Geo-environmental Software Directory
http://www.ggsd.com/
The Geotechnical & Geo-environmental Software Directory catalogues over 1500 programs in the fields of Geotechnical Engineering, Soil Mechanics, Rock Mechanics, Engineering Geology, Foundation Engineering, Hydrogeology, Geo-environmental Engineering, Data Analysis and Data Visualisation.

MEETINGS, CONFERENCES, COURSES. etc.

Some are listed in:

Calendar of Upcoming Technical Conferences
http://www.techexpo.com/events/evnts-p1.html

FUNDING

ResearchResearch
http://www.researchresearch.com/getPage.cfm
A source of funding opportunities and news on research policy and politics.

EPSRC
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/default.htm
The UK Government's leading funding agency for research and training in engineering and the physical sciences

EPSRC Grants on the Web
http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/

Research Councils UK
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/

Scottish Founding Council
http://www.sfc.ac.uk/

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES

The best printed directory is:

Quick Reference
062 DIR
Directory of British Associations & Associations in Ireland

A list of organisations for building services is available in:

Quick Reference
690 BUI
Building Services Research and Information Association: Information sources for building services professionals

Many professional societies have informative Web sites:

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
http://www.rics.org.uk/

Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers
http://www.cibse.org/

Chartered Institute of Building
http://www.ciob.org/

Chartered Institute of Housing
http://www.cih.org/

Commonwealth Association of Planners
http://www.commonwealth-planners.org/

British Institute of Facilities Management
http://www.bifm.org.uk/

Association for Facilities Engineering
http://www.afe.org/

Royal Town Planning Institute
http://www.rtpi.org.uk/

Town and Country Planning Association
http://www.tcpa.org.uk/

More are listed in:

Intute: science, engineering & technology
http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/

Many professional societies produce lists of members, and yearbooks, which are listed in the following section on Reference Works.

JOBS

OneStep Jobs
http://www.techxtra.ac.uk/onestepjobs/
Updated hourly, this service aggregates the very latest information from top engineering recruitment sources in one place.

REFERENCE

Use reference books and databases to find factual information. The main guides to reference books are:

Quick Reference
011.02 SHE
Sheehy. Guide to reference books.
A listing of reference books arranged by subject with a combined author, title and subject index. Very comprehensive. Supplements are published to keep it up to date.

Quick Reference
011.02 WAL
The new Walford. Guide to reference materials. V.1 Science, Technology & Medicine
Has a British slant, but is international in coverage. Arranged by subject, with combined author, title and subject index.

The Library has a large collection of reference books from which you can find information on a variety of topics. Encyclopaedias and dictionaries have already been listed in an earlier Section of this leaflet. Others of interest to Building Engineering and Surveying are included in the following sections.

People and Organisations: Directories

Quick Reference
690 RIC
Richardson. CIRIA UK Construction information guide.
Gives details of different organisations which can supply construction information, including addresses, courses run, publications, enquiry services etc.

Quick Reference
690 RIC
Richardson. CIRIA guide to European Community and international sources of construction information

Quick Reference
690 BRI
Britain's Top 500 Construction Companies

Quick Reference
690 SEB
International Directory of Building Research, Information and Development Organisations

Quick Reference
710.3 FRE
Freeman's guide to the propert industry

Quick Reference
690 ROY
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors: List of members

Products

Quick Reference
620 ENG
Engineering Industry Buyers Guide
Contains details of thousands products and services available from 4,000 companies thoughout the U.K.

Quick Reference
690 BAR
Barbour Compendium: building products.
Annual publication describing all kinds of building products, with good illustrations and details of manufacturers, trade names etc.

Periodicals 690
Architects Journal
An occasional series "Products in practice" in the journal covers major product groups such as basic construction materials, finishes and interior details. It describes recent developments, statutory requirements, standard details and also gives information on manufacturers.

Building Products Index
http://www.bpindex.co.uk/

Pricing and estimating

Quick Reference
692.5 SPO
Spon's Architects' and Builders' Price Book

Quick Reference
697 SPO
Spon's Mechanical and Electrical Services Price Book

Quick Reference
692.5 LAX
Laxtons Building Price Book

Quick Reference
690.24 BUI
Building Maintenance Price Book

Quick Reference
690 WES
Wessex Database Building
Details of over 500,000 price elements.

Quick Reference
692.5 GRI
Griffiths Building Price Book

Legislation, regulations and standards

Quick Reference
690 KNI
Knights European Construction Documents

CONTACTING THE LIBRARY

Remember that if you cannot find information on your topic, or if you are experiencing problems using any of the information sources listed in this guide, the Library staff will always be pleased to help you. Please ask for assistance from the Enquiry Service, the Service Desk, or contact your Subject Librarian.

Enquiries Desk
Phone: 0131 451 3582
E-mail: Libhelp@hw.ac.uk

Service Desk
Phone: 0131 451 3577
E-mail: ServiceDesk@hw.ac.uk

Subject Librarians for the Built Environment
Roddy MacLeod
Phone: 0131 451 3576
Email: R.A.MacLeod@hw.ac.uk

Catherine Ure
Phone: 0131 451 8251
Email: C.M.Ure@hw.ac.uk

The Web address for this document is: http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/howtobuilding.html
Feedback on this guide is welcome. Please send any comments to Roddy MacLeod.