Gale Virtual Reference Library
Please Note: If you are coming in from the web at home or outside the Library and its subscription modem pool, most titles on this list will require your Farmington Community Library Card bar code number and the last 4 digits of your home phone number for access. Titles marked with a Michigan eLibrary Logo ( 
) are available courtesy of the Michigan eLibrary (MeL), and may require your Michigan Driver's License number to login from outside the Library. Follow the link to the Database page of the MeL, and scroll down to the database you want to use.
A few databases are available only from within the library, and these are marked with a red arrow (
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Detailed Descriptions of Business Titles
- Business Plans Handbook Lynn Pearce, Ed. 16 vols. 1993– .
A collection of actual business plans compiled by entrepreneurs seeking funding for small businesses throughout North America. Each volume presents approximately 25 sample plans taken from businesses in the manufacturing, retail, and service industries--only company names and addresses have been changed. Includes a sample business plan template and two fictional plans, a glossary of small business terms, and a directory section containing various listings of interest to entrepreneurs and consultants specializing in small business advice and planning.
- Encyclopedia of American Industries 5th ed., 2008
Provides detailed, comprehensive information on a wide range of industries in every realm of American business.
- Encyclopedia of Management 6th ed., 2009
Covers numerous topics in management theories and applications, such as aggregate planning, benchmarking, logistics, diversification strategy, non-traditional work arrangements, performance measurement, productivity measures, supply chain management, and much more..
- Encyclopedia of Products and Inustries—Manufacturing 2 vols. 2008
Provides information on products and the relationships between products and their industries. Explores various aspects of a product, the manufacturers, suppliers, immediate and adjacent industries and markets. Emphasizes manufacturers of numerous durable goods such as tires, automobiles, appliances, business equipment, home furnishing and sporting goods.
- Encyclopedia of Small Business 3d ed., 2vols. 2007
This convenient and exhaustive print reference source is designed to provide entrepreneurs with how-to information that they can apply to their own business. The Encyclopedia contains detailed articles and overviews of all the key information needs of small business users, including financing; financial planning; business plan creation; market analysis; sales strategy; tax planning and more.
- Forming a Limited Company: A Practical Guide to Local Requirements and Procedures 10th ed., 2008
Lays out the procedures required for setting up and administering a limited company. Topics include: procedures required for setting up; company name; administering the company; financial matters; duties and responsibilities of directors; and changes after incorporation.
- Gale Encyclopedia of U. S. Economic History 2nd ed., 2vols. 2002
Designed to answer such key questions as: How has the U.S. Constitution shaped the economy of the United States? What were the consequences of Prohibition on consumers' behavior? This title presents 1,000 entries, era overviews, event/movement profiles, biographies, business/industry profiled, geographic profiles, and more.
- How to Market Your Business: A Practical Guide to Advertising, PR, Selling, and Direct and Online marketing 6th ed., 2008
Offers advice on constructing profitable marketing strategies for businesses. Covers topics such as advertising, promotion, selling techniques, product launches, exports, innovation and the Internet.
- Practical Financial Management: A Guide to Budgets, Balance Sheets and Business Finance 7th ed., 2008
Explains key financial statements, the tools of financial analysis, and business planning and budgeting.
Focuses on architectures and protocols, while bringing together the understanding of security problems related to the protocols and applications of the Internet, and the contemporary solutions to these problems. Provides insight into uncovering the security risks of dynamically created content, and how proper content management can greatly improve overall security.
Detailed Descriptions of Environmental Titles
Presents extensive data on the habitats and ecosystems of more than 1,200 species identified as endangered or threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service. Arranged taxonomically, entries include introductory information with an image of the species; a summary section detailing information on each species; a concluding summary of recovery efforts; and a bibliography of contacts for further information.
- Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia 2d ed. (17v, 2003 )
A completely revised and updated version of the original work published in Germany in 1960, this edition incorporates recent developments in the animal world as noted by prominent advisors and contributors from the scientific community.
Detailed Descriptions of Legal Titles
- Gale Encyclopedia of Everday Law, 2vols. 2002
Fills a much-needed gap between legal texts focusing on the theory and history behind the law and more practical guides dealing with the law and its everyday effect upon its citizens. Articles include brief descriptions of each issue's historical background, profiles of various U.S. laws and regulations, details of how laws and regulations vary from state to state, and comprehensive bibliographies that include print and Web resources and lists of relevant organizations.
- Lehman, Jeffrey, and Shirelle Phelps, Eds. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. 2 ed. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 6448 pp. 13 vols.
