NoveList® Plus – Nonfiction Readers’ Advisory Service – Coming Soon
Enhanced Version of NoveList to Contain Information on Fiction and Nonfiction Titles

IPSWICH, Mass. — April 5, 2007 —  EBSCO Publishing and NoveList are on schedule for the release of NoveList® Plus—an enhanced version of the original database that will also include nonfiction titles. According to Duncan Smith, NoveList® creator and product manager, NoveList Plus represents the company’s most significant development effort in this product line since NoveList, the readers’ advisory resource used in 65% of the public libraries in the United States, was first introduced in 1994.

A national survey of over 1,200 public librarians (conducted by NoveList in 2005) documented the need for a resource that does for nonfiction what NoveList does for fiction. It also pointed out that existing bibliographic data will not meet the needs of nonfiction readers. In addition to this significant finding, the survey also indicated that a nonfiction readers’ advisory resource should contain browsing lists and lists of award winners as well as author read-alikes, reviews and book discussion guides for popular titles. NoveList Plus will be an upgrade to NoveList, and will contain the entire NoveList service.

“It was clear from the beginning that the development of the product our profession wants in the area of nonfiction would require a significant investment in time and staff, and we have made those investments,” Smith said in a recent interview. In addition, Smith indicated that NoveList was adding seven staff positions whose full attention would be focused on the development of the nonfiction aspects of NoveList Plus.

In addition to expanding its staff, NoveList is drawing on the expertise of many of the leading names in readers’ advisory service to develop the product’s title database and create the content that users need and expect from NoveList. Joyce Saricks, author of Readers Advisory Service in the Public Library (ALA, 2005); Neal Wyatt, author of The Readers’ Advisory Guide to NonFiction (ALA, forthcoming 2007), and Dr. Robert Burgin, editor of Non-Fiction Readers’ Advisory (Libraries Unlimited, 2004) are just a few of the experts working with NoveList staff on this project. Other well-known NoveList contributors involved in this effort include Georgine Olson, Fairbanks North Star Borough Public Library (AK); David Wright, Seattle Public (WA); and Barry Trott, Williamsburg Regional Library, VA who is this year’s recipient of the Public Library Association’s Allie Beth Martin Award and the Reference and User Services Association’s Margaret E. Monroe Award. When reached by phone, Trott said “I have always been impressed with NoveList and their commitment to deliver the products and services needed to connect readers and books, and I am excited about the possibilities that open up with the addition of nonfiction to NoveList. I have no doubt that NoveList Plus is going to be a boon for librarians and readers.”

NoveList Plus will be available in early 2008. In addition to including information on nonfiction titles, NoveList Plus will sport a completely new interface and many powerful user-requested features. More information about this new product will be available in June 2007 at the American Library Association meeting in Washington, DC.

About EBSCO
NoveList and NoveList Plus are products of EBSCO Publishing. EBSCO Publishing is the world’s premier database aggregator, offering a suite of more than 200 full-text and secondary research databases. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals, magazines, books, monographs, reports and various other publication types from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all researchers (Academic, Medical, K-12, Public Library, Corporate, Government, etc.). The company’s product lines include proprietary databases such as Academic Search™, Business Source®, CINAHL®, DynaMed™, Literary Reference Center™, MasterFILE™, NoveList®, SocINDEX™ and SPORTDiscus™ as well as dozens of leading licensed databases such as ATLA Religion Database™, EconLit, MEDLINE®, MLA International Bibliography, PsycARTICLES® and PsycINFO®. Databases are powered by EBSCOhost®, the most-used for-fee electronic resource in libraries around the world. For more information, visit the EBSCO Publishing Web site at: www.ebscohost.com, or contact: information@ebscohost.com. EBSCO Publishing is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.

For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Media Communications Coordinator
(800) 653-2726 ext. 594