Thank you for your interest and readership! Your next issue will arrive in early February. Have ideas for expanding and improving this publication? Send us an email.
ELIBRARY & PROQUEST I&L UPDATES
Our product development team is constantly reviewing customer feedback and making changes to our learning resources to meet your needs. Several updates to our eLibrary family of products were recently completed, and we wanted to bring them to your attention.
A librarian’s greatest challenge today is to expand the information literacy culture of teaching and learning in their school. Success in this venture will be based on motivating, collaborating with, and supporting teachers in creating engaging research assignments.
Ultimately, it is the teacher who decides whether or not to make the assignments that require the use of library resources and the expertise of the librarian.
ProQuest can help in this endeavor! Our team has created a collection of more than 210 professional BookCarts that support teacher and student research needs across the curriculum, and at all levels of learning. This standards-based collection is yours to copy in less than five minutes and then and share with your teachers and school leaders.
For a list of the 210 ProQuest BookCarts, connect here.
For instructions on how to copy these BookCarts to your collection, view our new audio demonstration. (Flash is required. Be sure to turn up the volume on your computer.)
For curriculum guides to help teachers to use the BookCarts effectively and create their own when they are ready, click here.
Teachers like BookCarts because they help manage research activities, save classroom and library time, and ensure the relevance and quality of learning resources. Students like BookCarts because they save time and ensure relevance. Librarians like BookCarts because students must search and use critical thinking to decide which (among more than 25 resources in each BookCart) are the best to use.
One of the most useful features of your ProQuest digital learning resource is the ability to track down resources specifically suited to your students based on Lexile score.
The Lexile Framework for Reading is a scientific approach to measuring text difficulty and reading ability, putting both texts and readers on the same scale to accurately match readers to texts. The Lexile scale ranges from 200 for a beginning reader to 1700 for advanced texts. Both the Lexile measure and Lexile scale are integral parts of the Lexile Framework. Lexile searching is available within our eLibrary and SIRS resources.
Keep in mind that all major standardized reading tests and many popular instructional reading programs can report student reading scores in Lexiles. The Lexile measure then allows you to match those readers with books or articles at the same Lexile measure with the confidence that students will find the text appropriately challenging. The Lexile measure can be used both to promote reading progress and to assign the right level of reading materials in other curriculum areas.
Find out more about Lexiles and how the can enhance your research experience and curriculum by reviewing two new PowerPoint presentations. One contains a broad overview of Lexiles, while the second focuses on Lexiles within eLibrary.
GET TRAINED AND WIN!
Now there's another reason to check out our top-quality, free online training offerings! When you sign up for and attend an online training course in December, you’ll be automatically entered into a drawing for a CultureGrams™ print set--a $130 value. Find out more below, and sign up today.
Our ProQuest product trainers are standing by to help you get the most out of your resources--and learn more about our other digital learning resources! We offer a wide variety of online training sessions each month. You can download three ready-to-print versions of forthcoming training dates and times in PDF format.
Our training sessions cover after-school hours within several time zones. Best of all, there's no cost to participate. All you need is a computer with Internet access, a phone, and one hour. Register for a course today!
You may also sign up for a new enewsletter to receive training dates each month via email as soon as they're available.
Finally, don’t miss our new Training Center! You’ll find information about our online and in-person training offerings, along with training packs for use with our full line of learning resources, and more.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
ProQuest now offers a new on-site, full-day professional development program designed to train teachers to integrate digital information literacy with learning standards. Visit our Training Center to retrieve a syllabus and request additional information about this CEU-eligible program.
CULTUREGRAMS™ IN FOCUS: CANADA
Have you heard about CultureGrams, one of our newest products?
CultureGrams can help you broaden your students' understanding of the world and its peoples. The World Edition includes 182 country profiles, written for junior high students and older. CultureGrams also has a Kids Edition and a States Edition, geared for upper elementary students. These editions include kid-friendly profiles of 66 countries and all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.
