As a starting partner in the newly-formed state-funded Alabama Virtual Library, Grolier Online Deluxe is already up and running, providing Alabama's 4 million citizens with state-of-the art access to a reliable database designed especially for instruction, research and lifelong learning. 

Now, via approximately-2000 outlets and by remote access, Alabama's educators, students, library patrons, and the general public can tap into the research power of the three highly-regarded encyclopedias that comprise Grolier Online Deluxe - the Encyclopedia American Online, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia Online, and The New Book of Knowledge Online with NBK NEWS™.

According to Dr. Lamar Veatch, Director of the Alabama Public Library Service, Grolier Online Deluxe was selected for a variety of reasons.  First because, "the Alabama State Department of Education advised us that Grolier's package of encyclopedias was already quite popular with an existing user base in the K-12 schools."  He adds, "In addition to being affordable, Grolier's high-quality content provides an in-depth reference resource that perfectly complements the other products in our Virtual Library. We were also very impressed by how hard Grolier works to target and tailor its material to specific grade level groups, because that age-specific breakout is very important for us." 

Sue Medina, Director of the Network of Alabama Academic Libraries at the Alabama Commission on Higher Education couldn't agree more.  "Given the large spectrum of our usership, Grolier's age-specific package was a real plus.  Together, the three encyclopedias provide a perfect sequence of basic information for the full range of Alabama's user base - which starts at grade 3 and goes up through about the sophomore college level."

Medina also highlights the fact that, "because Grolier is licensing these three products as a package, users have flexibility to use whichever level product suits their needs best, regardless of their grade level, or outlet."

The Encyclopedia Americana Online is published from the Encyclopedia Americana database, a 25 million word repository of text and images.  Long a standard in most school and library collections, the Americana is a general encyclopedia containing approximately 45,000 articles contributed by more than 6,500 specialists in their respective disciplines.

And when users click onto Encyclopedia Americana Online they will find two additional research tools for their use:  The Encyclopedia Americana Journal, and the Wall Street Journal Almanac™.  The EA Journal is a searchable chronology of current events intended for use in social studies, history, and current events classes as well as for general reference.  Written by Americana editors, the Journal also provides links to related Web sites, background articles in the EA, country maps and flags, and a database of important online periodicals and news sources.

The Wall Street Journal Almanac brings the knowledge and insight of the Wall Street Journal Editorial staff within the reach of students.  The Almanac s impressive network of articles and subarticles offer a lively overview of US politics, sports, and entertainment supplemented by over a thousand charts, graphs, and statistical summaries of important economic and demographical data.

The New Book of Knowledge Online with NBK NEWS™ teaches the fun of fact-finding to students in grades three through eight.  And just like its print counterpart, all of the New Book of Knowledge Online s encyclopedia articles are written in a clear, lively style that encourages young students to read.

Unique to NBK Online, NBK NEWS™ is an additional online resource devoted to current events stories running the gamut from social studies to animals to sports and recreation. Accompanying each news story is a weekly lesson plan that allows teachers to weave current events news stories into the curriculum to enhance the learning process.  Projects and Experiments, Literary Selections, and Wonder Questions all serve to excite and engage the young reader.

With access to this diverse range of user-friendly online resources. Veatch can't help but enthuse, "the Alabama Virtual Library partners are thrilled that Grolier is one of our partnering vendors.  They bring a substantial wealth of high-quality content into the lives of Alabama's citizens."

The many divisions of Grolier produce both books and interactive media products aimed at helping students of all ages expand their understanding of the world and its history.