New electronic reference books

We have added to our collection of Gale Virtual Reference Library titles. Access these titles by choosing Gale Virtual Reference Library from one of our databases pages:

American Decades Primary Sources , 10v,  2004
Business Plans Handbook , Vol. 10,  2004
Encyclopedia of Communication and Information , 3v,  2002
Encyclopedia of Education , 2nd ed.,  8v,  2003
Encyclopedia of Human Geography , 2006
Encyclopedia of Management , 5th ed.,  2006
Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure in America , 2v,  2004
Encyclopedia of Religion , 2nd ed.,  15v,  2005
Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders , 2v,  2003
History Behind the Headlines: The Origins of Conflicts Worldwide , 6v,  2003
Mathematics , 4v,  2002
New Catholic Encyclopedia , 2nd ed.,  15v,  2003

New health resource for Minnesotans on the web

Take a look at MedlinePlus' latest development, the Go Local feature. Using My Health Minnesota-->Go Local, Minnesota residents can access a free, online directory of health care services and providers throughout Minnesota, including clinics, hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, health screening programs, etc. The site also offers a help sheet that explains in more detail how to use this resource. This resource is a joint project of the National Library of Medicine and the Health Sciences Libraries of the University of Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic Libraries, and the MINITEX Library Information Network.

Minnesota's Notable State Documents

Each year, Minnesota librarians nominate state publications (e.g. websites, reports, reference guides) to be included on the MN Legislative Library's Notable State Documents list. Take a look at this year's list! http://www.leg.state.mn.us/webcontent/lrl/mndocs/best2007.pdf

New trials

The library currently has three trial databases. Please check them out on our trial databases page, and let us know what you think!

(1) Aluka: "Aluka is an international, collaborative initiative building an online digital library of scholarly resources from and about Africa. [Their] name, 'Aluka,' is derived from a Zulu word meaning 'to weave', reflecting Aluka?s mission to connect resources and scholars from around the world."

(2) Children's Literature Comprehensive Database: Use this database to identify titles that match a child's interests and reading level. Includes the following:
-A Children's Catalog (H. W. Wilson) recommended electronic resource
-More than 300,000 reviews from 36 quality review sources like KIRKUS, VOYA, The ALAN Review, and Booklist
-Reading Measurement Programs (Lexile, AR, Scholastic Reading Counts)
-More than 145,000 links to web pages featuring individual authors and illustrators
-Over 47,000 book jacket images
-Teaching Tools--which includes lesson plans, teaching guides and the like.
-Links to view the first chapters and other parts of books that the publishers are providing.
-A variety of search options by age, grade, genre, author, language and much more
-An average of 2,000 new reviews added each month
 
(3) Gale Small Business Resource Center: offers tools for real-world entrepreneurship, small business generation, and startup operation.
Check out the virtual tour here or access the database directly.