ALL ABOUT: The Research Ecosystem

Many different organizations create, store, and provide access to materials that might be useful for your research. Be flexible and creative as you’re thinking about where to find the information you need. Start by familiarizing yourself with some broad categories for the kinds of organizations you might seek out.

Higher education institutions

Large non-profit academic organizations that collect materials, produce research, and license various kinds of access for their affiliates.

Public and national libraries

Government-funded libraries that lend and license access to materials for research and leisure. American public libraries offer access to online databases and lend admission passes to a variety of attractions. Legal deposit Links to an external site. accounts for a part of many national libraries' collections.

Museums

Public or private institutions that collect objects and curate displays in galleries open to visitors.

Note: a museum’s full collection is often significantly larger than what’s on exhibit at any given time.

Search portals (aggregators and/or repositories)

Usually non-profit or government organizations that collect and curate materials. They produce and/or house these materials elsewhere.

Government organizations

Public organizations and departments that publish, collect, and/or provide access to information.

Associations and organizations

National organizations for academic disciplines and other professions, non-governmental research and advocacy organizations, and private societies and institutions. 

Foundations and think tanks

Mission-driven organizations whose main purpose is to fund grants and/or produce thought leadership such as white papers. Think tanks are often explicitly political.

Note: adapted from a tip sheet created by Jonathan Paulo