I just investigated Gale's History Resource Center (US and World.) In short, "great interface; redundant content." If the price is right, it could be worth it for the intuitive, convenient person search and subject search.
INTERFACE:
This interface has a lot going for it. It fills a niche that
Person Search - :) :) :)
nationality
occupation
gender
full name or start of last name
birth and death dates (exact or before or after)
Subject Search - :) :)
search by keyword and browse the Topic Tree (subject headings in a hierarchical thesaurus, all hot-linked)
Advanced Search - :)
your standard Advanced Search set-up with 3 boxes and pull-down menus for boolean operators
time period
document type
publication date
Chronology
Not very useful except maybe as a browsing-to-get-ideas tool. Just a bare-bones chronology, with each entry hot-linked to a document
Previous Searches button :)
Revise search button easy to find :)
Search Tips and Help :) :) :)
Can switch easily between searching U.S., World (other than U.S.), and U.S. and World :)
SOURCES:
Full-text content, which is a big improvement over Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life. :) :)
Journal articles, primary sources, and reference materials can be searched together or separately.
On the other hand, there is, for all intents and purposes, NO unique content. There are only 3 titles that we don't already have. 2 of them are intended for kids and the third is about Michigan.
Friday, February 15, 2008
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