Learner's Library Dumbs Down.

This article reviews the Learner's Library (LL) database produced by Knowledge Ventures Inc. It is a database of multidisciplinary, full-text journal articles intended primarily for college students. Social science has the largest number of titles, with approximately 80. Arts and humanities, science and current events each have about 50 and business has about 20. The database's search results are often thin and spotty, with the same few periodicals providing the bulk of the retrieval in a given search. It uses relevance searching and there is no field limiting or data searching. It is the only service that has only one search method. An LL search identifies the passage within the individual document that has the highest occurrence of search terms and it sorts results accordingly. The idea is that users do not have to read through a lengthy and difficult article. Users just cut the database's quote and paste it into their research paper. There are two major faults with the database's searching. First, searches are full of duplicates. Moreover, the documents provided lack original graphics such as tables, charts and illustrations. LL is a subscription service that is sold to individuals. The cost is $9.95/week, $24.95/month, $49.95/6 months and $74.95/year.