October 1999
Newsletter #33
 

Library Begins Off-Campus
Storage

The Humanities Go Online

Finding the Right Index

Library Research Guides
Now on the Web

Literature Online

Videotapes Now Circulate

Deacidification Stops Damage
to Books

Library Databases available
Off Campus

Student and Faculty
Technology Guides Available
 

Literature Online (LION), a new electronic database now available from the Library, offers more than 260,000 full-text poetry, drama, and prose works of English and American literature, literary and general reference sources, links to literature-related websites, and journal articles. LION will be invaluable for research such as looking for the text of a poem, examining the recurrence of the word dream in Langston Hughes’ works, gathering background information about a poet you will introduce at this year’s Folger Poetry Series, or helping a student begin research on the Bloomsbury Group.

LION’s primary texts include English poetry (600– ); American poetry (1600– ); modern poetry (1972–1997); African-American poetry (1705– ); The Faber Poetry Library; English fiction (1500–1780); and English drama (1280–1915). Secondary sources include LIFT, a literary journal index with many full-text articles; Webster’s Third New International Dictionary; the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL); the King James Bible; links to literary Web resources; and biographical information and lists of works for over 1000 of the most-studied authors.

LION also allows you to find a list of works by or about a particular author; search for a particular word across the entire database or within a particular period, literary movement, genre, or author’s work; and research literary movements. Results include full-text works, references to articles, monographs, dissertations, and relevant websites. Published by Chadwyck-Healey, LION continually adds both primary and complementary secondary resources, but you must still search MLA Bibliography and other indexes for a comprehensive picture of literary scholarship.

To access LION, begin with the Library website, and click on Research Tools and Resources. On the second screen, click on “Library Indexes and Databases.” From the third screen, note the “New Databases” heading and click immediately on Literature Online (LION). You can also click on the “A-Z List of Databases” box at the left or click on the “Humanities” hotlink and select LION from either list.

If you have any questions about Literature Online (LION), call the Reference Desk at 687-7452, or to schedule a library research instruction session on using LION in your classes or for your research, contact Sandy Hussey, Library Research Instruction Coordinator, at 687-8689 or by email at husseys@gunet.georgetown.edu.