Happy Birthday Abe!

Posted on February 8, 2016

Abraham Lincoln’s birthday is February 12th! He was the 16th President of the United States, holding office during the Civil War, and proved to be one of the great figures in American history.

Did you know…

  • Lincoln lost five separate elections before being elected president.
  • Lincoln proclaimed all persons held as slaves in states of the rebellion “forever free.”
  • Abraham Lincoln is the only president in American history to hold a patent.

Let’s take a trip back in time to the years of his presidency. We’ve highlighted a few titles that can be found on Gale’s eBook platform, GVRL, to help you get started.

Abraham Lincoln, 1st Edition
April 2014
It may be little exaggeration to say that the figure of Abraham Lincoln embodies the American ideal more so than any other U.S. president. Although he came from humble beginnings and held several odd jobs before launching his career in politics, Lincoln’s determination and natural abilities brought him to the White House, where he led the struggle to preserve the union and emancipate the country’s slaves. Lincoln’s remarkable life—from his childhood to his role as Commander in Chief during the Civil War to his tragic death—is chronicled in this captivating volume.

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Early Arabic Printed Books from the British Library: Editor’s highlights

by Ellie Hawkes

One of the best things about being Product Editor on the Early Arabic Printed Books project is being exposed to works that I have never encountered before. Having worked on rare book digitization projects many times in the past, it’s a real treat to

Read moreEarly Arabic Printed Books from the British Library: Editor’s highlights

Educators: Here’s a Fun Way to Encourage Critical Thinking and Research Skills!

Posted on 9/28/15

By Traci J. Cothran

Looking for a great way to engage students, where they can research a topic of their choice and present their findings in a format (including digital!) that fits their skillset?  The National History Day competition does just that, by providing students with a broad annual theme within which they’ll select their own subject; encouraging them to research, use, and document primary sources related to their chosen subject; then presenting their findings by creating an exhibit, paper, performance, website or documentary.

Read moreEducators: Here’s a Fun Way to Encourage Critical Thinking and Research Skills!

In Other News: Race

three hands from different race people clasping hands

A look at a current news item through the lens of different titles available on GVRL to find research inspiration.

By Michelle Eickmeyer

A fair skinned woman with a weave claims to be black. A white kid with twisted views killed nine innocent blacks while attending a Bible study. The president said the n-word. A lot of people are talking about a flag. The last two weeks have been filled with conversations of race and what it means in America.

Read moreIn Other News: Race

Happy National Adopt A Shelter Pet Day!

By Melissa Rayner

April 30 is National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day, a cause that is near and dear to this writer’s heart. To celebrate, you’ll find many people extolling the virtues of opening your home to an animal in need, and many others sharing personal stories of how rescue pets have improved their lives.

I’d like to take a different approach.

Today, I’d like to take a moment to thank the hard-working volunteers who help make this day possible by giving of their time and money to help take care of animals in need. While humans’ fascination with animals dates back pretty much to our origins, formal animal shelters (as we know them today) are a far newer construction.

We went to the archives to highlight some of the top reasons to recognize shelter staff and volunteers in honor of National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day.

Read moreHappy National Adopt A Shelter Pet Day!

We’re Putting Gale Artemis: Primary Sources Front and Center

The next time you’re browsing your favorite essential primary source collection from Gale, be on the lookout for something new–and pretty exciting, if we do say so ourselves.

On the far right of the menu bar, you’ll now see an orange item that reads “Artemis Primary Sources.” Click on it to expand for an explanation of our new Gale Artemis cross-search experience and to try your search using the new interface. 

Read moreWe’re Putting Gale Artemis: Primary Sources Front and Center

ECCO Just Got Bigger… Well, Sort of.

Are you a fan of our essential primary source database, Eighteenth Century Collections Online?

Well, next time you log on to ECCO, be sure to check out the orange and white banner in the header. Clicking on it will make your ECCO experience even bigger and better, because ECCO is now cross-searchable with six of our other most treasured collections as part of the powerful new research platform, Gale Artemis:  Primary Sources.

Read moreECCO Just Got Bigger… Well, Sort of.

Gale Artemis: Primary Sources Just Quadrupled in Size!

We just launched several collections onto Gale Artemis: Primary Sources, our groundbreaking research platform. All of these collections are now cross-searchable and feature many new tools and functionality that the older standalone collections do not.

The following list of collections are now available on Gale Artemis: Primary Sources:

Read moreGale Artemis: Primary Sources Just Quadrupled in Size!

New from Gale! NCCO: Science, Technology, & Medicine, Part II

Relive the development of modern science with new offerings from NCCO!

With over three million new pages of scientific content, NCCO:  Science, Technology, and Medicine: 1780-1925, Part II represents a significant expansion to Gale’s nineteenth century resource family. The collection, which offers students and scholars a rare window into the development of modern science and its methods, is presented in four major parts:

Read moreNew from Gale! NCCO: Science, Technology, & Medicine, Part II

The Three C’s of Digital Imaging

By Ray Bankoski

At Gale, part of Cengage Learning, we preserve history through the digitization of millions of pages each year. Using our extensive experience, we’ve developed what we like to call the three C’s of digital imaging, a guide to the industry’s best practices.

Capture

To take primary sources from their original paper format into easily accessible digital files, we employ two types of scanners. The number of each is carefully determined based on the type of material included in project.

Read moreThe Three C’s of Digital Imaging