The Libraries now have a subscription for Social Explorer, a database with historical census data and demographic information from the 1790-2000 U.S. Censuses, American Community Survey, the Religious Congregations and Membership Study, and the 2002 Carbon Emissions Data from the Vulcan Project. You can select data and generate maps to display it, or read the information in report form.

For assistance using this resource, contact a librarian.

Social Explorer provides historical census data and demographic information from the U.S. Census, American Community Survey, the Religious Congregations and Membership Study, and the 2002 Carbon Emissions Data from the Vulcan Project. You can select data and generate maps to display it or read the information in report form.

The trial runs through October 15th. Contact Steve McGinty, Social Sciences Bibliographer, at 413-545-1871.

AtoZ World Culture overviews of 175 countries, with information on climate & geography, demographics, political system, history, money, communications, travel, culture (including business), and maps & flags. The standard interface is an alphabetical list by country name, but you can also search for keywords.

this database trial ends November 1st, 2010. Please send comments to Steve McGinty, Social Sciences Bibliographer, at 413-545-1871.

Hispanic American Religious Cultures covers many topics related to Hispanic American religious practices within the context of American society. 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.

In the interest of promoting open government, Data.gov offers a tool for searching and retrieving data produced by the Executive branch of the Federal Government. You can browse for data sets by category or government agency, and you can search raw data by keyword, category or agency. Data sets are also featured, for example the Airline on Time Performance and Causes of Delay from the Department of Transportation, and the DataFerret, “an online anyalytically oriented, self-service tool designed todeliver a wide variety of population, health, economic, geographic and housing information about the United States.”

The Interuniversity Consotieum for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan is a depository for raw data sets in the social sciences. Users have to set up an individual “My Data” account using a UMass email address while on campus, and cant then use this account login for access from anywhere. You can search for data, or browse by subject, country or other countries.

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.

Ebsco provides access to the American Theological Library Association Historical Monograph Collection of 29,000 titles about religion and theology. You can connect to the trial with username and password through June 30th, 2009, and  it. Contact Jim Kelly, 545-3981, for access instructions, or with questions or comments.

IBSS provides global coverage of the social sciences literature from journals, books and reviews since 1951. Works from over 100 countries and languages are represented.