research matters Archives | Page 2 of 2 | Gale Blog: Library & Educator News

Librarians Overcome Distance and Tradition with GVRL eBooks

March 12, 2015March 9, 2015

Terry Beck, the Information Services Manager for Sno-Isle Libraries north of Seattle, knows firsthand how to deal with logistical nightmares. Beck is responsible for serving approximately 697,000 people in two counties across 21 community libraries. To complicate matters further, Beck lacks a central or main library location from which to work and was quickly running out of room for reference materials.

“We don’t have one great big place,” Beck bemoaned. “We knew we needed to grow our reference collection but we had no room for additional print materials.”

Posters, Social Media Images, Widgets, and More to Promote eBooks

June 11, 2018January 6, 2015

Research Matters. And how you share that message to promote GVRL eBooks matters, too. We’ve created a number of tools to help you promote your library’s GVRL collection to your community. Feel free to download, order, print, distribute, and modify to meet your needs.

Posters
We focused the poster series on some of the most common eBook content. Each poster is available in two sizes 8.5″ x 11″ and 12″ x 18″. Click the thumbnails to enlarge and print yourself. Or, order and customize in Gale Promo!

Health
Cooking
Teen Issues

Librarians Bridge Access and Availability Gaps with Technology

December 31, 2014

Part of any librarian’s job is to provide access to information people may not immediately know they need, exists, or is accessible. Amy Calhoun, Virtual Branch Coordinator at the Sacramento Public Library, understands this challenge as well as anyone. It’s why she and her colleague Laurie Willis, an Electronic Resources Librarian at the San Jose Public Library, both set out to find a solution designed to ensure people would have access to information when and where it was needed.

“It just made sense to expand our offerings,” Calhoun said. Expanding her library’s science related content and making sure the information was current quickly became a priority.

Educators Embrace Technology to Verify Digital Resource Quality

February 26, 2018December 31, 2014

Lauren Stokes, the Virtual Library Manager at the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, often envisions customers in their bedtime pajamas. “I want them to be nice and comfortable,” Stokes joked. Stokes has good reason to picture users in this manner. It’s her job to ensure the 1.2 million people served by the 25 libraries in her county not only have access to but are using the district’s investment of digital resources.

To accomplish her goal, Stokes first had to convince educators and customers the library’s digital offerings were of the same quality as its print collection. “It just didn’t seem to click that it’s the same content whether you’re looking at it online or on a piece of paper,” Stokes said.

Aurora Public Library Encourages Staff and Patrons to “Think Gale”

December 31, 2014December 29, 2014

Public libraries play an important role in their communities, and they take their roles seriously. Case in point: Aurora Public Library (Aurora) in Illinois, which is dedicated to “supporting lifelong learning and access to information, knowledge, and ideas.” That’s no small task. Fortunately, GVRL eBooks are front and center in helping Aurora achieve its goals — offering patrons easy, quick access to informational resources covering the spectrum of subject areas, even when they’re not at the library.

Reference Specialist Sue Kovacs runs two reference desks at the Aurora’s main branch, where she’s responsible for buying all reference materials and keeping them updated and relevant. When Sue began working at the library in 2009, she saw that community dynamics were changing. “Most people didn’t want to have to come downtown to look at a reference collection. I evaluated our Gale products as well as the available alternatives.