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    June 21st, 2019LISWire aggregatorUncategorized

    EBSCO Information Services Announces 2019 EBSCO Solar Grant Winners
    ~ Grants Provide Three $100,000 Grants for Libraries to Install Solar Arrays ~

    IPSWICH, Mass. — June 21, 2019 — EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) has announced its three 2019 EBSCO Solar Grant Winners. Hedgesville Public Library in Hedgesville, West Virginia; New Port Richey Public Library in New Port Richey, Florida; and Medicine Hat College in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, will each receive $100,000 to pay for the installation of a solar array. The grants offset the cost of installing solar panels and allow libraries to reduce their electricity expenditures.

    Hedgesville Public Library in Hedgesville, West Virginia, is part of Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Libraries, whose mission is to enhance the lives of county residents. The Hedgesville Public Library is the center of its community and is a common space where citizens without Wi-Fi in their homes (25 percent) can gain access to internet services, as well as print and digital materials.

    Hedgesville Public Library will install solar panels on its roof to demonstrate an alternate energy solution. The money saved by the installation will free up library funds to provide additional materials, programming and services for the entire Berkeley County community. Hedgesville Public Library Director Gretchen Fry says, “The Hedgesville Branch of the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Library system is excited to be the beneficiary of the EBSCO Solar grant. This grant will enhance the ability of our libraries to provide excellent library service to the Berkeley County community by reducing our electric bill, utilizing sustainable energy.”

    New Port Richey Public Library (NPRPL) in New Port Richey, Florida, has a mission to transform lives with a curriculum that improves literacy, engages community, advances knowledge and sparks creative expression. Known as “the jewel in the crown of the city,” the NPRPL is a forerunner when it comes to library technology. NPRPL has also made it a goal to bring communities together with an aim of providing access to nutrient-rich food from its organic gardens.

    The NPRPL is approaching its centennial anniversary and is looking to rebrand and renovate as a green library. Its goal is to communicate the importance of sustainability to residents and surrounding communities. Andi Figart, Library Director, says, “The NPR Public Library extends beyond the physical walls of a building by including incredible digital materials and databases, such as EBSCO. Libraries are repositories of endless knowledge and information where users enrich themselves through self-education. What better way to impart environmental education and awareness than in an eco-friendly environment created by a green library?”

    Medicine Hat College in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, has recently embarked on several innovation projects in the renewable energy sector with the intent of providing students, faculty and the community an opportunity to learn about emerging technologies. Currently, the post-secondary institution has a micro grid at its Medicine Hat campus that includes an electric vehicle charging station, solar panels and wind turbines. Recognizing the growing opportunity in this industry, the college is providing learners a chance to broaden their skills, so they are prepared for tomorrow’s workplace. The EBSCO grant will allow Medicine Hat College to expand its investment and continue its research into renewables at the Brooks campus.

    The EBSCO Solar grant will provide the college an opportunity to showcase a creative and functional solar ‘garden’ that will educate students, residents and businesses in the region on how to effectively implement the use of alternative resources. The project will be incorporated into the natural landscape with the help of Built Environment Engineering Technologies and Trades students. Jason Openo, Director of Teaching and Learning at Medicine Hat College Library, says, “I am most excited about the opportunity this grant provides to our Built Environment Engineering students, who will have an authentic learning experience in designing and constructing for the library a beautiful, solar-powered classroom and community space. This literally equips them with the skills necessary to build a new future for our community and our province.”

    About EBSCO Information Services
    EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 11,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals and books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 1,000,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries, Inc., a family-owned company since 1944.
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    For more information, please contact:
    Kathleen McEvoy
    Vice President of Communications
    (800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
    kmcevoy@ebsco.com

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    June 20th, 2019LISWire aggregatorUncategorized

    WHAT: Gale, a Cengage company, will be previewing Gale In Context: For Educators, a new product and addition to our Gale In Context suite. This new resource makes it easy for educators to curate classroom curriculum with content sourced from their Gale In Context student databases that is aligned to state and national standards and complemented by exclusive plans to guide lessons, activities and projects. A specialized toolset allows educators to organize, customize and personalize resources independently, share with colleagues or work collaboratively to build engaging classroom materials for a rich learning environment. ALA Annual and ISTE attendees will get a sneak preview of this new innovative technology that will be available this Fall.

    WHY: Gale puts learners first and believes that supporting student success means empowering educators. Gale In Context: For Educators is a unique product in the market, leveraging the expansive, media-rich digital learning resources of the Gale In Context suite with the technology, tools and instructional support educators need to use those resources to supplement their classroom curriculum.

    WHEN: ALA Annual: June 21-24, 2019; ISTE Conference: June 23-26, 2019

    WHERE: ALA Annual Conference, Booth #805, Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington D.C.; ISTE Conference, Booth #2216, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA

    To learn more, visit the Gale In Context: For Educators webpage: http://bit.ly/2WNc3SI.

