Gale Virtual Reference Library
Thomson Learning: Gale
Gale Virtual Reference Library
JISC and Gale bring the FE Community key electronic reference
materials to your desktop
Gale delivers reference
content in a database
format.
It‟s an interface and
delivery system
different from any other
eBook platform you‟ve
ever used…
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Introduction
• What is included in the Gale/JISC GVRL offer?
• Features
• Content
• Searching GVRL
• New interface
• InfoMarks
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Find out more!
http://www.galeuk.com/jiscebook
• Request a trial
• View titles
• Fact sheets
• Ordering
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GVRL – The JISC Offer
• A core collection of 21 eBook titles - 63 volumes
• Specially selected in collaboration with the JISC Working
Groups for eBooks, Learning Materials and the FE Community
• JISC - purchased the collection on behalf of the community, and
the content is available to FE institutions for £65 per year.
• Normal cost for a set of all of the 21 titles - £5,000
• A unique opportunity:
- Offers students and teachers a comprehensive collection of
reference materials in electronic format
- A wide range of subject and curriculum areas including Arts
and Humanities, Child Care studies, Fashion, Business and
Finance, Tourism and more…
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Title List
• Arts and Humanities Through the Eras • Gale Encyclopedia of Science
• Child Development • History Behind the Headlines
• Contemporary Fashion • Learning & Memory
• Countries & Their Cultures • New Dictionary of the History of Ideas
• Encyclopedia of Business & Finance • Nonfiction Classics for Students
• Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion • Nutrition and Well-Being A to Z
• Encyclopedia of Food & Culture • Pollution A to Z
• Encyclopedia of Science, Technology • Science of Everyday Things
and Ethics
• World Press Encyclopedia
• Gale Encyclopedia of E-Commerce
• Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious
• Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology Practices
• Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations
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With GVRL you can….
• Access a comprehensive collection of reference materials 24/7
• Unlimited usage
• Search within a single eBook or an entire collection
• Email and print articles from your eBooks
• Save your previous research on an embedded InfoMark to get to
the selected eBook
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Features
• Powered by InfoTrac - Intuitive interface with familiar functionalities
- Print or email an entire article, not just a page
- Mark lists
- List of sources
- Search history
- InfoMarks
- Usage statistics
• Access from your existing Gale common menu
• Searching across and within the eBook collection
• Link to entries/articles from the Table of Contents or the index
• Browse a list of illustrations
• Access from OPAC via MARC records
• Remote access
• No special readers or hardware required
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Add to the core collection
Customize and build your Virtual Library, at your own pace and
within your own budget. Purchase e-books from the entire
range available from Thomson Gale
• Go to www.galeuk.com/jiscebook
• Click on “Purchase Additional Titles” - view our full range of titles
• Note the EISBN and request a quote by emailing
lisa.bastin@thomson.com or telephone 0207 067 2500
• No minimum purchase - choose one title at a time, or several titles
• “Buy” the book - once you have paid for the book, you download
an archive copy (in XML format) and access online with your
existing collection
– As a rough guide, the purchase price for the ebooks is the print copy price (see the
Thomson Gale 2004 Catalogue) plus 10%
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Search Options: GVRL 2.0
• Basic Search • Advanced Search
– Document title – Keyword
– Keyword – Document title
– Full text – Image caption
– Or…select a publication – Full text
– Publication title
• Limit by… – ISBN
– Publication title – Author of document
– Date – Publisher
– With images – Start page
– Subject Area – Document number
– Audience – Previous searches
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Basic Search Screen
A
B
C
D
E
Library Bar
Title Bar
Toolbar
Search Bar
Search Pathway
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Basic Search
• Select from
three search
options
• Or select a
publication –
and make a
search within
• Or show all
titles by
subject
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Basic Search
• Three search
options
• Enter search
term
• View results
• Sort results ?
• Expand or limit
search from
results page?
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Results - Article/Entry
• Hit term
highlighting
• Images
• Web links
• Link to related
index terms in this
eBook title
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Results - Document Links
• Click more
links from
the article /
entry page
• View the
entry as a
PDF
• Click a link
for more
information
on „how to
cite‟ entries
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Results - eBook Links
• Click more
links from
the article /
entry page
• About this
eBook
• eTable of
Contents
• eBook index
• List of
Illustrations
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Toolbar Options
• InfoMark
• Print
• eMail
• Download
• InfoMarks are a stable URL
• Mark entries linked to your Thomson Gale
databases Bookmark
• View previous
• A single-click to any page of
entries
searches search results interest as
• Dictionary you search
• Embed InfoMarks into web
pages, Word documents, the
• Title list
lesson plans and VLE‟s database
• Use „help‟
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Advanced Search
• Select indexes
to search
• Expand link to
get more search
options
Add rows
• Select titles? for more
search
options if
• Refine your required
search results if
required
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Advanced Search – Additional Tips
• Search for
words „near to‟
each other
• Search across
titles containing
a certain word
(rather than
selecting a specific
title)
• View results –
then expand /
limit results if
required
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Quick Search
• Perform a
Quick
Search from
the results
page
• Performs a
Keyword Search
• Use „Quick Search‟
to find additional
results – then easily
go back to your
original results
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InfoMarks: Embed results into college/library systems
• What is an InfoMark?
