Josephine Community Libraries: Providing Real Community Value

P1280371By Kate Dwyer

Josephine Community Libraries(JCL) increased its Gale database usage by 230% over previous years. By using public presentations with a ‘how to’ delivery style, JCL’s librarians are able to meet people where they are on topics they care about.

Under the umbrella of The Expanding Opportunities Program, funded by A Library Services and Technology Act, the mission of the program is to increase information literacy in Josephine County, Oregon, in the areas of employability, education, and entrepreneurship. The grant provides a full-time staff member to educate community members about the modern library available at their fingertips.

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Retirees: Learning, Rediscovering…Living the Dream

They’ve worked hard. They’ve raised kids, saved, and made sacrifices. Now, with long-awaited free time, they want to pursue new interests and rediscover old ones. Today’s retirees are keen to make the most of their non-working years.

But the more than 13% of the US population aged 65 or older (and that percentage expected to balloon in the next five years)1is the group least likely to have visited the library in the last year.2Public libraries have their work cut out to serve the needs of this age group. Luckily, Gale has resources that can attract and support seniors’ thirst for discovery.

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Summer Reading Programs and Your Gale Resources

By Anne Nagrant and Vanessa Craig

Summer and reading go hand in hand. From books for the beach to bestselling paperbacks, adults take advantage of longer days and vacation time. Children are encouraged to read for fun and to combat the “summer slide.” Public library summer reading programs provide fun motivation for both adults and young people to read, read, read.

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Kids InfoBits New Content Now Available!

Gale is continually updating and adding new content to ourKids InfoBitsproduct, to be sure your young students are accessing timely, authoritative and useful information that feeds their interest and makes daily classroom learning fun and informative. New content that’s been added during May includes:

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In Context Content Updates

Biography in Context

  • Five new spotlights for May went live on the homepage this week:
    • Legendary American baseball slugger Babe Ruth
    • Journalist and talk show host Julie Chen (Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month — USA)
    • First Lady Michelle Obama, featuring her “Let’s Move” campaign (Physical Fitness and Sports Month — USA)
    • Recently re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
    • The late Robert N. Noyce, co-inventor of the integrated circuit and a co-founder of Intel Corporation (National Inventors Month — USA)
  • Featured Homepage Video: This month’s featured video highlights former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was a five-star general during World War II. It is a nod to VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) on May 8, 1945. This year marks 70 years since the end of the second world war in Europe.
  • Launched 11 new portals including:
    • Aharon Appelfeld, Israeli novelist
    • Ansel Elgort, American actor, who was recently in “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Insurgent”

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Updated AP Tests in the Testing and Education Reference Center (TERC)

To continually enhance alignment with current best practices in college-level learning and help students develop the knowledge and skills essential for college majors and subsequent careers, AP is redesigning several courses in each discipline.

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Keeping It Fresh – Learning Resources for Teachers

Loretta loves teaching sixth grade science. In fact, she’s been teaching for more than 25 years and hopes to stay in theResources for School Teachers at Public Librariesclassroom for another 20 years. Students are drawn to her high energy and creative approach to teaching. But, as she likes to tell her incredulous students, “The Interweb wasn’t even invented when I got my teaching degree!” To keep her skills and knowledge fresh, she reads the latest journals and attends conferences. But she’s always looking for other resources to learn more about new techniques and approaches.

Loretta and many other teachers are on the hunt for professional development resources to support their lifelong learning in the field of education. Now you can provide them with easy-to-use electronic resources that give them instant access to content that will support their professional development.

Consider supporting teachers with resources that can help guide their development and enhance their teaching skills.

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New Gale Courses on QuickBooks, Photoshop, and More

Gale Courses Product Update
Great news forGale Coursescustomers and potential customers. In an effort to be constantly improving our offerings, 8 new courses have been added toGale Courses. In addition to these new courses, the product is sunsetting 5 courses due to obsolescence and/or low enrollments.

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Product Updates: GVRL and Academic OneFile

In the weeks since the April 2 updates to GVRL and Academic OneFile, which included the launch of a responsive, mobile-friendly experience, we’ve received some great feedback. Based on this information, four specific improvements were identified to make the experience even better. As of today, April 30, the following changes are live in your resources: The …Read more