The biggest discovery for me is the number of e-book available on the databases. This is a great resource for all libraries and their patrons. Wow! We don't need to purchase those materials that are out dated so fast because we have sources for the information. Thank you for the wide selection of databases at our disposal.
As a staff, we will recommend the databases to the patrons on a more regular basis. Just this morning one of the staff suggested the database to a patron. If I use it myself on a more regular basis, I will be more comfortable offering. From that perspective, the best start would be to implement a procedure for staff to use the databases every day. Even just 30 minutes per day will increase staff awareness and comfort level. This will lead to offering the databases to the patrons more often. If the resources available to us are not used then we are only hurting our own local library. To enhance our services, these databases need to be in front of people.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
AncestoryLibrary, HeritageQuest, Sanborn Maps
AncestoryLibrary this is a popular resource that is used my many patrons. I found I am listed and the places I have lived can be found. They years are a little off but close. In searching for a sister ship for the Titanic, I discovered the Olympic. I found its description, history and a picture. I used the keyword search and typed in Titanic sister ship.
The dirigible Hindenberg search lead me to several articles in newspapers outside of the United States. I was surprised to find so many older publications from other countries. It is a well developed database with a wealth of information.
The Heritage Quest was a little more difficult to refine my search. I don't know if I missed something, but I found a lot of material but the length of time it took to locate a specific community within the book was very time consuming. It is great to have the resource for those who are needing this type of information. Someone researching the history generally sets aside a good amount of time to read through materials. The time would not be a factor for them.
It was interesting to see how the Dell Rapids community has changed over the years. Many people looking for plat maps would find Sanborn Maps very useful.
The dirigible Hindenberg search lead me to several articles in newspapers outside of the United States. I was surprised to find so many older publications from other countries. It is a well developed database with a wealth of information.
The Heritage Quest was a little more difficult to refine my search. I don't know if I missed something, but I found a lot of material but the length of time it took to locate a specific community within the book was very time consuming. It is great to have the resource for those who are needing this type of information. Someone researching the history generally sets aside a good amount of time to read through materials. The time would not be a factor for them.
It was interesting to see how the Dell Rapids community has changed over the years. Many people looking for plat maps would find Sanborn Maps very useful.
ArchiveGrid and Camio
These are super databases for expanding our resources and location valuable research information in a timely manner.
In ArchiveGrid I researched Sitting Bull and learned that he traveled with the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West show. I did not know that he died as a result of resisting arrest. I researched Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was interested in the family correspondence and found an electronic resource available through the Wisconsin Historical Society. I also found a paper that is a photocopy that could be located at the Minnesota Historical Society. In the advanced challenge, I found I would have to go to Iowa State University to read the papers about Theodore Schultz. I thought it was interesting that he resigned his position as a faculty member as a result of an oleomargarine controversy.
Camio has a lot a great pictures of artwork. Paul Revere has a large collection that many would not be aware of. When researching Sioux, I found clothing, books, jewelry, a pipebowl and many other artifacts. I researched Monet and found 115 of his works. This resource would be very valuable in art classes and in doing presentations. I used it to research the clothing for the Victorian Era. It was very easy to narrow the search by era. Several examples of the clothing can be found. I discovered that using the term fashion or clothing resulted in the same pictures. We ofter have questions regarding clothing styles from theater groups. Camio is very versatile and offers a lot of information on topics we would not have in our library.
In ArchiveGrid I researched Sitting Bull and learned that he traveled with the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West show. I did not know that he died as a result of resisting arrest. I researched Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was interested in the family correspondence and found an electronic resource available through the Wisconsin Historical Society. I also found a paper that is a photocopy that could be located at the Minnesota Historical Society. In the advanced challenge, I found I would have to go to Iowa State University to read the papers about Theodore Schultz. I thought it was interesting that he resigned his position as a faculty member as a result of an oleomargarine controversy.
Camio has a lot a great pictures of artwork. Paul Revere has a large collection that many would not be aware of. When researching Sioux, I found clothing, books, jewelry, a pipebowl and many other artifacts. I researched Monet and found 115 of his works. This resource would be very valuable in art classes and in doing presentations. I used it to research the clothing for the Victorian Era. It was very easy to narrow the search by era. Several examples of the clothing can be found. I discovered that using the term fashion or clothing resulted in the same pictures. We ofter have questions regarding clothing styles from theater groups. Camio is very versatile and offers a lot of information on topics we would not have in our library.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
WorldCat
I love WorldCat. It is very user friendly and easy to move between the screens. I found that once I had selected an article in the data base, it was not so easy to get back to the first screen. Otherwise, it was easy to maneuver.
