Biography Resource Center

Reviews

"Biography Resource Center, with its clean , crisp interface, invites students to search for their favorite people. Teachers and students in all disciplines will find educational value when interacting with this database."

— School Library Journal, June 2005

"Easy to navigate, the resource employs both simple and Boolean searches. Searches can be based on occupation, ethnicity, birth/death year, etc. Graphics are limited to single photos or sketches. Page tabs provided quick access to lengthy narrative and thumbnail biographies, as well as pre-selected Web sites. E-mail and print capabilities are included. I marveled at the speed and ease of the integrated Bio Center. Teachers and students will also appreciate source citation information on each page. Highly recommended."

— Library Media Connection (March 2003)

"The Bottom Line: Biography Resource Center 2.0 does a good job, especially for beginning searchers and those with incomplete information despite search limitations noted above. Content is excellent and extensive and the Research Guide and Dictionary links will be a gold mine for reference librarians needing help with assignments..."

— Library Journal (February 2003)

"Especially useful in high school and undergraduate libraries where students will be researching specific people for reports and term papers."

— ARBA (January 2003)

"The new version of Biography Resource Center features the streamlined interface used on other Gale products. The Version 2.0 interface presents a series of tabs similar to file folders that allow users to select information by type: classic reference such as biographical essays and magazine articles (all full text and updated daily) thumbnails with just the facts, or Web sites (a total of 9,000 selected links throughout the Resource Center.) A Name Search option provides a quick search, and an Advanced search option allows Boolean searches by keyword, source , or full text. A Biographical facts Search focuses on life details such as occupation gender, and birth/death date or place. The Biography Resource Center covers more than 220,000 notable individuals from around the world, throughout history and across all discipline areas. An additional 1 million thumbnail biographies are included."

— Multimedia Schools (December 2002)

"Biography Resource Center (BRC) originally appeared in 1999 (we reviewed it in our November 1, 1999, isssue), and a new version is now out. The interface of BRC 2.0 will look familiar to subscribers to other Gale products such as Literature Resource Center and History Resource Center. The number of reference sources in the BRC database has grown from 50 to 83, and the number of magazines and journals with full text articles has increased from 232 to 250. Not surprisingly, the number of individuals included has also increased...There is no question that this is an amazing resource... As with all Gale products, BRC is not inexpensive; however, librarians and patrons of high school, academic and public libraries will find that it's the right place to begin research on an individual."

— Booklist (November 2002)

"What was the first novel John Grisham ever published? Answers to this and more can be found in one place...The Gale Group databases have biographical information about contemporary authors which includes a list of the books they have written...By the way, Grisham's first novel, 'A Time to Kill,' was published in 1989..."

— The Colonial (October 2002)

"...version 2.0 (BRC) has a streamlined interface that's designed to make navigating the rich content faster and easier. The new interface returns results as a series of tabs that allow users to select the type of information they want. They can choose from classic reference (such as biographical essays), magazine articles (all full text and updated daily), thumbnails with just the facts, or Web sites (a total of 9,000 hand picked links that are woven throughout the Resource Center)..."

— Information Today (October, 2002)

"Who needs it? Biography Resource Center is an extremely high and valuable database, combining as it does an array of Gale products under one electronic umbrella. The interface is easy to use but also includes a high level of search options, which will appeal to the more experienced user..BioRC will appeal broadly to a variety of institutions and library settings and is appropriate for middle school, high school, and undergraduate students..Most attractive is the range of options and content, which will satisfy those in need of a quick search, as well as users requiring breadth and depth."

— NetConnect (Spring 2001)

"The strength of the Biography Resource Center lies in the quality of its narrative biographies...a useful place to start a search and get the basics about a person's life."

—The Charleston Advisor (October 2000)

"Navigation is intuitive and easy. This product can be used in every discipline. The depth of coverage and value of the information make it worth the price. Highly recommended."

— Book Report (12/1/1999)

"The Web's-best-bios moniker belongs to Biographical (sic) Resource Center of the Gale Corporation (sic) and the Wilson Biographies Plus illustrated database of H.W. Wilson."

— Econtent (December 1999)

"Contain(s) an impressive amount of material ... a tremendous time-saver for anyone engaged in biographical research. Overall the BRC is well organized and easy to use, and it is recommended for any high-school, public, academic or research library that can afford it."

— RBB/Booklist (11/01/99)

"Easy to use and comprehensive. Enthusiastically recommended for public, academic, special and school libraries."

— Library Journal (09/15/99)

"By combining the expertise and the resources of Gale Research and Information Access, the Gale Group has produced a biographical information source that combines Gale Research's rich biographical resources with IAC's rich access to the contents of periodicals. Unquestionably a very useful source. Designed for ease of use and clarity. Will prove its value in public and academic libraries. Patrons will appreciate the way in which it conflates into a single step the previously separate steps of identifying relevant sources and then retrieving them."

— Rettig on Reference on gale.com (September 1999)