Library: Exploring E-Books

Hi Everyone, Karen here (yup, still me!).  I thought it might be helpful to talk to you about the different kinds of databases to help you with your E-Book searches. This page is concerned only with the Gale database. You may also be familiar with the names EBSCO, Proquest,  Academic Search, and so on. These databases have a certain 'branding' to them.
For example, Academic Search is known for academic, or 'peer reviewed' articles.  The Gale database, also known as GVRL (which stands for Gale Virtual Reference Library) is known primarily for reference, so the E-Books in the Gale collection are reference books. Why does that matter? Because reference books are a different kind of 'animal' from other types of books. The different types of reference books include: 

• Dictionaries.
• Encyclopedias.
• Almanacs.
• Directories.
• Hanbooks and yearbooks.
• Atlases and bibliographies.

You may only need to look at a very short chapter in a reference book pertaining to a topic. Reference books are generally written by a team of people. Instead using author(s), you'll generally cite reference books with a book's editor. Here's an example.

Tip: Before you start the video, it might be helpful to take this shortcut which will connect you with our Databases page and link directly to E-BOOKS & REFERENCE, Gale E-Books.