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By Meg McCaffrey -- School Library Journal, 04/01/2004

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Oxford Reference Online: Premium Collection is the newest online product from Oxford University Press and an ideal starting point for just about any research question. It's decently priced, too; an annual subscription with unlimited access for K–12 schools is $375. The Premium edition consists of the popular Oxford Reference Online: Core Collection, plus an expanded range of full-text titles from the Oxford Companions series (including the volumes on U.S. history, Shakespeare, American law, the body, and music), as well as the complete Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and English and bilingual dictionaries. New titles, Web links, and illustrations will be added several times each year.

Celeste Dougherty, director of library services at Villa Maria Academy High School in Malvern, PA, says the Premium Collection is a good place to get an authoritative overview of a topic and even complete an entire assignment. The resource, however, is not without its drawbacks—it has a busy front page that could be better organized, Dougherty says, and her students have had trouble returning to their original search results page. Overall, it gets a thumbs-up from the librarian. "I am very pleased with the broad subject coverage, quality of the content, and the price," she says.

There's a free 30-day trial offer for libraries, and current subscribers to the basic Core Collection can upgrade their subscription to the new resource by simply paying a prorated portion of $125, the difference in price between the two resources. Visit www.oxfordreference.com/pages/premium.html for details.