Posted on September 3, 2015
There is more exciting news for our fans of Gale’s In Context suite. Recent enhancements rolled-out this week make it even easier for students and teachers to quickly access, use, and share content for homework and class assignments. Take a look at what’s new:
Posted on September 3, 2015
Posted by Cenee Precure
Life never stops teaching. Be sure to never stop learning. ~ Michael Josephson
As our high school sat on the cusp of all things Google with shiny new Chromebooks and whispers of Google Classroom drifting through the hallways, the school library was at that place once again…dig in our heels and resist another district technology implementation or dive in and embrace the challenge!
As a relatively new librarian, serving high school faculty, staff, and students for the first time, I knew I had to build relationships, be willing to take some risks, and be bold enough to learn from my mistakes along the way. Thankfully, there were brave teachers that were willing to embark on this journey with me.
With cinnamon rolls in tow, I met with the English teachers during their PLC and presented a quick overview of the TexQuest resources and had a representative from Imagine Easy do an online webinar introducing the Scholar Edition (formerly known as the School Edition of EasyBib). I knew if I could get just one teacher to buy into how these two digital platforms could work together, the paperless research project might actually become more than just a seed of an idea.
Read moreJumping Into Digital Learning – One Librarian’s Story
Posted on September 2, 2015
Easy to search and highly visual nonfiction titles from Britannica Digital Learning can be a resource for your libraries and classrooms to help meet the education research needs for students of all ages. Available on Gale’s award-winning GVRL platform, students can take advantage of popular tools like automatic citation generation highlighting, annotation and more.
Read moreGrow Your Nonfiction Collection with Britannica Digital Learning Titles
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
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
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)
Posted on August 27, 2015
Take a look at the latest content that has been added to Kids InfoBits:
Read moreContent Updates for Kids InfoBits (week of 8/24/2015)
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
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?
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.