Klaudia Janek, IB Teacher-Librarian, International Academy, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Working in an International Baccalaureate (IB) school, as a school librarian, presents the opportunity to focus on a more global perspective and to have set expectations when it comes to research and information literacy.
Read moreGuest Blog: A school library within a global community
By Frank Menchaca
Library collections are developed with a keen eye towards selection criteria like quality, currency, and relevancy. These are logical considerations for any budget, but especially in today’s landscape, where libraries of all types and sizes are being tasked to make an increasingly greater impact, often with fewer financial resources.
When consulting with our library partners, we discover that oftentimes, currency implies relevancy and older titles, though tried and true, are quickly dismissed.
In the spirit of the old adage, “make new friends, but keep the old,” we’ve asked Frank Menchaca to share his personal perspective on the value of offering a collection which includes these older, but not outdated, research eBooks. Frank is the Senior Vice President of Global Product Management for the Gale, National Geographic Learning, and Professional groups at Cengage Learning.
Read moreA Publishing Executive’s Perspective on the Value of Older Titles
By Harmony Faust
There are several people in my inner circle who regularly and voluntarily consume nothing but fruit, vegetable and plant juices for days at a time. This. Blows. My. Mind. Juice fasting is a practice I’ve been hearing about for years and I still don’t get it.
If I’m being completely honest, the crux of my problem with juice fasting probably lies at the intersection of my natural skepticism and laziness—I don’t have a great track record with activities related to health and fitness.
By Harmony Faust
“Oil whatting?”
If that’s your response to the phrase oil pulling, you are not alone. What is oil pulling and why is everyone buzzing about it? First of all, it turns out that it’s not an alternative to fracking and has nothing to do with the environment. Based on the context clues provided in the various Facebook statuses and Pinterest pins I’d been seeing, I was able to gather it was a health fad of some sort. Not being much of a bandwagoner myself, I kept scrolling.
Read moreTruth Be Told: What is oil pulling and does it work?
By Michelle Eickmeyer
For many of us, Encyclopedia Britannica has long represented the place to go to find information on just about everything. While the look of the book has changed, and how students and your community interact with it have changed, the standard of excellence has not. Founded nearly 250 years ago, Encyclopedia Britannica is still a trusted source of all kinds of information.
By Michelle Eickmeyer
With titles on the GVRL platform since 2007, Elsevier has offered top content in many disciplines including Math & Science, Nursing & Health, and more.
By Michelle Eickmeyer
This week, Gale was proud to announce our partnership with Springer, bringing nearly 3,000 titles dedicated to STEM disciplines to GVRL. The addition of this fantastic content from Springer is a great benefit to academic libraries.
By Harmony Faust
I shared an inside secret with you in our first post and it felt liberating, so I’m going to do it again here. As a representative of a company with 60 years as a leading publisher of reference content, this secret is potentially risky to post, but no less true.
Whew. Okay. Here it goes…
I have heard several of our public libraries partners say…*gasp*…their patrons aren’t asking for reference anymore. That it’s hard to create excitement around reference. In fact, a much-esteemed leader in library land was so bold as to say, to my face, that we do ourselves a disservice by referring to our eBook platform as Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL).
Read moreThe Cat’s out of the Bag. We’re Not Just Reference Anymore.