WiLS January 2015 Vendor Partner Interview: Gordon Hagert, Cengage Learning

At WiLS, we want to bring valuable information to our library partners, including information about the missions and big ideas of the vendors they may already do business with.  Each month, WiLS will interview a vendor partner in order to bridge the gap and open the door to valuable collaborations.  This month, we are delighted to share insights from Gordy Hagert, Educational Sales Consultant at Cengage Learning.

If you have any questions about this interview, or would like to suggest a vendor partner for us to interview in the future, contact Andrea Coffin at or 414-979-9457.

Tell us about your company’s background.

Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, has been in the publishing industry for over 60 years. Gale has always been focused on reference and research and has been committed to serving the needs of all types of libraries.  For the past 20 years, Gale has been delivering high-quality, authoritative, current content in print and electronically.  As a publisher we also have the unique opportunity to create the content schools are demanding – this is what let’s us be so responsive to school curriculum.

As a former Gale customer, I’ve watched the arc of Gale’s innovation climb steadily.  As other vendors and other technologies have come and gone, Gale has managed to maintain a high level of sustainability and consistency in its solutions and in innovation. Believe me, I tried almost everything out there and my students and staff simply used Gale resources more.

Why do you, personally, choose to work with libraries?

Last spring I retired after 34 years in education.  My first 14 years were in the classroom as a social studies teacher, coach, and athletic director. As I worked on my master’s degree, I dabbled a bit in technology and media and when the door opened to move to the library I jumped on it.  For the last 20 years, I’ve worked as a media specialist, technology coordinator, and technology coach and have experience at all levels k-12.

I’ve learned along the way just how valuable media specialists are in schools – quite simply, we are curriculum specialists, technology gurus, and superhero problem solvers. When there is a void, we fill it and few people truly realize the hats we wear.  Quite honestly, it’s in our nature to help people and that’s what makes us indispensable to our students and staff.

As librarians and media specialists, we get far too few opportunities to visit our colleagues “in the wild”.  For me it’s a great joy to visit school libraries, learn from others, and talk shop. After a few months with Gale, I’m reassured that our profession is in great hands!

What do you like to know about the libraries you work with? What helps you better understand their needs?

It’s always insightful to know about the level of administrative support. Self-advocacy has great value.  When a media specialist can talk about their strong relationship with their principal it’s always a good sign.

It’s also of value to know where schools are on the technology spectrum.  All schools have invested heavily in infrastructure, but hardware doesn’t education children – teachers armed with great content and solid pedagogy do. We know that the ground is shifting at our feet and it’s the most nimble that handle the change most easily.  I always felt my obligation as a media specialist was to be more informed about technology and content than anyone else in my building so I could be a valued partner in the conversation. Discovering where a librarian/media specialist is on this scale can be important.

Finally, I think getting an overall picture of how the school manages its collection – print and digital – is important.  As media specialists, we have lots of choices and most require some level of long term commitment.  It behooves us to choose carefully and well as our budgets (and our jobs) can be at risk.   We need to make the case that our libraries have knocked down our walls and we truly are supporting the curriculum at the classroom level in new and different ways.

What big ideas are being worked on at your company? What problems are being solved?

We’re finding that implementing technology, be it 1:1 or BYOD, is still sort of the wild, wild, west.  There are 100’s of paths to successful rollout as evidenced by the number of learning management systems and online tools available.  It’s imperative that your content partners are agile and nimble enough to integrate with those solutions.

• How will students and teachers authenticate to the content?
• How is the content refreshed and updated?
• How scalable is the content relative to the schools goals/curriculum?
• Is the solution financially sustainable?
• Does the vendor support current academic standards?
• Is the application/interface device agnostic?
• Does the content speak support differentiation and multiple learning styles?

I know that Gale is constantly listening to librarians, administrators, and technicians to stay on top of these issues.  We think students should be interacting and engaging the content and that we need to reduce barriers to access. Bottom line is that we’ll be constantly evolving along with our school partners.

How can librarians become partners in product or training development?

I’ve joked with a few people that Gale hired me to shut me up. I expected a lot for my budget dollars.  I often called Gale technical support or my sales representatives with my “great ideas” or my complaints.  As I’ve begun to work with Gale I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the responsiveness to our customers.  As much as we’d like to get everything right every time, we don’t.  But we listen carefully to the feedback we receive.  I’ve already seen numerous little changes take place based on customer feedback.

Gale frequently hosts focus groups and solicits feedback. I carry my customer’s suggestions up the ladder. If we’re not listening, we’re not partnering.    Please understand some things take time, others seem great but the technology to implement them may yet be out of reach.  We’ve also got a development schedule planned out many months in advance and we need to stick to a consistent plan. But never be afraid of offering suggestions!

Do you have anything else you’d like to share?

I’d just like to thank those of you I’ve met so far for the warm and gracious welcome!  You’ve made me feel at home in your libraries and engaged me with great conversations. I look forward to much more of that and to meeting more of you in the years ahead!