the envelope please

The transition to Gale databases from EBSCO has been rocky for a lot of us, but one of the things I've been most excited about is the promise of 25 titles from the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

(I'm never excited that Gale claims the words "Virtual Reference" for self-service interactions. "Find reliable information 24/7!" their tagline goes)

GVRL contains reference books and are exactly the sort of high quality online resources we should be sharing with patrons.

Jennfier Mauer at the Oregon State Library reports that the Statewide Database Licensing Advisory Committee has chosen the first 10 titles:

American Decades Primary Sources
Ancient Civilizations Reference Library
Complete Human Diseases and Conditions
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd ed.
Encyclopedia of Religion
Encyclopedia of Science, Technology and Ethics
Encyclopedia of World Cultures
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia
UXL Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, 2nd ed.
Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia

I think that SDLAC really knows their patrons. Huzzah, librarians!

What about all of those kids coming to L-net to learn about immigration? Egypt? An animal native to Oregon? An endangered species? The culture of a specific country? A certain Native American tribe? Here are resources to help answer these questions.

With 15 more titles to be revealed. I hope the committee will include a spot for the Encyclopedia of Explorers, World War II and Tree Octopuses.