By Ryan Lee Price
“As to the riding qualities of the Jeep, a chiropractor should be standard for each car.” —Charles “Harry” PayneFeatured
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Fun, New Ways to Celebrate Book Lover’s Day
By Tara Blair
Readers rejoice—Book Lovers Day (August 9th) is here, encouraging you to kick back and relax with a great book. From shaded spots under arching trees to being tucked in a warm bed, there is no better way to celebrate the holiday than reading. To keep you from growing tired of the norm, we thought of a few ‘out-of-the-box’ ways to honor the occasion.
Read some new ways to observe the classic holiday!
Find a Literary Haunt Near You
Did you know F. Scott Fitzgerald frequented Oak Bar in New York City’s Plaza Hotel? Or that Victor Hugo found inspiration to write Les Miserables while strolling Paris’ Luxembourg Gardens? No matter where in the world you reside, you can find a great place to get closer to your favorite author while reading.
Exciting Changes Coming to Gale Literature Resources
On December 20th, users of Artemis Literary Sources, Something About the Author Online, Literature Criticism Online, and Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online will be automatically updated to a new mobile-responsive experience. These accessibility, usability, and feature-rich updates provide an improved user experience, as well as the ability to cross-search all of Gale’s literature databases … Read more
Midlife Crisis? Open a Business
By Holly Hibner
Business reference: librarians either love it or hate it. Thankfully, Gale’s Small Business Resource Center make’s it easy for us. Seriously – if you haven’t looked at SBRC recently, do yourself a favor and check it out. You’ll thank me later.
My husband and two business partners recently decided that what they really should do for their midlife crisis is open a brewery. He couldn’t just buy a Corvette – he decided to open a small business. He (and both partners) are engineers, so they don’t have a lot of experience opening or running a business. Gale’s Small Business Resource Center came to their rescue. (Well, my rescue if I’m being honest. Who do you think did a lot of the research for them?)
Diving into The Olympics
By Tara Blair
More than 70% of the world’s population tune in to the Olympics, it’s no surprise that the event is ranked as the most common shared experience on Earth. We know the world is well informed of the quadrennial event held and are patiently waiting for August 5th. I backtracked nearly 3,000 years on Gale resources to uncover some knowledge and history most fans are unaware of.
Read what I found!
Originating in 776 BCE, the Olympics began as a festival to honor the mythological Greek god, Zeus. As the son to the supreme god of time, Cronus, and goddess of fertility, Rhea, Zeus was the leader of the heavens and earth. After overthrowing his father through a tremendous war with a few devoted Titans and his destructive thunderbolts, Zeus proceeded to take control of the universe. Ruling from their court on Mt. Olympus, Zeus, as well as the other Titans, became known as Olympian gods. As the story goes, religious festivals developed on the foot of the mountain to worship Zeus and approach his strength. In order to commemorate the greatest of all gods, the Greeks believed they should offer him the best of everything , which included dexterous athleticism. Thus, the Olympics were born.
Try Something Different this Summer
By Mary Kelly
One of the more tired phrases in publishing and library world is the use of the phrase “beach reads”. Evidently summer reading is about the light and easy book choices. Usually, this pops up when we talk about romances, women’s fiction (or domestic fiction) and books that are somehow not “serious”. Summer reading or a beach reads often implies a lesser type of read.
Tricks of the Trade
By Tara Blair
Most professionals discover a few tips and tricks during their career that allows them to complete a job with ease and quickens their work flow. At Gale, we’re no different. We have a few tricks up our sleeves, and thought why not share a couple of our favorites with our readers? Although we use a handful of media and imagery applications on a daily basis, we chose two of our favorites to share with you today. Without further ado, I introduce Canva and Word Swag. Two helpful applications that can be utilized in marketing (and everyday life).
My personal favorite, Word Swag, allows users to add text to photos in seconds. Creating beautiful, custom text layouts is easy with the “Exclusive Typomatic Engine” – a term appropriately coined to describe the one tap text layout modifier Word Swag is famous for. Color, size, and skew are a few more easily operated text options offered to make your caption pop. And just in case writer’s block gets the best of you, the app inspires creativity with hundreds of pre-designed quotes, thoughts, and jokes. Best of all, not only are there over 290,000 Pixabay background photos to choose from, but uploading personal photos right from your phone is also an option. Word Swag is an easy-to-use graphic designer app that makes marketing and advertising seem effortless, even on the go! Take a look below at some samples made by everyday users!
Working Like a Dog
By Tara Blair
This work week was unlike any other. I eagerly awaited Thursday—yes, I said Thursday—for a day that otherwise only existed in my dreams. It was the day that Gale celebrated Take Your Dog To Work Day (TYDTWD), where staff members were invited to bring their best friend to the office. As I walked into Gale with my employee badge and my Australian Cattle Dog, I couldn’t help but think, “does this day offer any substantial benefits, or is it just pure amusement?”
After a small amount of research, I found that a doggone good time isn’t the only reward to sharing a cubicle with your four-legged companion.
Sit, stay….and read about all the perks of TYDTWD and check out some photos from Gale’s dog day.
Lasell Library Uses GVRL to Enhance Student Research
Jill Shoemaker, a librarian at Lasell College in Newton, Massachusetts, where over 1,700 students have come to expect quick search results c
omparative to Google, but with relevancy and accuracy. Lasell Library uses Gale eBooks on GVRL as a “one-stop shop” to provide students “exactly what they’re looking for.” What they are looking for is easy to use access to digital research materials that meet academic standards. “I would definitely recommend GVRL,” says Shoemaker, “the books are excellent, the professors really like it, and it’s wonderful for the students—who love it!”
Challenge
- Information literacy librarian struggles to ensure honors students have access to and use digital research materials that meet academic standards.
- Convince students who constantly compare digital learning tools to Google and the open web to use trusted reference sources.
Solution
Read moreLasell Library Uses GVRL to Enhance Student Research
Gale Donates Art Before Leaving ALA
By Tara Blair The American Library Association Conference is complete and so is the #MyLibraryPic mosaic! Attendees posed for their photos at the Gale booth to be a part of the art. Staff used iPads to take the pics, which were immediately printed and given to the photographee for placement on the canvas using specific coordinates. As time went on, and hundreds of photos … Read more