Dakota Access Pipeline: A Look Back at 100 Years of Conflict

Once again, the Dakota Access Pipeline—and the controversy that surrounds it—is in the news. At the heart of the controversy is the pipeline’s potential threat to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation’s clean water supply. However, clashes between Indigenous Americans and the federal government over water rights are nothing new.  These conflicts have been documented for … Read more

The Job-Market Moment of Digital Humanities

By Leonard Cassuto Digital humanities have become integrated into the academic job market. In fact, digital humanities are one of the few growth areas in the academic job market today say’s Leonard Cassuto of “The Chronicle of Higher Education. That raised the question: Will expertise in digital humanities get graduate students the academic jobs that … Read more

American Governance named to the RUSA 2017 Outstanding References Sources List

The most noteworthy reference titles published in 2016 have been named to ALA’s RUSA (Reference & User Services Association) 2017 Outstanding References Sources List. These titles, including American Governance, 1st Edition, are highly recommended for inclusion in any library’s reference collections. View the full list of award-winning titles or learn more about American Governance, 1st Edition.  This title is … Read more

Witness the March Towards Women’s Rights

Introducing Women’s Movements and Issues – the first in the Women’s Studies Archive, a collection that traces the path of women’s issues from past to present—pulling primary sources from manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, and more. It captures the foundation of women’s movements, struggles and triumphs, and provides researchers with valuable insights.

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Academic Librarians: Adding Value beyond the Library

In a recent issue of Information Outlook, the Special Library Association‘s bimonthly online magazine, Phil Faust, Vice President of Academic Product at Gale shares his thoughts on how academic librarians impact stretches beyond the walls of the library by helping make college more affordable for students and collaborating with faculty to gain new insights.

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The Topeka and Shawnee County Library team is continually developing approaches in services, programs, and collections that empower the citizens of our community. We believe the library’s role is to enable people to learn, connect, develop skills, and contribute to their community. In 2014, we surveyed 3,200 households to help determine specific needs, and received … Read more

Empowerment. Society, and our profession in general, have become romantically attracted to the word, yet most of us would more than likely define it differently. In fact, a library director and I were texting each other about the significance of this word and others just a few weeks ago. We discussed what it means for the work that we are doing in our respective institutions, quickly realizing our different definitions.

Here at The Seattle Public Library, it’s an unspoken tenet that the work we do each and every day should empower our staff and patrons of every age and walk of life to experience and enjoy life. For our staff, we offer training and professional development and learning experiences that they can draw upon, and feel empowered to serve the public confidently. We also give them the space to think of new programs and activities that will be of interest or benefit to our users and create more personal and meaningful experiences.

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The Highlander Center Raid

By Traci Cothran

When a new publication is released here at Gale, I like to take a peek at what colleagues have been working on. So today I opened up the new American Civil Liberties Union Papers, 1912-1990—and WOW! What a treasure trove of history it holds!

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Hidden No Longer

By Debra Kirby

Sometimes it takes a critically acclaimed movie to shine a light on extraordinary achievements. This has proved to be especially true when the subjects of those achievements are women or members of minorities. The movie Hidden Figures, based on a book of the same name, has recently generated interest in three African American women who played important roles in the U.S. Apollo Space Program. As is often the case, once you start digging into the details around historic events or people, you discover many related interesting facts and stories. When your sources include Gale databases you can spend hours exploring and learning.

Here are some of the facts I found when I began my journey to learn more about Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson—the fascinating women whose stories are told in Hidden Figures.

  • Katherine Johnson began her career as a “human computer” at the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), NASA’s predecessor. Before the age of electronic computers, NACA employed hundreds of women mathematicians as human computers. Men with similar qualifications were classified as professionals; women were sub-professionals. Black mathematicians were segregated in their own office and loaned out to various divisions as needed. (Read more about Johnson in Biography In Context.)

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