Resources

Books

Background information about the development of umbrellas through the ages can be found in books. You can use the library’s search engine at the top of every TU Delft Library webpage to search for books, both printed and digital, with background or introductory information. You will find a description of each book, including where you can find it.

For example:
Farrell, J. (1985). Umbrellas and parasols. Batsford. This book is held in the closed stacks of the TU Delft Library.

Collect printed books yourself from the open shelves/book gallery. If the location is “closed stacks”, you need to make a request.

Journal articles and conference papers

You can find an overview of the latest research into umbrellas, complete with research results, in journal articles or conference papers.

Article databases

If you are looking for the (latest) research data, published in a journal article or a conference paper, but you do not know in which journal or proceedings it may be published, you can use an article database, such as Scopus or Google Scholar. In an article database, you can search for articles about a particular topic. If you do know the author of an article, you can do a search on the author’s name.

There are two main groups of article databases: multidisciplinary and subject-specific databases, most databases are only available on TU Delft campus or via a VPN connection.

If you need more information on Scopus, visit the Scopus Tutorials on the Scopus website.

Patents and standards

You can find very specific technical information, such as the patent (or patent application) for the Senz umbrella or any standards that apply to umbrellas, in dedicated patent or standards databases.

Patents

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It grants an exclusive right (for a specific time period and geographic region) to produce and sell a technical solution to a problem. The documents describing a patent include very specific technical information, explaining exactly what is new about the invention. Often, reference is made to other patents, in order to identify the differences.

You can find patents in patent databases:

Standards

A standard is a documented agreement containing technical specifications or procedures that must be used consistently to ensure that materials, products etc. are fit for their purpose. There are also standards for services and business processes. These are subject to changes and can be found in a specific database.

Standards give information about the requirements new products must meet in order to be sold in the EU.

Mandatory or not?
Although the manufacturer is not obliged to comply with the measurement standards mentioned above, not using them will probably put him out of business very quickly. Many standards are mandatory, however, often as part of national or international safety regulations. If the manufacturer wants to market safety shoes in the EU, the shoes must comply with “NEN-EN-ISO 20345:2011 en” (“Personal protective equipment– Safety footwear”). Approved shoes then receive a CE mark.

Other types of information

Legislation

If you need information about law/legislation you can use government websites or a legislation databases; for example about the Dutch government.

News and social media

For information about the marketing strategy used to introduce the Senz umbrella, you could use the business database Proquest One Business.
The database features reports, data, working papers, key business and economics periodicals, among others. Its international coverage gives a complete picture of companies and business trends worldwide. You can also search via search engines like Google or Google News.
For national and international newspaper articles, you can use Nexis Uni. More information can be found in this presentation.
There is also a course for Nexis Uni for students in both English and Dutch.

It is also possible to follow weblogs, podcasts, tweets or Facebook updates, but this information is not always reliable. According to the guidelines issued by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, you can recognize a reliable website using the following six criteria:

• “Validity”: does the content have a sound basis; is it plausible and reliable?
• Age: is the content up-to-date?
• Accuracy: is the information correct?
• Status: how authorative is the source?
• Completeness: is the information available in a complete, finished form?
• Coverage: to what extend does the information cover the topic in full and in depth?”

Maps

The Map Room of TU Delft contains an extended collection of mainly Dutch topographic and thematic maps and atlases. Besides a paper collection there is also a digital collection. For comprehensive information about maps you can go to the library website (Special collections: Map collection) or visit the Map Room in the building of the Faculty of Architecture.