CultureGrams go beyond mere facts and figures to deliver an insider's perspective on daily life and culture, including the history, customs, and lifestyles of the world's people. This month we highlight Canada:
Country: Canada
+ Capital City: Ottawa
+ Population: 31,413,990
+ Area: 3,851,788 square miles (9,976,085 sq km)
+ Real GDP per capita: $27,130
+ Adult literacy rate: 99% (male), 99% (female)
+ Infant mortality: 5 per 1,000 births
+ Life expectancy: 77 (male), 82 (female)
Did You Know?
Canada borders three oceans: the Atlantic to the east, the Pacific to the west, and the Arctic to the north.
However, Canada borders only one other country: the United States. The Canadian-U.S. border is the longest undefended border in the world.
The Canadian $1 coin is called “the Loonie” because it has a waterbird (loon) printed on it. Likewise, the two-dollar coin is called the twoonie.
Language
English and French are official languages in Canada. English dominates in most of the Atlantic region and in the Western Provinces. However, French is the first language of nearly 80 percent of residents of Québec and is used almost exclusively in some areas. It is also spoken by about a third of the population of New Brunswick. The nationwide demand for people who speak both official languages has prompted many school districts to offer French-immersion programs for English-speaking students.
Recreation
Canada has two national sports: ice hockey during the winter and lacrosse during the summer. Canadians also enjoy fishing, hunting, golf, soccer, cycling, baseball, and bowling. Popular spectator sports include college football, basketball, and curling. Curling gets more international attention during the Olympics. It involves two four-person teams sliding a large stone with a gooseneck handle over ice toward a target.
Holidays
Official Canadian holidays include New Year's Day, Easter, Victoria Day (which celebrates the birthday of British Queen Victoria on the third Monday in May), Canada Day (July 1), Labour Day (first Monday in September), Thanksgiving Day (second Monday in October), Remembrance Day (Nov. 11), Christmas, and Boxing Day (Dec. 26).
Holidays unique to Québec include the Carnaval de Québec, a two-week period in February filled with activities (although normal working hours prevail), and Québec's national holiday, which is distinct from Canada Day, called St. Jean-Baptiste Day (June 24). Also, French-speakers spend Victoria Day celebrating Dollard Des Ormeaux, a provincial battle hero in Québec. During the autumn maple-syrup season, maple farms known as cabanes à sucre (sugar cabins) serve as party centers and restaurants, serving food along with the latest maple harvest.
Economy
Canada has one of the strongest economies in the world. It is a leader in the production of gold, silver, copper, uranium, oil, natural gas, agriculture, wood pulp, and timber-related products. In 1993, Canada signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and the United States. NAFTA provides for freer movement of capital and goods, more cross-national investment, and a large market for many goods from each NAFTA country.
You may also take a virtual tour of CultureGrams with our new multimedia demo. Be sure to turn up the volume on your computer.
SAVE ON SIRS ENDURING ISSUES™
Great news! SIRS Enduring Issues 2005 eight-volume print series is now available! Place your order now to ensure shipment before January.
Each volume comprises 80 relevant full-text, indexed articles. The affordable eight-volume collection can readily be shelved in any library. Best of all, as a subscriber to our general reference databases, you may be eligible for a 25% discount off the 8-volume set.
2005 Version Offer: Customers with current SIRS Researcher, eLibrary, and/or ProQuest general reference licenses receive 25% off SIRS Enduring Issues for use at the same site -- that's a $200 savings off the regular list price of $795.
2004 Version Offer: While supplies last, we're offering the complete 2004 version for 50% off -- just $375!
Both offers include shipping costs included to points within U.S. and Canada. Please add applicablee sales tax.
Don't miss out! Find out more about Enduring Issues by taking our online tour, then sign up for a free trial to get example articles and more.
Contact ProQuest Customer Service with any questions at 1-800-521-0600, ext. 2873, within the U.S. and Canada, or via email at core_service@il.proquest.com.
MINI-RESEARCH CLASSROOM ACTIVITY
December and January provide a wealth of holiday celebrations both here in the U.S. and around the world. As the population of our country becomes more diverse, our schools have the responsibility to teach students about holiday celebrations that have their origins in other countries and cultures to help promote greater understanding and cooperation.
