New Gale Interface Revamp Intended To Draw Readers to References -- THE Journal

New Gale Interface Revamp Intended To Draw Readers to References

By Dian Schaffhauser
12/08/11

Research and reference publisher Gale has done a major revamp of the interface for Gale Virtual Reference Library, its online e-book platform, emulating some of the techniques used by physical libraries. The Cengage-owned company said the interface has been overhauled with improved navigation, organization, and appearance. The library includes text from 7,000-plus books from Gale as well as 70 publishing partners and includes full-text content on subjects for K-12 audiences, college students, educators, researchers, and business professionals.

In the new design, for example, the home page shows book cover images, to replicate a library browsing experience. The interface is available in 35 languages, and a ReadSpeaker text-to-speech function is available in 19 languages for users who wish to listen to their online books.

With the new interface, the user can choose a one-page or two-page view; the two-page option gives an interactive book-like experience. Users can switch between HTML text or PDF and download, bookmark, print, and e-mail the contents. As the user drills down into a search, left menu options will provide more detailed filtering choices, as well as links to related topics.

Gale Virtual Reference Library

Libraries will be able to cross-search their virtual library collection with Gale PowerSearch and other Gale holdings including InfoTrac and InContext resources to build a customized resource. The new version also allows them to customize a collection by subject, assignment, topic, or class. An admin feature will let them generate usage reports for their collections.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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