Schools

Driving Electronic Content Discovery and Usage: Collaboration – Part 1

Posted on August 31, 2015
Posted by Jan Snyder and Jennifer Maurer

As librarians, we feel privileged to have a very rich collection of Gale databases and eBooks at our fingertips to use with students and staff, at zero cost to us, through the Oregon State Library’s Statewide Database Licensing Program. This allows for statewide access to a wide range of vetted information, on unlimited topics, for use by our patrons. These same databases are available at K-16 throughout Oregon, as well as at public libraries, for use by all state residents. In talking with librarian friends across the country, we know that we enjoy a benefit not available in many states.

Funding for the statewide databases comes from a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant.  Another grant project was initiated some 15 years ago, when members of the Oregon Association of School Libraries (OASL) and Oregon State Library staff shared concerns about access to information literacy resources for students and teachers, as the number of licensed school librarians employed across the state declined. OASL applied for a LSTA grant from the State Library to create OSLIS, or the Oregon School Library Information System, and that has become a continuing statewide project. In addition to offering information literacy resources and citation generators in MLA and APA formats, OSLIS serves as the K-12 access point for the statewide databases.

Having statewide central access to the databases provides consistency for students as they move from elementary to middle school and then high school. It also means that students and educators served by school library staff who are not familiar with how to link directly to databases still have access to statewide resources.

Read moreDriving Electronic Content Discovery and Usage: Collaboration – Part 1

Gale Technical Solutions: Custom Solutions for Your Library

By. Scott Steward

Gale, a part of Cengage Learning understands that each library has its own set of unique needs, and what works for one library may not work for another.  We know that in many cases the “one size fits all” approach to implementation is a compromise to what is just good enough. Instead of making you settle for what is just good enough, Gale wants you and your users to have the best possible experience using our products, and sometimes that requires a custom solution.

Read moreGale Technical Solutions: Custom Solutions for Your Library

Content Updates for Gale’s In Context (week of 8/24/2015)

Posted on August 27, 2015

New content and resources have been added to one of your favorite In Context databases. See what’s new!

Global Issues in Context

Two new portals were launched: Al-Shabab and MERS (Middle East Repository Syndrome in addition to 125 portal pages being updated in the last two weeks. Some of the topics included in the updates are:

Read moreContent Updates for Gale’s In Context (week of 8/24/2015)

Content Updates for Kids InfoBits (week of 8/24/2015)

Posted on August 27, 2015

Take a look at the latest content that has been added to Kids InfoBits:

  • The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia has increased its content with the addition of Quarterly updates.
  • Under the category of Fish, six new entries have been made include Angelfish, Mollie, and the Mullet.
  • New homepage snippets (InfoBits) have been added for September including:
    • Museums feature in the Arts category
    • Back to School in the People category
    • Labor Day, which is September 7, in the Social Studies category
    • Read-A-New-Book-Month which is in September will be featured in the Literature category
    • Football is featured in the Sports category
  • Over 450 entries have been updated, with many of them focusing on marine life, contemporary figures and countries. Some of these that you’ll see are:

Read moreContent Updates for Kids InfoBits (week of 8/24/2015)

Widget Wonders: Save Students and Teachers Search Time

Posted on August 11, 2015

There’s a tsunami brewing in the Pacific, and several classes are working on a project to track its movement.  They have one class period to research and report. Ready? Go!  But wait…where do they begin? Can anything be done to help them find information more quickly and directly?

Here’s an idea to make you a hero in your school. Gale widgets.  They can give your students and teachers a shortcut to research on hot topics and ensure that content searched is trusted and relevant.

Read moreWidget Wonders: Save Students and Teachers Search Time

August Spotlight:  Back-to-School!

By Gale Training

Each month, the Gale Training team spotlights new and featured resources to give you ideas on how to use training at your school or library. For On-demand tutorials, Webinars, Materials, and more, visit the Resource Training Center. Below is this month’s “Training Spotlight.”

Say it with us …”Where has the summer gone?”

Seems like back-to-school time just sneaks up on us. Are you ready?

Read moreAugust Spotlight:  Back-to-School!

Look at Literature in a Whole New Way

iPad reading

Posted August 7, 2015

Noted Russian poet and author once said, “Literature is the art of discovering something extraordinary about ordinary people, and saying with ordinary words something extraordinary.”

Literature opens doors to understanding ideas, people, and cultures. Extraordinary tools enable greater understanding and expand opportunity for discovery. And now, with upcoming enhancements, three landmark Gale literature resources will provide a more welcoming and accessible experience for literature researchers at all levels.

Read moreLook at Literature in a Whole New Way

Content updates for Gale’s In Context (week of 8/3/2015)

Posted on August 6, 2015

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve added new content and made updates to already posted content found in your favorite Gale In Context products. See what’s there for you to access.

Biography In Context

New spotlight features have been added to the homepage that include:

  • U.S. President Barack Obama, celebrating his birthday on August 4
  • The late U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law 50 years ago
  • Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa, founder of the Solidarity labor union that sparked change in his country 35 years ago on August 31
  • American actress Taraji P. Henson, star of television’s Empire
  • Chris Froome, the British cyclist who recently won his second Tour de France title
  • Kailash Satyarthi, Indian children’s rights activist who shared the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Malala Yousafzai
  • Daniel James, Jr., also known as Chappie, who became the first African American four-star general in 1975
  • Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell
  • American filmmaker and producer Brett Ratner
  • Sepp Blatter, the controversial Swiss president of FIFA (soccer’s international governing body)

Read moreContent updates for Gale’s In Context (week of 8/3/2015)

Content Updates for Gale’s In Context (Week of 7/20/2015)

Posted on July 24, 2015

Updates have been made this week to the rich content found in Gale’s In Context products. Check-out what’s new.

Canada In Context

New homepage spotlights have been added featuring updated content on Evangeline Lilly and Jack Layton. Also look for new content additions on Alexander Graham Bell.

A new video has been added to the home page from the CBC on the Dieppe Raid: “70th Anniversary of Ill-Fated Invasion in Dieppe, France.”

Research In Context

The newest database in Gale’s In Context family has even more content that’s been added this week. Some of the additions to the homepage spotlights include:

Read moreContent Updates for Gale’s In Context (Week of 7/20/2015)

Fulton County Schools: Getting Curriculum Support Right

Posted on July 17, 2015

By Tina Creguer

New technologies offer all kinds of new ways for students to learn, for teachers to teach, and for school systems to provide a learning environment.  But the sudden convergence of content, technology, and tech-savvy students has created as many conundrums as opportunities.  So, during a time rampant with experimentation and piloting, when a school system figures out ways to make all systems work together to enhance learning, people stop and take notice.

Fulton County (GA) Schools has done just that.  And, for their efforts, they were recognized last month by the Center for Digital Education (CDE) with a Digital Content and Curriculum Achievement Award for K-12 at the International Society for Technology in Education 2015 conference in Philadelphia.

Alan Cox, Senior Vice President for the CDE, announced the awards, saying, “It is clear that schools all over the country are moving from pilot projects to full-scale implementations. Districts are combining content created by their faculty with content curated from other organizations or purchased from private-sector curriculum providers in ways not truly realized in past years. This year’s honorees are taking the practice of education to new heights that show great promise for other districts to follow.”

Fulton County was one of just six large (12,000+ students) districts to be recognized for its innovation and diligence in digital content and curriculum program implementation.

Read moreFulton County Schools: Getting Curriculum Support Right