Lesson 10 - Wrap up

I would like to go through the weeks and share a little about each lesson -
World Book Online was a very helpful source for research or just getting to know a little bit more about a specific topic of interest.  Again, I enjoyed the video with the information.
Learnig Express had some valuable lessons and tests in regard to high school, college, and adult students.  Personal finance and jobs/careers couldn't be any more important than they are today. 
SIRS Discover - I enjoyed researching various topics and can see the value for teachers who could use any of these three weeks lessons so far.
Proquest is where I encountered a little trouble with the dates of the material but I think I have it figured out now.
In the Gale Virtual Library, I found some great material on medical issues.
Ebooks are definitely the wave of the future.  We have many people who inquire about ebooks at our small library. 
World Cat - I was probably the least impressed with in comparison to other weeks lessons. 
Very impressed on the other hand with Archivegrid and Camio - The pictures of Niagara Falls were of unbelievable quality. 
Ancestory - Anyone who is older, like myself, is especially sentimental about family history as the past becomes much more important to you.  I found some good things that could be used for family trees available at this site. 
Thanks so much for the experience.  I hope more people make use of the unique sourses of education found in all the sites at the South Dakota Library. 
      

Ancestory Library - HeritageQuest - Sanborn Maps

I searched for my name but did not come up with anything.  I did however find my grandfather who was born in Deutschland, Germany.  The records were written in German in 1894 so that was interesting.  I went to the 1930 census and found my father who was 16 at the time and his siblings.  I also found my mother who was 11 and had no siblings.  My father's obituary good also be found.  My mother's parents were also available, one born in Germany and the other in the Netherlands. I did find some of their relatives ancestors also. 
For the photos and maps - I looked for South Dakota and found pictures in U.S. School yearbooks, library of Congress photo collection 1840-2000 of various pictures taken in South Dakota.  These varied from farm fields to towns. 
The HeritageQuest - Probably the least useable for me at this site.  Searched Sioux Falls and came up with 235 publications.  Looked like each publication had a family ancestory record from people all over the country that had lived or moved to Sioux Falls?
Sanborn Maps - I looked at Dell Rapids, SD - November 1893 - Zeroed in on the Opera House which was recently refurbished and is now again able to be used by the community.  Zoomed in quite a bit and good get some very close dimensions etc of the building.         

ArchiveGrid and CAMIO

Sitting Bull - (1834-1890) - Leader of the Sioux nation.  He fought against the Crow Indians and the white man.  Most famous for the battle of the Little Bighorn.  Was captured in Canada and began to tour with Buffalo Bill later in life. 
George H.W. Bush - 41st President. (1989-1993) - Married to Barbara Bush.  Talked about his family and things during his presidency.  Favorite place to live or visit was Kennebunkport, Maine.  1667 articles on Mr. Bush. 
Paul Revere - First few pictures included - The Bloody Massacre, The Ride of Paul Revere, Teaspoon, Tea Urn, Spoon, Sugar Bowl and Cover.
Sioux - Gauntlets, Scalp Shirt, Sioux Springs (near Humboldt) and Writing Table
Van Gogh (favorite artist) - Sheaves of Wheat, Still Life, Poplars at Saint-Remy, Cypresses, River Bank in Springtime.
I searched waterfalls and was shown several famous waterfalls most famous of which was Niagara Falls.  I selected three pictures and was impressed with what you could do with them as you added them to your favorites.  I did the Pan Down feature, High Resolution Image and the Zoom in and Zoom out.  Came in quite close to the waterfall and viewing of the picture. 
The community uses - When doing research I have found it is always nice to see in pictures in regard to what you are writing about.  Maybe just the fact that classroom teachers could also use this with their students when working on a project. Or, maybe people in the community are just interested in a certain subject and would like to see what they are reading about in the form of a picture.   

WorldCat

1.   I searched the word politics.  I then put in the book title "Killing Lincoln" and came up with 146 results, the 4th one being the book I was looking for.  It was found in 1,746 libraries.  I don't know if I read it correctly but it said to "check the catalogs in your library" of which we do have the book. 
Call number - E457.5, Dewey 973.7092
Author - Bill O'Reilly
It gave the publisher, cost of the book, very good abstract about the book, other sources about Lincoln, details about the author. 
Clicked on O'Reilly, and he has 10 other books.  Clicked on Lincoln and found 2,902 results.

2. Went to OAlster and did a subject search on South Dakota.  Found 8,059 results.  #1 was "Violinists Run Amuck in South Dakota" which was a publication.  #15 was the "Missouri River, Clay County South Dakota" - Picture only. 
Of all the things we have looked at, I find this the least user friendly (in my opinion for me) as compared to all the other sites we have looked at so far. 