When searching I tend to use 2-3 keywords from the title for title phrase and the author's last name for author name. The results are very quick and it is very simple to choose one to borrow. I searched for The Greatest Miracle in the World by Mandino. The result was 55 records. The first record had 534 libraries the own it with Burlington Public Library being the first one. The call number is LC1611 or Dewey: 170/.44. When checking the subject I found 933 records, 797 books, 101 sound recordings, 29 internet, 4 visual, and 2 scores. A person can cite the item which is very helpful to those writing papers and you can also borrow the item from another library. In looking at the OAlster database, I was surprised to find a full article from 1937. I have never used these databases so this was a new discovery. A back button within this database would be very helpful.
I selected two juvenile books for the Sunday school class: Happy Birthday Marin Luther King and My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. One title could be borrowed from Augustana College and the other from Aberdeen. I used keyword and limited with Juvenile audience and nonfiction. The graphic novel was found by limiting the search to juvenile audience, using the phrase graphic novel in the first keyword search and the phrase classic literature as the second keyword phrase. I would choose to purchase Beowulf by Hind. The first record I choose for My Fair Lady had only 2 libraries worldwide that held the record. I choose a different record: Singer's Musical Theatre Anthology - OCLC 655829493. This record has locations in the United States that the score could be borrowed from. I used My Fair Lady in a keyword search and limited it to musical scores.
This is a great resource for all libraries for interlibrary loans, research citations, and cataloguing. These uses are probably just hitting the surface!
When searching I tend to use 2-3 keywords from the title for title phrase and the author's last name for author name. The results are very quick and it is very simple to choose one to borrow. I searched for The Greatest Miracle in the World by Mandino. The result was 55 records. The first record had 534 libraries the own it with Burlington Public Library being the first one. The call number is LC1611 or Dewey: 170/.44. When checking the subject I found 933 records, 797 books, 101 sound recordings, 29 internet, 4 visual, and 2 scores. A person can cite the item which is very helpful to those writing papers and you can also borrow the item from another library. In looking at the OAlster database, I was surprised to find a full article from 1937. I have never used these databases so this was a new discovery. A back button within this database would be very helpful.
I selected two juvenile books for the Sunday school class: Happy Birthday Marin Luther King and My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. One title could be borrowed from Augustana College and the other from Aberdeen. I used keyword and limited with Juvenile audience and nonfiction. The graphic novel was found by limiting the search to juvenile audience, using the phrase graphic novel in the first keyword search and the phrase classic literature as the second keyword phrase. I would choose to purchase Beowulf by Hind. The first record I choose for My Fair Lady had only 2 libraries worldwide that held the record. I choose a different record: Singer's Musical Theatre Anthology - OCLC 655829493. This record has locations in the United States that the score could be borrowed from. I used My Fair Lady in a keyword search and limited it to musical scores.
This is a great resource for all libraries for interlibrary loans, research citations, and cataloguing. These uses are probably just hitting the surface!
Ebooks on EbscoHost
To my surprise I learned today that I did not need to be doing both the basic exercise and the Advanced Challenge for each topic. That explains why it has been taking me longer than I had thought it would!
Ebooks on Ebscohost is another great resource for expanding our local library without taking space or funding. Of course, the patrons do need to be at the library, but with the selection available to them it is worth their time. It took a little getting used to the set up on this site. I found a few very good resources for Constitution Day: Let's Celebrate Today and Representing Popular Sovereignty both had information about the celebration. I started out researching free stuff for busy moms. There were 91 results but I narrowed it down with the Boolean and had 4 excellent sources. The table of contents in each book was very helpful and made it very easy to move around within the text. The advanced search for the western history resulted in 136 sources. This could be narrowed down to fit the interests of the patron requesting the information. It is nice to have the choice of downloading the book offline or saving to the file.
I then used the visual search for resume writing. There were several great titles to select. I looked at 201 Dynamic Job Search Letters. The download time was extremely long for this book. It may have been how I did it - I am not sure. It was worth the wait for anyone looking for this type of information. I found the fairy tale books very quickly. The author is Lang and there were four colors - violet, blue, yellow, and red. I prefer the advanced search to the other searches. I am sure there are many who would prefer the visual. This is a great resource for those obscure questions and for research topics. Both students needing specific resource materials and patrons just browsing for gook information will find this data base very useful.
The book selection seems to be very adequate for the topics I had selected to research.
Ebooks on Ebscohost is another great resource for expanding our local library without taking space or funding. Of course, the patrons do need to be at the library, but with the selection available to them it is worth their time. It took a little getting used to the set up on this site. I found a few very good resources for Constitution Day: Let's Celebrate Today and Representing Popular Sovereignty both had information about the celebration. I started out researching free stuff for busy moms. There were 91 results but I narrowed it down with the Boolean and had 4 excellent sources. The table of contents in each book was very helpful and made it very easy to move around within the text. The advanced search for the western history resulted in 136 sources. This could be narrowed down to fit the interests of the patron requesting the information. It is nice to have the choice of downloading the book offline or saving to the file.
