Lesson 10 – Wrap Up

I think my biggest discovery was realizing that there is so much information out there and it can be so easy to access if you know the right place to look.  I really enjoyed the whole experience and can’t wait to keep utilizing these resources for professional and personal use.

I plan to not only promote these resources verbally to our patrons, but also on our website, on Facebook, in our weekly newspaper column, with handouts, flyers, and with a digital picture frame that will show different slides of the features of these electronic resources.

Lesson 9 – History and Genealogy Resources – Ancestry Library, Heritage Quest and Sanborn Maps

I typed in my full name, year of birth, and South Dakota, USA as a place where I have lived and Ancestry Library listed 3 different results with my name and two of my old addresses and phone numbers.  The first result had me living there from 1935 (not born yet) until 1993.  I did not move there until 1997.  The second result had me living there from 1998 until 2001.  Although I owned the land there until much later, I actually moved away (and took the house with me) from there in 2000.  The third result had me at my current address since 2002 even though I had been there since 2000.  It was fun to look at and they all had my correct information for my addresses, phone numbers and the town I lived in. 

The categories off to the left hand side were fun to look through too.  I can see why this would get to be addicting.

I went back and typed in my maiden name, which is a lot more common than my married name and it came up with over 6 million results in South Dakota.  When I narrowed the towns that I lived in and was born in, the results went down a few but not by many.  What fun!

Using the census information, I was able to find the record of when my grandfather was 11 years old back in 1930.  I knew that my mother had been born in Britton SD, which was listed as his town, but it also listed Miller Township.  Because I was unaware of his exact birthdate, I found it by using my grandmother’s name and then matching records because I knew he had a sister named Alice.

By using the advanced search I typed in South Dakota and searched under photos and maps.  The results listed over 3 million different options so I narrowed it down by adding my grandfather’s name and home town.  I was given over 300 pictures, but they were listed as other people’s names and towns that I did not type in. 

While using HeritageQuest, I looked for my grandmother’s name under the 1930 census in South Dakota using her maiden name.  When it did not find any results, I tried my grandfather’s name and information again since I had found it on AncestryLibrary.  It too showed no results.    So I clicked on the search tips link.  It told me that the index captures the head of household only, so I went back and typed in my great-grandfather’s name and 1920 instead of 1930(which was only partially completed).  I found out that my grandfather also lived in Webster, SD when he was 1 year old.  This was also the last census record for his mother who passed away before the 1930 census took place.   I was interested in learning how to tell who his neighbors were because when his mother died, the neighbors took his infant brother in and later left town to raise him as their own.  My grandfather tracked down his little brother later in life and I wouldn’t be surprised if he used either ancestry or heritagequest to help find him. 

While using Sanborn Maps, I typed in South Dakota and Chamberlain for the last date possible (July 1928-Sept 1934).  I was interested in the first map with the index with the island that used to be in the middle of the river here called “American Island”.  On the map, it still shows the original bridge to the island that we still can see the pillars sticking out of the water today and a bridge for the railroad tracks that no longer exists or was moved to a new location.  It also shows more plots of land rather than buildings.  I looked for my parent’s home and was only able to see the plot of land.

 I tried one of the other maps and found the building that used to be where the library is located now and then I found the old court house where the library used to be that had burnt down.  The local post office, old city hall, and movie theater are still in the same places.  A lot of the lots were mapped out but had no buildings on them.   There were several residents on Main Street where businesses now sit. 

Lesson 8 – ArchiveGrid and CAMIO

After typing “Sitting Bull autograph card” the link was taking quite a while to load so I went back and tried it again.  The second time it came up right away.  I learned several different names for Sitting Bull and that he was a shaman and leader of the Hunpapa Sioux.  I also learned that after he was captured by US forces he toured with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show.

Using parenthesis I typed in “Casey Tibbs” and was given 4 results.  The results were located at the Museum of the American West, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Wyoming, and the University of California, Los Angeles.   The first one was called Casey Tibbs photographs.  It gave descriptions of the different photos that were housed there.  The second one listed a 30 minute anthology series that ran on NBC from 1955 to 1956.  And although the third looked to be a basic article, the last one was a collection of motion picture lobby card from1912 to the present.  It was interesting to see the different types of information that was available.

Just by the description and the homepage, I can tell that CAMIO would have been well used during my high school art classes.  What a great resource!  When typing in “Paul Revere” I was reminded that he and his family made things from silver.  I just recently heard this thanks to the history channel and the show Pawn Stars.  They had someone bring in one of Paul Revere’s family’s pieces  - or they thought that it was anyway. 

When I typed in Sioux, I was given a wide variety of items (63 to be exact) such as clothing, prints, pipes, writing tables, bowls, pouches, and dolls.  Each item listed a picture, the title, the creator, the dates, type of art and the museum where it is kept.  There were several ways to refine my search along the left hand side such as by date , subject, creator or format.

