SD Library Challenge / Lesson 3

ProQuest

1. I searched ice cream in Proquest. I think ice cream came to mind because this past weekend was so blasted hot and I am still trying to cool myself off. I limited my search to full text and retrieved 11,545 articles. I then re-sorted my list to the most relevant instead of the default of most recent. Why not look at the most relevant articles first instead of the most current? Makes sense to me! I then looked at the Suggested Topics at the top of the search page and narrowed my huge list of articles to only 77 when I selected ice cream AND nutrition. I like the fact that I can easily limit those article even further by article type, i.e. Scholarly, Magazines, Trade or Newspapers.

Doesn't this look yummy??

2. I searched for Publishers Weekly using the Publications search. This is journal that I enjoy looking at to see what new books are being published that I 'need' to read. I noticed that we have the current issues available in full-text and I can even set up an RSS feed so that I know when new issues are available. How easy is that??!!

SD Library Challenge / Lesson 2

SIRS Issues Researcher and Discoverer

SIRS Discoverer
1. I have never used the SIRS products before so this was very interesting. I searched for skunks again, using Sirs Discoverer. I tried both the keyword search and the subject search. Both searches eventually took me to the same information. The different types of sources are just a click away using the tabs at the top of the screen. The reading levels are clearly marked with the different colored books. Icons for the others items available, i.e. pictures, activities, etc are very clear and easy to find and use.

2. I searched for France using the Country Facts part of the Database Features. Available is information about population, geography and weather, economy, government and history - all the basic information that a student would need for a report. I searched United States under Maps of the World. I am amazed at the amount and type of information that is available. I also explored the Activities section and looked at the Food Projects & Recipes. This database as a whole would be wonderful for grade school projects and papers!

SIRS Issues Researcher
1. The Leading Issue topic that I chose was Online Social Networks. There is alot of information right at the very first screen - articles, pros and cons, timeline, global impact and even statistics. What more could a student want! Very nice!!

2. Curriculum Pathfinders - I selected Photography as my topic to search and got to it by clicking Fine Arts, Visual Arts and then Photography. This is a very nice, concise, easy way to zero in on a specific topic area. The information that is available takes me to websites that are useful to the topic I want to research. I was able to narrow my search down very quickly and easily to find photographs of war.

SD Library Challenge / Lesson 1

World Book Online - Encyclopedia and More

1. I searched for skunk in the World Book Kids Edition. Don't ask me why that mammal popped into my head. But they really are quite cute, don't you think? Too bad they are so smelly!


'Many skunks live underground. They are active at night and sleep during the day.' -- from World Book Kids

2. Then I searched for skunk in World Book Student Edition and really was amazed at how much more information was available and how it is written at a more advanced reading/comprehension level.

'Many skunks live in underground dens that they line with dry leaves. The spotted skunk, unlike the striped and hog-nosed species, can climb, and it sometimes lives in hollow trees. Skunks are active at night and sleep during the day.' -- from World Book Student

3. Using World Book Advanced, I searched the country of France.


On the left side of the page are the different sources available which is useful when a student has to have multiple sources for their project. They are all listed there and very easy to access. And the right hand column has Primary Sources listed, which are sometimes challenging to find. After clicking on the link for the country, the right and left columns change and allow for easy access to the specific information that the student would be looking for.

4. World Book Discover allows the patron to browse for a topic, i.e. American Government without really knowing specifically what they are looking for. By clicking on the links that come up, they are led on a path to the information that they are searching for. This type of searching is helpful for readers that are not that good in English because the 'suggestions' are there for them and they don't need to struggle with coming up with the correct search terms.

-- This was a good exercise for me since I had not really used the World Book Online. I love the paper editions of this title but I never gave the online a look-see. Very good source and one I will remember to point out to our students in the future.

SD Library Challenge: Electronic Resources Edition

This summer, this blog will be doing double duty. (I hope I don't get too confused.) I just signed up for the South Dakota Library Challenge, sponsored by the wonderful people at the State Library. It is a chance for us to 'play with' the electronic resources that they provide to the people of South Dakota. Each week we take a look at a different resource. Some of the items I am familiar with already from working at Briggs but other ones I have not used at all.

So this will be a good thing!