ABC-CLIO Announces New Version Launch of Historical Abstracts and
America: History and Life Databases
Santa Barbara, CA — January 21, 2006 — ABC-CLIO, the award-winning history reference publisher, announces the January launch of a newly enhanced interface for Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life, their premier history abstracts databases.
As part of a 50-year anniversary celebration in 2005, ABC-CLIO embarked on a multiyear program to upgrade and enhance Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life. With a redesigned interface and over 1.2 million entries and 340,000 full-text links, these landmark resources are now more than ever the first place to begin any search in the area of history.
Based upon feedback and requests from subscribers, the following enhancements became active in January:
- New interface that allows users to get to the information they need quickly and easily, with fewer page downloads and fewer mouse clicks
- A combined simple and advanced search screen that allows users to control which search options are displayed, such as Keywords, Author, and Title, and how results are shown
- New on-screen help tips for making the most of the database appear with the touch of a mouse
- New retrospective coverage from JSTOR journals dating from 1838-2005, resulting in an increase of nearly 78percent in full-text links by project's end
- A new search history functionality that records search histories and allows users to refine and rerun previous searches
- An enhanced expand and collapse record functionality that allows the viewing of abstracts on the same page as the records results list, making reviewing abstracts easier
Other useful enhancements:- A new Export to Citation Manager feature that will allow users to save results directly to EndNote, ProCite, or Reference Manager (exporting to RefWorks remains an option)
- New setup functionality for non-OpenURL resolvers, permitting linking to non-OpenURL catalogs
- A User's Forum that provides technical and database content support and a place for discussions related to the databases
- Full-text links to over 330,000 sources, including ProQuest's Dissertations and Theses Database
Notes to Editors
Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life, established in 1955 and 1964, respectively, are research tools for students, scholars, and historians. Used as stand-alone databases or as search engines for a periodical collection, Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life form the cornerstone of any history collection, providing annotated bibliographical citations of articles on history and book reviews appearing in more than 1,700 scholarly journals published throughout the world. Combined, the databases contain over 1.2 million entries, with more than 38,000 new entries added every year, ensuring ongoing access to the latest in history scholarship.
About ABC-CLIO
Celebrating 50 years of reference publishing in 2005, ABC-CLIO is a privately held company founded and owned by the Boehm family. The company's corporate headquarters is in Santa Barbara, CA, with offices in Denver, CO, and Oxford, England. Committed to serving the history profession, history teachers, and students and scholars of history, ABC-CLIO annually publishes approximately 80 encyclopedias, guides, and handbooks. Since 1991, this acclaimed reference book line has won over 60 best-reference awards from the American Library Association and Library Journal. Its best known publications are the abstracting and indexing services Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life, which together represent the largest bibliographic history database in the world. ABC-CLIO also has a large eBook program with all reference book titles published in both print and electronic formats.
For additional information contact:
Lyn Peyok, (800) 368-6868 x 347, lpeyok@abc-clio.com
Please contact Lyn Peyok if you would like a password for review.