EndNote reference library... Only works with Library of Congress??

I have been trying EndNote out for a few weeks. It seems like a nice system, except for one thing: The only reference library it works with is the Library of Congress. The other reference libraries EndNote ships with either require passwords, or just don’t contain anything useful (I’m a technical writer, most of my references are in generally published books on things like project management, economics, etc.)

Am I right that EndNote is pretty much only useful for some very specific, scientific verticals? I notice a lot of reference libraries for things like medical publications – not of use to me. There doesn’t seem to be a general reference library available (although I admit I haven’t tried every single library that ships with EndNote).

Unfortunately, the Library of Congress is 1) very slow and often times out on searches, and 2) doesn’t have everything in it. I had thought EndNote would be able to search some central published works database.

It would be nice if the connection fles were separated into “public access” and “subscription-only” so you could distinguish them more easily.  I find many public University libraries are free to search, for example.  So you could start there.  Sort on the provider column, and avoid those with proprietary-like names.  then I do a test, with a name like “Smith” and if it isn’t successful, I probably don’t really have access!  but in a quick test, I found Columbia U, U Oxford and List (EBSCO) all gave me results.  I suppose it is possible that they recognized my IP address as from my institution and granted access, but I don’t think so. 

Thank you! That was very helpful – between these three it seems there are some good resources available. Makes a world of difference!