Next Generation of Gale Databases
Posted by: Rebecca Vnuk
At the just-concluded ALA Annual Conference Gale announced that it is launching In Context, a new portfolio of online products, this fall. Replacing several of the familiar Resource Center databases such as Biography Resource Center, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, and Science Resource Center, these new products will offer portal pages, ReadSpeaker text-to-speech technology, Web 2.0 share tools, and other features. They will be offered to currrent Resource Center subscribers as an upgrade at no additional cost.
At Monday’s Reference Books Bulletin Editorial Board conference program, “Reference Work form Idea to Reality,” Gale’s Frank Menchaca talked about the transition from the “first generation” Gale databases like the Resource Centers to a newer generation of products that are not only more dynamic and interactive, but also require, as he put it, “more editorial acumen.”
As the amount of information available online grows and databases get more complex, an editorial hand becomes more, rather than less important. We’ve already seen other examples, such as Credo’s new Topic Pages and the redesigned SIRS Issues Researcher, where editors play a much bigger role in mediating between user and content.
