Who uses bird?
Subject Specialists
Expand your Expertise
Developed by research librarians, bird® gives subject selectors the most comprehensive guidance available on 8,600+ commercial and Open Access databases, spanning hundreds of disciplines.
Cross check with other vendors, and see comparative titles which may work better, or learn how you might better support research with Open Access content.
Collection Strategists
Unlock Collection Potential
Through use of bird®, collection leaders are always up-to-date on new resources supporting their priority disciplines.
bird® matches to your own library’s holdings, so whether evaluating a faculty request, refining your materials budget or checking for collection gaps, bird® delivers the advantage to be one step ahead.
Planning and Development
Impact through Benchmarking
bird® makes assessing your collection quick and accurate. Continually updated dB profiles and metadata help libraries be proactive in spotting new collections and emerging trends across disciplines.
bird® improves library return-on-investment (ROI) by streamlining the time-consuming tasks usually required to gain awareness of all existing resources available.
Advanced Researchers
No Stone Unturned
Libraries who also make bird® available to advanced users; graduate students; and faculty provide them access to vital data and research content unlike any other scholarly application.
With rich metadata and direct links to 2,000+ vetted Open Access databases, bird® is also a powerful public services resource.
Why bird is needed
THE ONLY UNIFIED RESOURCE FOR RESEARCH DATABASES
Libraries spend tens of millions each year providing access to web-based research databases, from PsycInfo and Foreign Trade Statistics to the Digital Archives of Medieval Culture.
But where does one see them all? Who produces them? Are they Open Access or fee-based? Do these have identifiable research value?
THE SOLUTION FOR ACADEMIC LIBRARIES
bird® is written and maintained by research librarians, who work to identify and catalog the full realm of web-based research databases. bird® was created to refine the expertise of selectors; expand options for collection managers; and provide new research opportunities for advanced researchers.
Here’s just a few of the questions bird® can answer:
How many sites must I explore to learn what is available in my discipline?
I am the Chemistry librarian and now I cover Biology too! Where do I start?
Are there Open Access databases that might fit our needs better?
What are all the databases available from this vendor?
How can we better align our budget to research and teaching priorities at our institution?
CUSTOMIZED TO EACH LIBRARY’S HOLDINGS
bird® matches precisely to each library’s existing dB holdings, so you can identify what you own, while discerning new areas to expand or perhaps reduce research materials coverage.
Researchers are overwhelmed….
Subject selectors are over-extended…
Strategists need a unified resource…
“We’ve needed a resource like bird for years. We use it throughout our library now, and more often than we’d expected.”
A straightforward and flexible application
“bird also includes links to over 2,000 Open Access databases. We’ve discovered research content we never would have otherwise.”
What about
‘AI’?
AI and the Golden Bird
Our technology partners, Compendium Library Services, utilize AI-assisted algorithms in all search functions for bird®. These AI features expand as the application grows. AI algorithms are also used in early editorial evaluation. But where AI ends, hard-won experience takes over. The human element…
The core editorial work of bird® is the fruit of a more established form of ‘AI’ — Acquired Intelligence. bird® reflects the collective wisdom of our team of experienced research librarians. This contextual understanding of the research value of any particular title is best represented in the ‘bird’s eye view’ commentaries, marked by a Golden Bird.
These ‘bird’s eye view’ commentaries provide a variety of contextual information. They may explain how one resource differs from a similar title, or focus on the origin of the material covered,. They may include the provenance of the content—changes in ownership, or the merging of one dataset with another. bird® even includes dB titles which, while still active, are no longer updated, as well as dBs which have ceased publication entirely. bird® uses the latest, as well as the most tested methodologies.
Look for the Golden Bird symbol in bird® profiles, and learn more about the editorial history of bird® below.
THE EDITORIAL STRUCTURE OF BIRD
The editorial framework for the Base Inventory of Research Databases began in 2021.
The bird® team of research librarians, led by project director Diane H. Smith,* investigated the full repository landscape, focusing on content which reflects North American academic interests.
The editorial team has sole authority over all data in bird®. As of 2025, more than 8,600 databases are now profiled. This includes over 2,000 fully-vetted Open Access research databases as well.
WHAT QUALIFIES AS A BIRD DATABASE?
A bird® database:
Must support scholarly research undertaken at the college and university level.
May be broad or narrow in scope, but must have value beyond a small geographic area.
May cover a wide range of publication types, or may be limited to one format.
May be fee-based, Open Access or hybrid content.
While most titles are in English, Spanish, German and French, there are strong collections in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese reflecting the global research environment.
THE EDITORIAL WORK IS CONTINUOUS
bird® is updated weekly. The editorial team is continually engaged in discovering new titles; titles that are available but no longer updated; as well as titles that have ceased publication.
* Diane H. Smith, MLS, MBA, has served as Associate University Librarian for Research and Educational Services, George Mason University; VP, Product Management, ProQuest; VP, Product Development and Management, LexisNexis; and Chief, Reference and Instructional Services, Pennsylvania State University.