Catalog & Databases

Login & Authentication

Most subscription databases are accessible to the Otis Community 24/7, even when accessing them off-campus. Please report any access problems to the Library.

Whenever possible, we authenticate through MyOtis / the Otis login page or a proxy server. When prompted, enter your regular Otis email credentials.
If prompted to create your own account, always sign up using your Otis College email address.
Some resources require authentication while on campus (e.g., The New York Times).

Usage Guide for Online Resources

Databases may only be used by currently enrolled students, staff, and faculty.
It is a violation of our licensing agreements to give access to non-students or others outside the Otis community.
It is a violation of the Otis Code of Conduct for you to allow others to use your password.

E-Books

ProQuest Ebook Central
More than 230,000 full-text searchable books aimed at undergraduates. With citation assistance. Optional: You can set up a personal account.
JSTOR
Expanded access is now permanent. Access over 54,000 books and 2,600 journals from scholarly publishers across the fields of literature, music, film studies, folklore, performing arts, religion, art and architecture, and more.
eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
Selection of full text ebooks plus over 2,500 open access ebooks.
Comics Plus
Unlimited access to thousands of independent digital comics, graphic novels, and manga from popular publishers like ABDO, Andrews McMeel, BOOM! Studios, Capstone, Dark Horse, Europe Comics, Fantagraphics, Graphic Mundi, Humanoids, IDW, Image Comics, Kodansha, Lerner, Manga Classics, Papercutz, Tokyopop, UDON Entertainment, Yen Press, and dozens more.
Open Library
Short-term access to over 1 million books. Must create an Internet Archive account to borrow ebooks.
Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)
Search for open access books across many different academic publishers and aggregators.

Taylor & Francis Open Access Books and Chapters
Full or partial access to 1,200+ e-books across all disciplines. Includes frontlist and backlist books, including items from the Routledge Gender Studies and the Routledge African Studies Collections
HathiTrust Digital Library
The digital library of 18+ million digitized items brings together the collections of more than 60 academic and research libraries from across North America and other countries.
You don’t need to log in or have an account to search in HathiTrust, and up to 40% of the collection is available for anyone to read online.

Full-Text Journals & Magazines

ArtSource + OmniFile
Full-text articles from 630 art and design magazines, 220 books, and 63,0000 images + 3,100 multidisciplinary periodicals.
ProQuest Research Library
General reference multidisciplinary. Full text with graphics. Overall dates of coverage: 1971 - present. Total titles covered: 2,600+.
eLibrary
Guided Research Topic interface. Full-text of 1,500 international magazines and newspapers (including The Wall Street Journal), company profiles, news transcripts, and encyclopedias.
JSTOR
Expanded access is now permanent. Access over 54,000 books and 2,600 journals from scholarly publishers across the fields of literature, music, film studies, folklore, performing arts, religion, art and architecture, and more.
Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints
For information on various sides of social issues. Includes pro/con viewpoints, reference articles, interactive maps, infographics, and more. TOPIC FINDER
ERIC
Education Resources Information Center indexes education research and information in journal and non-journal literature from 1966 to the present. Not everything is full-text, but may be available in another of our research databases. Ask the Librarian to help you attain articles you need.
Project MUSE
Project MUSE offers open access (OA) books and journals from several distinguished university presses and scholarly societies (We also license a small number of titles from them as well.) Covers literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, etc.
USModernist Library
Largest open digital collection of major US 20th-century architecture magazines. Browse by title, year and date; no other search capability.

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
Covers 16,000+ free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals. Aims to cover all subjects and languages.

Images

Images are available in many of our research databases. The ones below specialize in images.

OtisDID
UPGRADED MARCH 2020: Otis Digital Image Database (OtisDID) for teaching and learning. Focus is on art and design history. (Otis Community only)
Otis Collections Online
Database containing images of items from our collections and archives. Includes materials from the Library, Galleries, Departments, and Faculty.
NOTE: For best results, use Firefox or Safari as your web browser.
Artstor on JSTOR
Artstor (now migrated to JSTOR) offers over 3 million images of items in museum and archive collections, encompassing diverse time periods and world cultures. Entries include descriptive information and provenance, and the database offers curate collections. Objects are relevant to architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, design, anthropology, history, ethnography, and women’s studies and address many other forms of visual culture. Curate your own collection by creating an account using your Otis SSO.
The old Artstor platform will be retired in August 2024. All content has already been migrated to JSTOR.
Digital Public Library of America
The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. Many books and images available.

Even more resources for finding images on the web---including stock images.

Fashion Resources

WGSN
Extensive fashion and style related site with trend forecasting. You must first create an account. View the FAQ for more help.
You must use your Otis email address. Check your spam folder for the activation email. View the FAQ.
VOGUE Archive
Entire run of Vogue magazine (US edition), from the first issue in 1892 to the current month with photos and ads. All searchable!
Fashion Snoops
Fashion Snoops is a consumer insight & trend forecasting company dedicated to empowering users with on-trend forecasts & strategic guidance.