Provides current information on more than 5,000 legal topics. Includes completely revised articles covering important issues, biographies, definitions of legal terms and more. Covers such high-profile topics as the Americans with Disabilities Act, capital punishment, domestic violence, gay and lesbian rights, and physician-assisted suicide.
Detailed Descriptions of Medical Titles
- Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine 2nd ed., 4v, 2005
Presents current, unbiased information on alternative and complementary medical practices, including reflexology, acupressure, acupuncture, chelation therapy, kinesiology, yoga, chiropractic, Feldenkrais, polarity therapy, detoxification, naturopathy, Chinese medicine, biofeedback, Ayurveda, and osteopathy. Information on recommended therapies for specific disorders and diseases, medicinal uses for plants and herbs, are balanced by conclusions of studies on efficacy and analysis of current levels of acceptance by traditional scientists and doctors.
- Gale Encyclopedia of Cancer 2v, 2002
Tncludes entries covering cancers, cancer drugs, treatments, side effects, and diagnostic procedures.
- Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol and Addictive Behavior 3rd ed., 4v, 2009
Explores the social, medical, legal and political issues related to drugs and alcohol and associated behaviors. Includes emerging topics and developments in the many fields of addiction studies.
Provides clear, complete information on genetic disorders, including conditions, tests, procedures, treatments and therapies, in articles that are both comprehensive and easy to understand in language accessible to laypersons.
- Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine 3d ed., 5v, 2006
ncludes information on more than 1,600 medical disorders and concepts. Each article includes in-depth discussion of causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatments, procedures, and other related topics. Written for a general audience with an authoritative tone.
Detailed Descriptions of Religious Titles
- Encyclopaedia Judaica 2nd ed., 22v, 2007
Provides an exhaustive and organized overview of Jewish life and knowledge from the Second Temple period to the contemporary State of Israel, from Rabbinic to modern Yiddish literature, from Kabbalah to "Americana" and from Zionism to the contribution of Jews to world cultures, Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edition is important to scholars, general readers and students.
- Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions 8th ed., 2009
Comprehensive coverage of more than 2,300 North American religious groups in the U.S. and Canada—from Adventists to Zen Buddhists. Information is presented in two distinct sections, essays and directory listings describing the historical development of religious families and providing factual information about each group within those families. Includes, when available, rubrics for membership figures, educational facilities and periodicals.
- Jones, Lindsay, Ed. Encyclopedia of Religion. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. 10735 pp. 15 vols.
The second edition of this highly regarded encyclopedia, intended to reflect both changes in academia and in the world since 1987, includes almost all of the 2,750 original entries—many heavily updated—as well as approximately 600 entirely new articles. Preserving the best of the first edition's cross-cultural approach, while emphasizing religion's role within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture, this new edition is the definitive work in the field for the 21st century. An international team of scholars and contributors have reviewed, revised and added to every word of the classic work, making it relevant to the questions and interests of all researchers.
- New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., 15vols., 2003
A standard in public, academic, and high school libraries worldwide, and prized for its scholarly presentation of persons and subjects related to Catholicism and the humanities, this book is the first place to turn for answers for questions on topics such as abortion, divorce, cloning, and reproductive technologies. In addition to the hundreds of new, signed articles on a wide variety of topics, this edition also features biographies of contemporary religious figures, thousands of photos, maps, and illustrations, and completely updated bibliographical citations. The 15th volume is a cumulative index to the entire encyclopedia.
Detailed Descriptions of Scientific Titles
- Basics of Biology (2004)
Introduction to the science of biology. Details the history of biology, as well as many of the field's basic theories and concepts for students. Demonstrates the modern tools and techniques that biologists use today. Presents the most noteworthy discoveries in biology. Provides easy experiments for students to replicate.
Explains biological concepts and explores related fields as well as the history of biological science. Discusses critical issues such as embryogenesis and commercial applications of research in biology and addresses ethical issues. Provides information on careers in biology and contains color illustrations, sidebars, bibliographies, timelines, charts, and a glossary.
- Lagowski, J. J., Ed. Chemistry: Foundations and Applications. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 1154 pp. 4 vols.
Covers chemistry, its laws, processes, applications and subdisciplines. Reviews the history of the field, from the Bronze Age and alchemy up to modern research and practical applications. Includes biographies of scientists past and present and examines the role chemistry plays in various aspects of everyday life. Provides information about chemistry's many branches such as inorganic, industrial, atmospheric, and computational chemistry, and biotechnology.
