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.

WorldCat

Of the databases we have been perusing, I am most familiar with WorldCat. We use it for interlibrary loans as well as for help when we are cataloging books.

I searched for "Catalog It." 127 libraries have this title. The top library is South Dakota State Library. The call number is LC:Z693 or Dewey: 025.3; 027.8. The book has two authors the first author listed has written 3 other books. The second author has written 5 other texts. All are related to the roles of library media specialists. Under subjects, I chose "Cataloging" and 545 items were found. The search includes books, internet sites, updated resources, serials, and archives.

In OAIster, I looked up an article called "Factors affecting road mortality of whitetailed deer in eastern South Dakota." The access tab brought me to a website for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I was then able to download the entire article. Another valuable resource!

NetLibrary

Whew! I have fallen behind!
On to NetLibrary....I searched for "Catalog It," a book I need for a class this fall. It wasn't available here, but several related texts were, over 4,000 items were included in the search. The related topics are helpful to narrow the search or broaden it if needed. Searching again, this time for "information literacy," I discovered two interesting texts I'll have to come back to again...
NetLibrary can be a valuable resource for libraries especially with regard to technology. The books on technology that are available in our library become outdated so fast it is hard to keep relevant material on the shelves.

The search for "Constitution Day" pulled various items including material involving the constitution days of other countries. The book Representing Popular Sovereignty: The Constitution in American Political Culture discusses our chosen subject, explaining that the name was changed to "Citizenship Day." Searching now for "Citizenship Day," I am not finding many texts that discuss it in much detail. Maybe I am doing something wrong but I can only find books that mention it and that day that it falls on...

Next, under advanced search, I plugged in "Oklahoma" for a publisher search and found 77 related titles....very helpful, great resource...

Gale Virtual Reference Library

Using Gale Virtual Reference Library, I searched under "Medicine" and clicked on The Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health : Infancy through Adolescence. In volume 2, I found an entry for Hypothyroidism which gives a through explanation of the disease as well as resource books, organizations, and websites. In addition, the article is linked to other articles by various index terms which provides even more options for finding information.

Next, I did a basic search for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The search yielded 54 books that were in some way relevant to the search. The books were then listed based on relevancy to my search. Included to the right of each title was a notation showing what was included in each book, such as "Topic overview," "Critical essay," "Work overview," "Biography," and "Plot summary." A photograph icon is also included for those that have pictures. The first and most relevant title, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" found in the source Literary Themes for Students: Race and Prejudice provides an introduction which includes a small biography of Mark Twain, plot summary broken up in 3 chapter sections, themes, historical overview, critical overview, criticism, and sources. To the left of the article, additional related subjects are listed as well. The read to me feature is a nice addition.

Proquest

Using the basic search option on Proquest to learn more about Congenital Hypothyroidism, I found 163 documents. 94 items were from scholarly journals, 3 in magazines, 72 trade publications, and 1 newspaper article. After clicking "show only full text," 105 documents remained. Unlike the other databases I have ventured through so far, Proquest does not differentiate reading level of the sources listed. In fact, some of the articles are quite difficult, especially those in the trade publications, which in this case are scientific journals such as Genomics and Genetics Weekly. Proquest provides additional suggested topics to help the search for information. In addition, this database has an alert system that will send new information to the users email address if the user wishes to sign up. Documents can be marked and saved to My Research where the user can compile the information for a bibliography, email documents, export citations, or create a webpage.

Looking under the Publications tab, I search for librarian and found 4 publications which included a Blog, The Distant Librarian, which I found interesting. I then searched for library science and discovered only one publication, Journal of Education for Library and Information Science. Under library media specialist, nothing appeared. A search for "library media" uncovered Library Media Connection. I suppose this makes sense as there are not many publications concerning library science. Is it wrong to think there should be more?

SIRS Issues Researcher

After visiting SIRS Issues Researcher, all I could think was "I wish I could have had this to use when I was in school!" The available information and tools are amazing. What a great asset for students working on research papers....
Under leading issues, I searched human trafficking. The Topic Overview gives a good introduction to the subject while the Timeline gives background information on the happenings around the world past and present. The search provided 170 sources including articles from magazines and newspapers, editorials, reference materials, websites, and other media.

I could spend hours using this database. It could be used in every single classroom and by every single patron. The Curriculum Pathfinders is awesome! I searched under Language Arts, my first love, Reading and found the PBS website, Reading and Language. The Bookfinder at this website would be very useful for patrons searching for the right books for their children. And this is just one of the several interesting things I found here!

The toolbox would be useful for students writing research papers, while the iThink tutor would be a good starting spot for teachers when teaching how to write a research paper.

As a new librarian, I can't wait to use the educators' resources and the promotional toolkits.

