Tara Blair

Tara Blair is a Digital Marketing Specialist for Gale, a Cengage Company. In her spare time, she is a total crime junkie and spends her days listening to podcasts—especially those of the unsolved.

What My Seventh Grader Taught Me About Google Classroom

Posted on June 15, 2016

By Traci Cothran

“Kids these days don’t know how good they have it.”  It’s an old adage, but I swear these days it really is true.  Long gone are the days of Wite-Out, word processors, having to visit the library to see if a book for class is available, and walking five miles through snow (barefoot!) to get to school.

The Google Classroom integration with Gale products only provides more fodder for this truism – as it makes life much more manageable for students.  Middle-grade students on up use Google Classroom to seamlessly to connect from home – or any other location via cellphone or tablet – to view classroom assignments, post their homework documents (in Word, Prezi or other software), and much more.  Kids can also access e-learning texts this way, along with reference databases from their library’s collection, and our Gale databases can easily be highlighted, cut and pasted, and cited, then uploaded to the student’s Google Drive account.  Easy-peasy!  Sure, my daughter still has print text books, but they are no longer the primary guide to classroom activities – teachers can (and do) easily use multiple sources for lessons.  It’s a Brave New World out there in education.

Read moreWhat My Seventh Grader Taught Me About Google Classroom

The Gale and Google Integration at Work

Posted June 13, 2016

By Holly Hibner, Adult Services Coordinator, Plymouth District Library (MI)

As libraries continually seek to be a valued educational partner in communities, schools, and institutions, bringing trustworthy digital content into the natural path of their users has never been more important. To make it easier for people to find and use this relevant, authoritative information, Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, has partnered with Google for Education in two ways: providing intuitive integration of popular workflow tools through Google Apps for Education and indexing content in Google Scholar. With more than 50 million Google Apps for Education teachers and students worldwide, and an average of over 40,000+ Google search engine queries per second, Google is indisputably the place where people get their answers.

Information is truly at our fingertips now that Gale has become a Google for Education Partner. Many of Google’s popular tools like Drive, Docs, and Classroom are now integrated with Gale’s top products. Information seekers often look to Google for answers. Now they can combine the power of Google with the content authority of Gale databases.

Read moreThe Gale and Google Integration at Work

History in the Making

Posted on June 13, 2016

By Debra Kirby

Last week an important milestone was reached in U.S. history when Hillary Clinton became the first woman to become the presidential nominee of a major political party. Eight years earlier, Barack Obama celebrated a similar first when he became the first African-American to win the Democratic nomination for United States president.

Many other countries throughout the world have reached these milestones years ago, but did you know that the first country to elect a black female president was Liberia? Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became that country’s first female president in 2006. Learn more about Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia, and the history around the people and events that helped pave the way for current groundbreakers. Following are just a few suggestions to get you started:

  • Did you know that Liberia was founded in 1822 as a colony for freed slaves from the United States, or that Liberians declared their nation to be a republic in 1847? Learn more about the fascinating history of Liberia’s founding in World History In Context.

Read moreHistory in the Making

Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World: “Ambitious” and “Recommended” eBook

Looking for an “accessible” and “ambitious” resource designed to support user’ religion and history understandings? The Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World provides rich historical content partnered with coverage of the issues, countries, and people that are important in today’s world to provide knowledge of Islam’s influence on all areas of human activity. Libraries will “benefit” researchers by obtaining this resource, read a few reviews below!

Read moreEncyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World: “Ambitious” and “Recommended” eBook

Global Issues In Context Product Update 3/31/2016

Updated May 24, 2016

Original Posting March 31, 2016

Global Issues In Context has been updated to reflect the standard user interface found in all the other Gale In Context products. Customers will be migrated to the new version of the product August 5, 2016.

During the continued soft launch – running through the month of July – here’s what you’ll find:

  • Spotlight stories will track current events.
  • New and updated portals will be called-out (flagged) so they are easy to find.
  • Google integration tools like Google sign-in, download to Google Drive, and Classroom Share capabilities.
  • A mobile optimized interface for ease of use on any device.
  • Additional features familiar to users such as, Highlights and Notes and additional language translation options.

Read moreGlobal Issues In Context Product Update 3/31/2016

Textual Reuse in the Eighteenth Century

Published on June 9, 2016 By Douglas Ernest Duhaime Digital Humanities Quarterly, 2016, Volume 10 Number 1 University of Notre Dame Being a writer today means creating original content and properly citing sources for borrowed content. But before the middle of the 18th century, authors often committed what most today would consider plagiarism – and … Read more

Kids InfoBits: “An Absolute Winner” and “Valuable Resource”

Posted on June 7, 2016

Searching for a “valuable resource” for a young learner’s education? Kids InfoBits provides age-appropriate and curriculum aligned content that covers a broad range of topics. Presented in a modern, colorful interface with easy navigation and design, Kids InfoBits helps young learners develop their skills in database searching.

This review was published in School Library Journal May, 2016

Read moreKids InfoBits: “An Absolute Winner” and “Valuable Resource”

Show Your Furry Friend Some Love with

National Hug Your Cat Day, June 4th!

Posted June 3, 2016

By Tara Blair

What a purr-fect day to show your best friend some love and affection with a big hug. June 4th marks Hug Your Cat Day, a day where cat owners everywhere can rejoice and squeeze their furry buddies until the sun goes down. But, hugging your whiskered pal is just the tip of the iceberg. At Gale, we took a deeper look into how hugging improves your mind, body, and soul.

Save your catnap for later and read what we found!

Read moreShow Your Furry Friend Some Love with

National Hug Your Cat Day, June 4th!

New Titles Added to the InfoTrac Collections in May 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
 
  • Advances in Cognitive Psychology (University of Finance and Management in Warsaw) 1895-1171 Peer-reviewed
  • Epilepsy Research and Treatment (Hindawi Publishing Corp.) 2090-2972 Peer-reviewed
  • International Journal of Preventive Medicine (Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd.) 2008-7802 Peer-reviewed
  • Journal of Medical Signals & Sensors (Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd.) 2228-7477 Peer-reviewed
  • Journal of Open Research Software (Ubiquity Press Ltd.) 2049-9647 Peer-reviewed
  • Journal of Research in Medical Sciences (Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd.) 1735-1995 Peer-reviewed
  • Journal of Restorative Dentistry (Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd.)   Peer-reviewed
  • Universal Research Journal of Dentistry (Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd.) 2249-9725 Peer-reviewed

Read moreNew Titles Added to the InfoTrac Collections in May 2016

Why Study Regional and Local Newspapers?

line of folded newspapers

Published on June 3, 2016

The British Newspapers series, the most comprehensive digital collection of regional newspapers from across the UK, is a key resource for studying local history. Part V, releasing in March 2016, will soon take the total number of pages covered by the series to over 5.5 million, with an impressive 161 newspaper titles. Academic Adviser to Parts I and II of the series, Dr Martin Conboy, described the series as an ‘enormously rich’ resource, which has already proved of great value to a range of scholars. But why invest in regional and local papers? What makes regional papers valuable to students and researchers?

Read moreWhy Study Regional and Local Newspapers?