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Enclosed is this month's free newsletter for eLibrary® subscribers. This newsletter is designed to help teachers, librarians, and administrators stay informed about the latest changes to their subscriptions, while providing classroom resources and giving tips for using their ProQuest solutions in a variety of settings.
Don't miss our online archive for access to past issues, and to make changes to your newsletter options.
PROQUEST EDUCATION SOLUTION UPDATES
Our product development team is constantly reviewing customer feedback and making changes to our learning resources to meet your needs. Several updates or content additions were recently completed, and we wanted to bring them to your attention.
eLibrary Citation Generator
For years, online researchers at all grade levels have struggled with what should be an easy feat -– generating citations for their Works Cited pages and bibliographies.
Truth be told, most of us would rather have our computers create our bibliographies, rather than cracking open the MLA Handbook time and again. And for all but one online reference tool, you'll still need that hefty tome to be close at hand.
Launched early last week, our new, exclusive eLibrary citation generator tool is here to take the pain away! Simply put, this new feature provides point-and-click Web forms for building citations that conform to the MLA style.
These forms can be edited to refine the formatting of the bibliographic information received from publishers, so that your citations can meet any need. There are 14 distinct citation formats available.
Just click the small citation button at the top of any eLibrary resource to view a detailed, editable MLA citation reference.
To see the tool in action, read the quick start guide, view a multimedia demonstration (Flash), or subscribe to our monthly eLibrary podcast via iTunes. More about accessing our podcast(s) can be found below.
ProQuest Training Demos: Menus & More
Our entire collection of training demonstrations are now sporting easy-to-use menus, as well as updated content!
To tap into our Flash demos and learn more about all of our ProQuest solutions anytime, anywhere, just access the Training & Support section of our K-12 website, and click on Recorded Training. You'll be learning and exploring your subscriptions in no time.
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ELIBRARY BOOKCARTS: MODELS, COLLABORATION, AND MORE
Enhancing Teacher-Librarian Collaboration: Your eLibrary subscription provides much more than access to a raw "database" of resources. It's also the only K-12 teaching and learning solution that makes it possible to author original lesson plans, activities, curriculum, and assessments with our one-of-a-kind BookCart tool.
But even more than that, have you been looking for an easy and effective way to promote information literacy, inquiry-based learning activities, and increase teacher use of library resources and librarian expertise?
Our BookCart tool (named for the traditional book cart of learning resources that was rolled into classrooms by librarians) lets you do that and more. This breakthrough tool helps teachers and librarians create lesson plans for digital information literacy that offer advantages well beyond those of EBSCO, Gale, and Google. Suddenly a library database becomes a "solution" for teachers, librarians, but most of all, students.
Learn more about this exclusive eLibrary tool that integrates digital resources and assessments into daily classroom use, and encourages teacher-librarian collaboration.
Get our new Collaboration Quick Start Guide today.
Engaging Issues Bookcart Guide Update: This newly revised guide helps teachers use our special collection of 90 customized eLibrary Bookcarts that support mini-research activities designed to motivate and engage student interest. The activities correlate to national standards and support the core curriculum in health, science, language arts, and social studies.
Download the Engaging Issues Bookcart Guide today!
Model BookCarts: Librarian and teacher collaboration just got a lot easier thanks to the eLibrary model BookCart collection. Many eLibrary subscribers are not aware of the unique BookCart tool and for many who are, they may view it as a great idea, "but creating BookCarts is just one more task in my very full schedule."
The good news is that librarians and teachers don't have to create their own BookCarts unless they want to. Your eLibrary subscription entitles you to copy one or all of the 520 model BookCarts in the eLibrary collection -- and nobody else can provide these unique learning resource models for you and your teachers.
The "ProQuest Carts" tab collection of BookCart Editor is organized into folders so that teachers and librarians can easily find and review the BookCart models that support their curriculum area and curriculum level: high school, middle school, and upper elementary school. Folders are also organized by subject areas taught based on titles that correlate state standards: Science -- Environmental, Science -- Physical, Science -- Technology; SS -- US History, and SS -- Geography as examples.
Finding great models and review them for your teachers that you know that your teachers assign. Copy and edit the models that will instantly support the research topics.
Give them a list of these BookCarts and show them how to use them and you will have teachers and students more eager to use your library resources than ever before. This is very important to your library program because the growing use of Google not only impacts on the use of the library but also by-passes your expertise in information literacy. You should also give them this guide to help them compare eLibrary and BookCarts to Google researching.
