Encyclopedias

Encyclopedias & Handbooks

Use these to get a broad overview of theories and issues.

Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy
Theoretical and issue oriented discussion public policy and public administration. Heavily referenced for further exploration.

Oxford Handbooks in Political Science
A collection of 78 handbooks that cover all aspects of political science, public policy, and administration. Search across the collection or browse the collection titles search within a particular title.

The Handbook of Social Policy by James Midgley (Editor); Michelle Livermore (Editor)
Publication Date: 2008

The Handbook of Social Policy is an attempt to document the now substantial body of knowledge about government social policies that has been accumulated since the study of social policy first emerged as an organized field of academic endeavor about 50 years ago.
Public Finance and Public Policy by Jonathan Gruber
Publication Date: 2022

The first textbook to truly reflect the way public policy is created, implement, and researched. Integrates real-world empirical work and coverage of transfer programs and social insurance into the traditional topics of public finance.

CQ Researcher
A collection of reports covering political and social issues, with regular reports on topics in health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the U.S. economy.

PAIS Index
a wide variety of international sources including journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference papers, web content, and more
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
This database provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy.
PolicyMap
An online mapping application containing over 15,000 indicators related to housing, education, mortgage originations, jobs, and more. It’s fast, efficient, and captures data in visually powerful ways through custom maps, tables, and reports.
Policy Commons
Database for public policy, with more than 3.2 million reports, working papers, policy briefs, data sources, and media drawn from a directory of more than 24,000 IGOs, NGOs, think tanks, and research centers.

JSTOR : Public Policy and Administration
Full-text journals covering public policy and administration. Years of coverage varies by journal titles. To access this collection, go to JSTOR Home; under the BROWSE tab, select by Subject; on the resulting page, scroll down to Social Sciences, and select Public Policy & Administration.

CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online) - PSU access expires 6/30/26.
CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online) is a comprehensive source for research in international affairs. It includes full text of selected books on international affairs, working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, and proceedings from conferences. It also contains abstracts and some full text of selected journal articles.

PolicyArchive
A comprehensive digital library of public policy research containing more than 30,000 documents.

Digital National Security Archive (DNSA)
Declassified documents on a wide range of issues.

The National Security Archive [George Washington University]
Archive of declassified U.S. documents. The Archive is also a public interest law firm defending and expanding public access to government information.

Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL)
Content on this platform is being reviewed and removed to align with the President’s executive orders and DoD/DHS priorities.Until that review is complete, site content is not available.