You may be familiar with some of our bigger and better known databases – EBSCO, JSTOR, ProQuest – but we have some real treasures among the lesser-known ones, too.  CredoReference is one of them.

CredoReference is like a reference shelf full of hundreds of dictionaries, encyclopedias, quotation guides, and biographies all in one place.  Some are specialized, focusing on subjects like business or medicine.  Some are general works.  But the strength of this database is its interconnectedness.  And while you have the standard encyclopedia entries, you also have access to multimedia content including images, maps, videos, music files, tables, and statistics – all linked together.

Have you ever used the Encyclopaedia Britannica?  While reading an article about Mozart, have you wished you could actually listen to the music being described?  Click on the audio links to hear to the music in mp3 format.  Artists link to high quality pictures of their best works.  Audio pronunciation guides help you with difficult words and video tutorials make access simple.

CredoReference doesn’t just interconnect its own content – it also links into other scholarly databases or free web services with on-topic content – EBSCO, eBrary, CQ Researcher, Google Books, even YouTube.  And the unique ‘Concept Map’ will take you in innovative directions you may not have considered.

So give CredoReference a try, accessible on campus and off from our databases page: http://www.iue.edu/library/research/articles.php.  You may never go back to paper encyclopedias after using it.