Month: May 2015

Gale Furthers Digital Preservation with Portico

We at Gale have just furthered our digital preservation partnership with Portico, the leading service in the field. To help explain how this free service will help you get even more out of your favorite Gale resources, we’ve prepared the following FAQ. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any additional questions. Happy preserving!

Q: What is Portico and what services do they provide?

A: Portico (www.portico.org) is a trusted, not-for-profit digital preservation service and is among the largest community-supported digital archives in the world.  Working with libraries and publishers, Portico preserves e-journals, e-books, and other digital scholarly content to ensure researchers and students will have access to these resources in the future.  Portico is a service of ITHAKA (www.ithaka.org), a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways.   

Read moreGale Furthers Digital Preservation with Portico

Kids InfoBits New Content Now Available!

 

Gale is continually updating and adding new content to our Kids InfoBits product, to be sure your young students are accessing timely, authoritative and useful information that feeds their interest and makes daily classroom learning fun and informative. New content that’s been added during May includes:

Read moreKids InfoBits New Content Now Available!

In Context Content Updates

Biography in Context

  • Five new spotlights for May went live on the homepage this week:
    • Legendary American baseball slugger Babe Ruth
    • Journalist and talk show host Julie Chen (Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month — USA)
    • First Lady Michelle Obama, featuring her “Let’s Move” campaign (Physical Fitness and Sports Month — USA)
    • Recently re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
    • The late Robert N. Noyce, co-inventor of the integrated circuit and a co-founder of Intel Corporation (National Inventors Month — USA)
  • Featured Homepage Video: This month’s featured video highlights former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was a five-star general during World War II. It is a nod to VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) on May 8, 1945. This year marks 70 years since the end of the second world war in Europe.
  • Launched 11 new portals including:
    • Aharon Appelfeld, Israeli novelist
    • Ansel Elgort, American actor, who was recently in “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Insurgent”

Read moreIn Context Content Updates

It’s National Limerick Day! Guess how we’re celebrating

By Melissa Rayner

May 12 is National Limerick Day–as to which nation’s “national”, that’s anybody’s guess, but let’s all celebrate regardless!

A-a-a-ahem, there once was a man from Nantucket, who–Hey, wait a second. Despite their recent popularity as such, not all limericks are dirty. They can be trendy and cutting-edge like these two. [1]

Read moreIt’s National Limerick Day! Guess how we’re celebrating

In Other News: the New Princess

A look at a current news item through the lens of different titles available on GVRL.

By Michelle Eickmeyer

Here she is – HRH Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge. (I’ve yet to answer if this means William Wale’s daughters name is Charlotte Cambridge, so any insight on that is appreciated.) Three lovely names, all for important people in the lives of Prince William and Duchess Catherine.

What’s with all the names? It has been said the King Albert and Queen Victoria had aspirations to have their names continue down the throne. History (and The King’s Speech) tells us that not all kings have ruled under their given first name. Prince Albert did rule as King George, after all — though George was among his many given names. (The name someone uses for their reigning title is their regnal name.)

When Will and Kate were married in 2011 there was much speculation if Kate would accurately repeat Will’s many names back during the exchange of vows. After all, his mother Diana and his aunt Sarah (Ferguson) both botched it.

There is a clear call to history in noble naming, which feels appropriate given the ‘”without them I’d have no claim to this” quality of the role. Prince William, who the world fondly knows as Wills, full name is His Royal Highness Prince William Arthur Phillip Louis, Duke of Cambridge. Prince Charles, having two titles needs a lot of space on his signature line: His Royal Highness Charles Phillip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall. Phew!

The women of the family, even the queen, have less naming baggage. Duchess Catherine has only one middle name, Elizabeth, as did Diana (Frances). The Queen has a mere two, HRH Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary.

Read moreIn Other News: the New Princess

Updated AP Tests in the Testing and Education Reference Center (TERC)

To continually enhance alignment with current best practices in college-level learning and help students develop the knowledge and skills essential for college majors and subsequent careers, AP is redesigning several courses in each discipline.

Read moreUpdated AP Tests in the Testing and Education Reference Center (TERC)

Keeping It Fresh – Learning Resources for Teachers

Loretta loves teaching sixth grade science. In fact, she’s been teaching for more than 25 years and hopes to stay in the Resources for School Teachers at Public Libraries classroom for another 20 years. Students are drawn to her high energy and creative approach to teaching. But, as she likes to tell her incredulous students, “The Interweb wasn’t even invented when I got my teaching degree!” To keep her skills and knowledge fresh, she reads the latest journals and attends conferences. But she’s always looking for other resources to learn more about new techniques and approaches.

Loretta and many other teachers are on the hunt for professional development resources to support their lifelong learning in the field of education. Now you can provide them with easy-to-use electronic resources that give them instant access to content that will support their professional development.

Consider supporting teachers with resources that can help guide their development and enhance their teaching skills.

Read moreKeeping It Fresh – Learning Resources for Teachers

Commemorating VE Day with the Smithsonian

By Jennifer Albers-Smith

This Friday marks the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) day.

My grandpa was hardly more than a boy when his brother (my great-uncle) was shipped off to fight in WWII. He enlisted in the navy and served as a fireman aboard the U.S.S. St. Lo. On October 25, 1944, his ship was hit by a Kamikaze, and he went down with the ship.

I recently asked my grandpa if he still remembered his brother all these years later, and he started to cry. He says it’s like no time has passed at all. He still remembers the telegram sent to his parents letting them know their son had been declared missing in action. He remembers the telegram that arrived a couple months later to officially declare his death, and the letter from one of his shipmates remembering the great man my great-uncle was.

Read moreCommemorating VE Day with the Smithsonian

New Gale Courses on QuickBooks, Photoshop, and More

Gale Courses Product Update
Great news for Gale Courses customers and potential customers. In an effort to be constantly improving our offerings, 8 new courses have been added to Gale Courses.  In addition to these new courses, the product is sunsetting 5 courses due to obsolescence and/or low enrollments.

Read moreNew Gale Courses on QuickBooks, Photoshop, and More