Communication

Toastmasters’ Pathways Learning Experience Program: Building 21st-Century Skills

| By Chitraa Sridharan | The 21st-century workplace needs workers who are not just proficient with the core skills but who are also prepared to solve complex problems and adapt to changing environments using their 6C (Communication, Collaboration, Critical thinking, Creative innovation, Content, Confidence) skills. In my previous blog post, I shared my learnings on … Read more

Discovery: It’s More Than a Service; It’s a Way of Thinking

By Karen McKeown

Librarians learned long ago that the Field of Dreams adage “If you build it, they will come” does not apply to library resources.  Obtaining great resources is only the first step.  To be truly effective, library resources must be placed clearly and deliberately in the path of the intended users – and that means being where students, educators, and patrons go to find information.  To the user, what matters most is finding the right content at the right time with ease.

As we work to blaze new trails in the area of “discovery,” Gale is finding innovative ways to put information in the path of potential users – integrating it into the classroom, providing pathways to it on the open web, and expanding the reach of the library.  And we’re doing this with a very broad perspective – which means working with partners such as Google and Google Scholar; working with library services providers such as ProQuest, EBSCO and OCLC; and working with our own Cengage teams to enhance course materials and courseware such as MindTap™.

Read moreDiscovery: It’s More Than a Service; It’s a Way of Thinking

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