I’m pleased to announce that the Statewide Database Trials for May-June 2009 are now up and available. Apologies to those who were waiting with bated breath on May 11; more products this time around meant more time spent getting everything up and organized. Trials will run through June 30, so you still have just over 6 weeks to check out some neat resources.

This batch of trials focuses on “hard times” resources, and includes some great tools on skills-building, resume creation, job preparation, continuing education, workplace research, small business management, and more.

You can check them out here: http://www.secstate.wa.gov/library/libraries/projects/sdl/DBTrials2009.aspx

I’d like to stress (again) the importance of filling out an interest form for any product you want to know more about. All the interest form does is start a conversation between you and the vendor, and allows us the opportunity to arrange better pricing if enough libraries are interested. Please express interest based on the quality of the product, and not on the price, because the price provided to us is always negotiable (and sometimes significantly so).

You can find the interest form here: http://www.secstate.wa.gov/quicklinks/DBTrials2009InterestForm

It’s not too late to express interest in the March-April “Language-Learning” products (but it’s getting close)! That form will be available for the next couple weeks, so if you were interested in either of those offering, fill it out here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=sitUk2IGL4j_2bFqh2gKZHhA_3d_3d

I hope that you enjoy trying out these fun products, and as always, I’d love to hear from you for suggestions on future products or on how to improve the statewide database trial process.