Physics

Scope: This guide was created to help students and faculty find information in the field of Physics. No attempt has been made to present an exhaustive list of reference materials on the subject. For further assistance, email the subject specialist Nedelina Tchangalova at nedelina(@)umd.edu.

Looking for...

Books

Journals

Databases

Web Resources

Table of Contents

• Finding Books
• Reference Works
• Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
• Handbooks & Manuals
• Directories
• Databases
• Core Databases
• Databases for reprints, and other resources for physics
• Multidisciplinary Databases
• Journals
• Web Resources
• General Internet Resources
• Professional and Scholarly Organization Websites
• Spectra

Finding Books

To locate books at the library you'll need to use the UM Catalog. Choosing the best search method depends on how much you know about the books you're searching for.

When looking for a known book search by:

• author or
• title

• keyword or
• subject

This search box will open the UM Catalog and launch your search in a new window.

To narrow your results, use the catalog's advanced search and limit your search by:

• publication year
• location
• adding additional keywords

A word/s anywhere search will locate terms and phrases that appear in the title, subject headings, or notes of a catalog record. Examples of some common terms and phrases used to locate books on physics include:

Books dealing with similar subjects are likely to be grouped together on the shelves. Thus, another way to locate books on a particular topic is to browse by call number. You can browse:

• physically -- by going to the stacks and shelf-reading
• virtually -- by doing a call number search in the online catalog using the first few digits of a call number (i.e., QC20 for books on mathematical physics)

At Other Libraries

1. If you cannot find what you're looking for in the UM Catalog, you can search for resources beyond those held in our libraries. You can use a link when you find the material in other catalogs. The best tool for locating books and journals beyond holdings of the University of Maryland and its consortium libraries is WorldCat. WorldCat contains records for materials found in research libraries worldwide.

2. You may also use the Interlibrary Loan page to place ILL requests for items not owned by UM. Materials requested through interlibrary loan take approximately two weeks to arrive.

3. If the UM libraries don't have a specific title you are looking for, then suggest a book for purchase by filling out the electronic form at www.lib.umd.edu/CLMD/Faculty/bookrequest.html.

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Reference Works

• Basu, Dipak. Dictionary of pure and applied physics. Boca Raton, Fla. : CRC Press, c2001.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call number: QC5 .D485 2001


• Daintith, John. A dictionary of physics. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2005.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call number: QC5 .C56 2005


• Daintith, John and Richard Rennie. The facts on file dictionary of physics. New York : Facts On File, c2005.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call number: QC5 .F34 2005


• Isaacs, Alan. A dictionary of physics. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2000.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call number: QC5 .D496 2000


• Lerner, Rita G. and George L. Trigg. Encyclopedia of Physics. Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2005.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call number: QC5 .E545 2005


• Moore, John H. and Nicholas D. Spencer. Encyclopedia of chemical physics and physical chemistry. Philadelphia : Institute of Physics Pub., c2001.
  Location: Chemistry Reference
  Call number: QD451 .E539 2001


• Rosen, Joe. Encyclopedia of physics. New York : Facts on File, 2004.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call number: QC5 .R596 2004

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• Alenitsyn, Alexander G., Eugene I. Butikov, and Alexander S. Kondratyev. Concise handbook of mathematics and physics. Boca Raton, Fla. : CRC Press ; Moscow : Nauka Publishers, c1997.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call number: QC61 .A4813 1997


• Benenson, Walter. Handbook of physics. New York : Springer, c2002.
  Location: EPSL Stacks
  Call Number: QC61 .H33 2002


• Coghill, A. and Lorrin R. Garson. The ACS style guide : effective communication of scientific information.. Washington, DC : American Chemical Society ; Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.
  Location: Chemistry Reference
  Call Number: QD8.5 .A25 2006


• Cohen, E. Richard, David R. Lide, and George L. Trigg. AIP physics desk reference. New York : Springer, c2003.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call Number: QC61 .P49 2003


