Lesson 5 - Gale Virtul Reference Library

Immediately the GVRL recognized that I was logging on at the “Cozard Memorial Library”.  The main page listed subjects down the left side that included:  Business, Education, Environment, History, Law, Literature, Medicine, Nation and World, Religion, Science, and Social Science.   Each of these subjects then showed the picture, title and date of each publication.  By scrolling over each, I was given a brief description also. 

By clicking on the “Titles List” I was given an alphabetical list of all of the publications.  I also had the option of listing them by the date of publication.  I chose “Literary Themes for Students:  The American Dream, 2007”.  This brought me to a table of contents, a search for specific topics, and a choice between the different volumes.  This particular publication contained only 2 volumes.  I used the table of contents to click on the “Major Works” which brought me to a list of separate literary themes and their corresponding page numbers.  I chose “House Made of Dawn” and was given links to its introduction, plot summary, themes, historical overview, critical overview, criticism, and sources.  It also gave pictures, excerpts from the book, and several sidebars that I could view or hide if desired.

I typed in the word bananas and it gave me 95 different articles on everything from bananas to Chiquita’s to folic acid and other articles about fruit in general.  Each article gave the basic bibliographical information plus a word count and brief description.    The article that I chose had bright pictures, lots of content, key terms, resources, and links to other similar articles.  The “listen” feature was nice and it highlighted the words as it read.  I was able to pause the reading and adjust the volume right on the page.