I then used the visual search for resume writing. There were several great titles to select. I looked at 201 Dynamic Job Search Letters. The download time was extremely long for this book. It may have been how I did it - I am not sure. It was worth the wait for anyone looking for this type of information. I found the fairy tale books very quickly. The author is Lang and there were four colors - violet, blue, yellow, and red. I prefer the advanced search to the other searches. I am sure there are many who would prefer the visual. This is a great resource for those obscure questions and for research topics. Both students needing specific resource materials and patrons just browsing for gook information will find this data base very useful.
The book selection seems to be very adequate for the topics I had selected to research.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Gale Virtual Reference has more to offer than I had originally thought. After completing the exercises, I have a much more thorough idea of how to better use this resource. I selected the Encyclopedia of Every Day Law and selected Family Law. We have questions regarding wills and estate planning so I looked at this more closely. Just to read information on a current topic I also looked at Physician assisted suicide and grandparents rights. There is alot of current information that would add to our collection. It will give addition resources to those writing papers and current information for those just curious. I did a search on how to find an attorney and birth order. I was not successful in finding anything on birth order, but there was good advice on how to find an attorney if the need was there. The listen feature is very helpful for those with sight problems or if someone would just rather listen than read it online.
For the civic organization sponsoring a community event with the spring holiday theme, I choose Nation and World and did a search for spring festivals. There were 10 recipes. I then used the Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia for World Holidays and the Junior Worldmark of food and recipes of the world to complete the information on traditions and games. When I checked the contents by country and found a calendar of festivals for the year. This was a great resource for the list of festivals and the countries. After choosing the festivals, the country and festival could be searched and this information gave the types of activities during that festival. The ability to view the text in different formats is great as is the choice to save the article.
I used the advanced search and selected publication within 2012. The gave a list of those titles added in 2012. I looked at the guide to scholarships and found very good information. This is a topic that is requested at our library but is very difficult (and costly) to always have the most current information. Thank you for providing this date base to the libraries in South Dakota!
For the civic organization sponsoring a community event with the spring holiday theme, I choose Nation and World and did a search for spring festivals. There were 10 recipes. I then used the Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia for World Holidays and the Junior Worldmark of food and recipes of the world to complete the information on traditions and games. When I checked the contents by country and found a calendar of festivals for the year. This was a great resource for the list of festivals and the countries. After choosing the festivals, the country and festival could be searched and this information gave the types of activities during that festival. The ability to view the text in different formats is great as is the choice to save the article.
I used the advanced search and selected publication within 2012. The gave a list of those titles added in 2012. I looked at the guide to scholarships and found very good information. This is a topic that is requested at our library but is very difficult (and costly) to always have the most current information. Thank you for providing this date base to the libraries in South Dakota!
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Proquest
I began with a basic search on daylight savings. I found several articles regarding its history which I found very interesting. The sight offers many ways to narrow your search to enable the person to limit the search and get results that pertain to what is needed.
I did a search for the Library Journal. I specified what I was looking for and had 6 results. Proquest is an excellent data base for journals. Most journals are very costly and small libraries are unable to subscribe to them directly. This is an excellent way to provide access to scholarly journals that otherwise would be unavailable to our patrons.
In order to narrow the search for the student interested in literary criticism of Victor Hugo's novel, Les Miserables, I typed "Les Miserables by Victor Hugo" in the search bar. I narrowed the subject category to literary criticism and writers. I really struggled with the results being only about the novel. I also selected English as the language. I was able to narrow the results to a small number with the top few being excellent library criticisms. I learned a lot about using the sidebar on the right to narrow the results. I had never done this in the past and feel it will benefit my ability to assist patrons.
In searching for the most current information about the impact of Hurricane Sandy on libraries, I entered the hurricane and libraries for the search. I was able to very quickly narrow the articles to the most recent by using the publication date specification on the right sidebar. I found this to be much easier to narrow to specific information than the literary criticism!
Excellent resource - especially for those libraries with limited funds and low demand for journals. Thank you to the State Library for continuing to offer this as one of the data bases.
I did a search for the Library Journal. I specified what I was looking for and had 6 results. Proquest is an excellent data base for journals. Most journals are very costly and small libraries are unable to subscribe to them directly. This is an excellent way to provide access to scholarly journals that otherwise would be unavailable to our patrons.
In order to narrow the search for the student interested in literary criticism of Victor Hugo's novel, Les Miserables, I typed "Les Miserables by Victor Hugo" in the search bar. I narrowed the subject category to literary criticism and writers. I really struggled with the results being only about the novel. I also selected English as the language. I was able to narrow the results to a small number with the top few being excellent library criticisms. I learned a lot about using the sidebar on the right to narrow the results. I had never done this in the past and feel it will benefit my ability to assist patrons.
In searching for the most current information about the impact of Hurricane Sandy on libraries, I entered the hurricane and libraries for the search. I was able to very quickly narrow the articles to the most recent by using the publication date specification on the right sidebar. I found this to be much easier to narrow to specific information than the literary criticism!
Excellent resource - especially for those libraries with limited funds and low demand for journals. Thank you to the State Library for continuing to offer this as one of the data bases.
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