2 New Trials

Encyclopedia Britanica Great Books Collection http://lib.mylibrary.com

and

Pop Culture Universe http: //pop.greenwood.com

I don't have pricing information for Great Books yet. Pop Culture Universe is $959.

I will email the access information to the adult services staff, Mary & Darren.

C. L.

Business Source Elite

This database provides articles and contextual information on business and finance. Academic journals, trace publications and popular magazines and newspapers are indexed. After a search is initially taken, a column opens up to the right, allowing the searcher to modify their query to different search terms, limit types of publications or narrow to a particular company or industry. I think this database would be most useful to students who are researching policy because it could be used to track trends that the ways that businesses are responding to them. (Tim)

Business and company resource center

The B&CRC is a business database which allows the user to search for information by both company and industry. An entry about a particular company in broken down into two section, a column of available articles and narrative data running down the left side of the screen, and a selection of tabs across the top offering the user to access different financial data and reports. Reference USA is usually my first stop for financial information, but if the user is looking for in depth information on a particular company, this can be a useful database as the availability to cross-reference reports with news stories could be valuable. (Tim)

Geek Speak

I was listening to a tech podcast this morning and the group was talking about new vs. old media models, specifically the "old" media of newspapers, magazines and radio vs. the "new" media of RSS feeds and social networking. The interesting thing about the conversation was the idea that "old" media was a one way street where information was given by the providers, accepted by the receivers, and there was very little meeting in the middle or feedback. One of the defining aspects of the "new" media, however, was that it empowered the users to add their own content - collaborating with the original content providers. I was wondering if we could use this idea for the library to engage our users in conversations and collaborations through social networking services like Facebook and Twitter and through our web site.

Gale directories library

C.L. has passed on to me a flyer for the Gale Essential Directories database which has things like the Encyclopedia of Associations, Business Rankings Annual, Market Share Reporter and others. It might be worth taking a look at if the price is right. I left the flyer on my desk if you want to check it out.

Mango Languages

I spoke to a customer today who was interested in Mango Languages. She said that her granddaughter had access to it from her library and she was interested in learning Italian with her granddaughter.

I spoke with Ryan from Mango Languages (link to trial) and he said that they will be adding an additional 16 languages in the next few months including Hindi, Irish, Thai, ESL for Russian, ESL for Chinese & a generic ESL. He walked through a lesson to highlight some of the features they offer. On their homepage, customers can search to see if their local library offers the service. He said they set that up to drive people to the library sites (I'm sure they're also hoping that people will call the library and ask about it). Lessons are self-paced and can be bookmarked. The main focus is on speaking, but they do offer some grammar. If we decide to purchase the service for the start of our fiscal year, the cost is $3000/year. Otherwise, it will go up to $3500/year.

C. L.

Gale Virtual Reference Library Titles

Some time ago we purchased several titles from the Gale Virtual Reference Library. These titles are ours just like a book would be. They are not updated. The titles purchased are:

• Gale Excyclopedia of Surgery and Medical Tests, 2nd ed
• Gale Encyclopedia of World History: Governments
• UXL Encyclopedia of Biomes
• Great Depression and the New Deal Reference Library
• Industrial Revolution Reference Library
• U*X*L Encyclopedia of World Mythology

We haven't gotten them up so that users can access them. We can put them up in whatever way you think would be most useful. Some libraries have included them on their database pages: Worcester Public Library and Newark Public Library. Other libraries have created a separate page with information about each title (some with pictures of the covers, some without): Madison Public Library, Loudon County Library, Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library. Titles can also be linked in our catalog: Los Gatos Public Library Catalog.

What do you all think is the best way to get these titles out there so that our users can access them?

C. L.