Gale (publisher)#Gale databases

{{Infobox publisher

| image = Gale logo.svg

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| parent = Cengage

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| founded = {{start date and age|1954}} (as Gale Group)

| founder = Frederick Gale Ruffner Jr.{{Cite web |title=Gale - Helping Libraries Prepare for the 21st Century |url=https://www.inforum.cz/archiv/infomedia97/bateson.htm |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=www.inforum.cz}}

| successor =

| country = U.S.

| headquarters = Farmington Hills, Michigan

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| keypeople =

| publications = Primary sources, databases, e-books, e-learning, Thorndike Large Print

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| url = {{URL|http://www.gale.com}}

}}

Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, United States,"[http://www.gale.cengage.com/policy.htm#terms Privacy Statement and Terms of Use]". Gale. Retrieved July 8, 2010. west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007.

The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Group, is active in research and educational publishing for public, academic, and school libraries, and for businesses. The company is known for its full-text magazine and newspaper databases, Gale OneFile (formerly known as Infotrac), and other online databases subscribed by libraries, as well as multi-volume reference works, especially in the areas of religion, history, and social science.

Founded in Detroit, Michigan, in 1954 by Frederick Gale Ruffner Jr.,{{cite news |title=Frederick Gale Ruffner Jr. : 1926-2014: Ohio State grad made fortune in reference-book publishing |url=https://www.dispatch.com/story/entertainment/books/2014/08/25/frederick-gale-ruffner-jr-1926/24104177007/ |access-date=7 May 2024 |publisher=The Columbus Dispatch |date=25 August 2014}} the company was acquired by the International Thomson Organization (later the Thomson Corporation) in 1985 before its 2007 sale to Cengage.

History

File:Thomson Gale logo.svg

File:Gale-ALA-booth.jpg

In 1998, Gale Research merged with Information Access Company and Primary Source Media, two companies also owned by Thomson, to form the Gale Group. Thomson has acquired Information Access Company (publisher of InfoTrac) in 1995 and Primary Source Media (formerly named Research Publications) in 1979.{{Cite journal| issn = 0737-7770| volume = 16| issue = 10| pages = 3–4| last = Anonymous| title = Gale Research, Information Access Company and Primary Source Media merged into the Gale Group by Thomason Corporation| journal = Information Intelligence Online Libraries and Microcomputers| access-date = 2021-01-18| date = October 1998| url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/206804972| id = {{ProQuest|206804972}}}}

In 1999, Thomson Gale acquired Macmillan Library Reference (including Scribner's Reference, Thorndike Press, Schirmer, Twayne Publishers, and G. K. Hall) from Pearson (which had acquired it from Simon & Schuster in 1998; Macmillan USA was purchased by Simon & Schuster in 1994).{{Cite web

|last = Hane |first = Paula J. |title=Thomson's Gale Group Acquires MacMillan Library Reference USA

|access-date=2018-05-13 |date=1999-06-21| url = http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/NewsBreaks/Thomsons-Gale-Group-Acquires-MacMillan-Library-Reference-USA-17944.asp}} In 2000 it acquired the Munich-based K. G. Saur Verlag,[http://www.ulib.niu.edu/publishers/ReedElsevier.htm The Academic Publishing Industry: A Story of Merger and Acquisition – Reed Elsevier]. {{webarchive

|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151030233859/http://www.ulib.niu.edu/publishers/ReedElsevier.htm

|date=2015-10-30 }}. but then sold it to Walter de Gruyter in 2006.{{Cite web |title=Chronologie des K. G. Saur Verlags

|url=http://www.degruyter.de/files/down/history_saur.pdf |access-date=2022-04-28

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617105440/http://www.degruyter.de/files/down/history_saur.pdf

|archive-date=17 June 2009 |url-status=dead}}

On October 25, 2006, Thomson Corporation announced that it intended to wholly divest the Thomson Learning division, because, in the words of Thomson CEO Richard Harrington, "it does not fit with our long-term strategic vision." Thomson has said that it expected this sale to generate approximately $5 billion. Thomson Learning was bought by a private equity consortium consisting of Apax Partners and OMERS Capital Partners for $7.75 billion and the name was changed from Thomson Learning to Cengage Learning on July 24, 2007.[http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6446345.html "Thomson Gale Part of Larger Sale"] by Norman Oder, Library Journal, June 1, 2007

Patrick C. Sommers was president of Gale from October 22, 2007,{{Cite web |url=http://gale.cengage.com/press_room/2007_10_24_pres.htm |title=Cengage Learning Names Patrick C. Sommers President of Gale |access-date=2007-11-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229021432/http://gale.cengage.com/press_room/2007_10_24_pres.htm |archive-date=2007-12-29 |url-status=dead }} until he retired in 2010.

Products

Gale produces hundreds of products, such as Gale Academic OneFile,{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010072619/http://www.lib.utexas.edu/indexes/titles.php?id=143 |archive-date=October 10, 2014 |url= http://www.lib.utexas.edu/indexes/titles.php?id=143 |url-status=dead |title=Databases: Academic OneFile |publisher=University of Texas Libraries |location=Austin TX }} Biography and Genealogy Master Index,{{citation |title=eReviews: Biography: Biography and Genealogy Master Index |work=Library Journal |date=April 15, 2012 |url=http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2012/04/reference/ereviews-2/ |quote=BGMI is a throwback to another era |access-date=October 10, 2014 |archive-date=October 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161017212922/http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2012/04/reference/ereviews-2/ |url-status=dead }} General OneFile, General Reference Center, Sabin Americana (based on Sabin's Bibliotheca Americana), and World History Collection.{{cite web |url=http://www.gale.cengage.com/title_lists/ |title=Database Title Lists |author=Cengage Learning |work=Gale: Title Lists |access-date=October 10, 2014 |archive-date=April 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130410234615/http://www.gale.cengage.com/title_lists/ |url-status=dead }}

Gale print imprints include the reference brands Primary Source Media, Scholarly Resources Inc., Schirmer Reference, St. James Press, The TAFT Group and Twayne Publishers, among others. Five Star Publishing is Gale's fiction imprint, with hundreds of books in print in the Western, Romance, Mystery, and Science Fiction & Fantasy genres. Gale also sells into the K–12 market with several imprints, including U·X·L.{{cite web|title=Gale|url=http://www.gale.cengage.com/imprints/|access-date=6 February 2013}} Gale also owns large print publishers Christian Large Print and Wheeler Publishing.

References

External links

{{official website}}

Gale-owned sites and services

[http://solutions.cengage.com/BusinessSolutions/Gale-Directory-Library/ Gale Directory Library] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930212418/http://solutions.cengage.com/BusinessSolutions/Gale-Directory-Library/ |date=2017-09-30 }}) – dozens of print directories on a digital platform.
[http://books.wiseto.com/bna/ Books & Authors] – indexed database of fiction and nonfiction book titles

Category:1954 establishments in Michigan

Category:American companies established in 1954

Category:Book publishing companies based in Michigan

Category:Cengage

Category:Companies based in Oakland County, Michigan

Category:Bibliographic database providers

Category:Commercial digital libraries

Category:Online publishing companies of the United States

Category:Publishing companies established in 1954

Category:1985 mergers and acquisitions

Category:American digital libraries