HIT> Inexpensive Online Databases

[Thomas David Rompf <tom@rompf.org>]

Hello All,

Here is the information I received on my question, also included below.
The bottom line is that I'm still looking...although ELibrary looks good
for starters.

Thanks everyone for your help!

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Hello All,

We are a medium-sized library (K-12, @1,100 students) located out of the
country, and we would like to begin offering an online news service,
like Wilson, Ebsco, NewsBank, etc.  I know that many libraries in the
States are part of a consortium that helps to defray the cost of these
subscriptions; we are not.  It seems like most of these services charge
well over $2,000US, which is way above our budget.  Could I get some
recommendations for good, reliable, inexpensive databases like those
mentioned above.

Please reply to me directly, and I will post a hit when I've received
enough responses.

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BigChalk.com cost us 1075.00 for the year.  We get Gale Group free
through
TLC so I don't know what it costs. Just some info. for you.  Good luck!
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Have you tried Electric Library? Many schools here in the U.S. pay for
access to eLibrary because it offers so much...reference books, books,
newspapers, magazines, maps, and radio/tv transcripts.

I love it so much that I pay $60 a year for my own home account! Try
<http://www.elibrary.com> www.elibrary.com for your free trial! Then, if
you're interested, get a hold of a sales rep at InfoNautics to negotiate
a price for your own school. See if this link works:
<http://ask.elibrary.com/about.asp> http://ask.elibrary.com/about.asp

Hope this idea is useful,
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We use bigchalk.com, which charges $1749.00.  We also use Facts on
File, which charges $1550.00.

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Tom, see how you like Find Articles .com  It's free!
 <http://www.findarticles.com> http://www.findarticles.com

Also have you priced elibrary?  It might be more in your budget.  There
are different sizes of collections and different levels.
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I love Infotrac, but we use the CDs because we don't have to
have an internet connection which is not always reliable. It
is owned by Gale Publishing.
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Electric Library from Bigchalk.com  They will try to sell you one of
their BIGGER dbases, but for now at least you can get this for (just)
under $2000.  -- jlh

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Tom, we don't really provide a 'news' service, but do indexing of the NY
Times and various other periodicals. If you like, I'll forward your
message to our Director for International sales and that Department can
contact you directly about pricing. I think our school pricing has some
discounts built in, but someone in sales can be more accurate.

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WE use EBSCOhost which gives us newspapers, magazines, encyclopedia, and
professional journals - many full text. It is reasonably priced,
something
like $900 per year. It's an excellent product and well worth the
expense.
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Is there a local public library that subscribes to any online resources?
If
so, and they offer offsite access to their patrons via library card
numbers,
the most inexpensive way to meet your goal is to make sure that all of
your
students have library cards. Get one for yourself as well. Then train
them
to use those resources.

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Thomas David Rompf
Head of Information Services
Colegio Bolivar
Apartado Aereo 26300
Cali, Valle, Colombia
South America
Home:    +57-2-330-2381
Work:    +57-2-555-2039
Fax:       +57-2-555-2041 / USFax (810) 277-0487
Cell:       +57-3-560-0064
Email:      <mailto:tom@rompf.org> tom@rompf.org /
<mailto:trompf@colegiobolivar.edu.co> trompf@colegiobolivar.edu.co /
 <mailto:tomrompf@hotmail.com> tomrompf@hotmail.com
Colegio Bolivar Library Web Page:
 <http://www.uniweb.net.co/bolivar/library>
http://www.uniweb.net.co/bolivar/library
Colegio Bolivar School Page:  <http://www.colegiobolivar.edu.co>
http://www.colegiobolivar.edu.co
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