Lesson 10 -- Wrap-Up

This is how I was when I started Summer Challenge. I am glad I decided to do the Summer Challenge. I wish I would have had more time to devote to it but things have just been busy here with the new computers and everything. I would say my biggest discovery would be everything. I never took the time before to check out what all was available. I am excited to show all this to the community. I thought about putting an article in the paper. I am also putting together a binder with all the handouts for the patrons to refer to if needed. We have discussed at our board meetings of possibly having an open house sometime in the Fall showing all that is available and the new computers. Only thing I hope is maybe now it will work when I need it to. AND this is how I am after I completed the Summer Challenge.

Lesson 9 --History

I am a genealogy junkie. I was very excited when I found out that we were able to access the 'full' Ancestry from the library. I guess I am not 'history' yet because I was not found when searching. I guess that could be good and bad.

I have searched for my grandparents and my husband's. My side is not as easy as my husband's. Of course, the side I have questions on is the tougher side to get info on, so I will need to keep searching. I was able to search as far back as the ancestors coming to America though.

I have to admit I did not notice the 'photos and maps' tab until I took this course. I found some of the photos to be quite interesting. You can tell that some people get into a lot of detail when doing their family history. That is very helpful to others just starting out.

When reseraching Sanborn maps, I decided to go with the town I grew up in since my current town was not listed. It was interesting to find where my childhood house was and finding buildings that are still there and some no longer.

With all that is available, I can see how people could become addicted to genealogy. I am looking forward to doing research.

Lesson 8 --Learning Express Library

All I can say is 'WOW'! I did not realize how much I forgot. I used to be good with Math so I took one of the math tests. Well I evidently have not been using my Math skills. I did not realize how much I forgot. I did find it to be helpful. I can not wait to show the 'LEL' to my patrons.

Next I checked out the 'Job Search and Workplace Skills' learning center. I found it easy to navigate through. I liked that it is self paced. We have patrons coming in to use the computers for job searching. Now they can work on their job searching skills so this will hopefully help them find that job that is out there for them.

Ebooks -- There is a variety of ebooks available. There was so much available that I did not know where to start.

Learning Express Library will definitely be beneficial to our library. Who would have guessed there is so much available to a person. All you need to do is turn on the power.

Lesson 7 -- ArchiveGrid and Camio

Wow, feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. I am feeling like everything is the same thing. But it is not. ArchiveGrid and Camio are interesting resources available to us. They will be helpful.

First, we have ArchiveGrid. I started with 'Sitting Bull autograph card'. I knew of Sitting Bull but did not know any information about him. I found that he was killed while resisting arrest for his unwillingness to abandon the traditions of the ritual Ghost Dance, which had been outlawed. It goes to show that times have changed and we have freedom.

Guess what my search was when I had to choose a subject. If you have been following along with my blog, you might figure it out. Yes, I chose to search 'soda pop'. I came up with 17 different results. I found info from Brigham Young Univ., Stanford Univ, and Univ. of MD, college Park to name a few. I decided to double click on the Brigham Univ info about urban legends regarding Coca Cola. Very interesting! It makes more curious about the many uses for Coca Cola.

Next, I took a glance at Camio. When searching Paul Revere, I found he made ta urns, sugar bowl and creamers, and federal style tea service. When searching 'Sioux', I received 68 results. I found pictures of the Sioux Tribe, decorative 'Sioux' items, and also. pictures of Sioux Springs. My favorite artist was a tough one. The artist I like showed no results as of yet. Some day though. If you are wondering who it was, it is Terry Redlin. The only other artist I came up with was Norman Rockwell. I only found 6 results which surprised me.

Lastly, trying to find my favorites. I have to admit I am not an artsy person so this was tough for me. I do however like the features that are available to use with the art. Will these resources help my community? Yes, they should. They will be helpful to the students who are working are school projects. But I think they are beneficial to us because we are a small library and now we have so much more we can access with a little patience and time.

Lesson 6 -- WorldCat

Yeah, WorldCat finally worked for me. One down and one to go. I enjoy using WorldCat. It has helped me a lot with the non fiction books and for people looking for a certain book.

The book I chose was 'Eat Pray Love', (it was sitting on my desk at the moment waiting to be carded). I found 1880 libraries worldwide have this book. Wow! The first library listed was the Alexander Mitchell Library. The call number for this book is dc 910.4.

WorldCat has everything you need to know about the book and is user friendly. I liked that you can click on different items of the book to get more info. Now I know where to go if someone really enjoys a book and wants another by the author, subject or anything else about the book.

OAIster is interesting. WorldCat has a lot of helpful information available to us the librarians but OAIster has ALL the detailed info you would ever need. I chose different items to research OAIster. I was able to find pictures, letters, and all the publications you could think of.

