I can't believe the challenge is already over! It was a great opportunity to brush up on all the wonderful resources available, and I feel a lot more prepared to help with research projects of all types now. Choosing just one of the resources as my favorite discovery is a very hard decision...there are so many different resources, with so many possibilities! I know that I will definitely be using SIRS now that I know more about how to utilize it; but I suppose that my biggest discovery would be Learning Express Library, and just how large and varied the possibilities are in their selection. I know that it will be a great tool to have, a just-in-case sort of knowledge that I am very thankful to have. You know, just in case.
Thank you so much for making this learning experience available!
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
Lesson 9 - Ancestry Library, Heritage Quest, and Sanborn Maps
Ancestry Library is a pretty exciting resource to rediscover. I really appreciate just how easy it is to navigate around the site, and the various options available to help people find exactly what they're looking for.
In searching for the Titanic's sister ships, I went to the "Immigration and Travel" record collection, and refined my search to "Ship Pictures and Descriptions", and simply searched the Titanic. I really like the way that they organize all the material, and I was easily able to find the record, history, and numerous pictures of the Titanic's sister ship, the Olympic.
Searching for information about the Hindenburg was a little bit trickier, since there was less refining that I could do. But I was still able to find several articles with information about the construction, size and design, speed, etc. I'm glad I tried that challenge - I never would have thought of using Ancestry Library for anything outside of just ancestral research.
Heritage Quest is very nicely laid out as well. The search options are clearly marked, and easy to figure out. To find historical information about my town, I went the the "Books" search, then clicked on the "Places" option, and then searched the name of my town. The way that everything is organized is pretty impressive, and it didn't really take that much searching before I found some references to the history of my town, including the founding, size, and original name. Once again, a very useful resource, for many different types of research.
In searching for the Titanic's sister ships, I went to the "Immigration and Travel" record collection, and refined my search to "Ship Pictures and Descriptions", and simply searched the Titanic. I really like the way that they organize all the material, and I was easily able to find the record, history, and numerous pictures of the Titanic's sister ship, the Olympic.
Searching for information about the Hindenburg was a little bit trickier, since there was less refining that I could do. But I was still able to find several articles with information about the construction, size and design, speed, etc. I'm glad I tried that challenge - I never would have thought of using Ancestry Library for anything outside of just ancestral research.
Heritage Quest is very nicely laid out as well. The search options are clearly marked, and easy to figure out. To find historical information about my town, I went the the "Books" search, then clicked on the "Places" option, and then searched the name of my town. The way that everything is organized is pretty impressive, and it didn't really take that much searching before I found some references to the history of my town, including the founding, size, and original name. Once again, a very useful resource, for many different types of research.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Lesson 8 - ArchiveGrid and CAMIO
ArchiveGrid is a useful tool for a library to have, and even more useful if the librarians know how to use it. From family geneologies to detailed or rather obscure researching, I can see plenty of possibilities for this more specific resource.
To read the papers of Nobel Prize winningTheodore Schultz, I discovered that I would have to go to the University Archives of the University of Iowa, where they have such publications, newspapers reports, correspondances and other such handy research information all stored away in a document box. The information is all available for public research, and the contact information for the University Library is handily included right along with the search results. This is good to know - I'm excited for the next chance to use this resource!
CAMIO has an incredible amount of information, and it would be very helpful with art or culture studies. I think I went about studying Victorian era fashions the wrong way for awhile, but I eventually found that the simplest way was to use the Advanced search to use the keywords for the Victorian era, and then refine it by dates, to simply get everything within the time period I was looking for. Probably a more complicated method than it had to be, but I ended up with the right information, and that's enough to get started with. At least now I know that there is a good resource for this kind of search now!
To read the papers of Nobel Prize winningTheodore Schultz, I discovered that I would have to go to the University Archives of the University of Iowa, where they have such publications, newspapers reports, correspondances and other such handy research information all stored away in a document box. The information is all available for public research, and the contact information for the University Library is handily included right along with the search results. This is good to know - I'm excited for the next chance to use this resource!