Materials

BuildingGreen
Trusted source on healthy and sustainable design and construction strategies. Begun in 1985. Used primarily by professionals
Create an account at https://www.buildinggreen.com/create-profile using your Otis email address
Material District
A database of materials, process, technologies and innovations. Free, but you will need to create an account. Formerly mateia.nl
Materials Lab
Multidisciplinary resource dedicated to hands-on and in-depth material investigation.
Inventables
A database of materials, process, technologies and innovations. Free on the web.

Materials Collection
by Heather Cleary Last Updated Mar 26, 2025 29 views this year

Newspapers

New York Times
The American newspaper of record. Create an account at accessnyt.com with your Otis College email address. Subscription needs to be renewed every 365 days.

Visit the New York Times Guide for more information
Also available as text-only in ProQuest Research Library.
Chronicle of Higher Education
One of the top sources of news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty members and administrators. Access news articles, data, and commentary from May 1989 to today. OPTIONAL: Sign up with your Otis College e-mail address for off-campus access, newsletters, and job alerts.
Off campus users must log in for access. Use your @otis.edu or @student.otis.edu address. More Access Instructions
Chronicle of Philanthropy
One of the top sources of news, information, analysis, and opinion in the rapidly growing nonprofit world Access news articles, data, and commentary from 1997 to today. OPTIONAL: Sign up with your Otis College e-mail address for off campus access, newsletters, and job alerts.
Off campus users must log in for access. Use your @otis.edu or @student.otis.edu address.
eLibrary
Guided Research Topic interface. Full-text of 1,500 international magazines and newspapers (including The Wall Street Journal), company profiles, news transcripts, and encyclopedias.

Search text-only archives of 4 major US newspapers: Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.

Or search these individual titles:

1996-present

1984-present (Eastern Edition)

1996-present

1980-present

Independent Voices
Hosted on JSTOR. Open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.

Encyclopedias & Reference

eLibrary
Guided Research Topic interface. Full-text of 1,500 international magazines and newspapers (including The Wall Street Journal), company profiles, news transcripts, and encyclopedias.
eLibrary: Selected Reference Works
Limits your eLibrary search to Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, Roget's Thesaurus, Compton's by Britannica, Hutchison Encyclopedia, American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, and similar reference works..
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Developed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Timeline of Art History is a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of global art history for students and scholars.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Open source project by hundreds of philosophers, donating their labor to collaboratively write, referee, and maintain this reference work. (on the free web)
Wikipedia
GREAT PLACE TO START YOUR RESEARCH. Collaborative multilingual, web-based, free encyclopedia. Do not use it as a source in your final project; most faculty will not count it.

Streaming Videos

Kanopy Streaming
Otis subscribes to a small selection of titles. You can access a much larger selection through LAPL. More info
Internet Archive: Moving Image Archive
Thousands of digital movies, ranging from classic full-length films to daily alternative news broadcasts to cartoons and concerts. Many of these videos are available for free download.
A library containing thousands of digital movies which range from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to cartoons and concerts. Many of these videos are available for free download.
See also: Internet Archive Book Images on Flickr

UbuWeb Film & Video Archive

More resources are listed on the Finding Images and Videos LibGuide.

Many of the databases listed above also include videos, though they are not the primary focus, such as Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints and WGSN.

Social Justice

Civil Rights and Social Justice
Part of the HeinOnline Social Justice Suite. Brings together a diverse offering of publications covering civil rights in the United States as their legal protections and definitions are expanded to cover more and more Americans.
Gun Regulation and Legislation in America
Part of the HeinOnline Social Justice Suite. Brings together essential documents on the difficult and controversial topic of regulating firearms in the United States.
LGBTQ+ Rights
Part of the HeinOnline Social Justice Suite. Charts the gay rights movement in America, showing the civil rights codified into law in the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as the inequalities that still exist today.
All titles in this collection have been assigned one or more title-level subjects relating to their scope, and are further divided into six subcollections, whose areas of focus constitute Marriage and Family, Employment Discrimination, Military Service, AIDS and Health Care, and Public Spaces and Accommodations. A separate subcollection, Historical Attitudes and Analysis, presents books, pamphlets, reports, and more that some researchers may find offensive: viewpoints expressed in these items range from the cause of homosexuality and its alleged cures to the "problems" LGBT persons create in society.
Open Society Justice Initiative
Part of the HeinOnline Social Justice Suite. Publishes work prepared by the Justice Initiative, including reports, handbooks, briefing papers, legal and policy submissions, and fact sheets .exploring and advocating on issues of human rights and justice.