– A stable URL linked to your Thomson Gale database
– A single-click to any page of search results
• Using an InfoMark performs a search again, whether the result is a
single article or a list of articles
• Why use InfoMarks?
- Save Time
- Share and update Information
- Create a search and re-execute it
days, weeks or months later
- Works with both local and remote
users
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Use InfoMarks to create…
• Reading lists
• Current awareness topic sites - links to periodical or newspaper
sources
• Online/distance learning courses
• Bibliographies, reference lists
• e-Learning sites
• Teacher lesson plans
• Student assignments
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Easy to create !
If you can “copy and paste” you can use InfoMarks
• Copy the URL of a results page and paste into your electronic
document – web page, Word document, e-mail or VLE
• An InfoMark always executes a brand new search
• Whenever users click on a saved search, it accesses the latest
information in your Gale database
• The results are persistent and the URLs will not change
• Saved searches can be over and over again, at different times by
different users.
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Questions?
Thomson Gale Support team: 020 7067 2500
Globaltech@thomson.com
Many Thanks
Julie Stacey
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Thomson Gale PowerSearch
Gale‟s New Online Delivery System
Julie Stacey
Solutions Consultant
Introduction
• What is Thomson Gale PowerSearch
• What is a platform and why do we need to change
• Features and new design revisions
• Advantages of PowerSearch
• What are the changes to customers?
• How/when this will affect users
• What will the new interface/menu look like
• Questions & answers
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Introduction
Thomson Gale™, a part of The Thomson Corporation, is pleased to
announce a new technology platform that is transforming the way
library users find, assimilate, and manage information.
• Our improved delivery platform was developed according to
information gathered from customers.
• Our product development and technology teams discovered that
librarians and users were looking for several ways to improve the
research process.
• The future of Thomson Gale‟s online products lies with a
complete merger of user interfaces into one single platform -
with a simple, common look and feel. Customers will also be able
to cross-search their current subscriptions with Thomson Gale
PowerSearch.
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What is Thomson Gale PowerSearch?
• Thomson Gale PowerSearch is Thomson Gale‟s new super-
powered search engine
• Cross-searching capabilities will allow users to access all the
Thomson Gale content in their library‟s collection
• Explore one, several or all available databases simultaneously -
while organizing results effectively
• Provides a solution for managing a wealth of periodical,
reference and primary source information, utilizing a single
system
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What is a platform?
• A platform can be defined as the hardware and software used to
deliver a software application
• Thomson Gale‟s electronic products have run on various delivery
platforms, depending on the content focus:
– Databases such as OneFile, Expanded Academic ASAP,
Custom Newspapers and other periodical databases have “lived”
on one type of platform - InfoTrac
– Our Primary source and eBook databases, as well as our
Resource Centers, such as Literature Resource Center, have
also lived on different platforms, in order to be able to deliver
reference and primary source content
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Why do we need to change the platform?
• The number of electronic products becoming available from
publishers today is increasing rapidly
• Once relevant resources are found, the user must then learn
how to navigate each user interface / platform in order to get the
most accurate results
• As a result Thomson Gale has developed a unique, streamlined
user experience
• This will mean that eventually all of our databases will look and
feel the same, and our different content sets (periodicals,
newspapers, reference, primary sources, eBooks) will be
accessed through one, common user interface
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What are the features of the new platform?
• A single user interface • Links to library holdings
• Advanced search • MARC records
• Basic search • Marked lists
• Breadcrumb navigation • OpenURL 0.1 and 1.0
• Browse Indexes • Print
• Browse-able indexes • Publication search
• Citation export • Quick search
• Citation generation • Search history
• Context-sensitive Help • Search within results
• Cross product searching • Sorting
• Customer branding • Subject assisted search
• E-mail • TOC display
• InfoMark Generator • Usage: ICOLC, COUNTER
• Link to any Web site • Z39.50 Support
• Link to WorldCat • Z39.80
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Major design revisions
The new interface will carry many of the features and functionality
that our customers are familiar with now as well as several
major design revisions:
– The results screen design has been changed to include „tabs‟ which
separate the different content sets eg: newspapers, scholarly
journals, magazines, reference materials
– A new “side-bar” thesaurus on the results screen gives access to
subject guide content accessible through Keyword searching
(Subject Assisted Search)
– Browse Indexes added
– Search within results added
– The ability to „sort‟ results added
– „Named user‟ feature will support saved subject and publication
preference selections, alerts, language preference, etc.
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PowerSearch Advantages
• Precision searching, combined with powerful recall of search
history and award winning content create powerful system for
novice or advanced researches.
• Consistent presentation and features lessen the learning
curve. PowerSearch is easy to introduce to patrons / students /
staff, simplifies training and support, and is a great choice for
remote and independent use.
• Publication Search feature, as well as links to current Title
Lists from both the common menu and from within the user
environment allow librarians and users to quickly identify
included content and range of coverage in any Gale product.
