VIRTUALLY YOURS: NEW REFERENCE E-BOOKS

The Gale Group databases, to date, have proven to be very popular and useful library resources because of their ease of use and availability of full-text. These databases include the Expanded Academic ASAP, Health and Wellness Resource Center, and Business and Company Resource Center. This spring the library has added a new Gale database, the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

The Virtual Reference Library includes the full-text of major reference titles. The sources can be searched either by keyword to find all articles containing a particular word or by article title for more in depth information. You also have the option of searching all titles in the database or limiting your search to a specific reference title.

The Virtual Reference Library is useful for checking facts or for getting background information about an unfamiliar topic. Almost all articles include a bibliography for further research on a topic.

Currently, twelve titles are available for searching. Some of the current titles include:

Dictionary of American History
(8 vol., 2003)

Encyclopedia of Sociology (2000)

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (2000)

Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society (2004).

Pollution A to Z (2 vol., 2004)

Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology
(5 th ed., 2 vol., 2001).

More titles will be added as they come online. Online reference titles are another step in making our library resources available 24/7.

Try the Gale Virtual Reference Library (Library Home Page > Find Articles and more > Alphabetical list > Gale Virtual Reference Library).

If you search on “Thomas Jefferson,” for instance, you’ll discover that among his many accomplishments, he is credited with introducing french fries to America (according to the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture).

--Blair Brainard, Acting Head of Reference