The foundation of the Literature Resource Center is built on Gale's three hallmark author databases: Contemporary Authors Online, offering biographical coverage of more than 130,000 writers; Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, featuring entries on all authors appearing in CLC since vol. 95 of the print series and complete profiles of 266 most studied authors from editions prior to vol. 95; and Dictionary of Literary Biography Online, containing more than 13,000 biocritical essays on authors and their works written by academic scholars.

The Literature Resource Center also includes selected full-text, excerpted, and commissioned critical material from Gale's respected Literature Criticism and For Students Series. The titles in these series include: Children's Literature Review, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Drama Criticism, Drama for Students, Literature from 1400 to 1800, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Literature of Developing Nations for Students, Literature and Its Times, Novels for Students, Poetry Criticism, Poetry for Students, Shakespearean Criticism, Shakespeare for Students, Short Story Criticism, Short Stories for Students, and Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. In addition, users can access current, full-text critical essays on major authors via the Literature Resource Center's link to more than 260 prominent literary journals.

Author coverage in the Literature Resource Center is further enhanced by a strategic partnership with Merriam-Webster, Inc. Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature, featuring more than 10,000 descriptive entries on literary figures, works, and terms, is included in the basic subscription to the Literature Resource Center.