Academic

GVRL Delivers What You Want from eBooks

By Pat Coryell

As the Vice President and Publisher over GVRL, I focus my time immersed in market research, customer feedback, and user testing data to best understand the gaps and pain points in today’s eBook landscape, as well as identify the gains Gale might deliver to our library customers and users.

I’m often in problem-solving mode, as we and our customers across academic, public, and school libraries, take on the many challenges involved with shifting to meet evolving user needs brought about by changes in student/community demographics, differentiated learning styles, and the introduction of new technologies.

Read moreGVRL Delivers What You Want from eBooks

Topic Finder: Helping Users Search to Research

Topic Finder Search

As of October 31, Term Clusters has evolved into Topic Finder in Gale Artemis: Literary Sources, Literature Criticism Online, Something About the Author Online, and Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online and all periodical resources such as:

• Academic OneFile
• Fine Arts & Music Collection
• Gardening, Landscape & Horticulture Collection
• Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Life & Issues Collection
• General Business File ASAP
• General OneFile

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19th Century Nitty-Gritty: All this for a loaf of bread?

By Melissa Rayner

Victor Hugo’s famed novel–and the play that sprung forth from that novel–has been in the media quite a bit lately. Who that hears the story doesn’t fall in love with the noble criminal, Jean Valjean? Sure, he stole, but it was only a loaf of bread, and he was only trying to feed his impoverished nieces and nephews. Did he really need to be imprisoned for the better part of his adult life?

Book reviewers–both contemporary to our times and contemporary to Hugo’s–agree that Jean Valjean is a tragic figure, a noble one. Just check out this concluding snippet from an 1862 review of the novel in the Birmingham Daily Post (courtesy of 19th Century British Newspapers). Despite the obvious ethnocentric nature of his stance, it’s clear the reviewer was a fan–and that he understood its message:

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Partner Interview: IGI Global

Get 20% any title from IGI Global on GVRL! Offer valid through December 31, 2014 is good on any title from Cyber Tech Publishing, Idea Group Inc, IGI Global, Information Science Publishing, Information Science Reference, IRM Press, or Medical Information Science Reference. Please contact your Gale Sales Representative for details or to place an order!

In this post, Nick Newcomer, Director of Marketing and Design at IGI Global, provides some background about the company, their publishing strategy, and why their titles on GVRL are valuable to your library.

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In Other News: 43 Abducted Ayotzinapa Students

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

By Michelle Eickmeyer

You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you? Heartbreakingly, this is no surprise. Here is a basic run-down of facts, as they are known, in in the U.S., today: on 26 September, 46 students from the Ayotzinapa Teachers’ College traveled to the city of Iguala. Three students (and an additional three others) were killed by the police. The other 43 students have not been seen since.

Reports indicate that the city’s mayor had the police “intercept” the students, as he had reason to believe they were planning to protest a speech his wife was delivering that day. At some point, police started firing on the students, killing (at least) 3 and 3 others. “Local police allegedly turned over the 43 missing students to members of the criminal gang Guerreros Unidos,” according to the AP. This finding publicly supported by Mexico’s Attorney General this week, citing his office’s own investigation.

In the weeks since, nine mass graves containing 30 victims was found outside of Iquala. As a relief to families, these appear the result of (an)other crime(s). (Horrible news for other families, conversely.)

Read moreIn Other News: 43 Abducted Ayotzinapa Students

19th Century Nitty-Gritty: Dating Advice from the Age of Little Women

By Melissa Rayner

There’s a reason books like Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and A Room with a View have proudly stood the test of time. There’s something magical about the courtship process, something so timelessly romantic that we’re still hooked on these classic tomes more than a century later.

Ladies, do you long to be wooed? Find yourself wishing you could find your very own Mr. Darcy? Heck, would you even settle for Heathcliff?

Gents, are you pursuing someone who rebuffs your attempts at every turn? Close to giving up on the one your heart desires, because nothing ever turns out in your favor?

Oh, ye, who are love-lorn, unrequited in your affections, or otherwise lacking in the love department, take heed! We need only look at the nineteenth century to solve all your woes. So, come hither, and let’s look to the age of courtship, old-fashioned values, and “mellifluous song.”

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I am Gale U: Leslie Morgan, University of Notre Dame

By Melissa Rayner

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard of Gale U, our way of putting real names, faces, and stories to the kinds of people who frequent the library, explaining their needs and challenges, and providing creative solutions. Gale U houses 47 unique individuals from librarians, to faculty, to students. Each of these personas was developed via extensive research and by working with real-life individuals to determine our fictitious library users’ needs.

Jul. 23, 2014; Leslie Morgan Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre DameNow, we’d like to showcase just how realistic these personas are by working in reverse and finding real-life people who can relate to each and every one of them. This endeavor kicks off today in the first of a new blog series, entitled I am Gale U.

We’d like to start at the heart of Gale U, the Undergraduate Library. Perhaps you’ve already learned a bit about our resident Undergraduate Services Librarian, Naomi–if not, you can get to know her here. The feature of this article is Naomi’s library twin, Leslie Morgan who serves as the First-Year Experience Librarian for the University of Notre Dame. I was lucky enough to have a chat with this inspirational and lively woman, and I hope her interview will similarly leave you feeling energized!

Read moreI am Gale U: Leslie Morgan, University of Notre Dame