Kim Martin

Kim loves to entertain. She is an avid fan of pro and college sports and her two athletes and college-aged filmmaker. She holds an MBA from Cleary University and a BA from Old Dominion University.

What’s So Great about GVRL + Google?

Posted January 29, 2016

by Kristin Fust, Product Manager, GVRL

“If it isn’t on Google, it doesn’t exist.”  Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wale’s famous quote about Google rings true for many teachers, professors, and librarians. For years, educators mourned this trend, judging general website searches too limiting to support comprehensive research.  But those concerns dissipate when quality content becomes accessible through Google.  It’s a case of moving the proverbial mountain to Mohammed – putting authoritative content into the workflow of information seekers.

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He’s 48, Just Graduated High School and Owes It All to the Library

Originally published by The Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/local/education/community/la-me-edu-library-high-school-20160127-htmlstory.html

January 28, 2016

By Sonali Kohli

Ron Hagardt didn’t finish high school when he was supposed to, in 1985. Drinking led to pot, which led to cocaine, which led to dropping out of Sonora High School in La Habra during his senior year.

Now he’s 48, four years sober — and a high school graduate. On Tuesday, Hagardt wore a blue cap and gown and moved the golden tassel across his mortarboard during a ceremony at the Los Angeles Public Library in downtown.

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Put Your Library on the Map with LGBTQ Resources

Posted January 27, 2016

By Tina Creguer

LGBTQ issues were at the forefront of the news in 2015.  A major U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, high-profile transgender celebrity appearances, and many related stories dominated social news.  Many media have declared the Rainbow Revolution in full effect.  And while LGBTQ resources have been published for many years (the USC library began their collection in 1952), access to materials has been limited and not broadly publicized.  In fact, libraries with significant LGBTQ collections remain small in number (see this map showing library locations).

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First Graduating Class Receives Diplomas and Career Certificates through Innovative Program at Los Angeles Public Library

Posted January 26, 2016

LAPL is nation’s first public library to offer Career Online High School; Mayor Garcetti helps confer degrees

Los Angeles, Jan. 26, 2016 —The first graduating class of 28 students received their high school diplomas through Career Online High School (COHS), an innovative program offered through the

Los Angeles Public Library.  The ceremony was held today at the Central Library and was officiated by L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Librarian John F. Szabo, Board of Library Commissioners President Bich Ngoc Cao, and State Librarian of California Greg Lucas.  Los Angeles Public Library is the first public library in the nation to offer adults the opportunity to earn an accredited high school diploma and career certificate online through COHS.

Read moreFirst Graduating Class Receives Diplomas and Career Certificates through Innovative Program at Los Angeles Public Library

A Look at the New SAT

Posted January 25, 2016

By Rosemary Long

As the March 5 launch date for the updated SAT comes closer, now’s a good time to take a closer look at what the revamped test is all about. Detailed information abounds, so the goal of this post is to winnow it down to the essentials.

New Features

Perhaps bowing to the competition, the new SAT features content that is similar to the ACT. And it has also adopted two ACT features. Test takers don’t lose points for wrong answers—so there’s less temptation to leave an answer blank—and they are offered only four choices of response instead of five.

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Kansas City-Area Institutions to Give Local Residents Access to Accredited High School Diplomas

Posted January 22, 2016

By Kristina Massari

Three Kansas City-area institutions – Kansas City Public Library, Mid-Continent Public Library and Literacy Kansas City – to offer accredited online high school diplomas and career certificates to area residents through Career Online High School. According to the Missouri Department of Education, Kansas City Public Schools’ drop-out rate for 2015 was 10% compared with the Missouri statewide average of just 2.2%.

“As we see communities like Kansas City working on improving education access, it is exciting to see Career Online High School inspire innovative partnerships between libraries and local organizations as a one solution that can make a difference,” said Paul Gazzolo, senior vice president and general manager, Gale, a part of Cengage Learning. “The program will help these organizations support local economic and workforce development but, more importantly, it will provide residents with education that can lead to life-changing opportunities.”

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New Library Program to Help High School Dropouts

Posted January 12, 2016

By Leslie Postal, Orlando Sentinel

High school dropouts can turn to libraries in Lake, Orange Counties for free help earning diplomas

Adults without high school diplomas who live in Orange and Lake Counties now have a new way to finish school, courtesy of their public libraries.

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Meet Users Where They Are

Posted December 31, 2015

By Lemma Shomali, Senior Product Manager, Databases, Gale

Students today are digital natives and undisputed power users of Google. Most are never far from their mobile devices, and they use them to look up everything from movie listings to music lyrics. But they also use them for completing homework and doing research. The key to connecting young researchers to trustworthy, relevant content is ensuring that it appears in their workflow. Google is a comfortable, highly used pathway in most students’ study routine. Gale is a Google for Education Partner, which means users can sign in to their library’s Gale content with their Google account credentials and share, save, and download articles to Google Drive, and Docs.

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Midwinter ALA: Where You Want To Be

Posted Jan. 3, 2016

By Tina Creguer

ALA Midwinter takes place in Boston this year.  And, if the past is any indication, that means cold weather, high attendance, and energetic participation.  As you prepare for your trip, we have some thoughts about getting where you need to be and how to enjoy being there.

While you’re there – explore partnerships

Take the time to learn about new partnerships and developments that can support your library’s goals.  As a Google for Education partner, Gale now brings both innovative features and authoritative content into your patron’s workflow. Stop by our booth (#1405) to learn how users can sign in to share, download, and save your Gale content to their Google Drive and Docs applications using their Google credentials (including Gmail) without having to remember a separate password.  It’s the promise of connectivity fully realized.

If you’d like to learn more about innovative ways to analyze usage and understand the impact of discovery on retrieval stats, join the Gale Technical Solutions Team for a roundtable on usage.  You’ll learn how outside systems affect usage and explore the future of usage—both collection and reporting.  It takes place:

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Libraries at Work: Improving Job Prospects through Library-Accessed Online Learning

RosemaryPosted 12/5/2015

By Rosemary Long, Product Manager, Partner Products, Gale

Today’s libraries provide valuable help to their community members as the job landscape continues to shift. With advancing technology, access to computers and career development resources make the public library the perfect place for upgrading professional skills and mastering new capabilities. This may be the reason more than 30 million people reported using library computers for employment or career information in one twelve-month period during the last economic downturn.1

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