Did you notice that your branch of Ocean County Library had over $140,000 worth of reference books added to its collection in 2008 without needing a single inch of additional shelving? Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) is an online collection of digitized books organized as a database for convenient searching. They are the complete real reference books, available as PDF scans complete with page numbers. This is not a subscription, we actually own these titles. They won’t disappear. If a student says, “my teacher won’t let me use the Internet”, librarians can now respond, “It isn’t the Internet, its the library online.”
Because they are electronic, GVRL books are searchable by keyword. Articles can also be easily emailed and translated into several languages by clicking a button. A citation tool makes bibliographies in several formats much easier than ever before. Best of all, these books are available 24/7 at home or work to everyone with an Ocean County Library library card.
The complete list of titles is available two ways. In our staff and public catalogs, search “Gale Virtual Reference Library” as a SERIES. On the Find-it page (click Research & Info on the homepage, then click Research) “Gale Virtual Reference Library” is listed under many topics and in the alphabetical list of all databases. The first featured subcollection of GVRL books is listed as “Literature Resources for Students.”
Most of the reference books in this collection have traditionally been purchased only for the largest branches so many reference librarians in the small and medium branches haven’t had a chance to ever use them in paper. There are also many cases where the GVRL editions are newer than those owned by some branches.
Highlights of the more than 500 titles showing the range of subjects:
Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine , 3rd ed., 4v, 2009
Gale Encyclopedia of Surgery and Medical Tests , 2nd ed., 4v, 2009
Business Plans Handbook 14v
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia , 2nd ed., 17v
Grzimek's Student Animal Life Resource , 21v
Scholarships, Fellowships and Loans , 25th ed., 2009
Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America , 5v,
Colonial America Reference Library , 6v
Elizabethan World Reference Library , 4v
Great Depression and the New Deal Reference Library , 4v
Lucent Terrorism Library, 5v
National Survey of State Laws , 6th ed., 2008
Drama for Students, 25v.
Novels for Students, 28v.
Poetry for Students, 29v.
Encyclopaedia Judaica , 2nd ed., 22v, 2007
Encyclopedia of American Religions , 7th ed.,
Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World , 2v, 2004
Encyclopedia of Religion , 2nd ed., 15v, 2005,
Encyclopedia of Science and Religion , 2v
New Catholic Encyclopedia , 2nd ed., 15v
The Gale Encyclopedia of Science , 4th ed., 6v, 2008
Encyclopedia of Race and Racism , 3v, 2008
International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences , 9v, 2008
The goal of this challenge is to get you comfortable using GVRL and excited about what this collection can mean to your customers. So there are six small exercises drawing your attention to different features. It will make your challenge easier if you take a look at the following links first.
Basic Talking points on GVRL from the vendor (useful when making presentations to community groups): http://www.gale.cengage.com/gvrl/about.htm
GVRL search tips - recommended
http://www.gale.cengage.com/pdf/searchtip/gvrl_tip.pdf
Optional: Long (15 page) document on GVRL features and searching. If you want to be a GVRL power user this is for you.
http://www.gale.cengage.com/pdf/navguide/gvrl_nvg_v2.pdf
(I have chocolate for the first person who finds the embarrassing spelling typo in one of the search examples in the above document and emails the challenge Gmail account about what it is. No prize if you email the regular work email of the Coordinator.)
Exercises:
1. Search “Gale Virtual Reference Library” as a SERIES in both the staff catalog and the Public Catalog. Browse the list and select a record for an individual title. Notice you can click from within the record on the public catalog and go directly to GVRL. Notice the detailed contents notes especially for some of the literature resources like Novels for Students. They are searchable in general keyword searches inside our catalog.
2. Email the pdf of any article, which can be found through a basic search, advanced search or by searching within an individual book title by drilling down until you reach a specific entry. Email that pdf article to the challenge’s Gmail email. (Not to the regular Outlook of the Challenge’s coordinator, you’ll overload her email box!)
3. Find the source citation from the article/entry you emailed using the citation tool. Copy and paste that citation into a separate email, emailing it to the challenge Gmail account.
4. Translate an article to Spanish with the Translation tool. (These are machine translations but they help.)
5. A title that almost everyone (sorry, BH) now owns in paper and in GVRL is VideoHound's golden movie retriever (R 791.4375 Vide). Find your branch’s copy in paper, then search for a movie listing both in GVRL and in the paper copy.
Compare the PDF version in GVRL with the paper edition. If any student or parent questions whether GVRL material is really the same as the book, grab your Videohound and demonstrate!
6. Blog about using GVRL. If you can write a real life story of using it to help a customer, that would be wonderful.
Encyclopaedia Judaica , 2nd ed., 22v, 2007
Encyclopedia of American Religions , 7th ed.,
Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World , 2v, 2004
Encyclopedia of Religion , 2nd ed., 15v, 2005,
Encyclopedia of Science and Religion , 2v
New Catholic Encyclopedia , 2nd ed., 15v
The Gale Encyclopedia of Science , 4th ed., 6v, 2008
Encyclopedia of Race and Racism , 3v, 2008
International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences , 9v, 2008
The goal of this challenge is to get you comfortable using GVRL and excited about what this collection can mean to your customers. So there are six small exercises drawing your attention to different features. It will make your challenge easier if you take a look at the following links first.
Basic Talking points on GVRL from the vendor (useful when making presentations to community groups): http://www.gale.cengage.com/gvrl/about.htm
GVRL search tips - recommended
http://www.gale.cengage.com/pdf/searchtip/gvrl_tip.pdf
Optional: Long (15 page) document on GVRL features and searching. If you want to be a GVRL power user this is for you.
http://www.gale.cengage.com/pdf/navguide/gvrl_nvg_v2.pdf
(I have chocolate for the first person who finds the embarrassing spelling typo in one of the search examples in the above document and emails the challenge Gmail account about what it is. No prize if you email the regular work email of the Coordinator.)
Exercises:
1. Search “Gale Virtual Reference Library” as a SERIES in both the staff catalog and the Public Catalog. Browse the list and select a record for an individual title. Notice you can click from within the record on the public catalog and go directly to GVRL. Notice the detailed contents notes especially for some of the literature resources like Novels for Students. They are searchable in general keyword searches inside our catalog.
2. Email the pdf of any article, which can be found through a basic search, advanced search or by searching within an individual book title by drilling down until you reach a specific entry. Email that pdf article to the challenge’s Gmail email. (Not to the regular Outlook of the Challenge’s coordinator, you’ll overload her email box!)
3. Find the source citation from the article/entry you emailed using the citation tool. Copy and paste that citation into a separate email, emailing it to the challenge Gmail account.
4. Translate an article to Spanish with the Translation tool. (These are machine translations but they help.)
5. A title that almost everyone (sorry, BH) now owns in paper and in GVRL is VideoHound's golden movie retriever (R 791.4375 Vide). Find your branch’s copy in paper, then search for a movie listing both in GVRL and in the paper copy.Compare the PDF version in GVRL with the paper edition. If any student or parent questions whether GVRL material is really the same as the book, grab your Videohound and demonstrate!
6. Blog about using GVRL. If you can write a real life story of using it to help a customer, that would be wonderful.
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