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.