ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the databases that deal with information in the physical sciences and engineering. Other databases may also prove valuable for searches in interdisciplinary studies. Instances occur in which older literature gains renewed importance resulting from a resurgence of interest in technologies or methods that had lain on the shelf for years. In those cases, and in a select number of physical science disciplines such as some areas of geology, the need for literature far exceeds the computerized resources available, but generally the online systems have particularly strong offerings for researchers in these fields. Databases in physical sciences and engineering, although numerous, are usually well focused, and most files are well indexed. For library researchers this means that they can frequently get the information they need with a search of only one or two files, using terminology that is usually quite precise.