SIRS Discoverer

On SIRS Discoverer, I searched for related material on pandas. I found 190 articles all together including 65 pictures. While exploring under pictures, I found the "pictures" includes activities for small children as well as professional photos of pandas. Each article is labeled with reading level: general, easy, moderate, or challenging. In addition, next to the title of each article students/patrons can see what features are included in each article such as pictures or activities. An icon tells the user about the subjects, as well as whether or not the piece is fiction or about people. I enjoyed exploring the reference section specifically the current events and spotlight of the month (Historic and Mysterious Places) pages.

Under Database Features, I searched for Mexico. The information included is a good snapshot of Mexico including geographic, economic, and historical statistics, as well as a map of the area.

"Maps of the World" could be used by students in geography, obviously, but also in history classes, as well as by patrons planning to travel or discussing current events.

Under "Educator's Resources," I looked up information on lexile reading levels as I was not familiar with them and discovered a wonderful chart that explained it nicely.

World Book Foreign Language Edition.

World Book Foreign Language Edition includes Spanish and French encyclopedias. Using the Spanish version, Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos, I searched for Animal following the pictures provided. I could see a Spanish class using this to help them learn to read spanish. I found listening to the article in Spanish very cool too. We do have Hispanic patrons who would find this feature useful.

World Book Online Reference Center

At the World Book Online Reference Center, I searched once again for a country, Italy. This site is very similar to World Book Advanced. On the left side of the first results screen, a breakdown is given of the number of articles, maps, pictures, e-books, and various additional resources that are available at the site on the subject of Italy. Patrons could quickly find e-books, pictures, maps, articles, or videos of the desired area or item researched.
On the next screen, the left side shows a breakdown or outline of the selected article which would enable patrons to find information quickly if needed. The right side provides additional resources should the patron need more information. The interactive map is a great feature particularly for someone who might be traveling to Italy.

World Book Online Info Finder

Onto World Book Online Info Finder......Still learning about African elephants, I find the information much more extensive. While World Book Online Kids gave a good description of African elephants, this site provides much more detail about not only the elephants physical attributes, but also their behavior and intelligence. The article discusses reproduction of the elephants as well as how they travel. I found the importance of elephants very interesting as well.

World Book Online Kids

Through World Book Online Kids, I searched for African elephants....
The pictures are perfect for kids to search through and I caught myself becoming distracted by the vivid photos.

The habitat of African elephants includes: forests, grasslands, mountains, swamps, and shrubby areas.

World Book Discover

Next, I am exploring World Book Discover. After clicking on "History and Government," I decided to dig deeper into "Government" and found that the article could be translated into different languages. Our library has patrons who could definitely benefit from this tool. What a great addition!

World Book Advanced

Today, I am using World Book Advanced and all I can say is "Wow!" I am searching for information about Australia and I cannot believe the amount of information and other resources that can be found in this one spot!
The first results screen provided 1,556 encyclopedia articles alone along with additional sources such as maps, tables, pictures, videos and animations, historical items, web sites, and research guides. These would be very helpful for a patron to use as a shortcut. The primary sources and e-books provide additional information. I love the "save to my research" tool as well. It would come in handy for someone who might be doing extended research.
I chose the first encyclopedia article for Australia. I listened to a snippet of Australia's national anthem called "Advance Australia Fair" which I think is a very neat addition. The article contents on the left would help patrons wade through all of the information available to them and allow them to jump to the item that might be of most interest. For example, if a patron were planning to travel to Australia, one could click on "Tourism" for a listing of sights to see or click on "Climate" to get a good idea of when to plan the trip. If a patron were looking for a book on Australia, the information available on the right side of the screen would be helpful as well.
Within the article itself, I found maps and tables that provide additional information on the area as well as pictures and videos once again.

World Book Students

As I continued on to World Book Student, again exploring lions, I discovered an even greater amount of information. Here, I could still see photos and videos, in addition to a map of where lions are found. This entry provided a great deal of detail about lions including body dimensions, diet, and habits of lions.
I found the outline of information on the left very useful as well as the related information that is posted to the right. The tools that are offered would be very beneficial for students who may be writing a research paper. Sections can be printed out, emailed or saved. A term can be highlighted throughout the text. The student can also double-click on a word and the definition will then open in another window.
Again, as a teacher, I noticed that the citation is included, in addition to showing that the content of the article aligns with South Dakota Content Standards. By clicking on the content standards, a teacher can find curriculum correlations, professional links, and related lesson plans.

World Book Kids

Today, I am exploring World Book Online....

On World Book Kids, I discovered lions.







I particularly liked the pictures and videos that are included on the page. I can see where children would be drawn to those things. In addition, the "Play it" section would be a great tool for learning while having fun at the same time. However, I found the most valuable item as a teacher is that the page shows how the article should be cited and additional sources.

"Lion." World Book Kids. World Book, 2010. Web. 30 June 2010.

And so it begins.....

And so it begins....my quest to learn everything about the library, so that I am able to help patrons, students, teachers, and staff to use the library and all it has to offer.....