Lesson 6 – Gale Virtual Reference Library

Lesson 6 – Gale Virtual Reference Library

1. Getting to know the titles in GVRL is similar to getting to know the titles of your library's reference collection. Click "Title List" on the upper right to view all the titles available in the collection. Click a book title of interest to you and access an article via the table of contents. Discuss the title you selected and how you may use it.

Thanks to a tip from one of the other participants, Jennifer Littlefield, I looked up the title “American Decades.” As I stated last week, I work as a curator for the Museum of the South Dakota State Historical Society. We are planning our next gallery exhibit on the 1970’s. This volume of information on the decade will be vital to provide general information on a variety of topics from the 70’s. Using the “search within results” I was able to enter “South Dakota” to refine results to items directly related to the state. I could them limit the search results to the “1970s decade.” With these results, I can quickly pull information that is specific to both my topic and time frame. 

2. At the top of the home page, type a search term in the search box. Search for answers to the two questions posed at the beginning of the post: zinc or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn if you can't think of something else. Review the results, selecting an article to see what kind of information you can find. Test the "Listen" feature. Discuss your results. 

a. “What foods have zinc in them?”

To answer this question, I searched “Zinc nutrition.” Many titles came up and I pulled up The Gale Encyclopedia of Children’s Health: Infancy through Adolescence. After a little digging, I found a few foods rick in zinc, including “seafood, liver, pine nuts, cashew nuts and wholegrain cereals”. [Mills, Emma. "ADHD Diet." The Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health: Infancy through Adolescence. Ed. Jacqueline L. Longe. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2011. 42-46. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.] Again, the listen feature on these types of resources is great for people that want to gather the information, but may not be able to read the text in its entirety.

b. To find literary criticism of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I searched The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Then I clicked on “critical essay” from the “limit search by” options at the left hand of the screen. Quickly, a list of 15 results popped up.