Education: The Complete Encyclopedia (CD-ROM)

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Review Dr Richard William Cox, University of Manchester, UKThe encyclopedia is exceptionally easy to use...I found the entries to be informative and well researched with reference to the very recent published literature. Dr Richard William Cox, University of Manchester, UK...a major reference source covering the entire education field. I was impressed by Education: The Complete Encyclopedia. The new format is clearly the way forward... Education: The Complete Encyclopedia provides an interactive computerised version of the 2nd edition of the International Encyclopedia of Education (1994) and the Encyclopedia of Higher Education (1992), both well known and respected multi-volume reference works. Collectively they provide a major reference source covering the entire education field. This includes in-depth information on hundreds of topics ranging from ability to zoology, by way of assessment, learning theories and professional associations. Each of the entries has been written by a commissioned author or authors who are recognised by their peers as experts in their field. The majority of entries are detailed, up-to-date, referenced and, in some cases, with useful hyperlinks to articles and cross references to other occurrences of the selected search term within the encyclopedia. An important additional feature of this electronic version (over its hard copy counterpart) is the inclusion of numerous abstracts of references supplied from the ERIC® (Education Resource Information Centre) database to assist the user in the identification of further reading. Ease of Use The encyclopedia is exceptionally easy to use with lists of subjects, author(s), titles, themes, contributors, name, table and figure captions contained in a left hand frame of the main display. To the right of the main window displaying the results of a search are: • The Search Window, which allows both simple and complex queries. AND Complex 3.5 software offers several ways in which information can be found. You can look up all occurrences of a word or phrase and use Boolean operators to refine your search. • The Results Window, which displays the results of a search. • The History Window, which lists the articles visited in the current and previous series. • The Spike Window, which shows a list of all articles that have been placed on a spike (i.e., bookmarked for future reference). This is a useful facility when putting something together from several sources in the encyclopedia. • The Local Find Window, which allows a simple word search within the article that is currently displayed on the screen. • The User Notes Window, which allows the user to attach comments to an article. This has obvious advantages and is better than pencilling in comments on hard copy. • The Print Window, which obviously facilitates your printing off a hard copy of the article or selected text. Scope and coverage In most areas in which I had a detailed knowledge, including relatively obscure subjects such as physical education in several different countries, I found the entries to be informative and well researched with reference to the very recent published literature. The software enables the user to make a direct link to Word and/or WordPerfect so that they can readily cut and paste information as required. Conclusion All in all, I was impressed by Education: The Complete Encyclopedia. The new format is clearly the way forward and the choice of AND Complex will facilitate using it in combination with other CD-ROM products using this technology. To my knowledge it is without direct competition in the specific field of education.Information World ReviewL.L. Scarth, Mount Mercy College...The international roster of editors and contributors make the content truly global―useful to many disciplines including business, political science, sociology and psychology as well as education. The impressive indexes include subjects, article themes (general topics), contributors, cited authors, table and figure captions and full text. ...Help screens and toolbar choices help formulate straightforward or very complex queries. Searchers can use the indexes or search the dialog window for global or detailed queries. Results and history windows can be called at any time. ...The toolbar icons are cryptic (as is often the case) and sometimes amusing, but easy to learn...the full-text database, powerful search capability, and possibility of network installation make this a valuable resource for college and university libraries.Choice