Library Guides: Agriculture and Horticulture: Recommended resources

Dictionaries and encyclopaedias

A Dictionary of Plant Sciences by Allaby, M
Publication Date: 2019
Encyclopedia of Soil Science by Chesworth, W. (Ed.)
Publication Date: 2008
Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems by Van Alfen, N. K. (Ed.)
Publication Date: 2014

Quick links

Ebook collections

CSIRO eBooks This link opens in a new window
CSIRO Publishing is a leading Australian science publisher. This collection consists of eBooks covering agriculture, aquatic science, plant and animal sciences, forestry, environmental science, and natural history.

With CSIRO eBooks you can:
* read online
* search within the book
* download the entire book as a PDF
* navigate to and download individual chapters as PDFs.

If you search using the search box at the top right of screen, you will get results for both books and book-chapters, and your results will include items that are not necessarily available in full-text. Books and book-chapters that are available in full-text are marked with a tick; items that are not available in full-text are marked with a locked padlock.
CABI Digital This link opens in a new window
CABI Digital is an ever-expanding collection of hundreds of eBooks published by CAB International (CABI) covering agriculture, animal & veterinary sciences, environmental science, human health & nutrition, leisure & tourism, and plant sciences.
You can browse the collection under the subject-headings listed above, which are listed as tabs across each page. Or search using a search box which is also on each page. You can select which subject area(s) you search in.

Books are indexed and retrievable as chapters, displayed as PDF files. You can download or print or email material for the purposes of private study, research, or teaching (see Terms and Conditions).

There is no limit on the number of concurrent users.
ProQuest eBook Central This link opens in a new window
A huge and constantly growing multidisciplinary collection of eBooks. This collection is the Library’s largest collection of eBooks, and covers many of the subjects taught at Charles Sturt.
There are sometimes restrictions on the use of these eBooks. With high-demand items where there is a limit on concurrent users, we recommend that you find and download what you need and then close off the book/browser window to free up the licence for someone else. For a demonstration of how to do this, please see the Library’s short eBooks etiquette video. There are usually limitations on how much you can download and copy, but these should reset after 24 hours.

Some books are available for full download. If you wish to download a ProQuest eBook Central eBook to your computer, you need the free software Adobe Digital Editions. To download to a device, you need a free app: Bluefire Reader or Aldiko Book Reader (for android only).

For help with using this collection, see the ProQuest Ebook Central page in the Library’s eBooks guide. It includes a link to ProQuest’s own guide on the collection, and has embedded videos from ProQuest on the online reader and on downloads.

See more tips on finding and using eBooks.

Library databases

CAB Abstracts (1910 to present) This link opens in a new window
A bibliographic database produced by CAB International (CABI), available on the Ovid platform in various date packages. This one is the full package, with coverage back to 1910. Covers agriculture; animal & vet sciences; environmental sciences; health, food, and nutrition; leisure & tourism; microbiology & parasitology; and plant sciences. Includes some material in full-text.
Originally a citation-only database, the database now includes full-text content which was previously only available through a separate subscription. There are tens of thousands of full-text documents available including journal articles, reports, and conference papers. To display results that are directly available in full-text in this database, you need to use the limiter for Ovid Full Text Available, which you can get by clicking on the button for Additional Limits.

The Ovid search interface for CAB Abstracts includes a "Map term to subject heading" tick-box, which you can use to check for and search by authorised subject headings.

Updating is weekly.

You can access the other CAB Abstracts packages from the Ovid databases menu.
CSIRO Electronic Journals This link opens in a new window
Multi-subject Australian full-text journal collection published by CSIRO Publishing.
This resource is a collection of about 30 entirely full-text Australian journals published by CSIRO Publishing. The website has a tab for, and lists of, books and CDs, but it is the journals to which Charles Sturt Library subscribes, and which are available in full-text. These cover a broad range of scientific disciplines including mainly agriculture, the plant and animal sciences, and environmental management.

The collection can be searched or browsed. Searching can be limited to a journal or a number of journals. The searching functionality is not very sophisticated, and users are advised to check the Search hints link which is available on the Advanced Search screen. Some users prefer to use another index, such as Web of Science Core Collection or Scopus as a searching tool, and then use the Find it links to link to the full-text within CSIRO Electronic Journals.

Coverage varies with title, but in some cases extends back to the early 1900s. All articles are available in PDF format.
ProQuest SciTech Premium Collection This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive package of databases in the ProQuest platform, covering the natural and applied sciences.
ProQuest SciTech Premium Collection consists of three subsidiary collections which you can search individually if you wish. Two of these contain further collections/databases in the ProQuest hierarchy:
* Natural Science Collection - consisting of the Agricultural & Environmental Science Collection, the Biological Science Collection, and the Earth, Atmospheric & Aquatic Science Database
* Science Database
* Technology Collection - consisting of the Advanced Technologies & Aerospace Collection, and the Materials Science & Engineering Collection.

