NoveList
Midwest Collaborative for Library Services, MeL Training Materials
NoveList
Reviewed and revised Feb. 2011 SR
From EBSCO content support staff regarding what is included and the star rating system:
NOVELIST CONTENT: When putting together content, our editorial staff selects the most popular, influential, or acclaimed titles and authors to write about, and they are extremely selective in the titles and authors they recommend. They take availability of the titles, publication status, popularity, and quality into consideration. It's fair to say that they try to be all-inclusive in the appeal of the selected titles, listing various options to interest all individuals who like a book, series, or author, since different people enjoy titles for different reasons.
Our data cataloging staff is a little bit more lenient, but are still far from all-inclusive. With all of the titles published internationally every day, it would be impossible to include all of them, or even the majority of them. Instead, our catalogers focus on new releases by popular authors, new additions to existing series, titles that have won any of the hundreds of awards that we follow, best-sellers, and titles that have been well-reviewed in any of the professional journals used for cataloging purposes, including (but not limited to) Kirkus, Library Journal, School Library Journal, Good Reads, Bookseller + Publisher, Voya, etc. That being said, they do aim to be "all inclusive" in having titles in most genres for various interests and preferences at all reading levels. Therefore, we often take recommendations from users asking us to include certain titles or authors in the database. Assuming that they meet the professional criteria used by our catalogers, we are happy to oblige and add them to our listing. This is done immediately but typically takes about a week to be reflected in the database, since NoveList must first be updated during our weekly re-build. The same goes for content requests and suggestions.
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STARS FOR RATING:
Popularity is based on the book sale information given to us from Baker & Taylor. This reflects the average sales over the past ten years of a title's publication.
While users cannot add to popularity, they can add their own reviews using ChiliFresh. If your library is a ChiliFresh subscriber, you can integrate it into your NoveList subscription. If you'd like more information on how this works, see the ChiliFresh Patron Reviews page in NoveList help, here: http://support.ebsco.com/help/index.php?help_id=5040
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GENERAL INFO ABOUT THE INTERFACE:
The version of NoveList that MeL has purchased includes information on fiction books for children, young adults, and adults. This is a very rich database loaded with information and features for both librarians and patrons. It should be popular with students also.
Please explain that NoveList now has a “plus” version with nonfiction titles, but MeL does not have that version, so we will only be seeing fiction material in our demo.
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Begin by just pointing out the features of the home page and explain that we will come back and look at most of them as we cover the database.
At the top, there is always a search box defaulted to All, with buttons to change to Author, Title, Series. In the large middle section, there is cover art from current best sellers, and underneath each of them is a short list of similar titles. Show them that by hovering the mouse over the cover art, a text box pops up with more information on that title.
On the left side of the screen, there are recommended reading lists, and on the right side of the screen, they will find a variety of booklists and readers' advisory tools.
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SEARCHING:
To show how a basic search works, type SLEDDING HILL in the search box. This brings up a list of results with sledding and/or hill, but we want to look at the record for the book by Chris Crutcher. Point out the information that is displayed -- cover art (if available), author/title, short summary, starred rating, and age range.
There is also a very convenient link to Check the MeL Catalog. We won't take time in class to do that, but it's nice for everyone to know where it is.
Click on the title. Have them look at the information given for the book. NoveList has added "appeal terms" for each title that include notes on genre, storyline, plot and style. This will be very helpful because once you know what a reader likes, you can search by those types of things.
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Titles in NoveList are also given stars, from 1 to 5. Popularity is based on the book sale information given to EBSCO from Baker & Taylor. This reflects the average sales over the past ten years of a title's publication.
There are also 3 tabs displayed. The first is for Reviews, which you can see by simply scrolling down the page. These are important to be able to find. I chose this title because Chris Crutcher's books are often controversial, so finding a good review is very helpful.
The other two tabs are More About This Book and Lists and Articles. These tabs provide more detail and also more readers' advisory information.
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RECOMMENDED READS:
Click on the tree logo in the upper left corner to get back to the home screen. Now point out the Recommended Reads list on the left side of the screen. The default is to Adult, and have them just look at the genre options that are displayed. Now change the button to Ages 9-12 and see that the options have changed. Click on Friendship Stories and then on Best Friends (topics of great interest to this age group). The results screen is a list of books that fit into this category. For each book, there is cover art and some details. Clicking on a title takes you to the detailed page for that book.
Point out the links we now see on the right side of the page -- these are for lists on similar topics and booktalks on the general theme.
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NOVELIST RESOURCES:
Click on the tree logo to go to the home page again. The last major section we will look at is on the right side of the screen. Point out that this is a very helpful section for librarians doing readers' advisory work, for patrons who are avid readers, or for book club members.
First, click on the link to How To Use NoveList. This opens a new window or tab and contains numerous link for tutorials, webinars, tip sheets, etc. Let the class look at what is available, then close the window or tab to get back to the home screen.
The other large heading on the right side is NoveList Resources. Below that are links to some really helpful pages. Click on Author Read Alikes, then the first author on the screen. Let them look at the type of article that this section contains. This would be helpful for readers' advisory, book talks, book clubs, etc.
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Click the tree for home, and then the link to Book Discussion Guides. Click on the first title to see what types of articles are included. Let them look through the discussion guide, then click on the tree logo again.
Next, we want to quickly look at NoveList Feature Articles, and click on the first one listed in the results. Give the class a minute to look through the type of information they would find in this section.
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Click on the tree logo again. We're going to skip looking at the Award Winners because it's a fairly intuitive section and easy to use. So click on Readers' Advisory Toolbox. This is a gold mine. We don't have time to look at every feature - so choose something of high interest to look at.
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Finally, go to the home page again, then click on Teaching with Books. I wish I had had this available when I was in a junior high library -- what a great resource for curriculum integration and working with teachers. It might also be good for any home schoolers who come to your library. Show the class a couple of things on this page.
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