• Cohen, E. Richard. The physics quick reference guide. Woodbury, N.Y. : American Institute of Physics, c1996.
  Location: EPSL Reference, EPSL Stacks
  Call number: QC61 .C65 1996


• Diagram Group. The Facts on File physics handbook. New York : Facts on File, c2000.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call number: QC61 .F33 2000


• Drake, Gordon W.F. Atomic, molecular & optical physics handbook. Woodbury, N.Y. : AIP Press, c1996.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call number: QC173 .A827 1996


• Grigoriev, Igor S. and Evgenii Z. Meilikhov.Handbook of physical quantities. Boca Raton : CRC Press, c1997.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call number: QC61 .H36 1997


• Lide, David R. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Cleveland, Ohio : CRC Press, c1977-.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call number: QD65. H3 2009


• Nordling, Carl and Jonny Österman. Physics handbook for science and engineering. Lund, Sweden : Studentlitteratur, c1996.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call number: QC61 .N67 1996


• Poole, Charles P., Jr. The physics handbook : fundamentals and key equations. New York : John Wiley, c1998.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call number: QC61 .P65 1998

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• David Stern. Guide to information sources in the physical sciences. Englewood, Colo. : Libraries Unlimited, 2000.
  Location: EPSL Reference
  Call number: QC5.35 .S74 2000

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Databases

Research Port is an electronic resource that allows you to:

• Search for journal articles and books
• Access databases and e-journals from on and off campus
• Search an individual database OR search several simultaneously
• Search databases and the UM Libraries’ catalog simultaneously
• Find full-text articles
• E-mail or save article citations

Quick Search Quick Search is a way to search pre-selected resources simultaneously. To conduct more detailed searching, use the Libraries' Catalog (for books and journal titles) or Research Port (to search individual databases for journal articles). Enter keywords below to search Compendex, JSTOR,Academic Search Premier, Scitation ScienceDirect, Biotechnology & Bioengineering Abstracts, and Web of Science Use AND & OR to combine keywords e.g., television and (adolescents or teenagers) and advertising

Note: Off-campus access to databases is restricted to current UM students, faculty and staff. When seeking off-campus access through Research Port you will need the barcode from your new ID card and your last name. You can also establish a VPN (Virtual Private Network) on your home computer for complete access to Research Port and other UM library resources.

• Compendex

  Compendex offers a wide range of information resources in the applied science and engineering fields.

• INSPEC Archive

  INSPEC Archive covers the subjects computing, electronics, and physics, with related coverage of materials science, oceanography, nuclear engineering, geophysics, and biomedical engineering from 1868-1968.

• NTIS
  http://www.ntis.gov/products/ntisdb.aspx

  NTIS covers U.S. government-sponsored research and reports from federal agencies. Indexes and abstracts technical research reports, journal articles, data files, computer programs and audio-visual products.

• PROLA

  PROLA (Physical Review Online Archive) indexes all APS journal material published from 1893 to present.

• Science Citation Index

  Science Citation Index is a multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the sciences. It indexes more than 5,700 major journals across 164 scientific disciplines. Virtually the only index for finding what papers have cited other papers.

• Scitation

  Scitation searches more than 100 journals from AIP, APS, ASCE, ASME, SPIE, and a host of other prestigious science and engineering journals.

• Solid State Abstracts

  Solid State Abstracts provides access to the current research on theory, production, and practical applications of solid state materials and devices, including high- and low-temperature superconductivity technology.

• Web of Science

  Indexes over 17,000 journals by subject keyword, author name, journal title & author affiliation. Search author abstracts when available. Provides cited reference searching.

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Databases for preprints, and other resources for physics

• Applied Physics Lab Technical Digest
  http://techdigest.jhuapl.edu/

  APL Technical Digest -- Search the full text, including back issues to 1995.

• ArXiv, E-Print Archive
  http://arxiv.org/

  Contains research papers in physics, mathematics, non-linear science, computer science, quantitative biology and statistics. ArXiv represents up-to-date research including preprints, authors prefered versions and additional material. New materials added daily.

