public libraries Archives | Page 28 of 35 | Gale Blog: Library & Educator News

Who was Donald Lines Jacobus, and why should you care?

May 23, 2018October 14, 2014

By Joe Garonzik

The Connecticut genealogist, Donald Lines Jacobus (pronounced ja cob’ us), was the founder of the modern school of scientific genealogy and the greatest American genealogist of the 20th century. Jacobus and his protégés taught us how to research and write family histories, how to solve genealogical problems, what sources should be used, how to interpret them, and why we must abandon unsupported findings which, in many instances, were built upon flights of imagination as much as on facts.

Helping students find the right college…and the right path to get there

October 15, 2014October 10, 2014

By Kim Martin
Chance is a hard-working (if sometimes distracted) high school junior. Besides doing homework and working out with the team, he thinks a lot about applying to college – where to apply, what programs to look at, how to evaluate programs, and how to prepare for the upcoming college entrance exams. The amount of information and entry points to finding information can be boggling and overwhelming.

Chance and other students in your community are looking for information that can help them evaluate career options, examine courses of study, and find financial aid. You can provide them with easy-to-use electronic resources that give them instant access to rich information about every aspect of applying to college.

Support your community’s future college graduates now with resources that can help guide important, life-altering decisions and provide them and their families

Washington D.C. Land of Genealogy

May 23, 2018October 8, 2014

By Joe Garonzik

Answer the following questions either True or False:

No genealogical research is ever complete unless it has been authenticated by original source records.
Salt Lake City is not the site of the greatest collection of accessible genealogical records in the U.S.
The National Archives in Washington, D.C. is only one of many genealogy record repositories to be found in the nation’s capital.

If you answered false to any of these statements, you should read on. Why? In the first instance, it is an axiom of genealogy that all family research must ultimately be validated against original sources (or facsimiles of those sources on microfilm, etc.). How else can a researcher ever know that his data wasn’t derived from a mis-copied record, or that a lineage published in a book is simply incorrect?

Rich Genealogy History in Carolina Origins

May 23, 2018October 3, 2014

By Joe Garonzik

In 1663, England’s King Charles II ceded the Carolinas to Anthony Ashley Cooper and seven other proprietors who had supported the Stuarts in ending the Cromwellian Revolution and returning Charles II to the throne. Notwithstanding the 16th-century exploits of Sir Walter Raleigh and legendary Virginia Dare, it was a group of Virginians who established North Carolina’s oldest settlement along the Albemarle Sound in 1653–a full decade before the installation of the Lord Proprietors.

The Crown divided the Carolinas in 1691, although North Carolina would not receive its own governor for another 20 years. British, Huguenot, German and Swiss populated the North Carolina tidewater during the first half of the 18th-century. New Bern, established primarily by Germanic immigrants under the impetus of Christopher de Graffenried, would become the largest city in the colony. Large numbers of Scots Highlanders and Scots-Irish, many by way of the Great Wagon Road through Pennsylvania and into the Shenandoah Valley, populated the western part of the colony. Eighteenth-century North Carolina was also noteworthy for its large Quaker population and for Wachovia, a Moravian settlement in Forsyth County.

Make an Economic Impact on Your Community: The Ripple Effect of a High School Diploma

October 6, 2014September 28, 2014

By Diane Sweetwood

Ana Lopez, 27, currently earns just above the federal minimum wage as a cashier at a local supermarket, making $16,410 per year at $7.89 per hour. She aspires to earn a Child Development Associate certification following her successful graduation from Career Online High School. As an infant/toddler teacher at a local child care center, Ana could see an immediate 50% increase of her annual salary to $24,627 per year, at $11.84 an hour, with potential to earn more than $50,000 if she rises to the Director level.

Posting About More than Books on Social Media

February 26, 2018September 23, 2014

By Vanessa Craig

It’s pretty common for public library Facebook feeds to be heavy on book content. This is great, but when 30% of library users say they know little or nothing about the services their library provides, it’s important to promote digital resources on social media channels too.

Rosanna Johnson, marketing assistant at the Chandler Public Library, has done a stellar job sharing what her library has to offer. Not only has she posted web ads on the library’s Facebook page, but she has also linked eResources to other city events and clubs.

Support local small businesses…and watch them grow!

February 26, 2018September 16, 2014

Public libraries support food truck businesses

By Kim Martin

Jorge, a skilled cook and heir to his parents’ restaurant business, has been watching the fast rise of the food truck business. The time and circumstances seem right for him to expand his business by putting a truck on the road. But he wonders…has the trend already peaked? Is this the right idea to pursue?

Jorge and other small business owners in your community are looking for information that can help them understand market conditions, develop business plans, and make informed decisions to succeed. You can provide them with easy-to-use electronic resources that give them instant access to the same resources that Fortune 500 and other successful businesses use.

Be part of your community’s economic growth by providing entrepreneurs the support, information, and planning tools they need to thrive—including online courses, electronic database resources, and eBooks:

Shifting Perception: Valued for what we do

August 31, 2016September 16, 2014

Edmonton Public Library, 2014 Library of the Year

By Tina Thomas

Libraries have been at a crossroads of existence since I joined the Edmonton Public Library (EPL) five years ago – likely well before that and probably for many more years to come. In his article[1] outlining that “being essential” is not enough to sustain libraries, Rick Anderson highlights that an important thing libraries must do is provide value and a return on investment.

We know that if you ask 1000 people if they believe libraries are important the vast majority will say yes. But we also know that those same people may not know what the modern library does or even use the library themselves.

The challenge is libraries are often valued as an institution or idea, not for the services they provide. And, to Rick’s point, if the lofty idea of “essential” is all libraries have, we likely will be challenged to find support for the work we do in a sea of essential services.

Shifting Perception: Libraries = Education

February 23, 2018September 15, 2014

Frederick Road Howard County Library System

By Valerie J. Gross

There’s a powerful movement afoot and it’s gaining momentum.

Hailed by Library Journal as “a 21st-century library model, with a position, doctrine, purpose, and curriculum worthy of study and consideration by every other library in America, if not the world,” this effective strategy takes libraries back to their original purpose.

At the turn of the 20^th century, libraries were established as educational institutions to deliver equal opportunity in education for everyone. Somehow, a century later, we find ourselves with a diluted purpose—so much so that fully one third of Americans do not know what we do.

Shifting Perception: Why Essentialness is Not the Problem

September 16, 2014September 11, 2014

By Corinne Hill

The fact that the topic of “the essentialness of libraries” is trending right now reveals a completely different issue that has nothing to do with the library being essential.

What this trending topic and ensuing discussions reveal about our profession is that we’re totally insecure. We are frantic in our zeal to be everything to everyone, and we’re so busy and distracted with the gathering of evidence to defend our existence that we forget who we are.