Academic

Finding a Needle in a Data Stack: It’s All about the Metadata

by Ray Bankoski

Thanks to the digital age, we have access to information like never before. Although a single online database may host millions of digital images, users can easily and quickly find the exact piece they need by inputting a simple search term. Well, this process may seem simple to the user, but an incredible amount of work goes into creating the ease of access so many take for granted. This seemingly magical solution is metadata, and it is the key to the world-renown Gale Digital Collections product line produced by Gale, part of Cengage Learning.

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In Other News: Ukraine

By Michelle Eickmeyer

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

March 7, 2014 – The Ukraine

For several weeks, the Ukraine and the Crimean region have been in the news. What started as a celebration of the region with the Winter Olympics has become a near hourly reporting of increased tensions, dividing lines and fear on all sides of the conversation.

Here are five titles which look at the Ukraine from different perspectives:

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Behind the Scenes of Smithsonian Collections Online

By Jennifer Albers-Smith

We couldn’t be more excited about the products we’re launching through our partnership with Smithsonian.

When I first heard that we were going to partner with Smithsonian, I was ecstatic. Who wouldn’t be excited about getting to work with the largest museum and research complex in the world?

Everyone thinks of their childhood visit to the Museum of American History or the Air and Space Museum when they think of Smithsonian, but it’s really so much more.

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Academic Libraries Win Big!

By Michelle Eickmeyer

Monday, we held an employee townhall and invited customers to join. You can read more about it here, watch a recording here (it’s only 15 minutes), and read the press release here.

Let’s take a look at the 3 main points and what they mean to Academic libraries.

  1. Gale adds STEM titles from Springer and Elsevier to GVRL
  2. eBook titles are now available in discipline-specific colllections.
  3. We are expanding beyond reference

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The Three C’s of Digital Imaging

By Ray Bankoski

At Gale, part of Cengage Learning, we preserve history through the digitization of millions of pages each year. Using our extensive experience, we’ve developed what we like to call the three C’s of digital imaging, a guide to the industry’s best practices.

Capture

To take primary sources from their original paper format into easily accessible digital files, we employ two types of scanners. The number of each is carefully determined based on the type of material included in project.

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The Search Shouldn’t End with Twelve Years a Slave

By Robert Lisiecki

As February comes to an end and March nears, the Academy Awards loom on the horizon. It is appropriate, then, that we discuss Twelve Years a Slave. Not only is this movie nominated for numerous Oscars—including “Best Picture”—but the story is an important piece of our overall history.

Confession: I haven’t seen the movie.  I’m not much of a moviegoer, but I do intend to see it soon since I heard it was well done.   I did read the book, and if the movie is anywhere near as gut-wrenching and eye-opening, then I have no doubt it should take home many awards.

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Downton Abbey: The Clothes, oh, the Clothes!

By Jennifer Albers-Smith

If you haven’t gotten on the Downton train, now’s the time. Exciting things are happening on the show, and I can hardly wait until Sunday night when I get to see another episode. I refuse to spoil it (although I’m tempted) by buying the DVDs of Season 4 off Amazon and watching it in all in a single, glorious weekend. I love the story line, I love the characters–and man, oh, man–do I LOVE the costumes! Beautiful, beautiful clothes. Mary, Cora, Edith, Rose – all are dressed in these amazing silk dresses that I want to grab from the t.v. and wear in my everyday life.

It’s 1922. T.V. didn’t exist. How did women learn about the latest fashion?

Here’s an ad from the Daily Mail, taken from Gale NewsVault.  This one screams Rose to me, although Edith in Season 4 could also carry this off. She’s much more daring.

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