information literacy Archives | Gale Blog: Library & Educator News

Cornell Professor and Librarian Collaborate to Contribute to Gale Researcher

March 20, 2018March 13, 2017

Gale has partnered with Cornell College Professor of English Katy Stavreva to curate introductory British Literature content for Gale Researcher. In an article Cornell College’s News Center Stavreva describes the challenge of mapping out foundational content for the British Literature module, “This is no small challenge because the field is not only dynamic, but there are numerous ideologies and theories involved in deciding who and what may be foundational in it.”

Stavreva also collaborated with her Cornell colleagues to create content for Gale Researcher. Cornell Interim Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning and Consulting Librarian Jennifer Rouse contributed to the collection with the essay “The Literary Research Process.” A recent article on the Cornell College News Center goes into more detail about Gale Researcher and Stavreva’s contributions.

Help Students Improve Their Employability

December 16, 2016December 16, 2016

For many undergraduate students, employment looms large as they look toward graduation. How can you help them prepare? Two words: information literacy. More than half of employers surveyed* recently rate “the ability to locate, organize, and evaluation information from multiple sources” as “very important” when it comes to hiring recent college graduates. How to help … Read more

Collaboration Benefits Everyone

November 29, 2016November 29, 2016

Helping Librarians and Academic Faculty Work Together to Achieve Optimal Student Outcomes

In a recent article in Against the Grain, Liz Mason, Gale’s Vice President of Product, addresses a big issue in 21st century education. She discusses a 2015 survey that showed there was a disconnect between academic librarians and faculty. The results revealed that a significant number of faculty members saw no need to consult with librarians and only half used librarians as a resource on matters of curricula when planning courses.

Information Literacy: Knowing What To Do With All That Data

November 2, 2016October 31, 2016

If there’s one thing modern society seems to be good at, it’s creating content and making it available. According to VCloud News, 2.5 billion gigabytes of content are created each day¹. To quantify that a bit more, that means the amount of data created each day is equal to streaming 1 billion hours of high definition TV.

So, is it any wonder that undergraduates are often overwhelmed at the outset of a research project? Where should they begin? How can they evaluate the quality of content sources and ensure that they’re using relevant, expert information?

I am Gale U: Leslie Morgan, University of Notre Dame

February 26, 2018October 20, 2014

By Melissa Rayner

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard of Gale U, our way of putting real names, faces, and stories to the kinds of people who frequent the library, explaining their needs and challenges, and providing creative solutions. Gale U houses 47 unique individuals from librarians, to faculty, to students. Each of these personas was developed via extensive research and by working with real-life individuals to determine our fictitious library users’ needs.

Now, we’d like to showcase just how realistic these personas are by working in reverse and finding real-life people who can relate to each and every one of them. This endeavor kicks off today in the first of a new blog series, entitled I am Gale U.

We’d like to start at the heart of Gale U, the Undergraduate Library. Perhaps you’ve already learned a bit about our resident Undergraduate Services Librarian, Naomi–if not, you can get to know her here. The feature of this article is Naomi’s library twin, Leslie Morgan who serves as the First-Year Experience Librarian for the University of Notre Dame. I was lucky enough to have a chat with this inspirational and lively woman, and I hope her interview will similarly leave you feeling energized!

Truth Be Told: 5 Fast Facts about Juice Fasting

June 5, 2014May 17, 2014

By Harmony Faust

There are several people in my inner circle who regularly and voluntarily consume nothing but fruit, vegetable and plant juices for days at a time. This. Blows. My. Mind. Juice fasting is a practice I’ve been hearing about for years and I still don’t get it.

If I’m being completely honest, the crux of my problem with juice fasting probably lies at the intersection of my natural skepticism and laziness—I don’t have a great track record with activities related to health and fitness.

Truth Be Told: What is oil pulling and does it work?

June 11, 2018April 11, 2014

By Harmony Faust

“Oil whatting?”

If that’s your response to the phrase oil pulling, you are not alone. What is oil pulling and why is everyone buzzing about it? First of all, it turns out that it’s not an alternative to fracking and has nothing to do with the environment. Based on the context clues provided in the various Facebook statuses and Pinterest pins I’d been seeing, I was able to gather it was a health fad of some sort. Not being much of a bandwagoner myself, I kept scrolling.