Librarians Bridge Access and Availability Gaps with Technology

GVRL eBook Success Story

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 theSacramento Public Library, understands this challenge as well as anyone. It’s why she and her colleague Laurie Willis, an Electronic Resources Librarian at theSan 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.

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Educators Embrace Technology to Verify Digital Resource Quality

GVRL eBook Success Story

Lauren Stokes, the Virtual Library Manager at theLas 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 thelibrary’s digital offeringswere 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.

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

GVRL eBook Success Story

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 eBooksare 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.

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New Editions of Foundational Science Encyclopedias are Here!

Science ebooks

By Carrie Stefanski

You’ve seen the headlines: Pluto ISN’T a planet; wait…Pluto IS a planet. From its discovery in 1930 until 2006, Pluto was considered the ninth planet in the solar system. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decided that Pluto was not in fact a planet, and changed its designation to “dwarf planet.” [1]

With constant change and discovery in the field of science, it’s important to keep your eBooks up-to-date for patrons seeking scientific resources. Today’s students and thinkers require resources that reflect the latest developments and findings.

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Topic Finder: Helping Users Search to Research

Topic Finder Search

As of October 31, Term Clusters has evolved into Topic Finder inGale Artemis: Literary Sources,Literature Criticism Online,Something About the Author Online, andDictionary of Literary Biography Complete Onlineand all periodical resources such as:

• Academic OneFile
• Fine Arts & Music Collection
• Gardening, Landscape & Horticulture Collection
• Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Life & Issues Collection
• General Business File ASAP
• General OneFile

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Partner Interview: IGI Global

Get 20% any title from IGI Global onGVRL! Offer valid through December 31, 2014 is good on any title from Cyber Tech Publishing, Idea Group Inc, IGI Global, Information Science Publishing, Information Science Reference, IRM Press, or Medical Information Science Reference. Please contact your Gale Sales Representative for details or to place an order!

In this post, Nick Newcomer, Director of Marketing and Design at IGI Global, provides some background about the company, their publishing strategy, and why their titles onGVRLare valuable to your library.

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Sexiest eBooks alive…or at least the most popular

iPad reading

Stealing a page fromPeople Magazine’spopular annual feature, we thought you may be interested to know what’s hot in the world of eBooks. I mean, there’s no Adam Levine or Johnny Depp here, but you’ll find a listing of fascinating and informative resources that are in high demand across the country.Nearlyas exciting.

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Guest Blog: A school library within a global community

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.

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A Publishing Executive’s Perspective on the Value of Older Titles

Relevancy in older book titles

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.

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Truth Be Told: 5 Fast Facts about Juice Fasting

juicing library resources

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.

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