NoveList

Bibliographic Information: (2013). Novelist [Database]. EBSCO. Website URL: http://www.ebscohost.com/novelist

Summary and Evaluation: Novelist provides users with 24/7 remote access and recommends read-alikes—two aspects that shy teens will love. Users can browse by genre, age range, best-of lists, and results display book reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly and School Library Journal. Each book also has a “more about this book” tab that gives useful details like the tone and writing style. Best of all, there is a direct link to any lists the book may appear on, like YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults. The search field allows users to search by author, title, or series in its basic function, but the advanced search expands into many more fields, like a checkbox for “award winner.”

Reason for Selection: Novelist is the perfect digital resource for avid readers, and for those shy teens that are afraid to come up to the reference desk and ask for recommendations, this will become immensely helpful to them.

Gale VIrtual Reference Library

Bibliographic Information: (2013). Gale Virtual Reference Library [Database]. Website URL: http://www.gale.cengage.com/servlet/GvrlMS?msg=ma

Summary and Evaluation: The Gale Virtual Reference Library is a powerhouse for one-stop reference needs. With over 7000 customizable reference titles from Cambridge, Wiley, Sage, Gale and roughly 80 other publishers, this database can be catered to fit the needs of teens. The PowerSearch interface is clean and easy to do basic and advanced searches and the results are intuitively displayed in html format, so that page breaks and images look like they are right out of a printed page. Another great feature is the ability to build a custom collection for specific user groups. Visual customizations are useful, too. The browsing tools are a breeze and laid out in a very slick and minimalist style. This award winning database is all a student needs for high school research projects.

  

Reason for Selection: GVRL won Best Overall Database from School Library Journal.