Gale (publisher)

Gale (publisher)
Parent company Cengage Learning
Founded 1954
Founder Frederick Gale Ruffner[1]
Country of origin United States
Headquarters location Farmington Hills, Michigan
Publication types Books, Databases
Official website gale.cengage.com
Gale Cengage headquarters building, Farmington Hills

Gale is an educational publishing company based in Farmington Hills, Michigan,[2] the United States, in the western suburbs of Detroit. It was part of the Thomson Learning division of the Thomson Corporation, a Canadian company, but became part of Cengage Learning in 2007.

The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Group, is active in research and educational publishing for public and academic libraries, schools and businesses. The company may be best known for its full-text magazine and newspaper database, InfoTrac, and other online databases accessible from schools and 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, it was acquired by Thomson in 1985.[3]

History

In 1999, Thomson Gale acquired Macmillan Reference USA (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). In 2000 it acquired the Munich-based K. G. Saur Verlag, but then sold it to Walter de Gruyter in 2006.

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.[4]

In October 2007, Cengage Learning announced the appointment of Patrick C. Sommers as president of Gale, effective October 22, 2007.[5]

Products

Gale produces hundreds of products, such as "Academic OneFile,"[6] "Biography and Genealogy Master Index,"[7] "General OneFile", "General Reference Center," "Sabin Americana" (based on Sabin's Bibliotheca Americana), and "World History Collection," to name just a few.[8] Clients purchase access to each product either singly or bundled as a "collection." As of 2014 clients include the Boston Public Library,[9] Chattanooga Public Library,[10] Columbus Metropolitan Library,[11] and University of Texas.[6]

Imprints

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, Greenhaven Press, KidHaven Press, Lucent Books, and others.[12]

Gale also owns large print publishers Christian Large Print and Wheeler Publishing.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gale – Helping Libraries Prepare for the 21st Century – inforum.cz – Retrieved February 23, 2009
  2. ↑ "Privacy Statement and Terms of Use." Gale. Retrieved on July 8, 2010.
  3. ↑ McCracken, Jeffrey. "Gale Research to merge. (merger between Gale Research Co. and The Thompson Group)." Crain's Detroit Business. Crain Communications, Inc. September 21, 1998. Retrieved February 23, 2009 from HighBeam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-21199527.html
  4. ↑ "Thomson Gale Part of Larger Sale" by Norman Oder, Library Journal, June 1, 2007
  5. ↑ Cengage Learning Names Patrick C. Sommers President of Gale
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Databases: Academic OneFile". Austin TX: University of Texas Libraries. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014.
  7. ↑ "eReviews: Biography: Biography and Genealogy Master Index", Library Journal, April 15, 2012, BGMI is a throwback to another era
  8. ↑ Cengage Learning. "Database Title Lists". Gale: Title Lists. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  9. ↑ Boston Public Library. "Online Database A - Z List". Electronic Resources. Retrieved October 2014.
  10. ↑ "Resources: Research". Chattanooga Public Library. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Research Tools". Ohio: Columbus Metropolitan Library. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Gale". Retrieved 6 February 2013.

External links

Thomson Gale-owned sites and services