Ebooks on Ebscohost

1. I did a search on Tsunamis since we just went to the Atlantic Ocean.  I found a book called "Oceans" and the most relevant pages from this Ebook was very helpful because it hilighted all the relevant pages on this topic.   The information talked about various tsunamis around the world, warning systems, causes and size and force of the various tsunamis.
2. I first searched constitution day and did not care for the results so I then searched "ratification of the constitution and found several better results with some interesting information.
"A.P. U.S. History"
"Reader's Companion to American History"
3. I searched Nebraska first and had 56 results - Turtle Lung Woman's Granddaughter - social life and customs: Pine Ridge Indian Reservation etc.
Killing us Quietly:Native Americans and Hiv/Aids
New Warriors:Native American Leaders since 1900
These were the first three books of the 56 for Nebraska.
Then I searched Oklahoma and had 80 results -Biodiversity and Ntive America
Great Goddesses of Egypt
Documents of American Indian Diplomacy
These were the first 3 of the 80 results. 

Gale Virtual Reference Library

I went into the Bone Marrow Transplantation article since it was of particular interest to me.  We personally know a young man who is dealing with cancer and will be going through this procedure.  Stem cells produce white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets.  Stem cells are constantly replacing these other cells as they wear out.  This particular procedure transplants healthy stem cells from a donor to a recipient who cannot manufacture the proper amount of normal cells due to disease etc.  There is a high risk of complications with this procedure such as infections and or transplant rejection.  The age of the patient is also a consideration for greater success.  Marrow is usually drawn from the hip bone of the donor by a syringe and put into the vein of the recipient. 
2.  Radon was the subject I did a search on -  We had our home tested for radon recently and it was in the normal range.  When we purchased our home we were told to install a ventilation system to lower the radon levels in our basement.  The system is working quite well and I wanted to find out a little more about radon itself.
Radon enters the home in the form of a gas.
Radon is released from the soils around which the home is built.
Radon is said to be cancer causing.
Radon tests should be used each year and if needed a ventilation system should be installed to control the levels of radon in a home. 
Very helpful information found in this resource.  Thanks so much.  

Proquest - Publications tab

I found that you needed to type in very general topics - Education, Agriculture etc in order for some publications to come up.  Librarian, farmer etc. showed 0 publications and the word teacher brought up 1 article.  Then I changed the right hand drop down to either - in title, title begins with, summary, or in subject and found the same result.  Maybe I'm not using this site correctly.    

Proquest

I did a search in the business area, investing in bonds.  I found that they are much safer than the stock market at the present time.  They provide long term, guarenteed yields which can be important for older people.  They also offer tax free returns if they are municiple bonds.  You need to be careful about the risk of the bond since they are rated for example - AAA being the safest, A being much less safe.  Interest rates are quite good on bonds right now in comparison to interest rates at the bank.  The risk would be that should interest rates rise, the initial value of your bond can drop.  So there are many things to consider when buying bonds. 
I was a little disappointed in my articles because it seemed like many of them where dated 2000 or older.  I did find a couple of articles that where more current so maybe I was searching in the wrong way. 
The next thing I did was to look at agriculture and technology and found many more recent articles available for this topic.       

SIRS Discoverer and Issues Researcher

Discoverer - I looked up the Pine Beetle since that is such a menace in the Black Hills.  I read about the destruction it is also causing in Colorado and Canada.  Pictures of the various beetles, diagrams of how they work on the tree in regard to laying eggs and moving under the bark were quite interesting.  It was at a moderate reading level. 
I then looked up the country of Viet Nam.  It offered three levels of a graphic organizer to take down the facts about the country.  A fairly detailed map of the country and the area was available.  The two "database features" I went into were Science Fair and Biographies.  I researched Ecology and Environment - Recycling.  George Bush and Abraham Lincoln were the biographies I did some reading about. 
What a great tool for teachers with all the various ideas, games, projects and information about the various areas. 
Researcher - I picked Illegal Immigration - there was 28 pages of articles available on the subject. 
The pro/con debate forum on the question was interesting.  Off to the side it had various information with matching subjects, newspapers, magazines, viewpoints, and reference. 
Graphics/Media gave charts, editorial cartoons, and graphs in relation to immigration etc.
The favorite subject I chose was Fine Arts which went to Music which went on to types of music. Then I looked at musical instruments and the evolution of the instruments. 
Another great site for information and research including students, teachers, librarians and the general public.          

Learning Express Library

I liked the practice tests available to students especially in the math, reading and writing skills areas which are so important for students today.  A wide variety of tests for college bound students plus test taking skills and college prep are needed for many students who are unaware of those types of things.  College students are covered with many skills tests and then followed by the Job Search and Workplace Skills area.  With so many people out of work today, the Jobs and Careers area is great for those looking for extra help with their job search.  I went into the EBook of Personal Finance and read for quite awhile since it was very interesting.  I used to teach a personal finance class and they had a lot of great information in this area.  It started out with budgets as a young person and went all the way through to retirement. 

World Book Online Public Library Edition

1. I looked at the Llama since we have a farm close to our town that raises Llamas.  The info is very good for this age of student K-5.  Not too complicated for this age of student but good information.  Pictures are nice but the video is a real addition to the World Book for a source of information.  Being able to email the articles etc. to someone else is a nice feature. 
2.  Having done research in the past, the information in regard to citing this article would be very helpful to this age of students.  Little more indepth information. 
3.  I chose Jamaica and the Grand Cayman Islands since we are going on a cruise there this winter.  The links on the left with all the information would be helpful for patrons going on a trip of just wanting to know more about a country.  I enjoyed the story on the right from the 1800's.  Many uses for this type of information on a country.