CHICAGO– October 8, 2009 – World Book, Inc. today announced that the state of Mississippi has selected World Book Web [1] to provide students in public K-12 schools throughout the state with access to a comprehensive suite of online reference tools.
The selection was made by MAGNOLIA (the Mississippi Alliance for Gaining New Opportunities through Library Information Access), a statewide consortium funded by the Mississippi Legislature to provide online databases to public schools and libraries. Through the agreement, approximately 500,000 students in 1,000 schools will have access to the World Book Web. Students also will be able to access World Book Web from their home computers.
“We compared a variety of reference options and World Book Web was the unanimous choice,” said Stephen Cunetto, administrator of systems for Mississippi State University Libraries and chairperson for the MAGNOLIA Database Selection Committee. “World Book clearly offers the most comprehensive reference tools.”
“World Book’s quality content is presented in a way that’s easy for patrons to access and use, and its breadth of coverage ensures it meets the needs of our students across all learning levels,” said Frances Coleman, dean of the Mississippi State University Libraries and chairperson of the MAGNOLIA Steering Committee.
World Book Web allows users to tap into a wealth of current, reliable, and age-appropriate information. ForMississippi students this includes World Book Kids for early learners, World Book Student for mid-level students, and World Book Advanced for older students. Also included is World Book Discover, offering a reference resource for reluctant readers and ESL students, and Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos for beginning Spanish-language students. For educators, World Book Web provides correlations to state curriculum standards and benchmarks as well as teaching resources.
“Through MAGNOLIA, Mississippi is on the forefront of ensuring students statewide have access to the quality resources they need to improve learning,” said Patti Ginnis, chief marketing officer for World Book. “We are pleased to be able to support these efforts.”
To learn more, Mississippi students and educators can visit the MAGNOLIA K-12 web page [2] (http://library.msstate.edu/magnolia [2]) or contact their school librarian.
In addition to Mississippi, dozens of states and provinces have agreements with World Book to provide World Book Web to their citizens at schools, universities or public libraries, and through home access. This includes Alabama, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, Utah, and Rhode Island as well as Alberta and British Columbia. Thousands of school districts and counties also have subscriptions, including those in Anchorage, Austin, Baltimore, Buffalo, Dallas, Jefferson Parish Louisiana, Little Rock, Miami-Dade County, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, and Seattle. Additionally hundreds of public library systems offer patrons home and library access, including those in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, and San Antonio.
About World Book
World Book, Inc. sets the standard in publishing accurate, current, and reliable reference and learning materials for children and adults. Based in Chicago, World Book is committed to creating educational products that meet the highest standards of editorial excellence in print and online. This commitment has resulted in a wide range of products including the number-one selling The World Book Encyclopedia and the World Book Web [1], which is the most comprehensive and authoritative online solution to meet the diverse information needs of students, educators, public library patrons, and families. World Book (www.worldbook.com [3]) is a Scott Fetzer company, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.