Month: August 2016

Relevance Default Sort Enabled In InfoTrac Products

Good News! In an effort to further improve the user experience by delivering the most relevant articles among the first search results returned, we have enabled the default sort to Relevance for all InfoTrac products. Results will be ordered by relevance, and because currency is an important element of periodical content, the determination of relevance will contain a significant boost for recency. Users still have the ability to toggle and view by newest/oldest date if they choose during their research session.

Additionally, Gale has retired the “My Account” feature in InfoTrac products including PowerSearch, in favor of Google and Microsoft 365 collaboration tools our users are already employing. This change will provide one simple, seamless login experience, further enabling users to access Gale content anytime, anywhere, and from any device.

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Library Crusaders: How You Can Help Your Community’s Workforce

By Kim Martin

Libraries as Workforce Development Partners

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014, which became effective July 2015, identifies public libraries as potential partners of the American Job Center network and acknowledges the ability of libraries to provide an expansive array of job search services. Increased funding for career-related resources are available from the act. Additionally, the new law recognizes libraries as important providers of federally supported programs in adult education and literacy. These types of resources can increase training and employment possibilities for patrons.

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Digital Humanities and The Six Degrees of Francis Bacon

A digital humanities project out of Carnegie Mellon University has been awarded the prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities grant. The project titled Six Degrees of Francis Bacon puts a historical twist on the popular game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” In lieu of connecting hollywood stars, Six Degrees of Francis Bacon draws connections between early modern artists, playwrights, … Read more

75th Anniversary of the Jeep: One Man Behind the Machine — Karl K. Probst

By Ryan Lee Price

“As to the riding qualities of the Jeep, a chiropractor should be standard for each car.” —Charles “Harry” Payne
The Jeep is ubiquitous as America itself. It has been to battle, to camp, to the highest mountain and the lowest valley. It is a car fit for danger, adventure, and any rough road in between. In a story written by Colonel William F. Lee, the officer in charge of new developments for the U.S. Army, and specifically, the development of the Jeep for World War II, he described it thusly: “Its a quarter-ton runt with a mechanical heart and a steel constitution; it has more speed than a backfield full of All-Americans; it can climb mountains; it can fly; it can swim; it can jitterbug across rough terrain at 50 miles an hour, hauling four armed soldiers and a 37 min gun with the same ease a hound dog carries fleas, and it is the first silk stockingless subject to enter a conversation whenever two or more Army men get together.”

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Fun, New Ways to Celebrate Book Lover’s Day

By Tara Blair

Readers rejoice—Book Lovers Day (August 9th) is here, encouraging you to kick back and relax with a great book. From shaded spots under arching trees to being tucked in a warm bed, there is no better way to celebrate the holiday than reading. To keep you from growing tired of the norm, we thought of a few ‘out-of-the-box’ ways to honor the occasion.

Read some new ways to observe the classic holiday! 

Find a Literary Haunt Near You
Did you know F. Scott Fitzgerald frequented Oak Bar in New York City’s Plaza Hotel? Or that Victor Hugo found inspiration to write Les Miserables while strolling Paris’ Luxembourg Gardens? No matter where in the world you reside, you can find a great place to get closer to your favorite author while reading.

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New Titles Added to the InfoTrac Collections in July 2016

The titles below have been recently added and can be located in the product using Basic or Advanced Search forms. Titles can be found via Browse Publications within two weeks. For complete coverage information please see the product title lists.   Academic OneFile  Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae (Akademiai Kiado) Print 0044-5975 Online 1588-2543 Peer-reviewed … Read more

Tales from the “Olden Days”

By Debra Kirby

You know those stories adults like to tell kids about how much harder they had it when they were young? Like having to walk uphill for miles in the snow to school every day or having parents who made you eat every morsel of food on your plate – even liver. The message behind these stories of course, is to get listeners to appreciate how good they have it compared to life in the “olden days.” Working on  our exciting new 3D product Gale Interactive: Science recently got me thinking about how much I hated  biology labs, where I was actually expected to do such disgusting things as dissect frogs (never mind the horrid smell of formaldehyde) and how kids today can dissect a virtual frog instead if they have access to a product like Gale Interactive: Science.

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Exciting Changes Coming to Gale Literature Resources

On December 20th, users of Artemis Literary Sources, Something About the Author Online, Literature Criticism Online, and Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online will be automatically updated to a new mobile-responsive experience. These accessibility, usability, and feature-rich updates provide an improved user experience, as well as the ability to cross-search all of Gale’s literature databases … Read more

Midlife Crisis? Open a Business

By Holly Hibner

Business reference: librarians either love it or hate it. Thankfully, Gale’s Small Business Resource Center make’s it easy for us. Seriously – if you haven’t looked at SBRC recently, do yourself a favor and check it out. You’ll thank me later.

My husband and two business partners recently decided that what they really should do for their midlife crisis is open a brewery. He couldn’t just buy a Corvette – he decided to open a small business. He (and both partners) are engineers, so they don’t have a lot of experience opening or running a business. Gale’s Small Business Resource Center came to their rescue. (Well, my rescue if I’m being honest. Who do you think did a lot of the research for them?)

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