- Data Mining Patterns New Methods & Applications, (2008)
Provides an overall view of recent solutions for mining, and explores new patterns, offering theoretical frameworks and presenting challenges and possible solutions concerning pattern extractions, emphasizing research techniques and real-world applications. Portrays research applications in data models, methodologies for mining patterns, multi-relational and multidimensional pattern mining, fuzzy data mining, data streaming and incremental mining.
- Data Warehouses and OLAP Concepts, Architectures & Solutions Robert Wrembel and Christian Koncilia, Eds. Hershey, PA: IRM Press, 2007. 332 pp.
Data warehouses and online analytical processing (OLAP) are emerging key technologies for enterprise decision support systems. They provide sophisticated technologies from data integration, data collection and retrieval, query optimization, and data analysis to advanced user interfaces. New research and technological achievements in the area of data warehousing are implemented in commercial database management systems, and organizations are developing data warehouse systems into their information system infrastructures. Data Warehouses and OLAP: Concepts, Architectures, and Solutions covers a wide range of technical, technological, and research issues. It provides theoretical frameworks, presents challenges and their possible solutions, and examines the latest empirical research findings in the area. It is a resource of possible solutions and technologies that can be applied when designing, implementing, and deploying a data warehouse, and assists in the dissemination of knowledge in this field.
- Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Ed. Michael Hutchins, Dennis A. Thoney, and Melissa C. McDade. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 9609 pp. 17 vols.
A completely revised and updated version of the original work published in Germany in 1960, this edition incorporates recent developments in the animal world as noted by prominent advisors and contributors from the scientific community.
- Web Services Security and E-Busines G. Radhamani and G.S.V. Radha Krishna Rao, Eds. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing, 2007. 393 pp.
Many techniques, algorithms, protocols, and tools have been developed in the different aspects of cyber-security, namely, authentication, access control, availability, integrity, privacy, confidentiality, and non-repudiation as they apply to both networks and systems. Web Services Security and E-Business focuses on architectures and protocols, while bringing together the understanding of security problems related to the protocols and applications of the Internet, and the contemporary solutions to these problems. Web Services Security and E-Business provides insight into uncovering the security risks of dynamically created content, and how proper content management can greatly improve overall security. This book also researches the security lifecycle and how to respond to an attack, as well as the problems of site hijacking and phishing.
- World of Earth Science 2v, 2003
This title in Thomson Gale's "World of" Series is a comprehensive guide to the concepts, theories, discoveries, pioneers, and issues relating to topics in earth science. Its encyclopedic approach offers approximately 650 entries in a convenient A-Z format, cross-reference headings, and is written in easy to understand language.
Note: The individual component titles may be searched separately and by such using the Advanced Search tab.
Detailed Descriptions of Social Science Titles
- Ancient Europe, 8000 B.C. to A.D. 1000: Encyclopedia of the Barbarian World, Peter Bogucki and Pam J. Crabtree, Eds. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 1144 pp. 2 vols.
This encyclopedia explores the many peoples of early European civilizations responsible for such accomplishments as the rise of farming in the Neolithic era and the building of Stonehenge. Coverage expands from prehistoric origins through the early Middle Ages (8000 BC to AD 1000) when tribal movements helped define the end of ancient culture and the rise of the modern European world.
- Colonial America Reference Library, Peggy Saari and Julie L. Carnagie, Eds. Detroit: U*X*L, 2000. 1128 pp. 6 vols.
The Colonial America Reference Library provides students with the comprehensive information on the Colonial American period they need to write reports and class assignments including biographical profiles and primary source documents.
Focuses on cultures and countries around the world, specifically what is and is not shared culturally by the people who live in a particular country. Entries contain descriptive summaries of the country in question, including demographic, historical, cultural, economic, religious, and political information.
- Dictionary of American History, 3d ed. 10vols. 2003
The first comprehensive revision of this classic reference source, originally published in 1940, features updated and revised entries from previous editions, as well as more than 800 new entries covering recent events and topics not covered previously. This authoritative work serves students, scholars, and general readers interested in a wide range of topics in American history, from the well studied and familiar to the obscure.
- Steele, Valerie, Ed. Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion. 1 ed. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. 1454 pp. 3 vols.
This broad-based set surveys clothing, body adornment, and examines the origins of clothing, the development of fabrics and technologies, and the social meanings of dress. It also presents information on representative costumes from a wide variety of historical eras, which are frequently the topic of student research. Topics range from the bustle, sari, and toga to Polyester and body piercing. The short entries explain the history of garments (necktie, codpiece, cocktail dress, bathing suit, burqua, Nehru jacket), techniques and manufactures (batik, dry cleaning, zipper, stone washing), body adornment (makeup, mask, tattoo, wig), and important persons and institutions (Coco Chanel, Edith Head, Yves Saint-Laurent, Fashion Institute of Technology). The longer essays provide cultural context: class, gender, sumptuary laws, costume design for stage and screen, advertising; fashion careers; ecclesiastical dress; military uniforms; etc. The set includes a comprehensive general index in the last volume, a timeline, and a topical outline.
- Encyclopedia of European Social History. Peter Stearns, Ed. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. 3186 pp. 6 vols.
This six-volume reference on European social history includes more than 230 articles on everything from serfdom and the economy, to witchcraft and public health.
- Encyclopedia of India Stanley Wolpert, Ed. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 1532 pp. 4 vols
The Encyclopedia of India encompasses the history, cultures, geography and religions of India from ancient times to the present day. Across the four volumes of the Encyclopedia, readers are invited to explore India in a comprehensive reference work of more than 600 alphabetically arranged, illustrated articles.
- Encyclopedia of Irish History & Culture James S. Donnelly, Jr., Ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 1084 pp. 2 vols.
The Encyclopedia of Irish History and Culture spans prehistoric times to the present, and treats both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in detail. Entries represent an inclusive, cross-disciplinary approach, written by specialists in history, archaeology, anthropology, geography, politics, economics, the Irish and English languages and literatures, the visual arts and other fields.
- Encyclopedia of Modern Asia David Levinson and Karen Christensen, Eds. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002. 3268 pp. 6 vols.
Nearly 700 contributors from around the world, including 25 Asian countries, provide 3,000 articles on Modern Asia from a global perspective. Historical articles emphasize people, places, events, and developments that have had a lasting influence on Asia. Articles also cover Asian relations with Western nations, the relations between nations within Asia, and also the flow of people, goods, and ideas within Asia and globally.
- Mattar, Philip, Ed. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 2936 pp. 4 vols.
With nearly 600 new entries and 1,000 updates, this second editon reflects the far-reaching changes the Middle East has undergone in recent years, making it more relevant and necessary than ever before. Covers the modern history of the Middle East and North Africa, with major sections on Colonialism and Imperialism, the World Wars, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the United Nations' involvement in the region. Each country in the region is reviewed, detailing its population, economy, and government.
- Europe since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction:. John Merriman and Jay Winter, Eds. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 3135 pp. 5 vols.
A multi-volume survey of European history from the beginning of World War I in 1914 to the present, presented through alphabetically arranged entries that focus on the period's scientific, social and cultural history as well as the political, military and economic developments. For students and general readers.
- Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America 2nd ed., 3v, 2000
Contains 8,000 to 12,000 word essays on specific culture groups in the United States, emphasizing religions, holidays, customs, and languages in addition to providing information on historical background and settlement patterns. Also covers ethnoreligious groups such as Jews, Chaldeans, and Amish. Each essay lists organizations and research centers; name, address, and contact information for periodicals, radio, and television stations; and a further readings section.
- Encyclopedia of Russian History James R. Millar, Ed. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 1507 pp. 4 vols.
Providing a comprehensive discussion of the people, politics, economics, religion, culture, and social systems of Russia, this work spans the time from the earliest beginnings of the Russian nation (among the ancient Eastern Slavic tribes) to the end of czarist Russia and on through the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. It provides the necessary information for readers to obtain a greater understanding of and appreciation for Russia in all of its many spheres.
- Europe—1450 to 1789: An Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World Jonathan Dewald, Ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 3232 pp. 6 vols.
Explores European history from 1450-1789, from the print revolution to the French Revolution. Includes 1,150 articles written by eminent scholars covering major topics in art, government, and education as well as providing biographical entries on key figures of the period. Also covers topics specific to the era, such as apocalypticism, guilds, food riots, royal mistresses and lovers, the Spanish Inquisition, Utopia and others.
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. 5 vols. 2006.
A six-volume survey of European history from 1450, the beginning of the print revolution, to 1789 and the French Revolution. Presents over 1,000 alphabetically arranged entries covering the period's most significant personalities and meaningful developments in the arts, religion, politics, exploration, and warfare. For students, scholars, and general readers.
Includes more than 2,700 signed essays ranging from 500 to 2,500 words, written by subject experts and edited to form a consistent, readable, and straightforward reference. Entries include subject-specific bibliographies and, where appropriate, photographs and textual cross-references to related essays.
- Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life 2nd ed., 5v, 2009
Covers cultural groups in Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa. Each volume is organized by continent, covering history, politics, customs, religion, education, human rights issues, teen life, and more.
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