Books

• Search the library catalog for ORU holdings.
• For books held by other libraries, look in WorldCat (opens new windowFirstSearch or open access).
• Or, try other Tulsa-area library catalogs (e.g., opens new windowOSU-Tulsa library, opens new windowPhillips Theological Seminary Library, opens new windowTulsa City-County library, or the opens new windowUniversity of Tulsa).
• You may also want to browse the B Library of Congress class number either by doing a call number search for this classification in the library catalog or by browsing the B section on the LRC-4th floor.
• For more on locating books in the ORU library, see this opens new windowguide.

opens new windowebooks

The ORU Library provides access to three major collections of ebooks:

• opens new windoweBook Collection (EBSCO)
• opens new windoweBook Religion Collection (EBSCO)
• opens new windowEbook Central (ProQuest)

The EBSCO ebook collections together haveover 17,400 titles related to opens new windowreligion and over 2,300 related to opens new windowpsychology and sociology while Ebook Central has over 10,800 titles in religion and 3,150 titles in psychology. For information on how to use these collections, go to their pages in the opens new windowebooks@ORU guide. To use such functions as annotating and downloading, sign up for a personal account in both opens new windowEbook Central and EBSCOhost.

For other ebook collections in the ORU library, see these databases:

• opens new windowCambridge Companions to Religion
• opens new windowDigital Karl Barth library
• opens new windowMinistry Matters
• opens new windowOxford Handbooks Online: Religion
• opens new windowOxford Reference Online
• opens new windowPast Masters
• opens new windowTwentieth Century Religious Thought: Christianity

For open access ebooks, use the opens new windowGoogle Book Search, opens new windowArchive.org, or opens new windowHathiTrust. For still more, see this opens new windowlist of open access ebook collections.

Course Reserves

To find materials that your instructor has placed on Reserve, go the opens new window Library catalog and look in the right menu for the heading "Course Reserves." Click opens new windowCourse Search, and then key in your instructor's last name. Alternatively, browse this opens new windowlist of reserve materials.

Book Reviews

• The most efficient way to find book reviews is to do a phrase search in opens new windowEagleSearch for the title under review (by placing it in quotation marks), then filter the results by "Reviews."
• For reviews of scholarly religion books, try AtlaSerialsPLUS® (Atlas PLUS®). In Atlas PLUS®, click the advanced search link, key in the title and/or author, and select "book review" as the document type.
• For reviews of mostly Evangelical books, try opens new windowChristianopens new windowPeriodical Index (CPI). In CPI, limit the search to reviews by keying in dt=review and then the title and/or author.
• You may also search for book reviews in most other opens new windowEBSCOhost databases.
• For book reviews available in open access religion periodicals, do a phrase search for the book title in Theological Journals Search.
• Many journals include reviews. The following journal titles are good sources of reviews:
  • opens new windowChoice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries
  • opens new windowNew York Times Book Review
  • opens new windowPneuma Review
• For more tips on finding reviews, see this opens new windowguide.

Bible Commentaries

Do a keyword search in the library opens new windowcatalog for the word "Bible" and name of the biblical book, e.g., Galatians, plus the word "Commentaries."

Sample keyword searches:

• opens new windowBible Galatians commentaries
• BibleGenesis commentaries

For guidance in selecting Bible commentaries, consult the opens new windowBible Commentaries Plus LibGuide.

opens new windowDictionaries & Encyclopedias, etc.

See the box to the right entitled Selected Theology & Ministry e-Reference Works. Also, go to the Reference collection on the LRC 4th floor and look up a relevant item.

• Encyclopaedia Judaica
• Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics
• opens new windowEncyclopedia of Christianity in the Global South
• opens new windowEncyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics
• opens new windowEncyclopedia of Religion (2005)
• opens new windowEncyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception Online
• opens new windowHistory of Global Christianity Online
• opens new windowNew Catholic Encyclopedia, opens new window2d ed. (2003)
• opens new windowNew Pauly: Encyclopedia of the Classical World
• opens new windowOxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
• opens new windowOxford Encyclopaedia of South Asian Christianity
• opens new windowOxford Encyclopedia of African Thought
• opens new windowOxford Encyclopedia of Biblical Interpretation
• opens new windowOxford Encyclopedia of Religion in America

For more subject-specific reference works, go to opens new windowGale eBooks, opens new windowCredo Reference, and opens new windowOxford Reference Online, and search the desired title. Or simply do a search for the information needed.