ProQuest has created a BookCart of resources that can be used by students to research these holidays and discover their historical roots and learn what they have in common. The BookCart focuses on resources for Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Islamic holy days, the Winter Solstice, and the Chinese New Year. For most students, comparing Christmas with one of these other celebrations would help foster understanding. Discovering similarities and differences in historical roots, ceremonies, dress, ornamentation, food, timing, will provide an activity that will be engaging and also help to build essential reading, writing, and critical thinking, and information literacy skills.
To access and copy the BookCart to your local collection, logon on to the Teacher Edition of eLibrary.
Click BookCart Admin, type Winter Holidays in the Title box, and enter PQ BookCart in the Author box. Click the Search button.
Check the Select box next to the title of the BookCart. Click the Copy button, then click the back to link. Your new BookCart is now part of your local BookCart collection and ready for students to use.
TOP 3 WEBSITES
Each month, our SKS WebSelect™ and Discoverer WebFind™ editorial teams scour the Internet for top-quality sites that help teachers teach and students learn. Although no Internet site can supplant a quality research database, these vetted resources offer unique resources that are sure to be of interest.
"Christmas wasn't always celebrated the way it is today. In fact, the Puritans of Massachusetts banned any observance of Christmas, and anyone caught observing the holiday had to pay a fine." (HERBERT HOOVER MUSEUM) This site reviews the history of Christmas in the United States from 1840 to the present, concentrating on Christmas trees but also discussing the general Christmas tradition.
"How have wars shaped the nation's history and transformed American society from the 1750s to the 21st century? This site examines the reality of war and its integral role in U.S. history through multimedia presentations and hundreds of artifacts from the military history collections. Experience the impact of war on the men and women who serve their country, as well as on their families and communities. A powerful search tool provides access to battle flags, firearms, swords, uniforms, medals, soldiers' equipment and more. See George Washington's camp chest and sword, a reassembled Huey Helicopter that was deployed to Vietnam, and more. Interactive learning resources and a timeline are also featured on the site." (NMAH)
Watch videos and view Macromedia Flash presentations about the animals of the Woodland Park Zoo. Featured animals include the brown bear, the komodo dragon, the kookaburra, the tapir and the snow leopard.
CALL FOR USER TESTIMONIALS
What features of eLibrary do you and your students find the most useful? Have you recently used or are planning to use eLibrary as part of an assignment or student research project? How do you and other curriculum leaders in your institution use your ProQuest educational resources?
Share your experiences with peers working in schools across the country and around the world--through an upcoming Product News Bulletin! We're waiting to hear from you. Please send your ideas and stories to: tim.mclain@il.proquest.com
If we choose your submission, we'll contact you for additional information and permission to use your story in a future issue.
FORWARD TO A COLLEAGUE + EMAIL SERVICE INFORMATION
Increase the usage of your digital learning resources! Our forward to a friend service makes it easy to instantly send this product bulletin -- and all the great ideas and information it contains -- to others in your subscribing institution with a click of your mouse.
Also, be sure to encourage them to sign up for our SIRS®, CultureGrams™, ProQuest®, ProQuest Historical Newspapers™, eLibrary®, eLibrary Curriculum Edition™, and additional enewsletters as appropriate.
To subscribe to any or all of these offerings, click here.
To change your email address, unsubscribe, or modify your subscription settings, click here.
ProQuest offers a growing family of K-12 classroom-focused,
subscription-based online research tools. Many of these education solutions offer reading level-linked
(lexile) content, support
21st-century information
literacy skills, and help schools differentiate instruction across all curriculum areas.
Learn more about all of our tools here, tap into our training resources and videos, and don't miss our new eLibrary research tool (more). We also have a pair of special resource pages just for teachers (with lesson plans) and librarians.
A librarian’s greatest challenge today is to expand the information literacy culture of teaching and learning in their school. Success in this venture will be based on motivating, collaborating with, and supporting teachers in creating engaging research assignments.
One of the most useful features of your ProQuest digital learning resource is the ability to track down resources specifically suited to your students based on Lexile score.
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Great news! SIRS Enduring Issues 2005 eight-volume print series is now available! Place your order now to ensure shipment before January.
