Members of the University of Notre Dame community now have access to Sage Explorer, a learning resource with more than 40,000 pieces of content.

“This is an exciting opportunity to expand the Notre Dame community's access to Sage's respected scholarly content, Mark Robison, Department Head, Academic Collection Services, said.

Founded in 1965, Sage publishes academic books, journals and library resources globally. Their mission is to build bridges to knowledge by “supporting the development of ideas through the research process to scholarship that is certified, taught and applied.” According to its website, Sage is committed to working with publishing partners and the scholarly community to disseminate their pivotal research.

Today, the company’s multimedia-rich sources cover all stages of learning and research across the social science disciplines.

“Although the Hesburgh Libraries have long subscribed to Sage journals and a few of its products, the Sage Explorer program gives Notre Dame researchers unlimited access to nearly all Sage content,” Robison said. “For example, the Sage Research Methods database now includes hundreds of additional datasets, videos and handbooks, offering students crucial support in learning how to conduct research. Also, this program opens access to thousands of additional e-books within Sage's Academic Books and Reference collections. Other content Sage Explorer provides is new to Notre Dame users, such as the tutorials and interviews within Sage Video and the full-length courses available through Sage Campus.”

Sage Explorer is just one new addition to the Hesburgh Libraries’ database holdings. In spring 2024, the libraries announced that the Adam Matthew Digital Collection (AM Explorer) was now available to the Notre Dame community.

Similar to AM Explorer, full access to Sage Explorer is not permanent. The agreement with Sage allows usage for a year-long cycle, which Robison says Hesburgh Libraries will likely renew for an additional year. At the end of that time, the collections strategy librarians will study usage statistics provided by the company and purchase some of the products permanently.

“The Hesburgh Libraries' subscription to Sage Explorer continues our strategy of offering the widest possible range of scholarly content to Notre Dame users and then using aggregated, campus-level usage data to select certain collections to purchase in perpetuity,” he said.

Members of the Notre Dame community looking to use Sage Explorer can do so from anywhere worldwide by visiting the Hesburgh Libraries databases and searching Sage Explorer. The link will automatically direct anyone off campus to authenticate through Okta. Visitors to campus and members of the public may also access it and other library e-resources using the library’s guest computers.

For more information, contact Mark Robison, Hesburgh Libraries.