A-Z Guide to Daily Life Online

  • Daily Life through History Basic
  • Daily Life through History Premium
  • World Folklore and Folklife
  • Daily Life America

Daily Life through History Basic is the original Daily Life through History database launched in 2004. All of the new material added since launch is still included, and we will continue to add new material to the database throughout the year.

Daily Life through History Premium is the original Daily Life through History plus the World Cultures Today database. All of the new material added since launch is still included, and we will continue to add new material to the database throughout the year.

World Folklore and Folklife was released in the fall of 2006. World Folkore and Folklife is available as an integrated site with either of the Daily Life through History databases, by itself, or with any other GPG database. New material is added to WFF on a regular basis.

Daily Life America is our newest member of the Daily Life Online suite (Fall 2007). DLA is available as an integrated site with either of the Daily Life through History databases, by itself, or with any other GPG database. New material is added to WFF on a regular basis.

Advanced Search

Available on almost every content page; users can build complicated searches by word, phrase or Boolean operators; the search can be limited by region, time period and topic. Search results can be sorted by terms, time period, subject or region.

Authors/Authority

All our authors are subject experts, and the overwhelming majority are professors or peer-reviewed independent scholars. Author details may be accessed by clicking on the author's name.

Awards

To date, Daily Life through History has garnered three major awards: It was named a Best Reference Source, 2004 by Library Journal; it was selected as an Editor's Choice, 2004 by Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin; and it was a 2004 Best of Reference selection by the New York Public Library.

World Cultures Today (now part of Daily Life through History Premium) was awarded Best Reference Source, 2005 by Library Journal, and Editors’ Choice, 2005 by Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin.

World Folklore and Folklife won Editors’ Choice, 2007 by Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin.

Bibliographies

A full review of bibliographies is carried out annually and new titles are added, ensuring that every DLO database stays up to date with current scholarship.

Boolean search

Every DLO database supports Boolean searching in Advanced search. Users can build their own searches or choose default Boolean operators

Browse

Content is readily accessible via the browse features. Users can browse by time period, region/country, or subject. Once within an article or book chapter, the Further Reading or Related Entries links on the left hand side of the screen encourage further research within a particular topic.

Chronologies

Detailed chronologies are included for all time periods; at present these are not hyper-linked to content, but that is under consideration as part of the future development of the site.

Citations

Static URL citations are available at the bottom of every page. On the left hand side of the screen a 'View Page Citation' link will open a pop-up box containing the citation in a format suitable for cutting-and-pasting. At present, DLO databases follow MLA standards in citation, but we plan to include at least Chicago style in the near future.

Competition

No other product offers the kind of substantial and targeted information on social history in such an easy-to-use environment.

Content

DLTH Basic and Premium contain the 6 volumes of The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life; 44 Daily Life through History series books; specially commissioned articles; as well as primary documents, images, maps, Tours through Time, lesson plans and vetted weblinks. All content is inter-related and cross-searchable. DLTH will continue to grow - expect the site to double in size over the next year as new material on food, sports and games, housing, clothing, health, medicine is added from a variety of backlist and frontlist titles. Development of DLTH is driving print acquisitions.

DLTH Premium also includes all of the content in World Cultures Today: 53 titles from the Cultures and Customs series, 40 books from our History of Modern Nations series, 11 titles from our Food Culture Around the World series, and many more titles drawn from our extensive list of culture-oriented reference books.

World Folklore and Folklife includes numerous award-winning GPG reference works dealing with folklore and folklife, and thousands of tales, all of which have been specially indexed to be searchable by subject, tale type, region or country. For example, a user can search for all Cinderella tales; or all tales from China; or all Cinderella tales from China. It also includes Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of Folktales, Myth and Legend. This classic text has been included to provide ready reference information on a wide range of subjects.

Daily Life America contains 100 of GPG's most current single and multivolume reference works that focus on the lives of ordinary folk in America from pre-Columbian times to the present, including dozens of volumes comprised of annotated primary documents. DLA also includes a valuable State-by-State Resource guide for easy access to state and regional information.

Curricula

DLO databases are currently aligned to FL, TX, CA, CT, IL, MA, MI, NJ, NY, and PA standards, as well as NCSS. We will align to all state standards by Fall 2008.

E-newsletter

The quarterly Daily Life Online e-newsletter tells subscribers what new additions have been made to the database; gives advance notice of future enhancements and modules; and includes tips to make the most of the content. Subscribers automatically receive the e-newsletter as part of their subscription. Newsletters are also archived on the Daily Life Online marketing site: DLTH News

Enhancements

Enhancements are regular updates and additions to content received as part of the subscription price. All DLO databases are updated regularly with new scholarship, primary documents, images, and maps.

Feedback

We love to hear feedback from our users, and we can and will incorporate suggestions it into future upgrades and enhancements. Send us your thoughts.

Lesson plans

50 lesson plans consisting of a teacher's page and a student page featuring many types of activities including Document Based Questions (DBQs), are available on our Teacher Resources Page. All lesson plans are prepared by education professionals and are fully correlated to all states' curricula.

Mission Statement

Like all Greenwood database products, DLTH ties closely to national curricula and standards while also appealing to students and general readers in search of authoritative information presented in fresh and provocative ways. Content and technology are designed both to educate and engage.

Modules

Modules are additional databases falling within the Daily Life Online family of products. They are available either as stand alone products, or fully integrated within Daily Life through History. The first module is World Cultures Today (July 2005), which focuses on daily life around the contemporary world. World Cultures Today has since been folded into DLTH to create DLTH Premium. World Folklore and Folklife (Fall 2006) offers thousands of tales, myths, legends, and the background information needed to see how folklore and folklife function in society. Daily Life America (Fall 2007) offers a terrific amount of extraordinary information on the ordinary lives of the diverse people known as Americans. Modules' content complements and augments DLTH core content and modules are available at a substantial discount to existing subscribers.

Navigation

DLO databases are exceptionally intuitive to use and easily navigable, readily lending itself to comparative studies. From within an article or book chapter it is always easy to move to related content, or to browse another time period or region. Quick Search and Advanced Search options are available on every page.

Primary documents

DLO databases contain thousands of annotated primary documents, across all subject areas. These are presented with a brief introductory paragraph that explains context and are fully integrated with other content.

Print

Articles may be printed by clicking the 'Print' button at the top of every page. A print ready version will appear, always including the page citation at the bottom. There is no limit on the number of pages a user can print, but screen pages can only be sent to print out one at a time.

Reading age

Grade 11 (+/- standard deviation of 1 1/2 grades). The reading age was estimated by counting the number of polysyllabic words in three randomly selected 300-word sections.

Reviews

View Awards & Review Quotes

Quick search

Available on every page; search results can be sorted by # terms, region, period, or subject.

Search results

Results default to the content type with the largest number of terms found; results can be re-sorted by # terms, region, period, or subject.

Tech support

Available from the Westport office during normal working hours, ET. The tech support email address appears at the bottom of every page: tech.support@greenwood.com

Technical requirements

Internet Explorer 6 or Netscape Navigator 7, Macromedia Flash Player 5, Acrobat Reader 4, monitor resolution 800 x 600 with hi-color/16-bit color or equivalent, 56k modem, and JavaScript and cookies enabled.

Tours through Time

Illustrated, electronic sidebars that trace a topic through history. Tours through Time

Web links/external links

DLO databases contain hundreds of vetted weblinks to museums, galleries, reference sites, etc. Weblinks are regularly swept to ensure that they are still active, and manually checked to ensure that they still link to appropriate content.