I chose to search for the photographer Ansel Adams.  My sister has a collection of his prints and even though they are black and white, they are very powerful and I could look at them for hours and find or feel something different every time I look.  I was shocked to see that the photos were taken 60-80 years ago.  I thought they were newer than that. 

My community would use this resource for school classes and research as well as for personal research.  There are many local artists in the area and this would be a great tool for them.  I noticed that the top tool bar with the red line had Asian style writing on it and that there is a place for an advanced search.

I was disappointed that my search for one of my favorite artists “Grandma Moses” resulted in only one finding.  Maybe I just love the way her name sounds, but I remember doing a report on her when I was young.   I also chose Monet and added some to my favorites.  I love the slideshow idea.  This would be great for a presentation or to keep a collection of meaningful images.  It says that you can’t publish these pictures, but you are able to use them as a web page?  Still a great resource.

Lesson 7 – WorldCat and More FirstSearch Indexes

At first glance there is a lot on the advanced search page.  Which is good for narrowing down your search, but sometimes too much on a page can turn users off.  There were the basic searches such as title, author, ISBN, and subject.  These were often broken down further into other categories and there were some non- typical ways to search such as the musical comp and the notes.

I typed the name of the book “If You’re Happy and You Know It” - I think the song had been in my head all morning for some reason.  Anyway, it came up with 147 different result and 1086 different libraries for the #1 entry.    The top library was Aberdeen Distance Media Center.  I noticed that the next few libraries were also in SD.  This makes it nice to find the closest libraries to us.    When looking at the full record, the call number was LC:P28.3.0718.  There were several links for the authors, illustrators, and subjects.  I also noticed the general bibliographical information as well as the language of the book, searches for other versions by the same author, vendor information for ordering, and items about the author.

I did not see a drop down menu called “Search in Databases” but I did find links for : list all databases, list databases by topic, and suggest best databases once I clicked on the Databases link.  When I clicked the dropdown menu next to these, I was given the choice of searches.  In order to find the next options, I had to use the advanced search.  After I typed in South Dakota, I chose the title “Sweet Clover in Great Plains Farming” and clicked on the link next to access.  The basic information was listed as well as the table of contents and there was a link to each page in the article.  There was also a place to search this article and add to bookbag.

Lesson 6 - EBooks on Ebsco

Under the search option I typed “Curing cancer with your diet”.  It gave me 4 non-fiction ebooks to choose from that listed the basic bibliographical information, a picture of the book, a list of subjects in the book, an option to save it to a folder, a link to the full text, and a link to the table of contents.  I chose the most current one called “Handbook of Nutrition and Diet” and clicked on the title.  It gave more specific information about the book and brought me to specific pages in the book where my search words were discussed with the title, “Most Relevant Pages from this eBook”.  It also gave the options of the full ebook text, bookmarking the pages, printing, adding to a folder, e-mailing, saving and creating a note.

When I typed in “Constitution” it gave 166 different results, so I tried to narrow it a little bit by using “United States Constitution” and it narrowed it down to 5 ebooks:  Representing Popular Sovereignty:  The Constitution in American Political Culture, AP U.S. Government and Politics, Shaping the Eighteenth Amendment, The Right to Religious Liberty, and Capital Punishment.  The last book did not look as though it was going to be helpful, but when I opened it did have some relevant pages of information.

I typed in Nebraska into the advanced search and was given 56 results of books that were published in Nebraska.  I changed the field to subject and it listed one book about Omaha from 1945-1973.   Choosing the correct field to search in would be very important.  Even leaving the optional select a field blank would not be as productive as narrowing down the search by choosing either subject or title.

Lesson 5 - Gale Virtul Reference Library

Immediately the GVRL recognized that I was logging on at the “Cozard Memorial Library”.  The main page listed subjects down the left side that included:  Business, Education, Environment, History, Law, Literature, Medicine, Nation and World, Religion, Science, and Social Science.   Each of these subjects then showed the picture, title and date of each publication.  By scrolling over each, I was given a brief description also. 

By clicking on the “Titles List” I was given an alphabetical list of all of the publications.  I also had the option of listing them by the date of publication.  I chose “Literary Themes for Students:  The American Dream, 2007”.  This brought me to a table of contents, a search for specific topics, and a choice between the different volumes.  This particular publication contained only 2 volumes.  I used the table of contents to click on the “Major Works” which brought me to a list of separate literary themes and their corresponding page numbers.  I chose “House Made of Dawn” and was given links to its introduction, plot summary, themes, historical overview, critical overview, criticism, and sources.  It also gave pictures, excerpts from the book, and several sidebars that I could view or hide if desired.

I typed in the word bananas and it gave me 95 different articles on everything from bananas to Chiquita’s to folic acid and other articles about fruit in general.  Each article gave the basic bibliographical information plus a word count and brief description.    The article that I chose had bright pictures, lots of content, key terms, resources, and links to other similar articles.  The “listen” feature was nice and it highlighted the words as it read.  I was able to pause the reading and adjust the volume right on the page.