Scribner’s American History and Culture on CD‐ROM contains the full text of The Presidents: A Reference History, 2nd ed. (1996); Dictionary of American History, 7 vols. (1976); Dictionary of American Biography supplements nine (1994) and ten (1995); Dictionary of American History Supplement, 2 vols. (1996); and Encyclopedia of American Social History, 3 vols. (1993 with updates through 1997). In addition, a Key Events timeline has been added and over 600 photographs and over 50 primary‐source documents are accessible.
The navigation bar appears on all screens of the product, allowing the user to search, find and select research topics, browse the table of contents of the books, access a timeline of events, view pictures in a photo gallery, go back to the main menu, or access the help contents at any time.
The search function uses Boolean searching, with three main search mechanisms available: keyword, subject terms, and time period. These three can be used in any combination search strategy to access the required documentation. Functions such as printing or saving an article or selected text are also available.
This CD was designed in consultation with school, public, and college librarians for maximum efficiency of search functions and information retrieval. Any user with Internet experience will find this product easy to use. A 15‐page user’s manual is included. Any student of American history and culture from intermediate to college age will find this product of use for information retrieval and research report compilation. I was especially impressed with the search engine design and construction.