    NOTE TO REPORTERS: If you would like to schedule a one-on-one meeting with Gale at either of these conferences or by phone, please reach out to: Kayla Siefker, 248-915-9624, kayla.siefker@cengage.com.

    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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    June 19th, 2019LISWire aggregatorUncategorized

    Chronicles the History and Evolution of America’s Public Health Systems

    FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – June 19, 2019 – Gale, a Cengage company, is introducing the first installment of its new Public Health Archives series. Public Health in Modern America, 1890-1970 examines the history of America’s public health systems and policy debates during the 20th century. This digital collection provides scholars and researchers access to thousands of rare and unique resources that explore the evolution of health care in the United States from the turn of the century well into the 1960s, highlighting the critical impact of public health policy on the American experience. Read Gale’s blog about this new archive, here: http://bit.ly/2InTiBo.

    Gale created Public Health in Modern America to address the lack of narratively focused content on the social, economic and public policy aspects of America’s public health history. While many digitized medical history collections exist, only Public Health in Modern America provides scholarly access to historical primary sources that unveil the “behind-the-scenes” story of America’s public health history, linking the immediate past with the current state of affairs as the fight over the future of America’s public health care continues.

    Public Health in Modern America chronicles the many public health concerns that arose starting in the late 19th century and the responses of public and private sectors in the United States through correspondence, reports, pamphlets, ephemera, surveys, policy statements, press releases and so much more. It documents the evolution of public health legislation, policies and campaigns at local, national and federal levels, opening a window for researchers onto the roles played by key organizations and individuals to advance public health practices and outcomes.

    This archive is especially informative on the effects of 20th century urbanization and industrialization, the rise of public health advocacy and the impact of medical legislation at various levels. It also examines the transformation of domestic life and the state’s evolving role in caring for citizens of differing ethnicities, races, genders, ages, abilities and classes. This collection provides vital and often rare information on the organizing and financing of public health policy initiatives for children and the elderly, with the use of home care services, since they're now accepting new franchises in the home care businesses.

    Public Health in Modern America includes collections and contributions from:

    New York Academy of Medicine:

    • The Library of Social and Economic Aspects of Medicine from Michael M. Davis: a unique collection of materials reflecting the work over nearly 50 years of a leading behind-the-scenes advocate in the fight for a national health care plan.

    • The Committee on Public Health of the New York Academy of Medicine – Correspondence, Reports and Documents: the documentary record of a key advisory group to the public health department of America’s most populous city, often serving as a national and international data bank for public health professionals associated with this committee.

    • Selected Publications on Public Health from the New York Academy of Medicine: more than 2,200 never-before-digitized rare pamphlets from the late 19th century to the end of the 1960s, documenting a vast array of public health issues and addressed to a variety of popular and professional audiences.

    National Archives Records Administration:

    • Records of the Children's Bureau – Maternal and Child Health, 1912-1969: A collection of critical materials reflecting the public health efforts of this vital U.S. federal agency.

    “Healthcare remains one of the central issues of the coming 2020 elections,” said Seth Cayley, vice president of Gale Primary Sources. “Public Health in Modern America places today's debates around universal coverage, abortion rights, the opioid epidemic and other public health issues into their historical context. With this unique archive, researchers will have access to thousands of documents that explain the critical role of public health policy in American life.”

    To provide a better research experience, Public Health in Modern America has been integrated into Gale’s Digital Scholar Lab. This integration allows researchers to apply natural language processing tools to raw text data (OCR) from the collections or Gale Primary Sources archives and perform textual analysis on large corpora of historical texts. Now researchers can analyze and explore historical text more interactively, generating new research insights not previously possible.

    Public Health in Modern America offers:

    • access to thousands of pages of unique and rare content, making it the most comprehensive resource of its kind for the study of public health in America.

    • cross-searching and textual analysis with Gale’s Digital Scholar Lab and Gale Primary Sources, opening new research opportunities.

    Public Health in Modern America is complementary to Gale’s American Civil Liberties Union Papers: Southern Regional Office and Archives of Sexuality and Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture collections to support the study of 20th century North American history through hard-to-access primary sources.

    Gale will showcase Public Health in Modern America at the ALA Annual Conference, June 21-24 in Washington D.C. at the Gale booth #805.

    To request a trial, visit the Public Health in Modern America webpage: http://bit.ly/2MUYYXL.

    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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    June 19th, 2019LISWire aggregatorUncategorized

    Enhancements Increase Access to Library Resources Online and In the Classroom Through New User-Preferred Design

    FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – June 19, 2019 – Gale, a Cengage company, is making enhancements across its portfolio of products, improving the functionality and user experience of its research tools to make its content more discoverable. Now libraries and researchers have superior access to high-quality authoritative content online and in the classroom, delivering better research outcomes for user success.

