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Weekly News Digest
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March 19, 2012 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today. For other up-to-the-minute news, check out ITI’s Twitter account: @ITINewsBreaks.
CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.
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Gale Aims to Transform the Online Library Experience With Gateways
Gale, part of Cengage Learning, announced Gale Gateways, an innovative program for public libraries. Designed to represent the unique way in which a community interacts with its public library, Gale Gateways bring together thematic products and services to provide an organized approach to help patrons find and use information. Gale Gateways is designed to help libraries demonstrate their value and worth to their community and is said to be unlike anything else on the market.“With Gale Gateways we wanted to recreate a patron’s in-library browsing experience ‘virtually,’ while also helping library staff better serve their patrons,” said Nader Qaimari, senior vice president, marketing, Cengage Learning. “Gale Gateways does this by bringing library users to an environment where resources can easily be discovered, providing relevance, meaning and transformative power. With Gateways, customers not only receive special pricing on a thematic grouping of online resources and eReference, but also value-add services including Gateway web, marketing and training/programming support.” Web support includes the customizable Gateway web portal tool and search engine optimization. The Gateway portals can be linked from the library’s main website, are easy to configure and can link directly to any library resource—whether it be a Gale resource or not. Customization is a key feature of the portal tool, from content to logos, colors and text, librarians have full control of the Gateway look, as they are the ones that serve the community and know them best. Customers can give their Gateways any name, allowing them to tap into their current library branding if they choose, along with localizing their site with relevant community information. Customized marketing materials, along with a new type of training/programming from Gale’s Customer Education Specialists, will extend the Gateway brand deep within a library community. Library staff training, direct to the public training, as well as templates and tools, will help staff create their own relevant community workshops around Gateway themes. The themes of the first Gateways to be released include Business; Jobs & Career; Health & Wellness; Homework Help; and Home, Hobbies & Entertainment. Gale is working closely with customers to further explore all the possibilities within these first Gateways, as well as other themes to come. Feedback from current customers has been positive. Source: Gale
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Brandi Scardilli
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