Tips for finding articles
Online Databases:
- Discovery cross-searches a large number of databases. Use the Advanced Search for the best results.
- Proquest Central is similar to Discovery, searching across multiple databases.
- Google Scholar is a convenient search tool but you need to set up your Google Scholar preferences to search effectively. When linked, Google Scholar will display Find It@UniMelb links next to articles that are available online.
The most relevant subject-specific databases and journals are listed below.
- Online version not available? Print journals are listed in the Library Catalogue.
- If you know the name of the database or journal you want, you can search directly in individual databases or journals.
- Staff and students may request document delivery through interlibrary loans.
Use the BrowZine app to follow journals and get notifications on new issues and published articles.
Film & Television Databases
- American Film Scripts Online (Alexander Street Press)
American Film Scripts Online contains 1,009 scripts by 1,062 writers together with detailed, fielded information on the scenes, characters and people related to the scripts. In addition, the database includes facsimilie images for more than 500 of these screenplays. Most of the scripts have never been published before, and nowhere else are they available online.
- Film & Television Literature Index (EBSCO)Film & Television Literature Index is the definitive index to film and television literature. It is a bibliographic database that provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for more than 380 publications (and selected coverage of 300). The earliest journal to be indexed dates from 1914.
- Film Index International (ProQuest)Film Index International is a major information resource for entertainment films and personalities produced in collaboration with the British Film Institute. With a scholarly, inclusive approach to all areas of film studies - from the very first silent movies, to art house classics or the latest blockbusters - Film Index International provides truly international coverage, indexing films from over 170 countries.
- MPPDA Digital ArchiveComprised of documents from the Motion Picture Association of America during the period 1922-1939. The types of documents include press clippings, press releases, letters, replies, memo’s, congressional records, etc... Use “Advanced Search” and put in headings such as censorship, talking pictures, or names of people, such as Lillian Booth, Douglas Fairbanks, and Chaplin. The site is free, and registration is only required if you wish to view the high resolution versions of the archive files
- Project Muse Journal CollectionProject MUSE offers full-text current and archival articles from 500+ scholarly journals from major university presses covering literature and criticism, history, performing arts, cultural studies, education, philosophy, political science, gender studies, and more. Updated continually.
- TV News (Informit)Indexes Australian television news, current affairs and selected documentaries from the free-to-air networks with links to the digitised video content. All individual stories from a particular broadcast are indexed with a detailed synopsis. TVNews is updated daily, with stories appearing on an evening news broadcast generally being available for access the next morning.
- AFI CatalogThe AFI Catalog is the authoritative resource of American film information, covers the history of American cinema comprehensively from 1893 to 1975, with full or short records for films from 1976 to present. Every film produced on American soil or by American production companies is indexed from the birth of cinema to the present day. New records are created by the AFI editorial team and added each year.
- FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals DatabaseThe International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) brings together institutions dedicated to rescuing and preserving films. FIAF's editorial staff, along with its Affiliates, produces the International Index to Film Periodicals which offers in-depth coverage of the world's foremost academic and popular film journals. This database contains FIAF's “Treasures from Film Archives”; a detailed index of the silent-era film holdings of archives from around the world, a selection of Reference volumes and the linked full-text of over 60 journals.
Film & Television Journals
- Animation Practice, Process & ProductionA journal presenting, analysing and advancing how animation is created and shown. From Pixar to Parn, Aardman to X-Men, Motion Capture to Mobile Phone, GUI to Gallery
- Black CameraDevoted to the study and documentation of the black cinematic experience
- Film MattersCelebrates the work of undergraduate film scholars. All Film Matters feature submissions undergo peer review process
- International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital MediaA forum to energise, innovative and inspire creative thinking and practice surrounding the combination of digital technologies with the performance arts (theatre, dance, music, live art)
Using Advanced Google Search
Use the site or domain limiter in Google Advanced Search to quickly find information on websites and online publications.
For example:
Limit search results to only show results from e-flux by including site:e-flux.com or Frieze using site:frieze.com in your search.
ArtsHub & ScreenHub
- ArtsHubThe Library's institutional subscription does not give access to all functions on the ArtsHub site. Library users cannot upload a resume or curriculum vitae or cover letter to use when submitting job applications from within ArtsHub. These features are restricted to personal subscribers.
- ScreenHubScreen Hub is the daily email News and Jobs service for people working in the Australian film and television industries.
Multidisciplinary databases
- Academic Search Complete (EBSCO)Academic Search™ Complete is a multidisciplinary full-text database, providing access to more than 8,600 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,500 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text it offers indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
- Anthropology Online (Alexander Street Press)Alexander Street Anthropology brings together a wide range of streaming video, written ethnographies, field notes, seminal texts, memoirs, and contemporary studies, covering human behavior the world over. Essential for study in the areas of politics, economics, history, psychology, environmental studies, religion, area studies, linguistics, and geography, the database will contain more than 1,800 documentary films and over 100,000 pages of full-text material at completion, including tens of thousands of pages of previously unpublished material from major archives.
- JSTORJSTOR is a digital library of thousands of academic journals, books, and primary sources from a wide range academic publishers and university presses. Titles span across disciplines, including core areas such as business & economics, social sciences, education, history, language & literature and science. Current journals are linked and cross-searchable with archival journals and ebooks on JSTOR, helping patrons discover, use, and build upon a constantly expanding range of academic content.
- MLA International Bibliography (EBSCOhost)Produced by the Modern Language Association the International Bibliography is the definitive index for the study of language, literature, linguistics, rhetoric and composition, folklore and film, covering scholarly publications from the early 20th century to the present. It includes citations to content published in journals, books, series, translations, scholarly editions, websites and dissertations. The database also includes the Directory of Periodicals and the Thesaurus.
- Scopus (Elsevier)
Scopus is an abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. Delivering a comprehensive overview of the world's research output in the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities, Scopus features smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research.
- World History in VideoThis database contains a global survey of human history from 8000 BCE to the late 1980s—online in streaming video.
- Underground & Independent Comics, Comix & Graphic NovelsUnderground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels is the first ever scholarly, primary-source database focused on adult comic books and graphic novels. Here are the works of artists both celebrated and overlooked, alongside interviews, criticism, and journal articles that document the continual growth and evolution of this artform. The Library has access to volumes I & II of Underground & Independent Comics.
Article Requests
Article Requests
Found an article that looks great? Can't find it online? It's not available in print at the Southbank Library? You can request a copy via:
- Intercampus Copying RequestsRequest a copy of an article or book chapter held at another University of Melbourne campus.
- Interlibrary loansObtain items not held in University of Melbourne libraries.