academic libraries

Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks: Religion: A “Highly Recommended” Series

Looking for a resource to effectively engage and educate users in the study of religion? The Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbook on Religion: Sources, Perspectives & Methodologies combines features of an introductory textbook with those of a reference resource to encourage students in studying religion. There are ten volumes in total, that identify different areas of critical thought and practice in the study of religion, the series is “commended for community libraries” as well as “college students.”

Read a review on Volume 1, Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbook on Religion: Sources, Perspectives & Methodologies, posted by Library Watch, March, 2016.

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Student & Instructor Perceptions on Libraries and Research

By Jennifer Albers-Smith

When it comes to student and instructor perceptions about academic libraries and research, some interesting insights are revealed – as well as lot of questions.

In spring 2015, Gale’s parent company, Cengage Learning, issued its Engagement Insights survey to some 3,000 students and nearly 700 professors, gathering feedback on different topics including how both audiences valued the library, how they often they took advantage of its resources and more.

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Celebrate with Gale: 800 Years of the Magna Carta

By Bethany Dotson

The Magna Carta, proclaimed at Runnymede on 15 June 1215, is 800 years old this week.  The Magna Carta, or Great Charter of Liberty, is the document that King John signed, accepting restraints on the monarchy. It remains a cornerstone of modern English and American law. During the American Revolution, “the English used the Magna Carta to support their claim of parliamentary sovereignty, whereas Americans distilled from it the principle of ‘no taxation without representation.’”[1]

It’s no surprise, then, that using Term Frequency tool in Gale Artemis: Primary Sources, searching through the 26 collections currently cross-searchable in this experience (including Eighteenth Century Collections Online, the Making of Modern Law collections, Nineteenth Century Collections Online, and more), I was able to isolate a surge in the popularity of the term “Magna Carta” in documents published between approximately 1749 and 1796. The high point? Fifteen out of the 16,490 documents in Artemis: Primary Sources published in 1767 contain this term.

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Feminism in Cuba: New Content Added

By Bethany Dotson

With the re-opening of U.S./Cuban diplomatic relations—and the recent failure of the fourth round of negotiations—Cuba is experiencing a new wave of interest from intellectuals and the general public alike.

With this interest in mind, Gale has added new supplemental content to the Archives Unbound collection Feminism in Cuba: the journal Minerva, Revista Quincenal Dedica a la Mujer de Color, or Minerva, Quarterly Journal Dedicated to the Woman of Color, published between 1888 and 1914.  Cited in recent academic publications as diverse as Slave Emancipation in Cuba: The Transition to Free Labor, 1860-1899 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000), Between the Lines: Literary Transnationalism and African American Poetics (Oxford University Press, 2011), Cuba’s Racial Crucible: The Sexual Economy of Social Identities, 1750-2000 (Indiana University Press, 2015), and Black Political Activism and the Cuban Republic (University of North Carolina Press, 2011), Minerva is useful not only for its study of feminism in Cuba but also for Afro-Cuban nationalist ideology and identity, racial politics and culture in the Cuban Republic, and much more.

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Celebrating Many Women with Many Resources

By Robert Lisiecki

March marks the time for us to celebrate Women’s History Month. During this month, we’ll remember and celebrate the various women throughout history who have made lasting impacts on the world as we know it today. And boy, there are a lot of women to celebrate.

The women we recognize come from different eras and backgrounds—each presenting her own unique story. When thinking about the uniqueness that each story presents, I began thinking about some of our resources. Each resource is crafted and created to provide a unique functionality and utility to tell its own story.

Today, I’d like to reflect on five different women from five different resources, highlighting some high-level information. Some women are more well-known while others, to me at least, are less. I hope this post can serve as an example on how different resources can impact research. Let’s go.

Five Impactful Women from Five Different Resources

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Take a Deeper Dive into Langston Hughes’ Impact with LRC and LCO

Literature Resource Center (LRC) is a massive resource that includes reviews, news, topic and work overviews, biographies, multimedia, and literature criticism. While it’s a great addition to any library, and many libraries already enjoy the treasures in its content, it only contains approximately 30 percent of the most popular content in the Literature Criticism series. That means, while you’re getting a ton of great content, you’re missing the other 70 percent of Literature Criticism content.

Read moreTake a Deeper Dive into Langston Hughes’ Impact with LRC and LCO

Archives Unbound and African-American History and Life

The past few years have seen many anniversaries related to African American history and the Civil Rights Movement – 2013, the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech,” stamped the Civil Rights Movement firmly in the minds of Americans and the worldwide community; 2014, the anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction; and, this year is the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which provided additional safeguards for African Americans to exercise their right to the ballot box.

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How Libraries are Competing in the Digital Age

Libraries in New York State—like their counterparts across the country—are experimenting with new ways to draw patrons in and engage them in reading, creating, and strengthening their ties to the community. In short, they are working to become more relevant. The Pittsford Public Library, for example, hosts drop-in sessions on mastering the Kindle, the iPad, … Read more