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

Impact of High School Diploma

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.

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Posting About More than Books on Social Media

Social Media

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.

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Support local small businesses…and watch them grow!

Public libraries support food truck businesses

By Kim Martin

Resources for the Small Business OwnerJorge, 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:

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Shifting Perception: Valued for what we do

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.

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Shifting Perception: Libraries = Education

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 20th 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.

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Highlights and Notes tool coming to Gale’s digital resources

We all know the rules – don’t take notes in your textbooks and don’t write in books you’ve checked out from the library, or else you might face a fine.

As eBooks and digital resources have become more and more popular, a similar problem has presented itself: how can a user easily take notes without opening a separate program? Gale has found the solution with our new Highlights and Notes tool, scheduled to launch on or around Tuesday, September 30, in Artemis Literary Sources, GVRL, In Context*, InfoTrac, Kids InfoBits, Literature Resource Center, LitFinder, and PowerSearch.

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New Customer Data Upload Feature for DemographicsNow! Business and People

DemographicsNow Public Library Business Resource

Now, business researchers and  small business owners can be even savvier with more customer knowledge.  A new feature within DemographicsNow! gives your users the ability to upload their customer or business data and blend it with rich consumer information, like demographics, psychographics, and Experian consumer segments!

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Gale Artemis: Literary Sources gives you more with cross-searching

Artemis Literary Sources

Did you hear the news? Gale Artemis: Literary Sources is taking another step towards helping you get the literary information you need when you need it with the additions of Something About the Author and Dictionary of Literary Biography! If you have these series, you’ll now be able to cross-search with other incredible literary sources like Twayne’s Authors Online, Scribner Writers Online, Literature Criticism Online, and more.

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Book v. movie: who told it best? Compare with blockbuster titles (in large print)

Did you know that Hitchcock’s epic The Birds was based on a Daphne du Maurier short story?  Hollywood loves a good story.

Read moreBook v. movie: who told it best? Compare with blockbuster titles (in large print)