Content is sourced from scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, government publications, and more.

Topics include: advanced technologies; aerospace; agricultural science; aquatic science; atmospheric science; biological science; computer science; earth science; engineering; environmental science; materials science; polymer science.

The date range is from 1946 to current.

More information is available from ProQuest's SciTech Premium Collection LibGuide.

Once you are in the ProQuest platform, you can change to any other ProQuest database: click on the hamburger menu at the top left of any ProQuest screen, then click on Change databases. The databases are listed in a hierarchy. For another broad collection of databases in the science area, try ProQuest's subject package of Science & Technology Databases.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
A multi-subject abstract and citation database of research literature. Known for its citation-tracking and bibliometric features.
Scopus is an abstract and citation database of research literature which offers coverage of more than 22,000 journals, and more than 150,000 books, from more than 5,000 publishers. There are nearly 70 million records and 1.4 billion cited references. Most records date since 1996 but Scopus has recently added records dated from 1970 - 1995.

Scopus does not in itself include the full-text of articles, but many records in a results list will have a View at publisher link. If that link doesn't work, use the Find it link to search for the full article via Primo Search.

Subject coverage includes:
* Life Sciences
* Health Sciences
* Physical Sciences
* Social Sciences & Humanities.

Scopus has a number of specialised features relating to bibliometrics which are mainly used by higher degree researchers. But one feature that might have wider application is the ability to use the View Cited By function to find articles that cite your selected articles(s). You can also sort your results list by citation count.

A note on access for academic/research staff: If you are academic/research staff and require access to your Charles Sturt researcher profile, please use this link - https://www.scopus.com - and sign in using the "Access through your Institution" option. Type Charles Sturt University into the search box and follow the prompts.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
A collection of 6 databases available in the Thomson Reuters interface, the most significant of which are: Web of Science Core Collection; Current Contents Connect; MEDLINE; and SciELO Citation Index. These databases can be searched together or individually.
Details of the 6 databases are:
* Web of Science Core Collection - a collection of 5 citation indexes and 2 chemical indexes, where you can, amongst other things, find citing articles (ie articles that have cited a specific reference);
* Current Contents Connect - a current awareness product which includes tables of contents and citations from journals from all disciplines;
* KCI-Korean Journal Database - features research emanating from South Korea, and covers about 2,000 scholarly journals;
* MEDLINE - the well-known international health and medicine database, produced by the (US) National Library of Medicine;
* Russian Science Citation Index - covers Russian research in fields such as engineering, materials science, and ecology, with more than 600 journals indexed;
* SciELO Citation Index (Scientific Electronic Library Online) - a program of the Sao Paulo Research Foundation for the cooperative publishing of open access journals, which includes regional journals from Latin America and the Caribbean as well as titles from Spain, Portugal and South Africa.

These databases can be searched together ("All Databases", which is the default) or individually. To change to a single database, click on the drop-down arrow beside All Databases in the main tab-bar of the Web of Science screen.

Most of the articles in this databases don't have the full-text attached, but you can use the Find it button, situated beneath each record, to locate the full-text in another online database or in a campus library print holding.

Please note: Web of Science does not work in Internet Explorer 6 or 7, or Internet Explorer 8 or 9 when running in Compatibility View. If you wish to use Web of Science with IE, you should update the version, and, in IE 8 or 9, hit F12 and check that your Browser Mode is not set to Compatibility View.

See all Agriculture and Wine Sciences databases.

Need some help with understanding how to use Library databases? See our Database Help Guide.

Websites

Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)
Part of the Australian Government’s Official Development Assistance Program. Commissions research through collaborative projects involving Australia and developing countries, aiming to develop productive and sustainable agriculture practices.
Australian Farm Institute
An independent organisation that conducts research into farm policy issues to benefit Australian agriculture.
Dairy Australia
The Australian dairy industry’s website which brings together the services and resources needed by its farmers, manufacturers, partners and consumers.
Department of Primary Industries NSW
The Department of Primary Industries, a division within New South Wales Trade & Investment, works to develop and sustain diverse, profitable food and fibre industries, and ensures best practice management of natural resources in New South Wales.

Professional Organisations

Agribusiness Assocation of Australia
Aims to develop and foster linkages amongst professionals with and between the different sectors of Agribusiness.
AIA - Ag Institute Australia
Ag Institute Australia, or Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, is the peak industry body for agricultural and natural resource management professionals.
AWA - Australian Water Assocation
The Australian Water Association is Australia’s leading membership association for water professionals and organisations.
National Farmers’ Federation
The peak national body representing farmers and, more broadly, agriculture across Australia.