For general reference works, See:

• opens new windowBritannica Academic Edition
• opens new windowFunk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia
• opens new windowOxford English Dictionary Online

Need more? Try Atla's opens new windowWebsites on Religion or other Web directories to identify such open access reference resources as opens new windowEncyclopedia Mythica.

Companions & Handbooks

To find handbooks or companions in the Library Catalog, do a search for a subject such as a religion (e.g., Christianity), a class of people (e.g., African Americans), or a religious topic (e.g., "Holy Spirit"), then add the keywords "handbook* OR companion*).

• Example: opens new windowChristianity AND (handbook * OR companion*)
• Example: opens new windowtheolog* AND (handbook * OR companion*)
• Example: opens new window ("African Americans" OR "African American") AND (handbook * OR companion*)

Two online collections of this type of reference work are:

• opens new windowCambridge Companions to Religion Collection
• opens new windowOxford Handbooks Online: Religion

opens new windowDissertations, Theses, & Research Projects

• The most comprehensive source of full-text dissertations and theses is ProQuest's opens new windowDissertations & Theses Global.
• For theses and research projects written at ORU, search ProQuest's opens new windowDissertations & Theses@ORU.
• For dissertations held by ORU, do an advanced search in the library opens new windowCatalog using thes*s or research projects or dissertation* as keywords and a theology-related term as a keyword.
• To see whether a dissertation is available to borrow via interlibrary loan, search opens new windowWorldCat Dissertations (FirstSearch). Or, do a subject search for a term such as Bible. Ezekiel in opens new windowWorldCat (FirstSearch) after setting "Subtype limits" to thesis/dissertation.
• To purchase a dissertation, make title or author searches in opens new windowDissertation Express.
• Also, try searching Research in Ministry Online (opens new windowRIM) for citations and abstracts of D. Min. projects from reporting ATS schools and in opens new windowTheological Research Exchange Network (TREN) for theses and more from over 70 institutions.
  • For a list of the nearly 1,500 TREN documents owned by ORU, go to TREN, then click the link in the upper right that says, "View a list of downloaded documents," and then choose to view "All." The TREN titles owned by ORU are gradually being added to the opens new windowDigital Showcase as well as to the Library opens new windowCatalog.

Open Access Dissertation Web Sites

• opens new windowAmerican Doctoral Dissertations (EBSCOhost OpenDissertations)
• opens new windowAustralasian Digital Theses
• opens new windowDART Europe E-theses Portal
• opens new windowEThOS (British Library)
• opens new windowNDLTD
• opens new windowOATD - Open Access Theses & Dissertations
• opens new windowPQDopens new windowTopens new window Open
• opens new windowRIM®opens new window online (Research in Ministry)
• opens new windowTEL ~ Thèses-EN-Ligne
• opens new windowTheses Canada
• UNISA Electronic Theses and Dissertations

opens new windowJournals

• To see whether the full text of a journal is available in the ORU Library, search the title or ISSN in the opens new windowJournal Finder+, formerly called the Publication Finder or the A-to-Z Journal List.
  • You may search Journal Finder + by subject, publisher, keyword, or ISSN.
  • To browse titles related to religion and philosophy, select the Religion & Philosophy category.
  • If a title is available in paper, CD-ROM or microform only, or if the online version does not provide the issue you need, follow the link that says, Oral Roberts University Library Catalog, to see the formats and dates held as well as the call number and location.
• For more, try opens new windowGoogle Scholar and opens new windowGold Rush.
• To browse some full-text journals which are freely accessible on the Web, see the Directory of Open Access Journals (opens new windowDOAJ) for opens new windowtheology, opens new windowphilosophy, opens new windowreligion, and opens new windowBible.
• To search 600+ freely accessible full-text theology journals online, try opens new windowTheological Journals Search.
• For more help in finding journals, see this opens new windowguide.

opens new windowNewspapers

• opens new windowChronicle of Higher Education (1999-present)
• opens new windowNewspaper Source Plus
• US Major Dailies
  • opens new windowChicago Tribune (1985-present)
  • opens new windowLos Angeles Times (1985-present)
  • opens new windowNew York Times (1980-present)
  • opens new windowWall Street Journal, Eastern edition (1984-present)
  • opens new windowWall Street Journal (Online) (2010-present)
  • opens new windowWashington Post (1987-present)

Selected print newspapers are available in the Periodicals area near the Library Information Commons (LINC) on LRC-4.

