Posted on June 10, 2015
ReadSpeaker text-to-speech technology is now available in the Repair and Bulletin/Recalls sections of ChiltonLibrary. ReadSpeaker® is the worldwide leader in online text to speech and its functionality lets users hear the article read out loud, as the words spoken are highlighted on the screen.
By Kristina Massari
Ferguson Municipal Public Library of Ferguson, MO has been named the 2015 Library of the Year by Library Journal magazine and Gale, a part of Cengage Learning. The small suburban library rose above the chaos and stepped up to provide sanctuary and resources for all in a community in crisis, and remained steadfast to that call over months of duress. The library leadership’s modest “it’s what we do” stance resonated worldwide through social media and news coverage. It placed libraries in the center of the solution, and created a model for other libraries in communities experiencing strife.
Library of the Year is a prestigious recognition that goes to a public library that profoundly demonstrates service to community, creativity, leadership and innovation in developing community programs. Nominated by over 100 U.S. library leaders, Ferguson Municipal Public Library was recognized for its outstanding commitment to service and its extraordinary role as community anchor.
Read moreFerguson Municipal Public Library Named 2015 Library of the Year
DK (formerly Dorling Kindersley) is the choice of librarians, parents, children and general readers worldwide. From animal facts to travel guides to gardening, DK is renowned for its distinctive, highly visual books that educate and entertain.
Currently available titles like The Science Book, Crochet, and Small Space Garden Ideas appeal to people of all ages and offer ideal summer reading or summer researching of activities.
By Bethany Dotson
With the re-opening of U.S./Cuban diplomatic relations—and the recent failure of the fourth round of negotiations—Cuba is experiencing a new wave of interest from intellectuals and the general public alike.
With this interest in mind, Gale has added new supplemental content to the Archives Unbound collection Feminism in Cuba: the journal Minerva, Revista Quincenal Dedica a la Mujer de Color, or Minerva, Quarterly Journal Dedicated to the Woman of Color, published between 1888 and 1914. Cited in recent academic publications as diverse as Slave Emancipation in Cuba: The Transition to Free Labor, 1860-1899 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000), Between the Lines: Literary Transnationalism and African American Poetics (Oxford University Press, 2011), Cuba’s Racial Crucible: The Sexual Economy of Social Identities, 1750-2000 (Indiana University Press, 2015), and Black Political Activism and the Cuban Republic (University of North Carolina Press, 2011), Minerva is useful not only for its study of feminism in Cuba but also for Afro-Cuban nationalist ideology and identity, racial politics and culture in the Cuban Republic, and much more.
A look at a current news item through the lens of different titles available on GVRL to find research inspiration.
By Michelle Eickmeyer
When Bruce Jenner sat down with Diane Sawyer, he openly discussed a battle he has been fighting for most of his life. And on 24 April, he let the world in on his secret: Bruce Jenner, American hero athlete and reality pseudo-star, is transgender. Though Jenner is an actual stranger to most of us, many people do feel that they know Bruce. They may have seen him on TV, or on a magazine cover. They may have rooted for him all those years ago as he seemed to embody America’s battle against the USSR. Because of this unique position and circumstance, Jenner’s revelations and transition are special. For the first time, perhaps ever, most of the country (if not the world) can truly say they know someone who identifies as transgender. On ` June, the world said goodbye to Bruce, and hello to Caitlyn Jenner. She is who she has always been, and is now sharing her battle to be herself, and her appearance, with the world.
Caitlyn is the most recent in a growing list of main-stream transgender people. In 2007, Candis Cayne turned heads as Billy Baldwin’s mistress for 11 episodes on ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money, marking the first time a trans character appeared for more than a single episode on prime time American television. Chaz Bono began his transition in 2008, after suffering for years with the press. Laverne Cox, one of the stars of Orange is the New Black, became the first transgender person to appear on the cover of Time Magazine (May 2014) for an article titled “The Transgender Tipping Point.” Andreja Pejic (Instagram) was the first transgender model to appear in Vogue magazine while Hari Nef (Instagram) signed with modeling agency IMF earlier this year, a first for the powerhouse agency. There are others, famous and not, making changes every day.
Less 1/3 of 1% of the U.S. population identify as transgender (Source). Historically, this group is the recipients of an extremely disproportionate amount of violence, 20% of murders and 40% of violence by police. (Source) More recent statistics for the first quarter of 2014 show that 10% of violent crimes were committed against trans kids under 18. Kids.They were beaten, stabbed, stoned, shot, hanged, strangled, and dismembered. (Source) Sometimes by strangers; sometimes by family. Too often, they kill themselves.
By Mary Kelly and Holly Hibner
“Tween” is that age group somewhere between child and teen, roughly 4th through 7th grade. It is a time of dramatic change: physical, emotional, and mental. These kids have personalities, opinions, talents, and imaginations. They care about things. It is a spectacular age for reading because they have vocabularies and comprehension rates that can handle more intricate storytelling.
Posted on June 1, 2015
Take a look at the latest content recently added to some of your favorite In Context databases:
Biography in Context launched 11 new people portals including: