The first thing I noticed about this database was that I had to enter a barcode and password. That was not a problem as I had one for the school but this is the first time it has been required.
After that however I found Gale Reference to be very helpful. I know our 8th graders will soon be working on a World War II unit so I picked the WWII set from Title List on menu bar. There was a timeline and articles which I know will be very helpful as the students begin to research. One thing I liked were the inclusion of pictures. The text to speech feature and the ability to download to Mp3 is very helpful. Articles can be printed as well. This database is more advanced than others we have reviewed however it could be used by middle school students looking for a particular topic.
Our language arts classes are searching for a book to read for literature so just to see what is available for literature I typed in Huckleberry Finn in the search bar. I found several books about Huckleberry Finn as well as themes in American Literature. I read an article Race and Prejudice in American Literature which included mention of several other literary works with similar theme. I could not get the "listen" feature on this particular article but on others I have listened and found the speech to be good and not as robotic sounding as some others.
Gale Virtual Reference Library is a great addition to the library where space and funding is limited.
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Wow, Denise, you found lots of ways your students & teachers can use GVRL! The UXL titles are for 5th grade and up, so they will be easier for your students to read. Otherwise, the reading level is high school through adult. The pictures and graphics are good for all ages, though, and may be freely used for educational purposes. In school, you should have direct access, so I have asked Julie to check with you about that. Thanks for your comments here!
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