STATE LIBRARY ANNOUNCES ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS AVAILABLE ON NOVELNY

New York State Librarian, Bernard A. Margolis, is pleased to announce the electronic products that will constitute the NOVELNY (New York Online Virtual Electronic Library) statewide collection for April 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010. The following databases will be available to library patrons of over 5,500 public, school, academic and special libraries registered for NOVELNY and to individuals who are residents of New York State that visit the site and log on with a driver license ID or a non-driver ID.

The following products were competitively selected after substantial input from the library community through a 2008 statewide online survey of priorities and with the advice and consultation of the NOVELNY Steering Committee subgroup charged with database evaluation. The goal was to provide the broadest array of desired content for the best value given current resources.

New: Products from ProQuest and Grolier! The general reference and periodical database for NOVELNY will be ProQuest Platinum. It provides access to over 2000 magazine and journal titles in a broad scope of subject areas. Grolier’s core databases (Encyclopedia Americana, the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia and the New Book of Knowledge) collectively will be of interest to all audiences, elementary through high school and general public library audiences.

In addition, NOVELNY will continue to provide access to EBSCO’s Primary Search (including the Searchasaurus interface) designed specifically for elementary school libraries and to Gale Newspapers (InfoTrac Custom Newspapers, National Newspaper Index, and New York Custom Newspapers), Gale Business and Company Resource Center, Gale Health and Wellness Resource Center, and Twayne’s Authors Series. Any questions regarding the resources described above should be sent to: nyslnovel@mail.nysed.gov.

Provided by the New York State Library, NOVELNY is a pilot project for the Statewide Internet Library connecting New Yorkers to 21st century information. NOVELNY is supported with temporary federal Library Services and Technology Act funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).