For newspapers available online, See:

• opens new windowBBC Online
• opens new windowCatalog of Digital Historical Newspapers
• opens new windowChronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
• opens new windowGoogle News Archive
• opens new window onlinenewspapers.com
• opens new window today's Front Pages

Other News Sources

• opens new windowNewswires
• opens new windowRegional Business News
• opens new windowWeb News

For more information on finding newspapers, see this opens new windowguide.

opens new windowBiography

• To find full-text biographical information, See opens new windowGale in Context: Biography (includes Encyclopedia of World Biography, Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, and St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture as well as other biographical sources).
• To find book-length biographies of individuals in the library opens new windowcatalog or in WorldCat (opens new windowFirstSearch or opens new windowopen access), do a subject search for the name of the desired person (e.g., Wesley, John).
• For collective biographies, do a combination subject search for a topic or class of persons (e.g., Pentecostals) and the word biography. Online biographical works include opens new windowBiographical Dictionary of Christian Theologians, opens new windowFifty Key Christian Thinkers, and opens new windowWho's Who in Christianity. For more such biographical works, try the following search:
  • opens new window (theologians OR "biblical scholars") AND biography
• A Web site that contains biographical material is opens new windowBiography.com.

Statistics

Statistical information is available in many of the databases, but see especially:

• opens new windowAtoZ World Business
• opens new windoweHRAF World Cultures
• opens new windowGlobal RoadWarrior
• opens new windowStatistical Abstract of the United States
• opens new windowWorld Christian Database
• opens new windowWorld Religion Database

Some Web sites with religious statistics are:

• opens new windowAdherents.com
• opens new windowAmerican Religion Data Archive (ARDA)
• opens new windowAmerican Religious Identification Survey
• opens new windowBarna Research Online
• Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate
• opens new windowFaith Communities Today
• Hartford Institute for Religion Research
• opens new windowOperation World
• Pluralism Project (Harvard University)
• Religious Congregations and Membership Study 2010 (Glenmary Home Missioners)
• Religious Landscape Study (Pew Research Center)
• U.S. Congregational Life Survey (USCLS)
• opens new windowWorld Factbook

See also such Web sites as:

• opens new windowAmerican FactFinder
• opens new windowFederal Committee on Statistical Methodology (FCSM)
• opens new windowFedStats
• opens new windowGallup

For search strategies for finding statistics, see this opens new windowguide.

Databases of Primary Sources

• opens new windowDigital Karl Barth opens new window Library
• opens new windowGlobalopens new window Missions and Theology (Archives Unbound)
• opens new windowPast Masters
  • Anselm: Major Works
  • Aquinas: Collected Works
  • Augustine: Works (4th Release)
  • Calvin: Works and Correspondence
  • Knox: Works
  • Luther: Sermons
• opens new windowTwentieth Century Religious Thought: Christianity

Selected Primary Sources

• opens new windowLoeb Classical opens new window Library (151 titles)
• opens new windowLuther'sopens new window Works (54 vols. + supplement)
• opens new windowSystematic Theology by Wolfhart Pannenberg (3 vols.)
• opens new windowTheological Investigations by Karl Rahner (22 vols.)
• opens new windowWorks of Tertullian

Web Sites of Primary Sources

• American Methodism Digital Collection
• open new windowChristian Classics Ethereal library
• opens new windowDocumenta Catholica Omnia
  • opens new windowPatrologia Graeca
  • opens new windowPatrologia Latina
• opens new windowGuide to Early Church Documents
• opens new windowBernard Lonergan Archive
• opens new windowPrimary Documents in Theology (ATLA)

• Atla's opens new windowWebsites on Religion (WOR)
• opens new window internet Theology Resources (maintained by Elizabeth T. Knuth at the College of St. Benedict)
• opens new windowReligious Studies Web Guide (maintained by Saundra Lipton at the University of Calgary and Cheryl Adams at the Library of Congress)

• American Academy of Religion;
• American Association of Pastoral Counselors;
• American Society of Missiology;
• opens new windowAsian Pentecostal Society;
• opens new windowCatholic Biblical Association of America;
• opens new windowCatholic Theological Society of America;
• ChristianTheological Research Fellowship;
• opens new windowEuropean Pentecostal Theological Association;
• Evangelical Theological Society;
• National Association of Church Business Administration;
• National Association of Church Facilities Managers;
• opens new windowPentecostal European Fellowship;
• opens new windowPentecostal World Fellowship;
• Society for Pentecostal Studies;
• Society of Biblical Literature.

• Association of Theological Schools (ATS)
• opens new windowCouncil for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP)
• North Central Association of Colleges and Schools' Higher Learning Commission (HLC)