    Developed based on 18 months of user testing and feedback from customers and students, these updates support Gale product users at every step in their journey with new, user-driven features that promote exploration and discovery—all within a consistent platform experience.

    Google and learning management systems are the top starting points for students conducting research today, making it more critical than ever to meet users where they are with credible library resources. Gale is laser-focused on connecting libraries to where research and learning is happening by embedding the library more effectively into user workflow.

    “Gale is committed to making our products universally accessible, discoverable and intuitive to users at any skill level,” said Paul Gazzolo, senior vice president and general manager at Gale. “These new enhancements introduce a more consistent experience across products, increasing user confidence and success as they grow up through and navigate across Gale resources.”

    Gale’s product portfolio enhancements include:

    • Enhanced User Experience: helps users identify content relevant to their needs, encouraging critical evaluation and selection, delivering an engaging experience that allows quick access to search tools and relevant content, fostering digital literacy. The unified experience is delivered via a sleek, modern design, helping users successfully orient within Gale products. This means less time learning how to use a product and more time developing critical-thinking skills.

    • Smarter Search Results: highlights important evaluative information to support successful user outcomes and helps users discover relevant content with new features like:

    o The Explorer Panel: highlights “More Like This” document recommendations and other supporting information that users value without detracting from the reading experience.

    o Topic Finder: now given more prominence, encouraging further exploration and discovery of content.

    • User-Preferred Interface: described by nearly 800 students as “innovative and eye-catching.” Students preferred it over competitor interfaces based on the graphics and imagery, color scheme, layout and overall design. Additionally, students are three times more likely to recall the name of resources, driving return usage for libraries.

    • Enhanced Accessibility Features:

    o Sticky Toolbar: scrolls with users as they read and maintains easy access to valuable research aides like Citation Tools, Highlights and Notes, and integration with Google and Microsoft.

    o Adjustable Text Size: allows users to change the text size of the document for increased visibility. The text size persists throughout the user’s session.

    o Improved Readability: use of larger default font sizes, sans serif fonts, optimized screen width and optimal contrast ratios facilitate a better experience when reading on screen.

    Comments from Gale customers and students about the enhancements include:

    “I would switch my institution to the new design today… it's a much more end-user friendly and intuitive experience.”

    “The [new] screen looks more like what students expect… It is a smoother transition, so students don't get a jarring disconnect in their research flow.”

    “The design is cleaner and more modern, which students are more familiar with. I think they would be able to find information easier. Also, the filters and related terms will help students narrow and/or expand their searches, which is a common weakness in their research skills.”

    “I like the way the tools are less dominant but still easily accessible… The color scheme is easy on the eyes. That's a big deal for people doing a lot of reading.”

    Gale will showcase these enhancements at the ALA Annual Conference, June 21-24 in Washington D.C. at the Gale booth #805.

    For more information visit: www.gale.com/product-enhancements.

    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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    June 17th, 2019LISWire aggregatorUncategorized

    Duluth, Ga., June 17, 2019: Equinox is honored to announce its first in-kind grant, the Equinox Open Source Grant. The program provides hosting and support of Koha, the first open source Integrated Library System to be used worldwide, to successful grantees.

    The first cycle of the grant will begin accepting applications August 26, 2019. The program is designed to provide access to a modern, online library catalog to non-profit and governmental organizations that possess a library but do not have the financial and technological resources to contract for commercial services.

    “Providing sustainable technology options to libraries is at the heart of what we do,” said Mike Rylander, president and founder of Equinox. “Open source technology provides insulation against financial challenges in addition to placing libraries in the driver’s seat when it comes to innovation. It is our vision that every community, regardless of size or funding, should benefit from a thriving and accessible library.”

    Successful applicant libraries will gain Koha hosting in addition to training and access to Equinox’s video library. The program also encompasses consulting time for software configuration. As part of the grant Equinox will provide basic support. At the end of the program applicants have the option to renew as long as they meet the requirements of the grant.

    To apply for the program grantees must: be a U.S. 501(c)3 organization or a U.S. federal, state, or local governmental entity, have a library or archives collection that is no larger than 50,000 items, and do not have the financial resources to pay for full commercial library catalog services or the ability to host a system in-house.

    Full application details and submission information will be released later this summer. Follow Equinox Open Library on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for the latest updates.

    About Equinox Open Library Initiative
    Equinox Open Library Initiative Inc. is a 501(c)3 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 Koha
    Created in 1999 by Katipo Communications for the Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand, Koha is the first open source Integrated Library System to be used worldwide. The software is a full-featured ILS with a dual-database design (search engine and RDBMS) built to be compliant with library standards. Koha’s OPAC, staff, and self-checkout interfaces are all web applications. Distributed under the General Public License (GPL), libraries are free to use and install Koha themselves or to purchase support and development services. For more information on Koha, please visit https://koha-community.org.

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