Gale Moving Directories Online

LJ had the opportunity to visit with Gale last summer (see InfoTech, LJ 6/15/07, p. 25) and was treated to early intel on updates and a new platform. A return visit in mid-December provided fresh opportunities to view the company's product plans brought to fruition and receive a heads-up on forthcoming changes.

David Forman, Gale's business publisher for academic, public, corporate, and advanced research libraries, told LJ that Gale now is focusing on bringing its directory business to the web in the Gale Directory Library.

In order to revamp its print products for the online world, the company turned to 16 experts and conducted surveys of users. The findings emphasized that librarians desire certain aspects of the print to be preserved in the online, namely "collectibility: users want to buy it, keep it, and own it," said Forman.

They also want the e-versions to retain the print's browsability. Although searching is necessary, the "serendipity" of flipping through the data also is essential for library users.

The 12 directories (expanding to 16 by February) are mounted on a single platform and can be sorted by fields and exported. When designing the directory platform, the company adopted the mantra of "search, sort, export, and analyze." Searching can be done either by entity name or keyword, and users can search widely or drill down into individual directories. A subject search has been added for 2008 to broaden usability.

"We want to make it accessible to neophytes and expert searchers," Forman said. Gale is including a five-year back file on most titles, which are being sold as annual editions; longer back files also can be purchased separately.

When it came to redesigning the firm's database interfaces, VP Jay Flynn said that "people want to move through products in other ways than search." Overwhelming feedback from user surveys indicated that users want the interfaces to be "less lame" (and a quick before-and-after screenshot reveals that the former interfaces indeed were terribly lame). No longer; the new interfaces are sharp and user-friendly.

The new look comes with new content. The Business Resource Center has ticker data, SEC filings, news, and blogs. The Health and Wellness Resource Center now features video clips and links to local providers, like "ask a nurse" at the Cleveland Clinic; History Resource Center has been updated with roughly one-third new info; and Biography Resource Center also has been expanded. Material from new and revised encyclopedias (like New Encyclopedia of Africa) feed all the databases. There will be no increase in price for existing or new databases.

Gale additionally has introduced a Nursing Resource Center designed to help nursing students "get their homework done and get out of school." Though not a clinical tool, the database has search tabs for diseases and conditions, assessments, diagnostics, intervention, drugs, care plans, multimedia, journal citations and journals, and related articles.