World Almanac® Online | eReviews
By Cheryl LaGuardia
September 1, 2011www.infobasepublishing.com/OnlineProductDetail.aspx?ISBN=160057131X
Content The World Almanac® Online expands on the contents of the publisher's print World Almanac®. In addition to the thousands of facts and statistics on business, consumer information, crime, energy, health, pop culture, sports, science, and more in the print work, the online version includes sections such as The Year in Review and daily features—This Day in Sports, Quote of the Day, and Recent Updates, for example. The online system also offers color charts, flags, graphs, and maps; persistent record links; search assist technology; full MLA- and Chicago Manual of Style-format dynamic citations; and "export to Excel" functionality for data downloads. Records can be viewed using two different font sizes (images remain the same size), saved to folders, and emailed; each one opens with a note on the source of the data.
Usability The home screen is blessedly uncluttered and wel organized, while affording multiple modes of access. The title banner at screen top has a prominent Search box. Beneath it is a toolbar with buttons for Home, Subject Index, Year in Review, Year in Pictures, World at a Glance, and Help. Users will also find a large Find Facts On box offering links to the database's entries in 12 broad categories, including Economy, Business, and Energy; Crime; Health and Vital Statistics; U.S. Government; World History and Culture; and Sports. A box with the date displayed features tabs for viewing three to four entries on This Day in History (the default), This Day in Sports, and Quote of the Day (with a calendar key to change the date). A Special Feature of the Day box discusses, for example, the Medal of Honor. Dynamic columns display Recent Updates and Most Viewed pages—the most viewed material on the day of review was on Japan; the World Series, 2010: Game 1; notable assassinations since 1865; Libya; and obituaries—information that could be useful in collection development.
A search for "crime" netted 100 results displayed in order of decreasing relevance–display by title is also available. To the left of that, the hits were listed by category: Crime (11); Military Affairs (1); Consumer Information (1); U.S. Facts and History (9); U.S. Cities, States, Populations (3); U.S. Government (6); Personalities, Arts & Media (8); World History & Culture (23); and Year in Review (38). The Personalities, Arts & Media category listed Widely Known Americans of the Present such as "Jack Abramoff, b 2/28/58 (Atlantic City, NJ), former lobbyist; convicted in 2006 of crimes including bribing public officials," information that would be difficult to locate in the print work at all, let alone turn up within seconds.
Back at the homepage, I clicked on Find Facts On for Health and Vital Statistics, which led to a special feature about illicit drug use as well as providing links to Recent Updates, Most Viewed, Health Care and Insurance, Diseases and Disorders, Nutrition and Weight Guidelines, Birth and Reproduction, and more. Under each heading are listed approximately the first ten alphabtical entries in that category and a link to the rest. Here also reside the (comfortingly) familiar charts, tables, and graphs for which librarians depend on the World Almanac®, along with clearly identified sources and citation information at page bottom. There's even a live link on the page for users to Suggest an Edit (a welcome, sensible touch).
The Year in Pictures section presents 60–80 photos of major events for each of the years 2006 through 2010. Users may move through the captioned images at their own pace or view them as a slideshow. The quality of the pictures is extraordinarily good, and hours can be spent catching up on events while getting an education in recent history.
The World at a Glance section, with its engrossing lists, is another great browse, tempting readers with Surprising Facts; Number Ones; America: By the Numbers; Money in America (which confirmed that Bill Gates was the wealthiest American in 2010); Entertainment Award Winners; and Milestone Birthdays in 2011. (Faye Dunaway, Neil Diamond, Dick Cheney, Bob Dylan, Martha Stewart, Jesse Jackson, Paul Simon, and Art Garfunkel all turn 70 this year—just imagine what THAT birthday party would be like!). The Subject Index includes the same topics as those listed in the Find Facts On section but it presents them in a more formal, outline style.
This file has an admirable number of different modes of accessing information that will appeal to a wide variety of users. Frankly, I like just about everything about it, from the content to the look and feel to the functionality and even the price. It has a workmanlike yet elegant design and it delivers its information even better than does its print counterpart, which is not something I can say about all online reference materials.
Pricing The annual starting price of the World Almanac® Online is $388 for public libraries, $395 for K-12 schools, and $263 for colleges. Pricing is determined by full-time enrollment for schools and colleges and by the number of cardholders for public libraries. All prices are for unlimited usage within the institution and include remote access privileges.
Bottom Line This attractive and easy-to-use resource is a gold mine for reports and ready-reference and will find countless other uses. A ten; enthusiastically recommended for libraries everywhere. For a free trial, please go to www.fofweb.com/trial/.
| Author Information |
| Cheryl LaGuardia is a Research Librarian for the Widener Library at Harvard University and author of Becoming a Library Teacher (Neal-Schuman, 2000). Readers and producers can contact her at claguard@fas.harvard.edu |
