Press Room

Ward’s Business Directory Celebrates 50th Edition by Going Digital on New Gale Directory Library Platform

Gale Directory Library Provides Directory Cross-Search, Backfile Access, Robust Data Export and More!

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., June 22, 2007 – Gale Directory Library, a new online resource from Gale, makes it easy to search classic directories that before now have been found in their entirety only on reference shelves.  By taking online the wealth of information found in titles such as Ward’s Business Directory of U.S. Private and Public Companies, Encyclopedia of Associations and Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media, searching, finding and retrieving important company, person and publication information is more convenient than ever. The first title to go live on Gale Directory Library is Ward’s Business Directory of U.S. Private and Public Companies, now in its 50th edition.

“Gale Directory Library was designed and built with the input of both professional librarians and their customers,” said David Forman, publisher of Gale Directory Library and Ward’s Business Directory  “They told us exactly what they want: fully-fielded data sets so directory information can be manipulated and analyzed; a robust data export feature; a common platform that allows users to cross-search entire holdings or drill into an individual directory title, and the ability to build an online directory collection tailored to their needs.”

Gale Directory Library provides support for a growing number of directory titles that will be added throughout 2007 and 2008.  Each title can be searched individually by its own unique data fields, but also can be cross-searched with a library’s entire directory collection.  With Gale Directory Library’s data export feature (coming to the platform in August), data can be extracted for mailing lists, as well as for analysis and charting.

Gale Directory Library also lets users build a collection over time to enable time series analyses of that data.  Interested in knowing how a certain industry fared within a specific state?  Simply search for the companies in that industry and state, rank them by sales and export the list. Then use Excel to chart the revenue generated by the top 100 companies in that industry over a period of time and compare it to another state or another industry.

Basic search lets users quickly look up entities by name or keyword.  From the basic or advanced search screens, users can limit searches to only the most current data, limit to specific years, or search an entire backfile.

For more information, contact Vanessa Birch at vanessa.birch@cengage.com.

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