LibGuides: Development Studies: Home

Welcome!

This guide gives an overview of recommended sources available at the Erasmus University Library in Rotterdam and the Library of the International Instititute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague: databases, journals and reference works relevant for Development studies.

Please use the tabs on the left to find information for your research and interest. The links in this guide will automatically take you to ERNA-login if this is required for off-campus access. Non-EUR students or employees can use the free, publicly available sources with the symbol or symbol behind them. Contact your faculty liaison if you have any comments or questions about this guide, or need further help with your research.

Running trials and free offers for Development Studies

Taylor & Francis/Routledge eBooks in Humanities and Social Sciences 2022-2025
Full-text access to more than 16,000 e-books published by Taylor & Francis and Routledge from 2022 until today, covering 30 subjects across the Humanities and Social Sciences. Access is provided until December 19, 2025.
In January 2026, based on the usage statistics a selection of these books will be purchased and therefore remain accessible. If there is a specific book that you would like to remain available after December 2025, for example because it is required reading in a course, please contact your Faculty Liaison.
De Gruyter online
Next to the e-books already in our collection, the Library provides access to a large number of e-books in the areas of Social Sciences; Business, Law & Economics; and History & Culture until December 2025. Find these books by clicking 'Licensed content' and 'Book' on the De Gruyter platform. Temporary access books will have EBA mentioned in the 'Notes & License Terms' in our catalogue discovery tool sEURch.
- Business, Economics and Law;
- History & Cultural Studies;
- Social Sciences

In January 2026, based on the usage statistics a selection of these e-books will be purchased and therefore remain accessible. If there is a specific title that you would like to remain available after December 2025, for example because it is required reading in a course, please contact your Faculty Liaison.
Brill Online Books and Journals
Next to the e-books already in our collection, the Library provides access to a complete Brill Law collection until December 2025. Find these books by clicking 'books' on the bottom of the Brill homepage. Temporary access books will have EBA mentioned in the 'Notes & License Terms' in our catalogue discovery tool sEURch.
Subject areas of Brill's publication programme are Asian history, biblical and religious studies, sociology, psychology and biology. Full-text content varies by publication.

Included are e-books published in the book series 'Brill's Studies in Intellectual History Online' (up to supplement 2019), a book series that publishes new approaches to history, the history of philosophy and theology, and the history of ideas.
Sage Knowledge
Full-text access to e-books and reference works published by Sage. Access to Sage Reference and Academic Books is provided until December 31, 2025.
In January 2026, based on the usage statistics a selection of these books will be purchased and therefore remain accessible. If there is a specific book that you would like to remain available after December 2025, for example because it is required reading in a course, please contact your Faculty Liaison.
Use the menu on the left to filter on:
- Content types (under Reference you find dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks)
- Disciplines
- Publication date.

The advanced search screen enables you to look for a specific title or topic.

Please contact your faculty liaison if you think any temporary content should be part of our permanent collection.

Information Skills

Learn how to search, find and manage scholarly information and data in an efficient way. Visit the library's Information Skills guides for more online modules!

Build your search profile After finding the search terms for your research topic, you have to combine these search terms in a search profile, establishing specific relationships between the search terms. In library databases and catalogs, this is done using Boolean or logical operators such as AND, OR and NOT.
Search techniques Successful searching is largely about being precise. Search techniques can help you search with precision and find what you need.