Garden Literature Index - Great Review in Library Journal

**g*@aol.com**

Hello all,

This appeared in Library Journal (I think today's) and I'm "chuffed". My "baby" (now a teen at 14 years old) has finally made it.

You can find a description of Garden Literature Index, a list of titles included (more than 300), and request a free trial at www.epnet.com

Better yet, ask your library to subscribe. How could you all not want to use it? :) And thanks to many of you who contribute content as well as advice.

 Sally

Sally Williams
Editor, Garden Literature Index
EBSCO Publishing
10 Estes Street
Ipswich MA 01938
Tel. 978-356-6500 ext. 465
Fax 978-356-9371

Garden Literature Index 
EBSCO; www.epnet.com 
Garden Literature Index (GLI) indexes and abstracts over 300 journals on gardening, horticulture, landscape design, botany, ecology, plant conservation, garden management, and horticultural therapy, with a special emphasis on environmentally sustainable gardening practices. Its target audience ranges from gardening enthusiasts to horticulture students to professional landscape designers. Most titles are in English and include, among many others, Agroforestry Systems, American Horticulturist, Better Homes & Gardens, Biodiversity & Conservation, Carolina Gardener, Community Gardener, Ecological Landscaper, Gardener for the Prairies, Journal of Environmental Horticulture, Journal of the Bromeliad Society, Martha Stewart Living, PlantAmnesty, Southern California Gardener, and Wildflower: Journal of the National Wildflower Research Center. 
HOW DOES IT WORK? GLI uses the well-designed and effective EBSCOhost interface, with its Basic Search (a straightforward Find box), along with the Advanced Search and its power to limit results to Full Text, by dates, authors, and certain publications, with Expanders to search for related words within the full text and Boolean operators. I like this interface, but, more important, the students and other researchers I work with find it easy to use across subjects and are enthusiastic about it. 
CAN YOU AND YOUR PATRONS USE IT? Good gads, yes! The question should really be: Can they stop using it? My first Basic search, for "hydrangeas and blue," found 20 articles, the first of which was "Top 10 Gardening Tips," from People, Places & Plants: New England & NY, Early Summer 2005, Issue 50, whose abstract notes it includes the "suggestion on how to turn pink hydrangeas to blue." Bingo! A perusal of the entire list of abstracts revealed that changing the pH of the soil achieves the blue color. My next search, for "Japanese beetles and roses," found three articles, from Plants and Garden News, Flower and Garden, and Horticulture, and all three discussed ways of dealing with these garden pests. A search for "drought resistant shrubs" found six results in publications ranging from Fine Gardening and Brooklyn Botanic Garden Handbook to American Horticulturist, American Nurseryman, and Sunset (this one listed 100 such plants, a real find).
My search for "arbor design" found 77 articles that ranged all over the gardening continuum, from "Smart Trellis Solution" (in GC P&S: Garden Center Products & Supplies) to "Ecological theory to enhance infectious disease control and public health policy" (in Frontiers in Ecology & the Environment). 
It was the "stump removal" search that won me over completely. Not only did I get a citation to an "Ask Martha" solution from Martha Stewart Living, but I was offered a variety of solutions, including recommendations for specific stump cutters and grinders as well as chemical approaches.
JUST HOW GOOD IS IT? It's 9.9. The only enhancement I can think of would be having full text of the more esoteric titles. 
WHAT'S THE COST? The annual subscription for unlimited access for a single site is reasonable. Depending upon the number of participating sites, FTE, and population served, it ranges from $1000 to $2500.
THE BOTTOM LINE This is the only game in e-town to find popular, practical, scholarly, and R&D literature on gardening and horticulture in one place. How pleasant and convenient that it's a very well-done and unique product. Highly recommended for all public, academic, and special libraries. 

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