Gale Virtual Reference Library

Using Gale Virtual Reference Library, I chose Multicultural Studies from the left under subjects.  This seemed the most logical, with the organization seeking holidays around the world.  Once under multicultural studies, I then searched festivals and got 312 results.  I then searched spring festivals and got 20 results.  These seemed to be mostly Asian results and decided I needed to cast a wider net.  I did a search of spring festivals in the entire database and got 157 results but many of these were college blue books.  I decided to back out to the homepage and look through the different categories to see the covers and titles of the books.  I found two possible books under Nation and World, Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World, 2012 and Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays, 2000.  The index of the World Holidays contains a calendar that allows you to see the spring season holidays.  I looked at different countries in the Foods and Recipes of the World and found sections on foods for religious and holiday celebrations.  I also found Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays for several different countries.  When I looked at the different volumes in this encyclopedia there was a section for spring (though one included Halloween with spring).  All these could be very helpful.  Most holidays I found were of religious origin.

In advanced searching I selected “after” and chose the year 2011.  I received 30,616 results which is considerable for recently added information.  I really enjoy viewing the limiters in any database and immediately looked in the left sidebar.  There were many categories under the headings of document type and subjects.  I was pleased with the number of subjects on Native Americans which included: history, culture, religion, reservations, education and cooking.  What I found unusual was that the subjects were not listed in alphabetical order but by the number of results that subject contained.  I selected Native American reservations and received 99 results.  Native American tribes are very diverse.  As I looked through the sources each had the region(s) for the tribe under the title.  Within these 99 results the subject limiters to the left expanded greatly.  I found I could search within these results and used Great Basin trying to narrow results to tribes in our area.  I found it an effective way to narrow searches by regions.