A week ago or so I posted an article to MoMo asking for staff input on a trial of NoveList Plus. This database is basically NoveList on steroids :) if you pardon the pun. In addition to the great fiction RA you find in the existing NoveList subscriptions, Plus offers nonfiction titles!
Follow this link to Staffnet > Digital Services > Electronic Resources where you will find the login information to look at the trial (hurry, we only have a month!) and then return to this blog post to let me know what you think!
Many thx in advance for your input!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
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6 comments:
It's rather busy, but I do like the genre instructional piece and other RA insights which are helpful to novices in readers advisory. The addition of non fiction is a real plus.
Susan C.
I love this database! I played around with it and found some new titles to read. I had a picky, hard-to-please patron who would have loved using this database - if he had only come in when we were testing this database.
-CL
(It's me again - CL). I should also mention this picky patron was looking for specific non-fiction reads. Like Susan, I, too, like the addition of the non-fiction piece. Very helpful!
I like this! I especialy liked the "display autocomplete keyword search suggestions" feature. Overall, I found it easy to navigate and use. -Carol L.
I have mixed feelings about the "plus" part of Novelist. The interface and features are basically identical to the regular Novelist so really all you are comparing is the content...and in this case that content is the addition of the nonfiction piece. I am totally in favor of including nonfiction titles in as part of reader's advisory. Males in particular often prefer nonfiction titles so it is nice to have that information included in Novelist Plus. My only concern is that it does not seem like there is a lot of non-fiction in the database yet, probably because it is a new product. For example, I compared a couple of the "browse” categories side by side. For "Author Readalikes," the regular Novelist has 281 entries and the Plus only has 7 more for 288. Under "older kids booktalks" the difference is 183 to 197. There was no difference in the “Curricular Connections” section and under the “What We’re Reading” category” only two of the twenty people included any nonfiction in their list. So in deciding whether to purchase this option, I would say it comes down to price (doesn’t it always?) If the price is proportionate to the amount of additional content than I would recommend it.
~Monica
Email from Cheryl S posted with permission on the blog:
Hi Cynthia,
I’ve been meaning to email you, and I hope that this isn’t too late, but I wanted to let you know that I did look at the new Novelist nonfiction section. All in all I thought it was just okay. It wasn’t as comprehensive as I had hoped, and when I tried to look at the discussion guides, I kept getting fiction and youth books. Also, when I tried author readalikes, I only got fiction. I think they have a way to go before the nonfiction aspect of this database is good.
That’s just my “2 cents worth”.
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