CAMIO has an incredible amount of information, and it would be very helpful with art or culture studies. I think I went about studying Victorian era fashions the wrong way for awhile, but I eventually found that the simplest way was to use the Advanced search to use the keywords for the Victorian era, and then refine it by dates, to simply get everything within the time period I was looking for. Probably a more complicated method than it had to be, but I ended up with the right information, and that's enough to get started with. At least now I know that there is a good resource for this kind of search now!
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Lesson 7 - WorldCat
I have to admit, I did have a bit of trouble learning how to use WorldCat efficiently. It's just so huge, it took me awhile to figure out how to refine my searches effectively enough to concentrate the results I wanted. But after I used the advanced search, I was able to find many Martin Luther books that would work wonderfully for a 4th - 5th grade Sunday school class; I think the biggest help was when I figured out I could filter the several thousand Martin Luther King Jr. books that came up in the basic search. Then I refined the search to only juvenile materials, and so I can know easily recommend books to my patron, such as "Martin Luther" by May McNeer, or the same title by Henry Emerson Fosdick. Both of which can be easily found at the Augustana College Library.
I have to say, I'm feeling very accomplished right now.
That feeling vanished, of course, as soon as I tried the next step. Apparently I was over refining my searches in my excitement, so my results were rather disappointing. Finally I just gave up on that and typed "graphic novel" and "classic" in the keyword boxes. Instant results. The one I would probably recommend to my library would be the adaptation of "Beowulf", published by Candlewick Press.
The third part was easy enough, having finally figured out the set-up of WorldCat. I just went to the advanced search and typed in the title, and selected "Musical Scores" as the document type. The one that I clicked on said "vocal score" in the description, so I decided that that would work just fine. The title is "My Fair Lady", and the accession number is 26429906.
Though I must admit to a bit of trouble getting started on this assignment, it's a good resource to have, and I'm glad to have figured it out.
I have to say, I'm feeling very accomplished right now.
That feeling vanished, of course, as soon as I tried the next step. Apparently I was over refining my searches in my excitement, so my results were rather disappointing. Finally I just gave up on that and typed "graphic novel" and "classic" in the keyword boxes. Instant results. The one I would probably recommend to my library would be the adaptation of "Beowulf", published by Candlewick Press.
The third part was easy enough, having finally figured out the set-up of WorldCat. I just went to the advanced search and typed in the title, and selected "Musical Scores" as the document type. The one that I clicked on said "vocal score" in the description, so I decided that that would work just fine. The title is "My Fair Lady", and the accession number is 26429906.
Though I must admit to a bit of trouble getting started on this assignment, it's a good resource to have, and I'm glad to have figured it out.
Lesson 6 - EBSCOhost
EBSCOhost is an interesting resource, and one that could certainly come in very handy. I have to admit it does a few drawbacks, but I'm certainly not going to complain about yet another helpful resource to fall back on. I really like how well the visual search organizes everything, though it took me awhile to figure out how it was all laid out. Personally, I like using the visual search, but I think some people with less time to figure it all out might just enjoy the old fashioned search bar better. Either way, the results are the same.
And then, searching for the colored fairy tales, I tried typing in "fairy tales" (which seemed the easiest way to start the search); right away I found some ebooks by Andrew Lang, under titles like "The Red Fairy Book", "The Violet Fairy Book", "The Yellow Fairy Book" and so on. So that was pretty simple. I went though the same search using the Visual Search option as well, and found the same results right away.
This resource seems like it will make handy back up for many research projects; and I'm glad to broaden the scope of possibilities even more when it comes to ways to help people out.
And then, searching for the colored fairy tales, I tried typing in "fairy tales" (which seemed the easiest way to start the search); right away I found some ebooks by Andrew Lang, under titles like "The Red Fairy Book", "The Violet Fairy Book", "The Yellow Fairy Book" and so on. So that was pretty simple. I went though the same search using the Visual Search option as well, and found the same results right away.
