HIT: Gale's Lit. Crit.

[Linda Fox - Colonie High School <LFOX@CNSVAX.ALBANY.EDU>]

Hello:

In my 9-12 high school our students make great use of Gale's
literary criticism reference sets.  Due to the pricing, we too
have abandoned hope of keeping up. We try to buy a few volumes
each year while they publish 10-20 vols. per set. We have decided
that much of the 19th and 20th century criticism was pretty well
covered in the 60 or so volumes we have.  Also, much of that
literature has been covered in such works as the Twayne series,
The Univ. of Minnesota pamplets (will they ever be re-done?) and
other critical works of the major authors of the period.
Where my students really feel the pinch is with the contemporary
authors.  There is no replacement for CLC that we've found and
been happy with.  My concern is that complaints about the pricing
may prompt companies like Gale to produce a lesser product at a
better price and promote it heavily in high schools.
 My students need criticism of the big guns (Toni
Morrison etc.) but they also need criticism of Chester Himes,
Stephen Dobyns, Gloria Naylor, John Irving  and more obscure
authors that can only be found in CLC and are likely to be
excluded in a lower priced work.  I can't afford the Gale series
and I can't afford to be without it.  I still find it the best
source for digested literary criticism and we teach it's use both
as a digest or collection of excerpted works as well as an
integrated index. (The SATA series, DLB, CLC etc are all
carefully cross indexed.) I'd love a better price, these needs
take up a big chunk of my shrinking budget. However, I would not
switch to a lesser product. I'd rather be always a bit behind
than be without.

Linda J. Fox
Colonie High School Library          Internet: lfox@cnsvax.albany.edu
1 Raider Blvd.                       Voice:  (518) 459-1220 ext. 441
Albany, NY  12205                    Fax:    (518) 453-6126