Both of these will be very helpful.

Lesson 5 -- NetLibrary

I will be coming back to this lesson. I am not able to access NetLibrary at this moment. Stay tuned.

Lesson 4 -- GVRL

GVRL is interesting. I found it easy to navigate through. I chose 'Scholarships, Fellowships, and Loans' as a my topic to research. I thought this would be helpful to my patrons who are looking into to financial aid for schooling.

I did not realize until I searched for foods that have zinc in them how important zinc is for your body. GVRL was very helpful and provide a variety of information.

When I first starting testing GVRL, I was not to sure about it. However the more I played with it, the more I liked it.

I was disappointed that I am not able to try out the 'Read to Me' feature. For some reason, it is not provide. I checked the tutorial pages and what it shows is not listed on the screen when I log in. This would be helpful to patrons who do not like to work or those who comprehend by listening. This way they could download it to their MP3 to refer to while researching.

Onto lesson 5 I go, what will I learn now.

Lesson 3 -- Proquest

I found 'Proquest' to be very interesting. At first, I thought it was just another 'search engine' type. Wrong.

I chose a basic topic, 'teddy bears'. Who knew a basic topic could return with a variety of information. I found out about teddy bears being used to comfort traumatized kids (a wonderful idea) to teddy bear picnics to a teddy bear through the eyes of a child. I think my best discovery was the teddy bear poem in 'Turtle' magazine.

My teddy is fuzzy
And cozy to hold.
There's a patch on his ear,
And he's faded and old.
They got me a new one;
He has a red vest.
But still I like hugging
Old teddy the best.

'Proquest' is very helpful tool available for the patrons. We have a club in our area where each month someone gives a report about a topic. Usually they visit the library for info. I can't wait to introduce them to this.

I used the 'libraries' as my key word for publications. I did not realize there was that much publications. Also, I found that you can enter any word and there is at least 1 publication for this. This is nice because with us being a small library we are limited and now the patrons can find anything.

Lesson 2 -- SIRS

When I first started Lesson, I thought SIRS is just another World Book. Boy, was I wrong.

I stayed with my 'cat' subject for SIRS Discoverer. I like that there is a summary for each article. I found it to be helpful. The legends after the titles is handy. I was able to tell which article had pictures without having to check each article individually. Also, the reading levels are beneficial. I did not realize there was that many articles about the 'typical' cat.

I chose the country of Canada again. I found the information to be simple to understand for the patron and also detailed. I found everything I needed about Canada from the motto to the history to the population. The maps of the World are thorough. I like all the detailing. Also very easy to use.

For my third exercise, I decided to check out the 'Fiction'. I enjoyed the short stories that were provided. I like that after each story, SIRS provides questions for discussion. I thought this would be handy to use sometime for 'Story time'.

SIRS ISSUES RESEARCHER -- I thought I would check out what there was for 'Beauty Pageants'. The Topic Overview was interesting. I also found the pros and cons question and answers to be 'eye opening'. Before researching this subject, I never thought much about the behind the scenes of 'Beauty Pageants'. It was interesting that everyone feels the same about themselves but some show it and some don't. SIRS puts everything right at your fingertips. Too bad this was not available when I went to school.

Well, there is Lesson 2. This is turning out to be very helpful. When I am done with this, I will encourage our patrons to check this out. Well until next time, make sure to read a good book for me.

Lesson 1 -- World Book

When I was deciding which mammal I would like to find info on, I had a hard time. There was so many that I was interested in. So I decided to go simple and choose 'cat' because I already had 3 at home.

World Book Online for Kids is simple. This is a good thing because it is for the younger kids. It needs to be easy for them to understand. I like that you can print or save your articles. Also, for the wee ones who are just starting to read, they can have the article read to them. Good job World Book.

World Book Info Finder is 'WOW'. This is more in-depth. Looking up the simple cat was now more detailed. I did realize that there was so many breeds. I have had a cat majority of my life and have now learned some things that I did not know. Very helpful.

World Book Online Reference Center is informative. I decided to check out Canada. I found that if the patrons can not find the info they need, the ref. center provides access to other ways of accessing more info. Another item I found helpful is by providing access to a dictionary if you do not know what something is. Even more helpful.

The World Book in Spanish and French would be useful if you spoke the languages. This feature may not be used as much in our library. The only time I could see it being used is for the foreign exchange students we have or patrons visiting the area. Luckily enough this has pictures so that I was able to find info on the cat. I remember a little bit of French so I could out parts but not enough to help. Darn!

Listening to the article may be helpful to the patrons who understand the language by hearing instead of seeing. Because I am not very good in foreign languages though, this was a hard for me either way.