By: Dr. Dallas Liddle, Associate Professor and Chair of English, Augsburg College
Marshall McLuhan is supposed to have said that “the content of a new medium is always an old medium.” He intended the observation as wry cultural criticism,
What I Did on My Summer Vacation: A Gale Intern’s Story
by Luiza Lodder
As an English major from Penn State University, I was pleased to work as a content development intern for Gale this summer, managing academic and educational online resources and databases. My goal was to explore publishing and apply my skills and interests. Although I was placed in the Boston office, my supervisor and team were located in Michigan. Yet in spite of working remotely, I felt fully engaged with the work and the team.
Part of my responsibilities included updating Gale literature databases and maintaining content. For example, I input author birthdates and death dates, recent prizes won, and recent developments such as book publications or adaptations. One of Gale’s long-term goals is to make classic works available online to customers; I helped by identifying which works were already public domain and which were still protected by publication rights. Being an international student from Brazil, I enjoyed a bonus experience that was fun for me and uniquely useful to Gale: translating an interview of Brazilian users recorded by Gale market researchers.
Read moreWhat I Did on My Summer Vacation: A Gale Intern’s Story
Gale Technical Solutions: Branding
By Scott Steward
Welcome back to the Gale Technical Solutions blog series!
I thought it would be good to start with some of the basics. Today, I will be discussing Branding.
Now when I say branding, I’m not talking about the Gale brand; I’m talking about your library’s brand within your Gale products. Did you know all Gale products have dedicated space reserved in the interface for your library’s branding? In this reserved area we can display text, an image, or some custom code (Javascript, PHP, HTML, jQuery, etc).
New Titles Added to the InfoTrac Collections in August 2015
The titles below have been recently added and can be located in the product using Basic or Advanced Search forms. Titles can be found via Browse Publications within two weeks. For complete coverage information please see the product title lists. Academic OneFile 2010 State Technology and Science Index: Enduring Lessons for the Intangible Economy (Milken … Read more
State Libraries Gain an Enthusiastic New Partner
Posted on September 9, 2015
“To initiate, maintain and support cooperative action for the improvement of library services.” Who could resist a mission statement like that? With our history and culture of library advocacy, certainly not Gale. That mission statement, by the way, belongs to the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA).
Content Updates for Gale’s In Context (week ending 9/11/2015)
Posted on September 11, 2015
Take a look at the latest content updates made to Gale’s In Context products.
Biography In Context
New homepage spotlight images have been added this week. In addition you’ll find that these images have special “hotspots” that allow users to hover over portions of the image to find fast facts about the topic and links to additional content. The new spotlights include:
- Selena Gomez, actress and singer
- Tennis player, Serena Williams who was the winner at the 2015 Wimbledon Championships which marked her 21st Grand Slam title
- The late Jim Henson, creator of “The Muppets”
- Satchel Paige, who at 59 years old on September 25, 1965 pitched 3 innings of a Major League baseball game
- United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, will mark the International Day of Peace by ringing the Peace Bell on September 21, 2015
A new portal page has been added that features Lindsey Graham and updates have been made to biographies for Elizabeth II, Queen of England and Stephen Colbert. In addition a new video is available on the home page featuring Bill Gates and the future of technology.
Read moreContent Updates for Gale’s In Context (week ending 9/11/2015)
Comparative Review: Opposing Viewpoints in Context and Points of View Reference Center
The results are in: Opposing Viewpoints In Context is the clear winner! In an issue of The Charleston Review, Susan Moore of Limestone pitted Gale’s Opposing Viewpoints In Context (OVIC) against EBSCO’s Points of View Reference Center (POV).
Read moreComparative Review: Opposing Viewpoints in Context and Points of View Reference Center
Driving Electronic Content Discovery and Usage: Communication – Part 2
Posted on September 9, 2015
Posted by Jan Snyder and Jennifer Maurer
Part II
As we wrote in Part I of this series, 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. Statewide access provides consistency for students as they move from elementary to middle school and then high school.
But the real value and power of these resources are unleashed when librarians and educators collaborate and communicate. In the second part of this blog series, we’ll discuss – from our own perspectives – communication.
(If you missed it, be sure to also read Part I — Driving Electronic Content Discovery and Usage: Collaboration.)
Jennifer
Electronic Mailing List:
While presenting about Gale databases to various audiences falls under the heading of training, it is also a form of communication. However, I also have a direct channel of communication about OSLIS and its resources, including the statewide databases. The State Library created an electronic mailing list called OSLIST. As I learn about new school library staff in Oregon, I automatically subscribe them. Through OSLIST, I share ideas for how to use the databases as well as communicate about new Gale products and features.
Read moreDriving Electronic Content Discovery and Usage: Communication – Part 2
Gale’s In Context Just Keeps Getting Better!
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:
Jumping Into Digital Learning – One Librarian’s Story
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