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What is Autism?

April 22, 2016

Posted on April 22, 2016

By Traci Cothran

Have you heard of it? It’s Autism Awareness Month – the Cairo Tower in Egypt, the Empire State Building in the US, City Hall in Tel Aviv, Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and many other buildings around the world were bathed in the color blue on April 2 to raise global awareness of Autism.

So what do you know about this disorder? Are you up on the latest medical developments? No? Then grab that mouse and start looking in our Gale products for the answers!

Here are a few bits to pique your interest:

Did you know that Autism was apparent in people prior to the Civil War (but not diagnosed as such)? See 2016 Smithsonian magazine in General One File
You may have heard of animal behavioral scientist and author, Temple Grandin, but are you aware of her widespread impact on the livestock industry? See Biography In Context
From our Gale eBooks (GVRL) collection, The Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders delivers lots of authoritative information
Not sure how to approach the topic with younger kids? Try our Kids InfoBits article, “Autism Spectrum Disorder,” (Diseases and Conditions, Gale, 2016) – it offers clear facts at an appropriate reading and comprehension level.

Histories of Everyday Life in Totalitarian Regimes – “Highly recommended. All libraries. All levels.”

March 26, 2018April 21, 2016

Posted on April 21, 2016

Guided by a five-person advisory board of distinguished scholars, examine what life was like during the twentieth century under totalitarian rule with Histories of Everyday Life in Totalitarian Regimes, 1^st Ed. This set spans multiple disciplines and holds a wealth of information for various college courses as well as high school teachers encouraging the analysis of primary and secondary sources.

This title review was recently published by Choice Reviews Online. Read what they had to say!

Gale Helps Cody High School Discover MeL Resources

May 25, 2016April 21, 2016

Posted on April 21, 2016

By Tracey L. Matthews

Some schools acquire Gale resources on a state-wide level, offering broad access to our authoritative resources. But not everyone knows they’re available. Detroit’s (MI) Cody Academy of Public Leadership is one example.

In the course of setting up a mentoring program nearly two years ago with Cody High School’s Academy of Public Leadership, one of the first things we learned was that the staff was unaware they had access to any reference content. Like many other schools in the Detroit school district, their media specialist positions had been eliminated, leaving busy and challenged teachers with no help identifying resources for their students, who not surprisingly relied primarily on Google for their research needs.

Our first service to Cody was to hold a training session with Cody staff to introduce them to the Michigan Electronic Library (MeL), through which they had easy access to a wide variety of reference and periodical databases, including Gale products like Opposing Viewpoints In Context.

New library program can earn students a high school diploma

May 25, 2016April 20, 2016

Posted April 20, 2016

By Livi Stanford

Originally published in the Daily Commercial

TAVARES, FL — Crystal Siblag lost her father at age 10.The event crippled her. She found it hard to focus on her studies. “My mom remarried when I was 16 and I took that hard,” Siblag said.

As a result, she did not graduate high school — a decision that affected her in numerous ways. But it was not until 15 years later that the decision came back to haunt her.

When Crystal’s husband was having a conversation with her son, Hunter, he informed him in passing that his mother did not graduate high school.

Hunter, in disbelief, had to directly confront his mother on the issue.

When Crystal faced her son to confirm her husband’s statement, she knew it was not a reality she wanted to live with for the rest of her life.

“I wanted to improve,” she said.

The Biggest Large Print Myths Busted!

July 3, 2018April 20, 2016

Spoiler Alert: The large print format offers benefits for people under the age of 60 with perfectly good eyesight.

Have you ever been so good at something you’ve found yourself pigeonholed? Being typecast can feel like a mixed blessing—your claim to fame shines bright, creating the shadow in which your other great qualities hide. If large print books were people, they would feel this acutely.

No doubt, large print books are a well-known solution for visually impaired readers, and those readers are typically seniors. Unfortunately for large print, being so good at solving this one problem for this one audience has led to a narrow, and sometimes inaccurate view of the usefulness of the format overall.

