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    February 7th, 2018LISWire aggregatorUncategorized

    California State Library increases funding in Career Online High School to help residents earn a high school diploma

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. and FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – February 7, 2018 – The California State Library is expanding its partnership with Gale, a Cengage company, signing a three-year agreement to continue and broaden its Career Online High School Program, which since 2015 has enabled California public libraries to offer qualified residents the opportunity to earn a free, accredited high school diploma.

    Based on the successes experienced by the 46 library jurisdictions currently participating in Career Online High School, the state of California tripled the amount of funding previously invested, allowing the State Library to purchase an additional 2,603 scholarships to sustain and expand the program.

    “Investing more funds in this program was an easy decision when you look at the life-changing impact it’s had on residents accomplishing their education and career goals, and how public libraries are making that happen,” said Greg Lucas, California’s State Librarian.

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 5.3 million Californians age 18 or older do not have a high school diploma or equivalency[i]. Currently, more than 1,000 adults are enrolled in California’s Career Online High School program and over 400 adults have graduated from the Program through local public libraries.

    View or download the California high school dropout infographic, here: http://bit.ly/2ElG5YC.

    “I wanted to finish high school to set a good example for my children. I also wanted to do it for me,” said Shannon Alvarado, who graduated through Los Angeles Public Library. “This program has given me the tools needed to prepare a resume. It has also made me want to further my education. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to get my high school diploma!”

    With Career Online High School, California residents can:

    • Earn an accredited high school diploma and workforce certificate in one of eight trade areas, ranging from protection officer to customer service to commercial driving.

    • Take classes online, with the flexibility of 24/7 access to classwork, with up to 18 months to complete the program.

    • Be supported by certified instructors and an academic coach to help them succeed.

    • Complete the program sooner by transferring previously earned high school credits.

    • Gain career readiness with a career portfolio including a resume, a cover letter and job preparation support.

    “The success of California’s Career Online High School Program is a great example of how public libraries are empowering learning within the community and changing lives,” said Paul Gazzolo, senior vice president and general manager at Gale. “We applaud the state of California’s investment in public libraries as hubs for community education and economic development. We are honored to be a trusted partner and are thrilled to continue providing their public libraries with educational and career resources to help California residents earn a high school diploma and achieve their dreams.”

    California residents interested in learning more about the program or would like to view the list of libraries that offer the program can visit: http://www.careeronlinehs.gale.com/ca/.

    Gale will be showcasing Career Online High School at the ALA Midwinter Conference in Denver, February 9-12 at the Gale booth #1508.

    About Career Online High School
    Career Online High School was developed in 2012 through a partnership by ed2go, a division of Cengage that provides students with online continuing education and career training, and Smart Horizons Career Online Education in an effort to provide affordable, career-based online education opportunities for the millions of adults in the United States without high school diplomas. In 2014, the program was adapted for the public library market by Gale, a Cengage company.

    About Cengage and Gale
    Cengage is the education and technology company built for learners. The company serves the higher education, K-12, professional, library and workforce training markets worldwide. Gale, a Cengage company, provides libraries with original and curated content, as well as the modern research tools and technology that are crucial in connecting libraries to learning, and learners to libraries. For more than 60 years, Gale has partnered with libraries around the world to empower the discovery of knowledge and insights – where, when, and how people need it. Gale has 500 employees globally with its main operations in Farmington Hills, Michigan. For more information, please visit www.gale.com.

    Follow Gale on:
    • Twitter - @galecengage
    • Gale Blog - http://blog.gale.com/
    • Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/GaleCengage/

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    [i] U.S. Census Bureau, 2012-2016 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

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  • scissors
    February 7th, 2018LISWire aggregatorUncategorized

    DULUTH, Ga., Feb. 6, 2018 -- Equinox is pleased to announce that they have successfully migrated the Huntingdon County Library to Evergreen within the PaILS SPARK Consortium.

    Huntingdon County Library has been serving its community since it was founded in 1935. Their migration at the beginning of January included 5,820 patrons and 41,897 bibliographic records. In addition to the migration, Equinox collaborated with the PaILS SPARK Consortium and Huntingdon County Library to provide deduplication of bibliographic records as well as training, project management and software configuration services.

    "Migrating an ILS system can be very challenging for both library staff and for library patrons,” said Lisa Erickson, Executive Director of the Huntingdon County Library.
    “The staff at Equinox, as well as those at the PaILS SPARK Consortium, have been great to work with. They've helped with training, troubleshooting, and making sure that our system is working exactly as we need it to. They have provided the expertise to handle all of the details that go into a migration.”

    The Pennsylvania Integrated Library System, (PaILS) was founded in June 2011 as a non-profit organization to provide a open source integrated library system. It oversees SPARK, a consortia of Evergreen libraries across Pennsylvania. Equinox and PaILS have been collaborating on the SPARK consortia since 2013.

    "I always enjoy the opportunity to assist with library migrations to SPARK. The Huntington migration was particularly special to me, because it was my first full migration performed on the Web Client. It was a pleasure working with the Huntington staff, and they were the perfect group to work with for this transition to the Web Client,” said Erica Rohlfs, project manager for Equinox.

    About Equinox Open Library Initiative
    Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. is a nonprofit company engaging in literary, charitable, and educational endeavors serving cultural and knowledge institutions. As the successor to Equinox Software, Inc., the Initiative carries forward a decade of service and experience with Evergreen and other open source library software. At Equinox OLI we help you empower your library with open source technologies. To learn more, please visit https://www.equinoxinitiative.org/.

    About Evergreen
    Evergreen is an award-winning ILS developed to provide an open source product able to meet the diverse needs of consortia and high transaction public libraries. However, it has proven to be equally successful in smaller installations including special and academic libraries. Today, over 1500 libraries around the world are using Evergreen including NC Cardinal, SC Lends, and B.C. Sitka. For more information about Evergreen, including a list of all known Evergreen installations, see http://evergreen-ils.org.

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