U.S. Declassified Documents Online Appeals to Scholars

U.S. Declassified Documents Online‘s greatest value lies in the wealth of facts and insights that it provides in connection with the political, economic, and social conditions of the United States and other countries. A significant resource for researchers in almost every discipline, this collection makes it possible for researchers to easily and quickly access and review … Read more

Pride Parades throughout the Years: Celebration and Resistance

During LGBTQ Pride Month, we celebrate this community and the impact its members have had on local, national, and international history. Pride is celebrated each June in honor of the Stonewall Uprising, which took place in 1969 in Manhattan. Ever since Pride began as a single-day commemoration in 1970, marches and parades have been part … Read more

Gale and Book Aid International: A Shared Mission for Empowerment

| By Jessica Edwards |

Although I spend most of my time working for the Gale International Marketing team, I’m also a Publisher Ambassador for the charity Book Aid International. After touring the Cengage warehouse last year and learning about operational processes, including the scrapping of books, I was inspired to research ways of extending the lives of books marked for pulping. I consequently came across Book Aid International, a long-established charity who ship new books from UK publishers out to sub-Saharan Africa, and was immediately impressed with the value and scale of their work.

The charity not only accepts book donations, but establishes librarian training programmes and funds refurbishments at partner libraries in sub-Saharan Africa and the occupied Palestinian territories. Some of these libraries are in communities with a very limited access to books such as refugee camps, prisons, and slums, others are in hospitals or universities where resources are extremely dated. Book Aid International works with some of the largest UK publishers, and all the books shipped abroad are new. In 2016, they sent over a million books. They also work with local publishers to source books in local languages.

It can be hard to appreciate quite how desperate the need is, but a few particularly powerful stories go some way towards demonstrating. The Menelik II Referral Hospital in Ethiopia is a hospital with no internet connection, and therefore no online resources. Thus, the library is vital for medical staff to access the up-to-date information they require. Nearly all the books in the hospital library are provided by Book Aid International. Samuel’s story in the video below is also a powerful indication of how the work of Book Aid International helps individuals pull themselves out of poverty. The video also outlines the charity’s many achievements over the last year.

Read moreGale and Book Aid International: A Shared Mission for Empowerment

Traveling Through History with Gale

| By Mary Kelly | When I use the term databases while helping students and non-specialists at the reference desk, there is always a moment when a patron unfamiliar with the availability and scope of modern primary source databases, looks a bit wary at my enthusiasm for these electronic collections. Of course, serious researchers understand … Read more

Mastering Workflow: Connecting Learners to Your Library

As digital demands continue to rise, the emphasis on creating a seamless workflow becomes all the more important: eliminating multiple logins, developing efficiencies in how materials are prepared and distributed, and building a collaborative environment with students and peers are all essential to today’s educators. Gale is proud to announce additional authentication options with single … Read more

Booklist Webinar—Developing and Supporting your LGBTQ Collection

Join us Thursday, June 15 at 1 PM Central for a Booklist webinar on the importance of LGBTQ material in your library’s collection. During the webinar, Kristin Pekoll, assistant director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, will review how LGBTQ books can serve an underrepresented population and how to protect these titles from censorship, along with information about self-censorship and … Read more

Two Extraordinary Reviews for the Archives of Sexuality & Gender

The Archives of Sexuality & Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Part I brings together approximately 1.5 million pages of primary source content on social, political, health, and legal issues impacting LGBTQ communities around the world, including the gay rights movement, activism, the HIV/Aids crisis, and more. Documents are sourced from top libraries and archives like … Read more

Mathematics, 2nd Edition Positively Engages Students

This full-color update of the award-winning 2002 A-Z encyclopedia explains concepts, provides a historical overview, and explores careers in the field. Written for middle school/high school students, as well as non-math-major undergraduates, Mathematics contains some 300 entries that cover the basics of algebra, geometry and trigonometry, with the goal of making these topics more accessible and interesting. Readers will see the uses and effects of math in daily life, while short biographies highlight notable mathematicians. Thirty percent of the content is new to this edition, highlighting advances in mathematics since 2000. Mathematics is illustrated with images, equations, tables, and figures, and includes sidebars.

Both the original edition and the new were shaped by expert boards who determined the entry list and reviewed content. Each entry contains a bibliography/suggestions for further reading and cross‐references directing the users to articles of related interest.

See what Library Consultant, Janis Minshull, thinks of the newest edition:

Read moreMathematics, 2nd Edition Positively Engages Students

PRESERVATION IN PRACTICE: A SURVEY OF NEW YORK CITY DIGITAL HUMANITIES RESEARCHERS

| By Malina Thiede (with significant contributions from Allison Piazza, Hannah Silverman, and Nik Dragovic) |

Looking for definitions of Digital Humanities (DH), there are hundreds to choose from. In fact, Jason Heppler’s whatisdigitalhumanities.com alone offers 817 rotating definitions of the digital humanities, pulled from participants from the Day of DH between 2009-2014. A few of these definitions are listed in this article.

Read morePRESERVATION IN PRACTICE: A SURVEY OF NEW YORK CITY DIGITAL HUMANITIES RESEARCHERS