We’d love to enlist the expert MythBusters Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman to explore the issue in detail, but if you’ve ever seen the Discovery Channel show, you know their mythbusting process tends to involve blowing things up, and we’d hate to see our beloved books so abused.

So, without the pyrotechnics, here are the biggest large print myths: BUSTED!

Look Up in the Sky – What Do You See?

April 19, 2016April 19, 2016

Posted on April 19, 2016

By Candy Jones-Guerin

Did You Know… that we can actually see the past? Light from distant stars take a very long time to reach the Earth, so when we look at a star through a telescope we are looking at the light that left the star several hundred, thousands or even million years ago!

Take your students on a journey that is sure to be out of this world on May 14th for International Astronomy Day. Gale has great resources to get you started!

Space and Astronomy Experiments Sourcebook, 1st Edition
December 2016
Space and Astronomy Experiments Sourcebook, part of the Science Experiment Sourcebooks series, features approximately 50 experiments on topics such as planets, stars and sunlight, and astrophysics, along with analysis and findings. These hands-on, user-friendly experiments for middle and high school students meet national science standards, require readily available materials, communicate directions clearly to student and teacher, and relate the activities performed to real-life situations.

Baby, You Can Drive my Car

April 19, 2016April 19, 2016

Posted on April 18, 2016

By Mary Kelly

One of my favorite databases to play with is Gale’s Chilton collection. Not because I am a car person. (To me a car is a giant purse on wheels.) Not because as a librarian it is the easiest way to do car repair reference (which is very true). The Chilton database is more like my own personal marriage saver. This is because I have been married to an auto engineer for more than thirty years and car vocabulary is constantly the lingua franca of our household. This arrangement is great since I really don’t have to worry about car stuff. However, I do have to listen to all sorts of talk about cars. I am also told (in great detail) about car maintenance issues and why it is important.

Chilton is my personal car vocabulary resource/translator for about 75% of our conversations. (Yeah, this database is bookmarked for me.) It helps me explain my car problems to the Engineer husband, followed by criticisms of my general lack of car knowledge and failure to follow regular maintenance schedules. This discussion is usually punctuated by people shouting and swearing. (Note: The current version does not include any definitions for the accompanying swearing associated with car repairs. Perhaps Chilton’s can consider adding swear words as a “feature” in future releases, until that happens, you are on your own.)

A Treasure Trove of Queer History Is Now Online

May 25, 2016April 14, 2016

Gale’s Archive of Human Sexuality and Identity being called “A Treasure Trove of Queer History” by Advocate Magazine Published on April 14,2016 Gale’s Archive of Human Sexuality and Identity was recently featured in Advocate Magazine, a leading U.S.-based national gay and lesbian news magazine. In the publication, the collection is noted for its depth of information covering … Read more

Introducing Gale Interactive: Science: Make Science Come “Alive”

May 23, 2019April 14, 2016

Posted on April 14, 2016

“Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure ‘science.’” – Edwin Powell Hubble

Famed astronomer Hubble articulated simply what great science teachers have always known: science is based on exploration, interaction, and engagement. When students connect with concepts in a meaningful, tactile way, they learn in a more meaningful way.

That belief is the foundation of Gale Interactive: Science, a new resource with interactive 3-D models and authoritative, curriculum-aligned digital content that helps students experience science, not just study it.

InfoTrac: Environmental Studies and Policy: A “Solid” and “Viable” Collection

September 2, 2016April 11, 2016

Searching for a “solid” resource of “considerable substance” to answer inquiries about environmental concerns? Your search ends here with the InfoTrac: Environmental Studies and Policy Collection, featuring over 5.4 million articles and “more searching flexibility than that of most platforms.” Engage and support students with an easily searchable, mobile-responsive design and integrated Google Apps for Education tools.

Read a review from Library Journal, April, 2016