• Home
• > Public Libraries
• > Experience

Experience

Literature Resources from Gale — A New Era in Literature Studies

Gale develops resources by listening to our customers. That’s how we continue to provide cutting-edge products that truly deliver what your patrons require: definitive, essential, and timely information, created by experts and available nowhere else.

Our acclaimed literature resources will be migrating during the next few months to a new platform that will be unlike anything you’ve experienced previously. These enhancements will entitle end-users to a range of benefits — all at no additional cost to you.

This new platform is called Literature Resources from Gale. It is a search environment in which you can search several of your library’s literature databases at the same time, in a single interface designed specifically for literature resource.

View a guided tour of this revolutionary resource.

Literature Resources from Gale features:

• Integrated cross-searching across the broad range of Gale literature content -- criticism, reviews, biographies, overviews, literary works and eReferences – all searchable at the same time and returned in lists organized according to the type of research needs they serve
• Easy-to-navigate new interface which guides end-users to the material they need quickly and intuitively
• Enhanced results pages, making accessing content even easier, with multiple filtering and sorting options
• New subject indexing, which greatly improves the accuracy of results
• “How to Cite” feature with support for citation export tools

During the fall of 2007, you’ll have access to this cross-searching environment if your library subscribes through Gale to the Literature Resource Center and either LitFinder, the MLA International Bibliography, or both. The cross-search will also include any Gale eBook reference titles that your institution has purchased and tagged for searching with literature content.

Gale literature databases and eBook references will gradually move to the Literature Resources from Gale platform starting in September 2007. Most Gale literature databases and eBook references will have moved to the new platform by the end of 2007. The Shakespeare Collection, What Do I Read Next? and Literature Criticism Online are not scheduled to migrate in 2007 due to the complexities inherent in these vast, content-rich collections.

Learn more about the timing and functionality involved in migrating your library’s databases to the Literature Resources from Gale platform, and find Frequently Asked Questions about these exciting innovations and what they mean to your library.

A New Platform, A Better Search Experience

Literature Resources from Gale is a search environment where you can search several of your library’s literature databases at the same time, in a single interface designed specifically for effective literature research.

During the fall of 2007, you’ll have access to this cross-searching environment if your institution subscribes through Gale to the Literature Resource Center and either LitFinder, the MLA International Bibliography, or both. The cross-search will also include any Gale eBook reference titles that your institution has purchased and tagged for searching with Literature content.

When you open Literature Resources from Gale, a statement above the search options will tell you which literature products are included in your search. You will notice that when you type a search term into the search box, you have several options for the type of search you conduct. These allow you to decide from the start how broad or focused you want your search to be.

Tip: You can improve the accuracy of your search by putting phrases in quotes. A search on remains of the day (no quotes) will return all items that contain the word remains and the word day within a few words of each other. A search on “ remains of the day” (in quotes) will return only items that contain that exact phrase.

Person Search — By or About

If your search term is a name, selecting this option will return items that were written by that person or that contain a significant amount of information about him or her.

Tip: Keep in mind that several people may have the same name. There will be a way to narrow your search further once you get to a list of results.

Tip: If you need items only by or only about the person, you can either filter your results after they are returned, or use Advanced Search.

Name of work

This option will search for specific titles of works (poems, plays, books, etc.) discussed in the database, as well as for any copies of the work itself that may be present.

Keywords

This option will search for your term in key parts of each document in the database, such as the title of the item, subject terms or abstracts associated with it, and its first fifty words.

Tip: If you enter several words in the search box, Keywords Search will look for items in which the words occur close together in the text unless you separate them with the word “and.” For instance, a search on Hemingway novels will find items in which the words Hemingway and novels occur within a few words of each other in the keyword sections of a document. A search on Hemingway and novels will find items in which the words occur in any of the “keyword” sections of a document.

All Text

This option will search for the words you entered anywhere in each document. As for Keywords, however, if you enter more than one word, you will get only documents in which the words occur close together unless you use and to separate them.

Tip: “All Text” is the broadest possible search, so if you are not getting enough results with the more focused search options, give this a try.

Tip: "All Text" is your best choice if you are looking for a famous person.

Advanced Search

This search form gives you many more options to create a very specific search. For more information, use the Help feature within the database.

Person Search

This search is designed to create lists of individuals who fit a custom profile. For example, if you need a list of several English Renaissance poets, or Japanese novelists born before 1940, or Native American short story writers, use this feature.

Tip: Not everyone mentioned in the database has been classified according to all these criteria, although many thousands have indeed been classified. So keep in mind that your list will be representative, but not exhaustive. If you notice that we’ve missed a key name, let us know!

Works Search

This search is designed to create lists of literary works fitting a custom profile. For example, if you need a list of several English poems from the Romantic era, or Spanish novels by women writers, use this search.

Tip: Not every title mentioned in the database has been classified according to all these criteria, although many thousands have indeed been classified. So keep in mind that your list will be representative, but not exhaustive. If you notice that we’ve missed a key name, let us know!

Results

Essential, relevant information is only part of what Literature Resources from Gale provides. Results are presented the way researchers want them – in a single interface designed to enhance learning and encourage further study.

Sorting and narrowing results

You have several different options to filter or sort your results:

Sorting results: A pull-down menu on the right side (over your results) offers several different choices for changing the order in which your results display.

Search within results: In the left sidebar, you can enter search terms and search within your results list.

Tip: If you deselect “within these results,” the sidebar search will do a new keyword search of the entire database.

Narrow results

Options to narrow your search are displayed above the results list and in the left sidebar.

Above the results

Limit your results to items from peer-reviewed sources (publications that publish an article only after it has been reviewed and accepted by subject experts).

Tip: Deselect an option to see broader results.

Tip: Numbers next to each term indicate how many of your results match that term.

Tip: After you have made a selection, an option to deselect will display in the sidebar

Opening and using documents

To open a citation from the results list, select the title of the document. The full citation will display. Linked subject terms assigned to the citation display in the left sidebar. Select one to conduct a new search on that subject.

To the right of the document you’ll find a toolbox with links to tools that will help you

• Print, email , or download the document
• C reate a citation and export it either via email or using citation export tools like EndNote, ProCite, RefWorks, or Reference Manager
• V iew a rough translation of the citation into any of several languages. Note that this is done via a “gisting” tool. It will capture the general idea or “gist” of the document, but it will not create a completely accurate and grammatically correct translation

Tip: Subjects displayed in this area can help you identify ways to broaden or narrow your research.

“Marking” a citation

By selecting “Mark” next to a result, you can select items from your results and save them to a list to open, bookmark, email or print later. You can also mark individual citations from within the citation display. You can collect up to 50 documents in your Marked Items list.

Tip: If you need to mark more than 50 documents during a single visit to the database, bookmark or email your list as it approaches 50 items. Then clear your Marked Items list and start a new list.