World Book Millennium 2000: Premier Reference Library

Description:

World Book Millennium 2000: Premier Reference Library is much more than just an encyclopedia. It is a comprehensive reference library easily accessed through your home computer.

World Book contains extensive articles which include facts, maps, illustrations, time frames and other media. Research tools such as sticky notes, highlights, a dictionary and a word processor allow the user to easily work within the program. The Homework Wizard helps students with common homework assignments by creating reports, charts, timelines, quizzes, and web pages. The user can search by word or topic to easily find a particular subject, or can click on Just Looking to browse for something interesting.

The Merriam-Webster Reference Library collection contains the following Merriam-Webster titles:

• Biographical Dictionary
• Collegiate Dictionary
• Collegiate Thesaurus
• Encyclopedia of Literature
• Intermediate Dictionary
• Medical Desk Dictionary

The Information Please Almanac Collection contains detailed information that is easily accessed by either searching for a specific topic or browsing through general headings. The general almanac includes records on topics such as the world, USA, people, business and economy, living, society and science and technology. The sports almanac contains statistics for the Olympics and college and professional sports, as well as information on sports personalities. The entertainment almanac takes a comprehensive look at movies, music, performing arts, broadcasting, publishing, internet and home entertainment. It includes listings of award-winners for the Academy Awards, Newberry Award, Caldecott Award, Nobel Prize for Literature and much more.

The Rand McNally New Millennium World Atlas Deluxe uses the Global Find feature to locate areas on a 3-dimensional world globe that can be rotated and tilted at the click of a mouse. The zoom feature allows you to target a specific area on the globe then zoom in for a closer look. The feature can also be used in reverse by finding a particular area through the search mode then zooming out to see where it is on the globe. The atlas contains extensive listings of countries, cities, rivers, etc. Color coded Thematic Maps show specific types of information such as population and vegetation. Geofacts give information about a specific area or item.

Included with the purchase of the Premier Reference Library, is a 60-day free trial subscription to World Book Online. Regular subscription price is about $30.00 per year. World Book Online grants access to periodical articles, web links, current events, monthly features and even more encyclopedia articles, maps and media. The Teacher Resources area helps teachers to enrich their lessons with detailed information. Specific topics can be found easily with the search mode, or browse through general topics to find something of interest.

Features:

• Includes every article from the World Book print encyclopedia plus thousands more
• Multimedia includes videos, maps, simulations, animations, photos and sound
• "Surf the millennium" on simulated websites for each century
• One free year of updates
• 60-day trial subscription to World Book Online for internet users
• Homework Tool Kit
• Merrium-Webster Reference Library
• 3 Information Please Almanacs: sports, entertainment and general.
• Rand McNally New Millennium World Atlas Deluxe

Technical Aspects:

Once installed, everything ran very smoothly. The graphics and animations are fantastic, especially in the atlas. There are a few audio instructions, but these can be found in the user manual. This software could easily be used by hearing-impaired persons.

Report and Conclusions:

Information is easy to find and easy to understand in all areas of this Reference Library. I was particularly impressed with the 3D Global Find feature in the Rand McNally New Millennium World Atlas Deluxe. My 8-year-old was trying to memorize the names of all seven continents as I reviewed this software. He found it quite entertaining to rotate the globe in search of each continent, then zoom in to find out specific information about countries, rivers, and more. By looking at our hometown, then zooming out to see our state, country, and continent, he now has a better understanding of where we fit into the world. By the way, he scored 100% on his geography test the next day.

I used my trial subscription to log on to World Book Online and found it just as easy to use as the World Book software. The big advantage that I found with the Online area is access to current events. It is often difficult to find information on recent events - those happenings that fall in the crack between what's happening today and what is listed in the latest encyclopedia edition. World Book Online is the place to go to find those events. For someone who does a great deal of research in current events, a yearly subscription may be worthwhile.

Overall, I was very impressed with this title. It contains extensive information and is very easy to use. I found the research aids, such as sticky notes, highlighter and Homework Wizard to be especially helpful. The reference library and almanacs are invaluable resources, whether you are wondering about chicken pox, the works of Shakespeare, the 1996 bowl game results, art movements of the 1940's, Miss America for 1927 or the best movie winner at the 1998 MTV Movie Awards. I expect this software to get a great deal of use in my home.