• ICTP Scientific Publications -- Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics
  http://www.ictp.it/pages/organization/publications.html

  Search the full text online lecture notes and preprints, including the archive from 1964-2005.

• SPIRES (High-Energy Physics Literature Database)
  http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/hep/

  Search more than 500,000 high-energy physics related articles, including journal papers, preprints, e-prints, technical reports, conference papers and theses, received by the SLAC and/or DESY Libraries since 1974.

• Academic Search Premier

  Academic Search Premier provides abstracts and indexing for over 7,000 journals. Full text of articles for over 4,000 scholarly publications, including more than 3,100 peer-reviewed publications.

• Digital Dissertations

  This database is the an authoritative source for information about doctoral dissertations and master's theses. The database represents the work of authors from over 1,000 graduate schools and universities. Full text is available from 1997 to the present.

• Ingenta

  Ingenta gives access to more than 20,000 publications from the ingenta database. Some full text is available; faculty may be able to purchase some articles for fax or online delivery.

• JSTOR

  JSTOR is an electronic archive of core journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. It includes complete runs of journals with full-text of all articles published prior to the most current five years.

• LexisNexis Academic

  LexisNexis Academic is a full-text database that offers a wide range of news, political, legal, business, and reference information in full-text format. Primary source of newspaper articles, including those from the Washington Post and the New York Times. Federal code, regulations, and case law, plus state codes and case law are also included.

• MasterFILE Premier

  MasterFILE Premier provides abstracts and indexing for 2,650 general periodicals. Full text of articles for nearly 2,000 periodicals, and 5,000 full text Magill Book Reviews.

• NetLibrary

  NetLibrary is a collection of E-texts covering topics specifically chosen by Maryland Academic Libraries. It includes computer science, business, international relations, education, environmental science, psychology, and civil rights law and history collections.

• ScienceDirect

  ScienceDirect provides abstracts and indexing for more than 1800 science journals. Full text of more than 800 journals is available. Some articles are in languages other than English.

• US Patent Database

  The U.S. Patent Database provides full-text patents, images of patents, and published patent applications from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office web database.

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Journals

The level of scholarship is different in various publications. Information on how to distinguish scholarly journals from trade publications and popular magazines can be found at http://www.lib.umd.edu/UES/journals.html.

Complete list of journals click here.

Web Resources

Intute: Science, Engineering, & Technology
http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/physics/
The Intute Physics Gateway provides free access to high quality resources on the Internet.

Lasers, Optics and Photonics
http://optics.org/
Lasers, Optics and Photonics Resources and News

Online Particle Physics Information
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/library/pdg/hepinfo.html
Online resources that are of value to the particle physics community.

Physics Central
http://www.physicscentral.com/
Learn how your world works

Physics Web
http://physicsweb.org/
Physics news, jobs and resources

PhysLINK
http://www.physlink.com/
Physics and Astronomy online

PhysNet
http://physnet.uni-oldenburg.de/PhysNet/
The worldwide physics departments and documents network

PSRC Physical Sciences Resource Center
http://psrc.aapt.org/
American Association of Physics Teachers

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American Association for Physicists in Medicine (AAPM)
http://www.aapm.org/

American Institute of Physics (AIP)
http://www.aip.org/

American Physical Society (APS)
http://www.aps.org/

European Physical Society
http://www.eps.org/

Institute of Physics (IoP)
http://www.ioppublishing.com/

International Association of Mathematical Physics (IAMP)
http://www.iamp.org/

International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)
http://www.ictp.it/

International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP)
http://www.iupap.org/

Scholarly Societies List
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/society/physics_soc.html

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Spectra

SpectroscopyNOW.com
http://www.spectroscopynow.com

NIST Chemistry WebBook
http://webbook.nist.gov/chemistry/

Integrated Spectral Data Base System for Organic Compounds
http://riodb01.ibase.aist.go.jp/sdbs/cgi-bin/cre_index.cgi?lang=eng

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