Public

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

Calling All Patrons–Perfecting Community Outreach

By Laura Damon-Moore

Effectively reaching out to your community can be tricky. On October 31, Laura Damon-Moore, Co-Founder of Libraries as Incubators Project, shared her expertise on community outreach for the weekly Gale Geek. Laura was unable to do the usual live Q&A because her webinar was prerecorded; however, she still answered listeners’ questions… see below!

I was bummed not to be able to be there “in person” for our conversation last Friday, but I’m pleased to be able to continue to share some insight on community outreach with Cengage-Gale’s readers today.

I’m going to expand on some questions that I received after the conversation on Friday, in hopes that others will find my responses useful.

How do you use the community based mentors or volunteers IN your library to support programming?

Read moreCalling All Patrons–Perfecting Community Outreach

Electronic Resources – Marketing on a Shoestring

Public Library Marketing on a Shoestring

By Sally Dewey

As the Electronic Resources Manager, an important part of my job is promoting the resources we buy.  I’ve actually had this job (under one title or another) since CD-ROM networks were around—back then we were just trying to alert the user in the building that we had something beyond books on the shelf. Then, in 1997, with web-based databases it was about the Library being the patron’s Information Home Page 24/7, or “Where it all Clicks.

Today, as public libraries are battling to stay relevant, we want to want to attract, snag, and entice patrons into discovering the wealth of resources we make available online.  Why would we want to do that?  To battle patron ignorance.

Read moreElectronic Resources – Marketing on a Shoestring

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

Read moreTopic Finder: Helping Users Search to Research

Libraries Add Economic Value to Local Communities

Largo Public Library

By Ken Detzner

The public library is a place of learning, a hub for educational resources, and a community center. Children discover new worlds as they’re read to, young adults learn new skills and librarians assist patrons needing educational or business support.

Not only have libraries historically proven to be beneficial to the areas they serve, a recent Return on Investment study conducted by the Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development, University of West Florida, provides the hard numbers demonstrating the economic value of public libraries. The overall Return on Investment that libraries offer, the business and educational support that is provided, and the essential services provided show that libraries are not only places of learning, but add economic value to their local communities.

Read moreLibraries Add Economic Value to Local Communities

10 Ways Your Child With Special Needs Can Benefit From a Trip To The Library

children's nonfiction

By Karen Wang, via The Friendship Circle Special Needs Resources

Everyday, 4.2 million Americans visit a library.  Are you one of them?

Almost every town in America has a public library, but many families of children with special needs shy away from libraries, often for behavioral reasons. These are the families who could benefit the most from the library!

Read more10 Ways Your Child With Special Needs Can Benefit From a Trip To The Library

Re-thinking Ready Reference with GVRL

nonfiction ebooks

By Holly Hibner and Mary Kelly

In the olden days before computers, ready reference collections were the soul of a library. Librarians helping patrons to answer questions or understand a topic always started in the reference section of the library. They were the most expensive materials and librarians were vigilant in guarding those precious items. I have been admonished by a librarian more than once for not handling these books carefully.

Ready reference collections have adapted to the new world of instant access, anywhere and anytime. Patrons still have questions and are trying to understand topics as always, but now they want it faster, more convenient, and always reliable. The reference need is still there, but now librarians have to think about access and delivery to patrons.

Read moreRe-thinking Ready Reference with GVRL