designinform includes Design Abstracts Retrospective with indexing and abstracts for design journals published between 1906-1986; Design  ProFILES, a biographical dictionary of designers, craftspeople, artists and architects; and ReVIEW, a collection of full-text art journals from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. You can search each of these databases independently by keyword, or title, country, author, etc.

For assistance using this resource, contact Peter Stern, Art and Architecture liaison librarian, at 413-545-3967.

The Benezit Dictionary of Artists provides biographies, solo exhibitions, museum and gallery holdings, auction records and a bibliography for artists from antiquity to the present day. It also includes images of signatures, monograms and stamps of sale.

The trial goes through December 16th, 2011. Please send comments to Peter Stern, Humanities and Fine Arts Research Services Librarian, at 413-545-3967.

The libraries now have a subscription to MADCAD.com, a collection of building codes, directory of materials suppliers and collection of environmental scope reports. You can search the code book contents, or browse through product categories and reports.

Contact Maxine Schmidt, library liaison to civil and environmental engineering, at 413-545-6739 for assistance using this resource.

Medici.tv has over 600 videos of classical music concerts; opera and ballet performances; composer and artist profiles; and master classes. The service also provides live broadcasts.

The trial goes through April 1st, 1011. Contact Pam Juengling, Music and Dance librarian liaison, at 413-545-1858 with questions or comments.

We now have a trial for Material ConneXion, a database of sustainable materials and processes for the building industry. You can do a simple search, limit by manufacturer, country or language, or browse by categories or physical properties.

The trial runs through November 5th, 2010. Contact Peter Stern, Architecture Liaison Librarian, at 413-545-3967.

Emporis Research is a source of data about over 400,000 buildings around the world. You can search for a specific building and retrieve technical data, location, and companies involved in constructing specific buildings; building industry companies and directory information by location; or cities, states and regions and the buildings within them. The trial runs through November 5th, 2010.

MADCAD is a source of building codes. You can search for title keywords or browse by publisher or year. The full-text of the codes are included.

Contact Peter Stern, Art History, Architecture and Design liaison librarian, at 413-545-3967 with questions or comments.

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Homes through World History covers the history of homes from ancient times to the present. You can do a keyword search within the publication or browse through the table of contents.

For assistance using this reference source, contact a librarian.

The Libraries have added Turfgrass Information File (TGIF). A collaboration between the United States Golf Association Turfgrass Research Committee and Michigan State University Libraries, TGIF provides bibliographic references to annual research reports, conference proceedings, trade publications, scientific journals, field day programs, and newsletters pertaining to turfgrass and its maintenance.

If you would like assistance or have questions about this new database, contact Naka Ishii, library liaison to the Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences department, at 413-545-1656.

GreenFILE covers multidisciplinary research on the interaction between humans and the natural environment, including the topics of green building, pollution, recycling, renewable energy and sustainable agriculture. It offers abstracts and indexing for scholarly, government and general interest publications, as well as full-text for open access titles.

For assistance using this database, contact a reference librarian at 413-545-0150.

This resource includes a quarterly electronic publication and search interface for archives of research and ideas about designing and building. Contact Naka Ishii, 413-545-1656, for username and password. Trial continues through November 15th, 2008.