public library

Library Data Has Never Looked This Good

| By Leigh Ann Cusack, Senior Director of Product, Public & Consortia | Public libraries inspire us at Gale every day, and we have been focused on delivering data-driven ways to help them reach and engage their communities more effectively. So, after months of development and countless hours of conceptualizing, testing, and feedback from public … Read more

The Link between Empathy and Adversity

| By Andrea Drouillard | “You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity.”  This quote by J. K. Rowling rings true for me.  I firmly believe that true empathy cannot exist without experiencing hardship.  Facing adversity head on is a way of life for … Read more

To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before*

| By Traci Cothran | The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI currently has an exhibit on Star Trek; since I watched this show all the time growing up, I checked it out and brought a few tribbles with me, too.  It was a good exhibit – featuring original costumes and props (phasers! scanners!) along … Read more

Research for a Great Debate

| By Beth Manar, Senior Content Developer, Gale | A debate is defined as a discussion, generally in a formal setting, in which two sides present opposing views on a topic. Debates have been recorded in history for millennia, and various debates have been labeled Great Debates over time, covering a wide variety of topics … Read more

Rossland Public Library Encourages Access to Gale Courses

| By Gale Staff | Whether you’re looking for college-level, professional development, or personal enrichment courses, Rossland Public Library now offers hundreds of online courses through Gale Courses. Gale Courses, a 24/7 learning solution featuring more than 360 instructor-led online courses, focuses on personal growth and professional development. Six-week courses in language learning, accounting, computer … Read more

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

| By Traci Cothran |

How wonderful is it that following the release of the movie “Hidden Figures,” the stories of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson are now known by millions?  Their collective story is an impressive and important one, yet it’s a part of our history that’s been concealed for decades.

What other significant contributions by women are also shielded from view?  It’s a joy to uncover these gems, and allow them to inspire other women and girls today.  To me, that’s what Women’s History Month is all about—shining a light on the often overlooked contributions made by women throughout history.

Here are just a few, randomly chosen women from today and yesterday whose work and lives are notable.  You’ll find them all in Biography In Context, among other Gale resources.  As you read about them, you’re bound to discover other interesting women, too!

Maria Tallchief – (1925-2013) Tallchief was the first American-born woman to achieve prima ballerina status at a major dance company; she was also a member of the Osage Nation.  She’s featured this month in Research In Context.

Zora Neale Hurston – (1891-1960) A writer and major figure in the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston is a favorite of mine, for both her wonderful writing and her ability to live an unconventional life for women of her era.

Read moreWOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

An Inside Look at ChiltonLibrary and Car Care Programming Ideas

| By Holly Hibner | Here in Michigan, we take our automobiles pretty seriously; it is very common for laypeople to perform routine maintenance and basic repairs on their own vehicles. My husband wouldn’t dream of paying for an oil change or a tire rotation! But when both got new vehicles in 2016, general maintenance wasn’t as easy … Read more

A Christmas Carol: Keynesian, Freudian, and Spiritualist Perspectives on a Holiday Classic

| By Gale Staff |

Most think of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843) as the heartwarming story of how a coldhearted miser turns from his ruthless and greedy ways to a life of charity and joy, embracing love and egalitarianism as a reflection of the Christmas spirit. Some scholars, however, would argue that such a reading gets it wrong. The novella, which receives thorough treatment in the digital collections of Gale Literary Sources, has been the subject of unexpected interpretations by critics who seek to illuminate its author, contextualize its composition, and explicate its allegorical content.

Read moreA Christmas Carol: Keynesian, Freudian, and Spiritualist Perspectives on a Holiday Classic

Writing on the Día de Muertos

| By Gale Staff | Día de Muertos, Day of the Dead, is observed in Mexico on 2 November, the final day of a celebration that begins on Halloween. Though practices differ from city to city, the holiday is generally an opportunity to honor deceased loved ones, for whom families prepare ofrendas, or altars, which … Read more

Write It Down

| By Charlie Close | I want to talk about the virtues of technical recordkeeping. Seriously. In my work at Gale as a data scientist, I turn our various data sets into metrics, and use the metrics to infer how to make better products and more sales. These inferences are usually expressed in the form … Read more