Schools

Raise Your Hand If You Want to Know More About Usage, Part II

By Scott Steward

Welcome back to the Gale Technical Solutions blog series!

This is part two in a two part series.

In my last issue (usage part l), I focused on Gale’s definition of the usage metrics we report and how they are counted.  If you haven’t read it yet, you can find it here: http://blog.gale.com/raise-your-hand-if-you-want-to-know-more-about-usage/.

For this issue, I will be continuing my discussion about usage, focusing on the factors that affect usage such as discovery services, LMS, openURL and direct links.

Read moreRaise Your Hand If You Want to Know More About Usage, Part II

New Professional Development Collections from Solution Tree

Gale recently partnered with Solution Tree, a premier provider of professional development resources, that strives to increase student achievement and ensure that every child in every school gets the world-class education he or she deserves. Thanks to this partnership, instructors and administrators can better enhance their professional development eBook collection to further meet strategic goals. … Read more

Using Gale for College and High School Instruction

By Lori Warren Another plus for using Gale databases for library and research instruction is the integration of Google and Microsoft Tools. The STEM school on our campus uses the Google tools and our college students and faculty use the Microsoft tools.  As our high school students move into college classes, they transition naturally to … Read more

Raise Your Hand If You Want to Know More About Usage, Part I

By Scott Steward The topic I want to discuss is Usage, but since usage is such a broad topic, I will break it up into two posts. In Part I, I will be focusing on some usage basics; what metrics Gale reports and how they are counted. The next blog, Part II, I will focus on … Read more

Hamilton County Schools Explore Gale Pages

By Lori Warren In the summer of 2016, Becky Coleman and Lori Warren partnered with Steve Hicks, Gale Customer Success Manager and Tony Bottrell, Gale Usage Services Manager, to create a HCDE District Library Website and 70 Individual School Websites for the Hamilton County Schools. These websites were created with Gale Pages, a content management system … Read more

A Literary Un-Valentine’s Day

Every Valentine’s Day we are bombarded with idealized images of true love and passion, and for the unlucky in love, the holiday can be difficult to stomach. In the spirit of demonstrating that matters could be worse, we offer two literary anti-love-scenes, taken from the digital pages of Literature Criticism Online. Consider the plight of … Read more

Gale Interactive: Science: “Highly Recommended”

With Gale Interactive: Science, users can delve deep into concepts with tools to zoom, rotate and explore models. These engaging, interactive models bring science to life, allowing students to better visualize and understand concepts in biology, chemistry, and earth and space science.

Students and instructors can manipulate and explore 3D models that are paired with reference and periodical content for further understanding. When clicking through each session, relevant reference content related to the images is shown and the user also has the ability to search across content to find exactly what they are looking for.

Learn more with a review from a Library Media Specialist:

Read moreGale Interactive: Science: “Highly Recommended”

From Politics to Chemistry – An Escape Plan

By Deb Kirby

Seeking relief from the overload of rancorous political discussion last week, I decided to focus on something different. When I discovered that February 7 is National Periodic Table Day, I had my plan: Finally learn some basics about the periodic table, which I had somehow managed to avoid in school. (Reading a book a day in my middle and high school years may have enhanced my reading skills, but since my genre of choice was the historical romance, did not do much for my understanding of things like Chemistry.)

I turned to Gale’s Science In Context to learn more about the periodic table and the recently released Gale Interactive: Science for a hands-on learning experience.

Read moreFrom Politics to Chemistry – An Escape Plan

Alternative Facts, Fake News, and Digital Literacy

By Traci Cothran

There was a time when we didn’t need to define what a fact was – or rather, we all understood that it meant the same thing. It was a fact – it was the truth; the rest was fiction or opinion. There were clear, credible sources, and there were those that weren’t. Now students, teachers, and librarians (as well as the rest of the American populous) must grapple with distinguishing fact, fake news, and “alternative facts” on a near-constant basis. While the Internet gives us a plethora of easy-to-access information, it’s up to us to discern what is factual and what is not.

To do that, we need to start asking hard questions of everything we read and hear – such as:

  • Where did that Facebook “news” post originate?
  • Is this news or a “newsvertisement?”
  • Are these statistics or this sound bite taken out of context to distort their meaning?
  • Who penned this article? Do they have a specific agenda that influences their writing?
  • Who created this website and how are they getting paid for their content?
  • When you reverse-search the image used in the article, do you find different source content?

Read moreAlternative Facts, Fake News, and Digital Literacy

Robert Smalls: From Slave to Senator

During Black History Month, we honor African Americans who made significant contributions to American society and impacted the course of American history. One such figure is Robert Smalls, who was born a slave in South Carolina, made a dramatic escape from slavery, and was later elected to Congress. With primary sources, Smalls’ remarkable life, achievements, and impact can be considered and understood through contemporary accounts.

Read moreRobert Smalls: From Slave to Senator