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PowerSearch Advantages
• PowerSearch and InfoMarks: Tailor Gale content to the
library‟s collection. Customize your library's presentation of Gale
content and maximize ease-of-access for your library's local and
remote users.
• The accuracy and convenience of Subject searching via
controlled vocabulary terms. New, user-friendly presentation of
the relationship of Subjects to Subdivisions aids librarians and
teaching staff in delivering bibliographic instruction, information
literacy services, training, and curriculum support.
• Context-sensitive Help feature supports bibliographic
instruction needs, as well as independent and remote usage
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PowerSearch Advantages
• PowerSearch increases ease and speed of research. The
ability to Search and/or Limit by Publication Format, Target
Audience, and Document Type gives librarians & users the
ability to quickly access and identify sources of information
specific to course assignment requirements.
• Consistent citation presentation of publication and source
metadata for all Gale content simplifies bibliographic instruction,
heightens users' abilities to make informed selections, and
simplifies citing.
• How To Cite feature provides assistance to librarians and
teaching staff supporting the needs of students, and offers the
same level of assistance to independent and remote users
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The changes to customers
• We are moving our products to a new „user interface‟ – which
will be phased by product over two years.
– This will affect the way that your „individual databases‟ will look
• We are also moving our products to the new Thomson Gale
PowerSearch common menu.
– This will affect the way that your „common menu‟ will look – this is
the screen that displays your collection of Thomson Gale
databases
• The changes begin in Jan 2005 and will be phased over two
years
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Initial product migration
• Release Date: January 2005
– Gale Virtual Reference Library v2.0
– PowerSearch v2.0
– InfoTrac standard periodical products to follow:
• InfoTrac OneFile and Expanded Academic ASAP
• General Reference Center
• Health Reference Center Academic
• InfoTrac Junior and InfoTrac Student
• LegalTrac
• Computer Database
• Custom Journals and Custom Newspapers
• PROMT and European Business ASAP
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How will this affect our customers?
This will affect users depending upon which Thomson Gale
databases/collections they have access to
• GVRL was migrated to the new user interface Jan 05
• Customers do not have to use PowerSearch immediately, this is
an optional switch-on. Users can still access their databases
EXACTLY as they do now (typically from the library Web
site/portal that describes the database)
• The following slides describe the situations for customers
depending upon the databases they have
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GVRL / eBook customers
• The Gale Virtual Reference Library (2.0) was the first product to
be migrated to the new „user interface‟ in January 2005.
• At the same time, users who have GVRL and InfoTrac have the
option to switch their „common menu‟ to the new Thomson
Gale PowerSearch interface. This will allow them to see their
Thomson Gale collection of databases and cross-search their
InfoTrac products alongside their GVRL collection
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InfoTrac customers
• From January 2005 customers have the option to switch their
InfoTrac databases over to the new „common menu‟ (database
collections page) Thomson Gale PowerSearch
• This will allow users to see their Thomson Gale collection of
databases and cross-search their InfoTrac products alongside
their GVRL collection
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Resource Center customers
• From January 2005 customers have the option to switch their
„common menu‟ (database collections page) to the new
Thomson Gale PowerSearch menu
• InfoTrac and GVRL will be cross-searchable from this time,
however Resource Centers will not be cross-searchable with
the other databases until well into 2005
• The Resource Centers will appear under a separate link to
„additional databases‟ on the Thomson Gale PowerSearch
common menu
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What will it look like? - GVRL New Interface
Familiar searching
and retrieval
options
Option to view / hide
eBook titles
Make your search
View results and see
familiar features
Search pathway – allows
you to click back to
previous search stage
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What will it look like? - InfoTrac new interface
Familiar searching
and retrieval
options
Click to see more
search options
Enter search
terms
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What will it look like? – Thomson Gale PowerSearch
From this…
To this…
Cross-searchable
databases
Select the
databases
Make your
search
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What will it look like? – cross-product search results
Results from all content sets appear in one screen with „tabs‟ separating
the different content
See results or click
to limit search
further
Sort results by
date/relevance
Subject terms
appear on left
Familiar retrieval
and marking
options
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What will happen to InfoTrac and existing databases?
• The InfoTrac platform and other Thomson Gale platforms that
customers are familiar with will eventually be phased out as
our databases move over to the new common user interface and
Thomson Gale PowerSearch
• However there will be a „transition period‟ where
InfoTrac/Resource Centers will run alongside the new interface
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Questions about links to the databases
Will I need a new URL to view my Thomson Gale databases?
• No, any transition will be seamless and URLs will not be
affected
Will my InfoMark Links still work?
• Yes, InfoMark links will still work
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Support materials
Will Thomson Gale be providing new support materials for the
new interface?
• Thomson Gale will be updating tip sheets and navigation guides
during the course of the transition
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Activating the new menu/interface
Do I have to do anything to see the changes?
• The GVRL new „user interface‟ is now active for all customers
• Other databases will be migrated to the new „user interface‟ over
the coming two year period
• If any users want to make the optional switch to Thomson Gale
PowerSearch from January 2005, they can contact the Solutions
Consultants team listed below
Julie Stacey, Stewart Perrygrove, Esther Conway
Globaltech@thomson.com
020 7067 2500
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