This edition of Barron’s Book Study Notes is a collaboration between Corel and World Library, Inc. which released a version of the notes in 1993. Both company names appear on the packaging, with Corel displayed most prominently. However, Corel recently sold the rights to Hoffmann + Associates and no longer sells or supports the product. This edition, identified as version 1.00.016, has the same text as the World Library version. In addition, it includes the American Heritage Concise Dictionary, 3rd ed., a different search engine (Fulcrum Technologies, Inc.), author biographies, and a media portfolio which provides access to ca. 48 illustrations, 12 author pictures, and 3 videos.
The product was designed to operate under Windows 3.x; and it runs on Windows 95 and Windows NT. It contains descriptive and critical information for 101 literary works and 66 authors. The notes cover the plot summary, character analysis, and themes. They also include sample tests followed by the answers, term paper ideas, a glossary, excerpts of commentary by noteworthy critics, and a bibliography.
The viewing panel occupies 2/3 of the screen and the search tools appear as a series of tabs and windows on the left of the viewing panel. The text appears on numbered pages, similar to a printed edition. However, the typeface is too small for comfortable viewing; so the student will have to close the search panel which expands the viewing panel and makes the text more legible.
The search engine uses a card catalog metaphor and even includes graphics of catalog drawers when one selects author/title and subject tabs. The title tab defaults to showing all titles in the database. Students can select an individual author to get a list of titles by that author. The 101 titles represent the work of 66 authors; so very few have more than one work included. Shakespeare has the most with 14 titles. Generally, the critiqued work is the most important, most representative, or the most studied. In some cases, one might argue otherwise. For example Camus’s The Stranger is included but not The Myth of Sisyphus, The Plague, The Fall, or The Rebel.
Many of the titles (33 or 1/3 of the entire bibliography) appear alphabetized under initial articles. The earlier World Library edition had them alphabetized in proper sequence, ignoring the initial articles. In a large database, this would constitute a retrieval problem. In a database of the size of Barron’s Book Study Notes, it is only a minor inconvenience.
Students can also select all male or all female authors. However, there are only eight female authors listed here (Jane Austen, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Pearl S. Buck, Willa Cather, Harper Lee, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Edith Wharton). Women who wrote under male pen names, like George Eliot, appear in the male list, even though the accompanying biographies properly identify them as female.
This edition of Barron’s Book Notes is particularly useful for its processing capabilities. A toolbox includes buttons for students to highlight text with four different colored markers, place bookmarks or annotations, and copy or print an entire book, a range of pages, or just one’s personal notes, bookmarks, or highlighted text. The text of the book notes is stored in Envoy format while the biographies are in HTML format.
Readers can toggle on or off an automatic scroll feature and set the scroll rate and quickly jump to a specific page or to an annotation. A notepad icon opens a word processor. The program defaults to Windows Notepad; but students can configure this to open their favorite word processor. Double clicking on any word will open the American Heritage Concise Dictionary, 3rd ed. and go directly to the definition.
All students will consult Barron’s Book Study Notes or a similar product at some time in their course of study. Competitor products, like Monarch Notes and Cliff Notes (www.cliffs.com) have a larger selection of authors and titles. However, not all titles in the series can be found at bookstores and, according to Murphy’s law, the desired title will usually not be available when needed. The web page for the Cliff notes is primarily a search engine for its catalog of titles. After locating a desired title, students will have to purchase it online before gaining access.
Barron’s Book Study Notes is cheaper than buying the set of corresponding printed booklets. Moreover, they are more thorough and authoritative than the competitors. Barron’s Book Study Notes is an important resource that all students should consider purchasing.
