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September 16, 2002 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today. For other up-to-the-minute news, check out ITI’s Twitter account: @ITINewsBreaks. CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.

Gale Releases Biography Resource Center 2.0

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 handpicked links that are woven throughout the Resource Center). The tab format is consistent with other Gale Resource Centers.

While the Name Search on the product's home page provides a quick search, more experienced researchers can use the Advanced Search option, which allows Boolean searches by keyword, source, or full text. Users can also select Biographical Facts Search, which allows searching based on life details—occupation, gender, birth/death date, or place—rather than just names. Additionally, version 2.0's search options remain constant throughout the session so users have more flexibility to narrow or broaden their criteria.

Content has continuously expanded since Biography Resource Center's launch in 1998, with coverage now including more than 220,000 notable people. A partnership with Marquis Who's Who provides an additional 1 million thumbnail biographies. According to the company, the product continues to be one of the most popular Resource Centers for academic and public libraries.

Source: Gale Group