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ELIBRARY PODCAST + TIPS & TRICKS
Let’s face it--no matter how many times we visit our favorite online learning resources, we’re bound to miss a feature or two. This month, our free video podcast focuses on one of the least-known but most useful feature sets of your eLibrary subscription: Citation Generator Tool.
As we mentioned at the top of this month's newsletter, each new eLibrary resource citation is generated from within an opened article, photo, or other resource -– just click the citation icon that now appears in the document information bar.
This opens a page that contains both the citation generated for this newspaper article as well as a Web form with most fields auto-populated with the metadata received from the publisher.
Chapter and section identifiers for the citation type as it appears in the MLA Handbook (6th edition) appear in the gray Edit Citation bar, along with the MLA chapter and section identifiers for citing resources from subscription databases.
A prompt for more information appears in red when any field is blank. In this citation, the place of publication isn't needed for the newspaper article that appears in the podcast (the city name is in the title of the newspaper). The edition, however, might found by returning to the document to see whether additional data is available.
If the information is found, click on the citation icon again and edit the appropriate field. The correct formatting is shown in the examples to the right of each field. Once the citation form is edited, click the Update Citation button.
Copy and paste the citation text into your research notes or a Works Cited document. At this time the eLibrary citation generator has 14 distinct citation forms. You can view examples of these forms -- and print out this entire process for your personal, library, or classroom use –- via our new quick start guide. Connect to www.proquestk12.com/go/elibrarycitations and the guide will start downloading automatically.
We know you and your students will find our new, exclusive citation generator to save time and reduce research headaches – in the classroom, media center, or even at home.
Now you’re in the know! We hope this month’s tip and trick bring you closer to being a true eLibrary power user. Be sure to sign up for our free video podcast (no iPod necessary!) to stay up-to-date.
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
Philadelphia is the first school district to require a course in African-American history for high school students as part of its Social Studies curriculum. The majority of Philadelphia Public School students are African-American. The purpose of the course is to provide knowledge and an appreciation of African-American accomplishments during their struggle for equality.
This struggle is unique and different from any other ethnic group that faced or still faces the same challenge. The accomplishments are intended to engage students and give pride and a new perspective to their U.S. History courses and textbooks.
ProQuest recently partnered with the School District of Philadelphia to create a series of BookCarts to support research activities for this unique course. These BookCarts can be copied and used by other schools to create research activities that celebrate the purpose of "Black History Month."
Activity: To copy and adapt model BookCarts for My Local Carts collection, click here.
Click on the folders "Ethnic Culture and Interest" and "SS -- US History."
- African American Literature: High School
- Civil Rights and Martin Luther King, Jr.: High School
- Leaders in African-American History: High School
- Black History Events and People: Middle School
- Black History Month: Middle School
- Black History Topics: Middle School
- Buffalo Soldiers: Middle School
- Underground Railroad: Middle School
- Slavery in America: Middle School
- African History: Middle School
Each BookCart has several "Essential Questions" that help students to use the BookCart resources in ways that motivate and engage critical thinking. Teachers will want to use these model questions and create others that make research more engaging and beneficial for students.
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PROQUEST® PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: ELIBRARY & SIRS
Our professional development training program is a complete package that delivers the key processes to ensure successful program implementation, and the content to support ongoing use and customization across the entire curriculum.
The CEU-eligible program provides educators with research-based technology integration strategies and tools for customizing instruction and assessment using our eLibrary and SIRS online learning solutions. Schools receive the materials they need to build professional development and instructional models that can maximize teacher efficiency and effectiveness, and improve student achievement.
Educators receive rubrics, assessments, activities, and content designed to spur students' information literacy skills, critical thinking, and reading and writing abilities, while increasing their own technology usage. Plus, our flexible model ensures that all instructional staff in a school or system will benefit from the lessons learned.
Our fresh support for our line of SIRS solutions will train your teachers to fuse four types of literacy using SIRS resources with state and national learning standards. Find out more about this new program today--just in time for your spring training dates!
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CULTUREGRAMS ADDS PROVINCES
Looking for a fresh, up-to-date solution to power your social sciences, geography, or cultural studies curriculum? As always, our CultureGrams line is here to help.
And last week, our editors were proud to launch a new product -- Provinces Edition -- with reports on all 13 of Canada's provinces and territories.
