People are adapting to new technology on a daily basis. Be ready to answer the not-so-technically-savvy questions about iPhones and iPads, including how to connect with family and friends via tools like Apple’ s FaceTime. Many great GVRL online entries can turn a new iDevice user into an expert overnight.
public libraries
Celebrate the Freedom to Read
By Traci Cothran
Reading is central to everything we do here at Gale—and what
you do at your library every day—so it’s a good bet the majority of us use Banned Books Week to rally around the works that cause a little controversy. This year’s Banned Books Week focuses on celebrating Diversity, and runs September 25 – October 1.
I’m an avid reader of middle grade and young adult fiction, so it drives me a little batty when parents ban amazing novels that speak to youth. Some authors are even dis-invited from appearing at schools to talk about their books and the issues affecting kids today. For instance, the graphic novel Drama, by Raina Telgemeier, has caused grumblings for two gay characters kissing, but I’ve yet to meet a middle school girl who doesn’t love this series. Author Meg Medina faced scrutiny with her novel about high school bullying, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, because the title has a swear word in it—and you know such language is never spoken in school hallways! Kate Messner was dis-invited from a school speaking engagement while on tour for her book, The Seventh Wish, because the main character’s sister struggles with a heroin addiction, affecting the whole family. But there’s no reason to talk about the real-life heroin epidemic affecting kids in high schools and middle schools across the U.S., is there?
Libraries Build Community Partnerships in the Name of Economic Development
The Decatur Public Library, Forsyth Public Library, Mt. Zion Public Library, and several local entities joined forces in the name of economic development to offer DemographicsNow: Business & People, an online business tool that provides detailed demographic data on more than 24 million active businesses, and 206 million consumers. This new resource makes it easy for all types of users to collect, analyze and act upon information, all from a single location.
Watch this video from Decatur & Macon County to see how DemographicsNow can help local entrepreneurs.
Read moreLibraries Build Community Partnerships in the Name of Economic Development
National Bullying Prevention Month
By Debra Kirby
When my oldest daughter, now a middle school teacher, brought home her first essay, it was on the subject of bullying. She wrote it after reading Judy Blume’s Blubber for a school assignment. The essay, which I still have, provided a preview of what a kind, compassionate person and awesome teacher she would one day become. As the 10th anniversary of National Bullying Prevention Month approaches this October, I thought I’d do a little research on the subject, which was never the focus of national attention when I was a student. It’s only in relatively recent years that bullying has been commonly recognized as something other than a “natural part of growing up” or rite of passage.
eBook Search Tips on Travel Specifics
GVRL is a unique eBook platform—the only one designed specifically for research—but sometimes it’s difficult to explain exactly what makes it great. So let’s show you, using four timely examples of how patrons can use GVRL to research exactly what they need to achieve the outcomes they desire.
With summer well under way, you may have a vacation right around the corner! Your next vacation could also still be down the road—it’s never too early to start planning. For this example, we’ve chosen Amalfi.
Travel Back in Time with Historical Artifacts
By Traci Cothran
Quick: What do these objects all have in common?
- Feed-sack Dress
- John Brown’s Sharps Rifle
- Edison Talking Doll
- Psychedelic Lunch Box
- A Monkey listening to the Scopes Trial
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
The Dark and the Light: Dahl on Paper and Film
By Catherine DiMercurio
When I learned that September was the first ever Roald Dahl month, I tumbled instantly and joyfully back to my childhood, to another September day when I was beginning the third grade at a new school. My classmates and I sat clustered on the floor, around the feet of our teacher. She was kind and soft-spoken and smelled of vanilla, and she began reading James and the Giant Peach to us. The freckled blond boy next to me kept poking my shoulder, trying to annoy me or get me in trouble or both. But he was easy to ignore because I was instantly enveloped by the story of James and his horrible aunts and his glorious, magical adventure. And his new friends. Making new friends in a strange world sounded pretty lovely too, and just as fantastical and unlikely to a shy girl at a new school as James’s giant insect companions were to him.
Not Your Mother’s Large Print
By Mary Kelly
Back in olden times, large print was hardly full of current best sellers. When I was growing up, large print materials were relegated to one of the dustier corners of the library complete and with the occasional old person looking for something. It was a small collection and to be honest, kind of crappy looking. There was no real cover art and the selection seemed to be only romance. This is what I remember as a youngster. Well now I am one of the “old people” and we aren’t going to do that anymore. I can only imagine that many people my age remember this as well.
Gene Wilder, Roald Dahl, and the Chocolate Factory
By Traci Cothran
Gene Wilder’s passing is hard to accept, as he’s forever etched in minds playing Willy Wonka, complete with top hat and bushy eyebrows. Or perhaps you best remember him with his mustache and frizzy hair in “Young Frankenstein,” in cowboy boots as the Waco Kid in “Blazing Saddles,” or as the nervous Leo Bloom with his blue blanket in “The Producers.” They’re all amazing performances, but since Wonka is my personal favorite, and Roald Dahl a beloved writer, I took a look through our Gale collections to find some Wonka-related things about which to reminisce – here are just a few of them:
Did you know there was a Smell-o-Vision showing of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at the Boston Children’s Museum in 2007, where fans “forcibly waft[ed] the smells of blueberry pie and banana tapi(ph) over the audience, as well as the scents of dirt, grass and sushi”? WOW, OH WOW.