The TC Library was founded by academics concerned about the library indexes (sometimes called 'databases') available for research in technical, professional and scientific communication. Most indexes are created and maintained by commercial publishers, and sometimes -- for business reasons -- don't represent research interests as they would as if run by librarians or academics. In the case of tech comm, our field is small enough (and has a significant portion of our work published outside traditional journals) that no single comprehensive scholarly index for tech comm had ever been developed. To research in tech comm, library patrons had to search numerous tangential indexes, and still didn't gain a complete review of work in our field.

Examples? Well, if you wanted to research in technical communication you could look at the ACM Digital Library, which has excellent resources but whose parent organization (the Association for Computing Machinery) isn't primarily about TC. Or you could try Communication Abstracts or Sage Communication Studies, though these are more about journalism and mass communication than technical communication (a distinct field). You might look at ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center), which indexes works about education, which sometimes includes documentation and instructional design. Or IEEE Xplore, because the IEEE's Professional Communication Society publishes excellent work in our area. You might even try the MLA International Bibliography, which focuses on critical materials on literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore, but which occasionally ventures into rhetorical and professional communication topics.

But overall, traditional publishers weren't particularly interested in our field(s).

And this made research quite complicated and time-consuming, even for professional academics who were familiar with these indexes and how to use them well. It certainly discouraged students and practitioners (people who work in the field, outside the academy) from reading new academic research in our field.

Add to this that libraries are charged significant fees by most index publishers, that libraries often aren't permitted to provide access to indexes to patrons not formally affiliated with the school, and think about past discussions in our field about academic/practitioner dichotomies, and you may conclude (as we did in 2001) that some sort of noncommercial alternative is necessary -- a single index to enable both academics and practitioners find the best work in our field, free of charge.

So the members of our editorial board created this site, in part, to provide a free, open alternative for librarians, library patrons, and those interested in library-like research but without easy access to a university research library. We've worked with librarians since the site's inception, and have taken care to design our user interfaces and to develop privacy policies consistent with ALA and ACRL standards and practices. We've attended LITA/LAMA and learned a great deal from colleagues working on similar projects. Below, please find a list of some university libraries who currently link to the TC Library from their list of research indexes, from special topics pages for particular subject areas, or both:

 

1. Alabama A&M University: Databases: Engineering
2. Arizona State University: Multimedia Writing and Technical Communication
3. Austin Community College: Library Services
4. Bates College: ILS Learn
5. Berkeley City College: Business Economic Resources
6. Carnegie Mellon University: Humanities Databases, Databases by Name, A-Z, (detailed record here)
7. Coconino College: CIS, OIS, and CISCO Links
8. Council of Science Editors: Reference Links
9. Elms College: Academic Reference Resources
10. Heriot-Watt University: Nice Web Site Archive
11. Howard College: Computer Science: Websites
12. Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne: Teaching Writing
13. Iowa State University: Reference Resources by Title: E
14. James Madison University: Technical and Scientific Communication Research Guide
15. King College: Technical Communication
16. Linn-Benton Community College: Technical Writing Internet Resources
17. Los Alamos National Laboratory Reference Library: General Reference
18. Madonna University: Professional and Technical Writing: A Resource Pathfinder
19. Montana State University: Selected Web Resources: Humanities
20. Mount Mercy College: Virtual English Library: Directories
21. New York University (NYU) Polytechnic: Humanities and Social Science Subject Guide
22. North Carolina State University: Computers and Society
23. North Lake Community: Computer Information Technology Pathfinder
24. Northeastern State University: English Resources
25. Nyack College: Online and Print Resource Bibliography
26. Ohio Dominican University: Communication: A Research Guide
27. Purdue University: eResources
28. St. Ambrose University: Best Information on the Net: Computer Science
29. Santa Clara University: Selected Listing of Websites on Technical Writing
30. Southern Polytechnic State University: Technical Communication
31. Stanford University: Copyright and Fair Use
32. Ташкентский Государственный Экономический Университет (Tashkent State University of Economics): Образование
33. Texas State Technical College: Technical Writing
34. University of Alabama in Huntsville: Technical Communication Resources
35. University of Delaware: Internet Resources for Writing
36. University of Georgia: Top Websites: Computers: Human-Computer Interaction
37. University of Houston: Find Articles (Databases): Professional Writing and Technical Communication
38. University of Massachusetts-Lowell: Research Guides: Technical Writing Resources
39. University of Minnesota: Selected Resources for: Communication, Scientific and Technical
40. University of South Alabama: Engineering and Computer Science Databases
41. University of Texas, Medical Branch Research Service: Grantwriting Aids Online
42. University of Texas of the Permian Basin: Literature and Language Resources
43. University of Virginia: Science, Technology, and Society Research Guide
44. University of Washington-Seattle: Engineering, Scientific and Technical Databases (detailed record here)
45. University of Washington-Bothell Campus: Technical Writing Research Guide
46. University of Wisconsin-Stout: LibGuides: English Resources
47. Virginia Tech: English Language and Literature
48. Vista Community College: Business/Economics
49. West Virginia Wesleyan College: General eReference Links
50. Westfield State College: Technical Writing
51. Westminster College: Professional/Technical Writing: Web Sites
52. Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Writer's Resources

 

If you're a student or professor who uses this site but knows that your institution's library doesn't currently include this index in its list of recommended databases, please consider contacting your liaison librarian, letting them know about this service. You might consider sending this URL address, which may help to explain our purpose.

If you're a librarian who supports users or patrons interested in technical, scientific or professional communication, please feel free to include our site among your recommended research indexes. Linking to any URL inside the TC Library is always permitted (and encouraged). This site has always been and plans always to be free of charge to all users. Then, please let us know that you've done so, so we can add your library to this list.

--Geoffrey Sauer, Director, The EServer TC Library