Provinces Edition is ideal for upper elementary and middle school students studying Canada. Each province's report contains fascinating information on categories such as Geography; Wildlife; Environmental Issues; History; Population; Cultural Notes; and First Nations, Métis, and Aboriginal Peoples.
Each report includes maps, charts, a history timeline, and useful images, such as photos of the province's official emblems. Plus, statistical tables allow students to compare basic information on all of the provinces.
Find out more about CultureGrams at our K-12 website, or sign up for a free trial today.
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CULTUREGRAMS™ IN FOCUS
CultureGrams can help you broaden your students' understanding of the world and its peoples. The World Edition includes 190+ country profiles, written for junior high students and older. CultureGrams also has a Kids Edition, Provinces Edition, and a States Edition, geared for upper elementary students. These editions include kid-friendly profiles of 70+ countries, all 50 states (including Washington, D.C.), and the Canadian provinces.
CultureGrams goes 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.
Did You Know?
- Ethiopia, the oldest independent nation in Africa, was known anciently as Abyssinia.
- Ethiopians claim that the real Ark of the Covenant mentioned in the Bible resides in the St. Mary's of Zion Church in Axum, where it is guarded and cannot be seen.
- Elderly people are highly respected in Ethiopia. Adult children are responsible for taking care of their parents.
An Ancient Land
Ethiopia is one of the oldest independent countries in the world. Legend has it that the Queen of Sheba, from Ethiopia, married King Solomon of Israel around 1000 B.C. They had a son called Menelik, who later became the first king of Ethiopia. About A.D. 200 Ethiopia became a powerful trading nation under the Kingdom of Axum. The Axumites built great stone cities and monuments. One of the kings, Ezana, helped create the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Axum prospered for almost one thousand years.
Games & Sports
Ethiopians' favorite sport is soccer, but at Christmas they play a game called gana chawata (Christmas game), which is like hockey. Players make their own small bats, and each team tries to hit a wooden ball into a goal. Girls love playing hopscotch, which they call sanyo mak sanyo, meaning "Monday Tuesday." Young boys and girls play "bride and groom." Boys make and realistically dress a little figure of a man; girls do the same for the bride. Competitive marble-shooting matches cause excitement among village children. Checkers, cards, and a board game called gebeta are popular, too.
A Different Calendar
Ethiopia's calendar is different than yours. It has thirteen months: twelve months of thirty days each and one month of five or six days. New Year's Day falls on September 11. The Ethiopic calendar is eight years and eight days behind yours (except from September 11 to December 31, when the calendar runs seven years and eight days behind). This means that the date March 15, 2006 for us is March 7, 1998 for Ethiopia!
To find out more about CultureGrams, connect to our website today.
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TOP 3 WEBSITES
Each month, our SIRS® WebSelect and SIRS® 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.
MindZone: A Mental Health Site for Teens
Organization: The Annenberg Foundation
This site aimed at teenagers offers personal stories and suggests strategies for coping with mental health disorders. Visitors may take part in polls, learn about personal strengths and how to deal with emotions, find facts about anxiety disorders, and question experts.
The Modern English Collection: Electronic Text Center
Organization: University of Virginia
The Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia Library has collections of over 5,000 texts available to the public. "This [particular] collection contains fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, letters, newspapers, manuscripts and illustrations from 1500 to the present, arranged for browsing by author's last name or by category of interest." (UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA) Categories include texts by African Americans, Native Americans, Women Writers, and more.
Social Explorer
Organization: Queens College, City University of New York
"Social Explorer is dedicated to providing easy access to demographic information for United States. We have hundreds of interactive data maps of the United States, including historical data back to 1940. Social Explorer is under continuous development. Our goal is to provide complete historical census." (QUEENS COLLEGE)
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FREE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Our ProQuest product trainers are standing by to help you get the most out of your subscription--and learn more about our other digital learning resources! We offer a wide variety of online training sessions each month.
Plus, all attendees can easily obtain a Certificate of Attendance (right) for any of our online courses! The certificate documents the course name, amount of class time, date, and verifies attendance. You can use the certificate to document attendance in the class and submit it along with the additional documentation your school district requires to award you with continuing education credits.
Be sure to tell your trainer that you would like to receive a certificate via email at the start of each class. They’ll be glad to help!
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 an eLibrary or additional ProQuest solution course today.
You may also sign up for a timely enewsletter to receive training dates each month via email as soon as they're available.
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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 it 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.
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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 change your email address, sign up for additional newsletter titles, or modify your subscription settings, click here.
Cordially,
Your ProQuest CSA Team
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