Great Discovery

I discovered so many wonderful tools this summer during the Electronic Resources Challenge. I am finding it difficult to choose one, so I will discuss a few highlights. Overall, I am amazed by the various resources that are made available through the South Dakota State Library. The sheer volume of information astounds me. It is all right there! At my fingertips! The best part is that I can be confident about the quality of the resources as well.

I love World Book Online (Kids, Student, and Advanced)! It is a great place to start any search. The younger students will love the pictures, videos, sounds and activities. Older students can use it for research papers. Teachers will love the Activities and the Educator tools, too. Since school is back in session and I am a new school librarian, I have heard A LOT about standards. I am also a parent so, of course, I have heard about the “standards” that students, teachers, and other staff are required to incorporate into our children’s education. However, I had no idea how much focus is put on the standards. World Book Online provides the content standards for much of the information that is provided here which teachers will find very helpful.

SIRS Discoverer and SIRS Issues Researcher provide Educators’ Resources and Standards Correlations which I believe can help the teachers immensely.

As a student of library science, I have begun to use ProQuest for my own class work. I have set up RSS feeds from various library journals to keep myself updated on various trends. I will use WorldCat regularly while cataloging books and other searches. I have started showing AP Literature students NetLibrary when they come looking for a book we don’t have in the library. I imagine in the winter and spring, the Juniors, Seniors, and I will be perusing Learning Express Library for ACT help or Job & Career Skills.
Thank you for allowing me to learn about the databases available through the South Dakota State Library. Now, I just need to coral the students and the staff so I can show them how valuable it all is!

Sanborn Maps

In Sanborn Maps under South Dakota, I searched for Flandreau, August 1886. I believe a building labeled “Central HO” is still standing. It was used as a hotel, but is now more of an apartment building upstairs with nothing open on the main floor anymore. In addition, the Presbyterian Church is still in the same area but I believe the building shown on this map is now the fellowship hall not the church itself. I am sure the building listed on the 1886 map as the “Courthouse” became the Masonic temple.

HeritageQuest

Browsing through the “Book” search, I did not always find the items I was searching for. I entered “Black Hills, SD” and was brought to a book that had nothing to do with the Black Hills nor did the cited page mention the Black Hills. Perhaps, I was entering something incorrectly. Another search for Abraham Lincoln provided several items but I needed to be more specific with my entry. I really liked playing around in the “Publications” tab. I searched for “Sioux” and found several interesting items. I spent a good deal of time reading a book called Four weeks among some of the Sioux tribes of Dakota and Nebraska: together with a brief consideration of the Indian problem by Herbert Welsh published in 1882.

AncestryLibrary

I searched AncestryLibrary using my maiden name first thinking that would only pull up my birth record but it also found my marriage license. I downloaded the ancestral chart and the Family Group Record from the Charts and Forms section (I’ve always wanted to put the information somewhere for my kids to have). While searching for my grandfather, I struggled finding him listed with the name I knew, but found his parents. In the 1920 census, he is listed but they have different middle initials for him. I see on the census form my great grandparents are both from Germany and list German as their native tongue. The census also shows they were able to read and write. In addition, I found that several of their neighbors from that time have descendants that still live in the area.

Under “South Dakota” at AncestryLibrary, I found several school year book entries. The Library of Congress Photo Collection (1840-2000) was very interesting. The U.S. Family Photo Collection and General Photos from the Bureau of Ships appear here as well. Under maps, Lippincott’s Gazetteer of the World, 1913 provides access to photos of each page that “South Dakota” appears. Through this search, I was able to learn what a gazetteer was, as well as how and why it is used.

Learning Express

I started with the CBEST Math test.  Let’s just say
my math skills are rusty, but I found the test to
be great practice.  Learning Express is a valuable
tool for students and the public alike.  Under
“Job Search and Workplace Skills,” I added Business
Writing.  The course gives an excellent description
and overview.  I like being able to jump around by
clicking in the left margin.  It truly allows someone
to work at his/her own pace.

Under the ebooks, I can see a great use for several
of the sections, but especially the math and reading
skills sections as well as the academic test prep and
military sections.  We don’t have many of these books
available in our library. I checked out “English to
the Max.”  The book provides excellent information on
grammar and provides good examples and practice
questions.   

CAMIO

Searching for “Paul Revere” at CAMIO, I found he created
“The Bloody Massacre” print,“The Boston Massacre” print
and several silver items.
After entering “Sioux,” I found 63 items and was
surprised there were not more items listed for such a
broad search.  On the left, I see one can search by
creator, date,and subject which make sense, but it is
interesting that a search can be done using “format.”

Since we have an original Harvey Dunn painting in our
library, I searched for his work,but was unable to find
anything.
I next typed in “Pablo Picasso” which yielded 994 works.
While perusing the works, I found there are other artists
included in the search such as Claude Monet and Georges
Braques.  I can see where our art classes would be
interested in using this as well as our public patrons.

I put a few of Picasso’s paintings in favorites and after
viewing favorites, I see I could use these on a website. 
Coincidentally, we are in the process of updating our
online library catalog to include various images.
Perhaps, CAMIO could be used for this.

ArchiveGrid

After search “Sitting Bull autograph card” on ArchiveGrid, I found a brief summary about Sitting Bull. He was a Sioux leader and shaman who fought at Little Bighorn. He led his people to Canada to avoid the white settlers and their army. After surrendering, he traveled in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. He was later killed while resisting arrest after being charged for practicing his Native American traditions which had been deemed illegal.

The site does not discuss the autograph card other than to give its location in the collection at Cornell University. I am curious as to where the autograph was found, what was Sitting Bull signing, and how it was authenticated.

I searched for “Abraham Lincoln letter” and found 13 possible matches. The first entry entitled “Oregon Miscellany” provides a facsimile of an Abraham Lincoln letter dated Nov. 19, 1858, but it does not discuss the content of the letter itself. This item is found at the University of California, Berkeley.

The Minnesota Historical Society houses the second entry, “William R. Marshall papers, 1853-1894,” which provides a bit more background about the letter: “a facsimile of the Abraham Lincoln letter to Henry H. Sibley listing the names of the Dakota Indians to be executed following the Dakota Conflict.” But this is the only historical information about the letter included here.

ArchiveGrid seems like a good place to start searching for historical items. As for historical information, a researcher has an idea of where to look for more details, but the database itself doesn’t give a great deal of details itself.