E-Views and Reviews: Daily Life Is Nearly Perfect

What do readers really want in an electronic review? Now that you've had a chance to get the flavor of this new format, let me know if you are getting what you need. So far I've heard from folks who like what they see—but don't be shy. Email me.

Quote of the Week: "Over the next few years…we want to move beyond passively serving reference content to providing support for instruction in key content areas and especially to bridge the gap in schools between the library and the classroom. Second, we want to work with libraries to make access to information by remote patrons, including distance learners and students in their homes, easier and more cost-effective. Finally, we hope to augment access to our content by providing better integration with federated search environments, better metadata at a lower level of granularity, and information that is targeted at specific user communities."—Mark Cummings, Vice President & Publisher, Reference, Scholastic Library Publishing

Greenwood Electronic Media; dailylife.greenwood.com/default.asp

Greenwood Daily Life Online is an interwoven collection of primary documents, reference works, monographs, images, maps, illustrations, and time lines depicting essential activities of daily life across the globe and throughout history. This monumental product comprises fascinating yet simple details.

So far Greenwood has stuffed the file full of information from the six volumes ofthe new Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life (see LJ Reference review, p. 118), the 27 volumes of its "Daily Life Through History" series, as well as other Greenwood historical reference works, nonfiction monographs from Praeger Publishers, primary documents, and more. This translates to 10,000-plus book pages and over four million words, with chronologies, vetted web sites, and "Tours Through Time" to examine issues across time and cultural boundaries.

How Does It Work?Basically, the system lets you do Quick Searches, Advanced Searches, and Browses. But there is nothing the least bit basic about how you can access this product. It is one of the most sophisticated yet easy-to-use search interfaces I've seen. In Quick Search you use the typical fill-in box. In Advanced Search you can do Keyword or Boolean searches that let you limit your search to a particular Subject, Region, or Time.

The Help feature has some of the most intelligently written guides I've ever seen and is available via both a button (on all screens) and through "Tips and Tricks" (what searcher is going to pass up learning the tricks? Finally, an e-producer that understands human nature.).

Librarians will quickly lose themselves in the Browse section. It's rather like exploring with H.G. Wells, Sherlock Holmes, Will and Ariel Durant, Charles Darwin, Edith Hamilton, and Sir James Frazer in your party. You can begin Browsing by Time Period (Ancient World, Medieval World, 15th and 16th Centuries, 17th and 18th Centuries, 19th Century, and Modern World).

I Browsed within the Ancient World and found subjects corresponding to those in the Browse by Subject, with the additions of 11 Historical Overviews (ranging from a "Timeline for Ancient Mesopotamia" to a "Chronology for the Ancient Romans") and 22 Primary Documents (ranging from Chapter 125 of the Egyptian Book of the Dead to an excerpt from Xenophon of Ephesus' Ephesian Tale of Anthia and Habrocomes) along with Hammurabi, Titus Livius, Juvenal, and Plutarch for good measure. Fairly heady stuff.

I perused Plutarch (from Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Life of Caesar and Life of Brutus, 1579) and found a contextual note about Plutarch's importance to history and literature, as well as links to Chronologies, Images, and Maps.

Tours Through Time for this topic included separate windows with progressive information across eras, including "Waste: Removing It from Where We Live," "Graffiti: Communication for the Masses," and "Weapons: Reach Makes the Difference." At this point I realized that Daily Life Online is not your average e-resource.

You can also Browse by Region. In Middle East under Material Life I found a scholarly yet wholly accessible 19-screen treatise on the Food of the Ancient Egyptians (with links to Chronologies, Images, Lesson Plans, and External Links—695 vetted web sites including resources from the National Institutes of Health and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

In Browse by Subject (Domestic Life, Economic Life, Intellectual Life, Material Life, Political Life, Recreational Life, and Religious Life), I chose Religious Life and explored the Region of Asia, where there was an in-depth entry on religion in early modern Japan, again with substantial links.

After four hours of browsing I still hadn't begun to test the searching. I wanted to linger in the chronologies and links, which are utterly absorbing and add richness to the content without overloading the reader. Does this give you an idea of the scope of the product?

I tried a Quick Search for "sex," figuring it is likely to be a first search for many, and received 93 Encyclopedia Articles, 150 Book Chapters, 16 Primary Documents, and 11 Images. Going right to the images (the kids will) I found 11 black-and-white illustrations and photos, the raciest of which is a Pompeian wall painting. Anyone who reads the articles, chapters, and primary documents (such as the excerpt from Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972) will be edified rather than titillated. The scholarly, matter-of-fact treatment of this subject gives further evidence of the product's high quality.

An Advanced Search for "libraries" in the Medieval World netted four encyclopedia articles and 14 book chapters tracing the history and significance of libraries in various civilizations.

A search for "cooking" in Latin America in the 15th and 16th centuries yielded 17 articles and 17 chapters, while the search for African art in the 17th and 18th centuries found ten articles and three images.

Can you and your patrons use it? How have we lived without it? This source will be used successfully by different levels of researchers, and it will be a tremendous boon at reference desks where users are constantly in need of images and primary source materials.

How Good Is It? It's a 9.9. I take off one tenth of a point because search terms are lost if you do a search and go back to try again. But this is subjective, since many prefer to have the search box cleared.

Greenwood has big plans for this product. The firm intends to expand it regularly with more of everything: reference books, monographs, primary source documents, illustrations, and encyclopedia-style entries.

Starting in 2005, separately offered, discounted modules will be available. Modules underway are American Roots and Regions, Contemporary Culture and Customs, Food, Sports and Games, and World Folklore.

What's the Cost? Greenwood has a clear pricing structure available on its web site. For single-site public, school, or academic libraries, the annual prices range from $595 to $995. For multiple site pricing, contact the company.

The Bottom Line This resource will excite learning in everyone. Greenwood has created a file so beautifully assembled it has to be experienced to be believed. Heartily recommended for all libraries: public, academic (including research universities), and special libraries that serve historians, humanists, social scientists, and general researchers.