Grolier Enhancements Highlighted
as Renewal Cycle Commences
By Laura Chittivej
BCR's Grolier Online subscription now offers academic libraries an update module and ADA compliance of two online products as part of the upcoming subscription year.
The new subscription year begins May 1, and current subscribers are encouraged to renew before that date and before their subscriptions expire. Current subscribers must submit an order for the new year to maintain their access. All new subscribers or transfers from direct Grolier accounts also must complete a BCR Web order form. For detailed pricing and order information, please go to BCR's Web site (www.bcr.org), select Reference Databases and then Grolier or any Grolier title.
Grolier Enhancements
Academic libraries now have the opportunity to subscribe to Encyclopedia Americana
only. The selection of a combo or deluxe package is not required. Academic libraries
may select a subscription to Cumbre en línea only, as well.
The Grolier update of America the Beautiful remains organized around state articles, with each state and major territory covered in depth through a series of essays on their history, geography, economics, government, culture and major cities. Now complementing this structure are ATB Bulletin, a current-events module; an all-new bibliography section; an Explorers section that examines personalities who conducted explorations of the United States; and a new alphabetical search feature.
ADA Compliance
Grolier Online also has released ADA-compliant versions of two of its encyclopedia
databases, the Encyclopedia Americana and The New Book of Popular Science. Grolier
has adopted a two-tiered approach for achieving ADA compliance. Over the next two
years Grolier will be incorporating as many ADA-compliant features as are feasible into
the "graphical" (regular) versions of each Grolier Online encyclopedia. At the same
time, to ensure maximum compliance, Grolier is also creating "text-only" versions of
each module.
The text-only versions of Grolier Online's encyclopedia databases conform to Level AA of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, which means they comply with all requirements identified by the W3C as priorities 1 and 2. In doing so, Grolier has also achieved Level AA "Bobby" conformance, identified by Bobby WorldWide as key priorities in expanding opportunities for people with disabilities. More information about Bobby WorldWide can be obtained from the Web site at bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp.
To access the ADA-compliant version of the Encyclopedia Americana, select Text-only on either the Grolier Online or the Encyclopedia Americana home pages. Access is also provided via the Toggle to Text-only Version link at the bottom of each article page. To access the ADA-compliant version of The New Book of Popular Science, select Text-only on either the Grolier Online or The New Book of Popular Science home screens. Access is also provided via the Toggle to Text-Only link at the bottom of each screen.
ADA versions of all Grolier products will continue to be engineered and released with a view toward use with assistive technologies and will conform to a much more rigorous compliance level than that provided by the graphical versions of the Grolier databases. Grolier believes that this two-tiered methodology will provide access to the most features for the most users.
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February 27, 2008
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