This resource seems like it will make handy back up for many research projects; and I'm glad to broaden the scope of possibilities even more when it comes to ways to help people out.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Lesson 5 - GVRL
The Gale Virtual Reference Library is a resource that I have actually been using semi-regularly already for reference and research, but I still find it helpful to do a bit more exploring into it's possibilities and potential.
Using GVRL to search for spring holiday traditions around the world (which is a really cool idea, by the way), I was able to come up with quite a bit of information, mostly going off of the "Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays". I found festival traditions from Iran (The Nouruz Festival, going back about 3,000 years), China (The Ching Ming Festival, going back 1,800 years), Ukraine (The Velykden Festival, now celebrating Easter), Norway (Constitution Day), and the more well known Western holidays.
Finding food recipes was harder, though I found mention of the traditional foods with a little bit of searching. Usually information on the foods and games of a festival were included in the same article that I was reading off of, but then I did find another reference "The Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World" which turned out to be much more specific.
I used the Advanced Search and found plenty of new books; apparently there were around 29,000 added in 2012, ranging through every subject imaginable.
Glad I went through this again, to brush up my knowledge of this great resource! I can already think of several projects for which some of the information I just searched would be useful for.
Using GVRL to search for spring holiday traditions around the world (which is a really cool idea, by the way), I was able to come up with quite a bit of information, mostly going off of the "Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays". I found festival traditions from Iran (The Nouruz Festival, going back about 3,000 years), China (The Ching Ming Festival, going back 1,800 years), Ukraine (The Velykden Festival, now celebrating Easter), Norway (Constitution Day), and the more well known Western holidays.
Finding food recipes was harder, though I found mention of the traditional foods with a little bit of searching. Usually information on the foods and games of a festival were included in the same article that I was reading off of, but then I did find another reference "The Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World" which turned out to be much more specific.
I used the Advanced Search and found plenty of new books; apparently there were around 29,000 added in 2012, ranging through every subject imaginable.
Glad I went through this again, to brush up my knowledge of this great resource! I can already think of several projects for which some of the information I just searched would be useful for.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Lesson 4 - ProQuest
ProQuest is yet another very handy resource to have around the library, to answer all those random little questions that might not be found in an ordinary news source. For a small town library, I think this could be invaluable.
In trying to search for book reviews on "Les Miserables", I had a bit of fun with trying out all the search refining tools. Once you get into the actual search, there are quite a few options to help you find exactly what you are looking for. I really liked the "include/exclude" possibility, that would help you specify the subjects that you did and did not want to pull up. I might have been just a little too specific, though, because I didn't come up with quite as much as I was hoping for in the way of book reviews. But I still came up with several good articles to work with.
Searching for the impact of Hurricane Sandy on libraries was kind of an interesting challenge. I tried using keywords at first, and then played around with the search refining tools some more, and then used the results sorting tool to come up with the most recent articles first. The most recent information I could find on Hurricane Sandy and the impact on libraries was an article from Feb. 13, titled "Library Announces National Recording Preservation Plan", which only mentioned Hurricane Sandy in passing (and so probably wasn't the best source for this example) but was the most recent article.
There are lots of possibilities! I'm quite glad that I have the chance to go through all these once again.
In trying to search for book reviews on "Les Miserables", I had a bit of fun with trying out all the search refining tools. Once you get into the actual search, there are quite a few options to help you find exactly what you are looking for. I really liked the "include/exclude" possibility, that would help you specify the subjects that you did and did not want to pull up. I might have been just a little too specific, though, because I didn't come up with quite as much as I was hoping for in the way of book reviews. But I still came up with several good articles to work with.
Searching for the impact of Hurricane Sandy on libraries was kind of an interesting challenge. I tried using keywords at first, and then played around with the search refining tools some more, and then used the results sorting tool to come up with the most recent articles first. The most recent information I could find on Hurricane Sandy and the impact on libraries was an article from Feb. 13, titled "Library Announces National Recording Preservation Plan", which only mentioned Hurricane Sandy in passing (and so probably wasn't the best source for this example) but was the most recent article.
There are lots of possibilities! I'm quite glad that I have the chance to go through all these once again.
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