Product Update: Interface Enhancements to Gale LegalForms

Posted June 28, 2016

Good news! Gale LegalForms is going mobile responsive and will undergo an interface update August 1. These enhancements improve usability and increase accessibility so that it’s easy for users to navigate Gale LegalForms anytime, on any device.

Users will appreciate the same reliable, up-to-date content on a modern interface with streamlined navigation and responsive design giving access to authentic, professional legal documents—and this is the only digital resource to offer legal forms that are state-specific.

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Microsoft Integration Added to Gale Products

Posted on June 22, 2016

Many of Gale’s products now offer Microsoft Office 365 integration, further enabling users to access Gale content anytime, anywhere, and from any device.

MSFT sample sign in page
After authentication, login using Microsoft credentials. Click to enlarge.anywhere, and from any device.

 

These easy-to-use collaborative tools allow users to:

  • After authentication into your Gale products, login to Microsoft Office 365 with your Microsoft credentials
  • Store, sync, and share files by downloading Gale content to your OneDrive account in the cloud
  • Easily transfer downloaded OneDrive content for use in other Microsoft tools like OneNote and Classroom

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Overcoming Barriers to Innovation

Posted June 22, 2016

By John Chrastka, Executive Director, EveryLibrary

EveryLibrary is the first and only national organization dedicated to building voter support for libraries. They are chartered “to promote public, school, and college libraries, including by advocating in support of public funding for libraries and building public awareness of public funding initiatives”. Their primary work is to support local public libraries when they have a referendum or measure on the ballot. John Chrastka, the Executive Director of EveryLibrary, encourages libraries with a few important tips on how to overcome the barriers to innovation they most often face.

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Literature and Research Made Easy

Posted on May 16, 2016

By Holly Hibner

Have you ever read a book and immediately thought, “I must know more about this author!”? After reading a particularly satisfying book, one which you instantly need to share with everyone you meet, look no further than Gale’s Literature Resource Center. There you can learn more about the author and their works, and hopefully even repeat that feeling of awe and admiration for their genius!

For me, that author is Lisa Genova. She is one of my all-time favorite authors. Over at Literature Resource Center, I plugged her name into the search box and found out, via an article in Contemporary Authors Online, that she is a neuroscientist who received her doctorate at Harvard University. I also read reviews of a few of Genova’s novels via BookPage, Contemporary Authors Online, and The New York Times Book Review.

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The Gale and Google Integration at Work

Posted June 13, 2016

By Holly Hibner, Adult Services Coordinator, Plymouth District Library (MI)

As libraries continually seek to be a valued educational partner in communities, schools, and institutions, bringing trustworthy digital content into the natural path of their users has never been more important. To make it easier for people to find and use this relevant, authoritative information, Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, has partnered with Google for Education in two ways: providing intuitive integration of popular workflow tools through Google Apps for Education and indexing content in Google Scholar. With more than 50 million Google Apps for Education teachers and students worldwide, and an average of over 40,000+ Google search engine queries per second, Google is indisputably the place where people get their answers.

Information is truly at our fingertips now that Gale has become a Google for Education Partner. Many of Google’s popular tools like Drive, Docs, and Classroom are now integrated with Gale’s top products. Information seekers often look to Google for answers. Now they can combine the power of Google with the content authority of Gale databases.

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Animal Farm Preface Reveals Truths about George Orwell

Posted on June 13, 2016

By Kelly Torpey

In my school-days, plenty of readings were required, but in all honesty, I didn’t care for most of them. However, George Orwell’s Animal Farm captured my attention. It was unique, I didn’t need a dictionary on stand-by, and I knew it had been banned from some classrooms.

Orwell may be one of the most read, well-known novelists of all time. With books like Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, his work is a constant reminder that we must continually critique the actions of leaders and the acceptance of common thought.

