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Driving Electronic Content Discovery and Usage: Collaboration – Part 1

February 26, 2018September 1, 2015

Posted on August 31, 2015
Posted by Jan Snyder and Jennifer Maurer

As librarians, we feel privileged to have a very rich collection of Gale databases and eBooks at our fingertips to use with students and staff, at zero cost to us, through the Oregon State Library’s Statewide Database Licensing Program. This allows for statewide access to a wide range of vetted information, on unlimited topics, for use by our patrons. These same databases are available at K-16 throughout Oregon, as well as at public libraries, for use by all state residents. In talking with librarian friends across the country, we know that we enjoy a benefit not available in many states.

Funding for the statewide databases comes from a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant. Another grant project was initiated some 15 years ago, when members of the Oregon Association of School Libraries (OASL) and Oregon State Library staff shared concerns about access to information literacy resources for students and teachers, as the number of licensed school librarians employed across the state declined. OASL applied for a LSTA grant from the State Library to create OSLIS, or the Oregon School Library Information System, and that has become a continuing statewide project. In addition to offering information literacy resources and citation generators in MLA and APA formats, OSLIS serves as the K-12 access point for the statewide databases.

Having statewide central access to the databases provides consistency for students as they move from elementary to middle school and then high school. It also means that students and educators served by school library staff who are not familiar with how to link directly to databases still have access to statewide resources.

What Lies Beneath the Bestsellers: Mine the Gems!

February 23, 2018August 6, 2015

High-demand, bestselling titles meet the immediate needs of a large group of patrons. They’re the sparkly gold dust that attracts attention and draws in readers. But beneath that top layer of new titles are the “midlist” titles – the majority of all published works. In this group is where emerging authors, alternative and esoteric titles, and a much broader selection of works live. These are the titles chosen by libraries focused on providing a rich collection that encourages readers to look beyond the “shiny” titles.

Gale Sponsors Library Journal’s Lead the Change Professional Academy

February 26, 2018April 7, 2015

Library Journal’s Lead the Change, a professional development program for librarians available online and in a series of live events across the country, is launching next month. As series sponsor, Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, is helping to fund the event and making unique tools available to librarians.

Lead the Change offers timely resources and tools to help librarians stay ahead of innovations and changes affecting the library profession. Library staff at all levels can participate in hands-on live events, access insightful on-demand webcasts, and participate in a new online learning program.

Guest Blog: A school library within a global community

February 26, 2018September 5, 2014

Klaudia Janek, IB Teacher-Librarian, International Academy, Bloomfield Hills, MI

Working in an International Baccalaureate (IB) school, as a school librarian, presents the opportunity to focus on a more global perspective and to have set expectations when it comes to research and information literacy.

Viva Free Access to Las Vegas Travel Guides

July 8, 2014June 19, 2014

The ALA program (as always) is jam-packed with famous keynote authors and actors, hundreds of sessions addressing all the hot topics facing the library world today, and a hall full of exhibitors who are pulling out all the stops to bring the glitz and glory of Vegas to the tradeshow floor. It’s almost too much excitement for one attendee to bear.

And yet, outside the walls of the Las Vegas Convention Center and various hotel meeting rooms, there is an entire city bustling with activity 24/7. Since you’ll be short on free time (and maybe energy), you’ll want to make sure you’re making the most of every minute.

Open Casting Call for the 2015 Gale Catalog!

May 15, 2014April 29, 2014

Let’s face it, passion drives everything we do—the choices we make, the jobs we acquire, even how we spend our free time.

We’d like to offer you the opportunity to take your passion and turn it into a real “notice me” opportunity. That’s right; we’re looking for a few shining stars to feature in our upcoming catalog. Not only will you be able to share your passion—and your smiling face—with the world, but you’ll also be put into circulation of over 18,000 copies, literally putting you in front of thousands of librarians, researchers, teachers, administrators, and faculty all across the US and Canada!