New York Public Library recently selected NoveListTM, EBSCO Publishing’s online fiction readers’ advisory service, as one of its Best Reference Resources for 2001. Chosen by a committee of librarians for usefulness in local branch collections, it found NoveList to be “an unparalleled resource” based on the criteria of value, appropriateness, organization of material, style of presentation and authority.
Not willing to rest on its laurels, however, NoveList is releasing version 4.1 with a personalization feature; the ability to create persistent links from a library home page to specific content within NoveList; enhanced searching capability; and browsable lists. NoveList has always allowed superior subject searching, using over 36,000 subject headings to describe the more than 100,000 fiction titles listed in its database. The release of version 4.0 gave users a wider range of search options, and now version 4.1 expands the power and flexibility of the features available for individual readers and libraries.
The personalization feature will allow individual users to create a personal login. By using this, a librarian or patron can save search criteria, search results and personal lists for future use. Saved searches can also be marked for alerts. When a search is marked in this way, NoveList will send a monthly e-mail with any new titles the search retrieves.
Persistent links make it possible for libraries to have NoveList content such as read-alike lists, book discussion guides, book talks or feature articles available directly from their library catalogs and home pages. The Bergen County Cooperative Library System (BCCLS) in New Jersey immediately saw the value of this new feature. Guy Dobson, the library webmaster, commented, “A book club member considering Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace would be >able to access NoveList’s book discussion guide directly from our >library’s online catalog. This enriches our catalog for our users and >allows us to make even better use of NoveList.”
Expanded searching ability in version 4.1 gives experienced searchers the option to use Freehand Boolean and take full advantage of the power of Boolean searching. Also included in version 4.1 are browsable lists of authors, titles, series and subject headings. This allows users to verify that a particular author, title or series name is in NoveList and then perform a search directly from the list.
Released: June 15, 2002