British author George Orwell, (1903-1950) among his many books were "Ninteen Eighty Four" and Animal Farm"

Recently (as in a couple days ago) I discovered details about Orwell’s roots, upbringing, and perspectives in an interview clip from Public Radio International. This clip is available on Literature Resource Center. I quickly learned that I probably wouldn’t have been exposed to these details if a young Ukrainian scholar hadn’t sent a message to George Orwell in 1947. In his note, the scholar asked for permission to translate Animal Farm into Ukrainian. Orwell not only granted permission, but also refused any royalties and penned a detailed preface that we are all incredibly lucky to read. Orwell wrote:

I have been asked to write a preface to the Ukrainian translation of Animal Farm. I am aware that I write for readers about whom I know nothing, but also that they too have probably never had the slightest opportunity to know anything about me.

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Calling all Libraries to Be a Part of the Big Picture

Posted on June 6, 2016

ENTER THE MY LIBRARY PIC PHOTO SWEEPSTAKES 

Libraries complete our big picture vision. And over the next few weeks, we’re asking YOU to participate in helping us shape that vision. Send us a picture of how your library integrates and embraces technology!

The My Library Pic Photo sweepstakes is for all libraries, big or small, and all types of photographers (professional or amateur). Now through June 30, 2016, submit a photo to any of the 4 categories below, and your library could win big.

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Understanding Community Goals Leads to Success for Libraries and Communities – A post from the 2016 Library of the Year

By Leah Sewell, Communications Editor, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library

Have you ever been on the other line of a survey call? I haven’t, personally, but I’ve often wondered if I would be a willing participant. Perhaps in the midst of a particularly juicy book, soaking up one-on-one time with my fast-growing 9-year-old or closely watching a new recipe simmer, what would compel me to answer the phone, but also to converse with a researcher for an indeterminate spell? Well, for one thing, I’d pretty much drop everything and let dinner burn to gab with any stranger, on the phone or otherwise, when the topic is libraries.

You see, in my career as the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library’s Communication Editor, I am enamored with the “public” part of the public library. How does the public feel about our services? How will they react to a minor or a major change? How can we woo them, engage them, help them feel a part the community through literacy and learning, and subsequently change their lives for the better?

My library is focused on the public and the public good. It’s asking the right questions, discovering people’s goals and needs and assisting them so they can reach them. Ultimately, it’s about making a difference in the community by working with our fellow citizens to make their lives better. That’s a good chunk of the reason why we’re the Library Journal / Gale, a part Cengage Learning 2016 Library of the Year. We have our ears to the ground.

When the 2016 Pew Research Center report, Libraries at the Crossroads, was released in September 2015, I wondered about the people on the other end of those cell phones and land lines. Those individuals that Pew cites variously as “a share of Americans” or “a majority of Americans,” or “low-income Americans” are real individuals with busy lives, loved ones and their own dinners to prepare. Yet, they all sat a spell to gab about libraries.

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Why Advocacy Matters for Public Libraries

Posted on May 31, 2016

By Rhonda Sewell 

Long gone is the notion of public libraries lingering in the shadows and doing little to advocate their value to their communities and promote their many offerings, programs, and activities. Advocacy and unapologetic promotion of our transformative systems is now a major priority. Such ideas hold a sacred place in our discussions surrounding public service, strategic goals, funding, construction, marketing, and digital implementation for libraries. Even the Twittersphere of endless hashtags has transitioned from reading sentiments to action items and rallying statements such as #LibrariesMatter, #LibrariesTransform, and #SaveOurLibraries.

Because doing more with less is a reality for public libraries, especially as competition for funding sources and customer demands increases, advocacy matters now more than ever.  “Advocacy, the process of acting on behalf of the public library to increase public funds and ensure that it has the resources needed to be up to date, is critical to the success of libraries,” states the Public Library Association (PLA)[i].

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Huddle Up Your Sports Enthusiasts

Posted May 23, 2016

Join the 2016 Summer Reading Program
Are you ready for the swarm of kids eager to learn about today’s most admired sports and athletes? 2016 Summer Reading Program is upon us, and learning shouldn’t stop when classes are out for the summer. Keep your library’s school-aged users engaged and on track with fun and authoritative eBooks from Gale.

From DK and Britannica Digital Learning to ABDO Publishing and more, young learners will have better access to your sports resources with the ability to save content to Google Drive for later use. 

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