The University’s research collections for economic and social history are held in various libraries of Oxford University Library Services (OULS), most notably the Bodleian Library and the Social Sciences Library (SSL). The strength of the collections, in both breadth and depth, derives primarily from the workings of the legal deposit privilege which the Bodleian Library has enjoyed since 1610. In addition, the libraries are actively purchasing relevant research materials from British, US and European publishers. As such, the Bodleian Library’s post-1900 printed collections, relating to all important aspects of economic and social history of Western Europe, include significant holdings in all the major Western European languages, especially German, French, Italian and Spanish. Also among the SSL’s holdings can, for instance, be found extensive international and country financial and social statistics from the 1940s onwards.

Electronic resources

Oxford University Library Services (OULS) provides access to a growing collection of electronic resources via its resource discovery tool OxLIP+. These range from online databases and CD-ROMs to electronic journals. In addition to subscriptions to major databases, such as Historical Abstracts, Royal Historical Society Bibliography, Dictionary of National Biography, Cambridge Histories Online, Oxford Reference Online, Blackwell Reference Online, etc., and electronic journals, other major electronic subscriptions relevant to economic and social history include:

• EconLit
• Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS)
• Elections in Western Europe since 1815
• Gerritsen Collection (Women’s History online 1543-1945)
• International Bibliography of Social Sciences (IBSS)
• Lexis Nexis Professional
• Statistical Yearbook (UN)
• Trade Unions in Western Europe since 1945
• UK Data Archive
• Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900

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