WEBSITES: I learned about the search engine http://www.duckduckgo.com/.  This search engine doesn't "profile" you.  It gives hits to sites you may not get to right away with google etc. which tend to direct you based on other sites you have visited.
I also like to use www.kidsblogs.nationalgeographic.com/dogeared.  I like to see what other kids have written about books they have read.  Periodically we put together a display of the books they have read, print out the remarks and put them with the books.
I use http://www.dltk-kids.com/ and http://www.preschooleducation.com/ for the preschool story time group.  I find craft ideas to add to stories.  Also try http://www.mothergooseprograms.org/.

I learned alot about the electronic resources during this challenge.  The biggest thing:  I need to practice every week on each of the resources so that I can easily manipulate the info when the time comes.  I was so excited when a patron came in and asked a question that we could research in the data bases.  She didn't have time that day and I am still waiting for her to come back so we can work together and find her the answers to her questions.
When someone has a question, it is acceptable to say "I'm not sure but let me find out" and then proceed to work on the problem.  However, I want to be able to say "I know right where we can look" and sit down with the member right then and find their answers.  It will take time and practice that I am willing to take on.
Thank you for your work on this challenge.  I look forward to my continued learning!!

Ancestry - interesting.  We do get quite a few requests for information, so...here I go.

I searched myself - both by married name and by maiden.  The U.S. public reacords index vol. 2 has my name but the wrong address.  I don't even know of a Grant St. in Britton!
The phone directory has good info tho.  They even have a notation of our Aberdeen address and phone number.

I couldn't find my birth or marriage info.


When searching for my great-grandfather, Hiram Hastings, I discovered quite an age difference between he and my great-grandmother, which I never knew.  The 1900 census had him in Minnesota and it listed their 5 children.  May have to do more checking there!

With regard to "photos and maps" on AncestryLibrary, I found no such tab.  I looked for it under charts and forms and in the drop down SEARCH box.  No luck.  I tried typing "south dakota" as a search.  12 categories came up - Pictures was one and Maps and Atlases another.  I tried the "HELP" button but didn't have any luck there either.  I checked other bloggers but didn't find anything there for this lesson yet.

In HERITAGEQUEST I checked for Hardina and Hastings.  The Hastings I found was not all that interesting so I tried Britton and Newark.  I typed John Deere under location and got lots up hits.  Typed the same in person and also got lots of hits.  Not sure how long it would take someone to find info they would want to request thru ILL.

In SANBORN MAPS, I looked up Britton.  It goes to 1939.  I had trouble navigating the maps and using the key.  I am sure our court house is there, but I wasn't able to find it.  I will try again a different day and hope to have better results.

World Cat...The book title I entered was "Unbroken" as that is our next book club selection.  I discovered 88 records.  3074 libraries have the book.  The top library was Alexander Mitchell.  The call number is 940.54.  The author has also written "Sea Biscuit."  I clicked POW-US as a subject and found 1909 records.   The info I thought interesting was the geography listed, genre and awards the book had received.  I was also interested in CONTENTS.  It appears that some lines from the book are given there.  I am not sure of their significance but I also noticed them listed on other titles I checked on.  I will look for this info when I get to reading the selection.

When I checked on FirstSearch index I chose MedLine as we have several patrons that are students in the medical area and patrons that look up health information regularly.  I clicked on titles.  It showed a total of 917 pages for the 22902 titles.  I noticed many were foreign titles.  I search new england journal of medicine.  It shows as a title on the dex but I am not sure what to do from here regarding research???

OAIster: following instructions was easy.  Many types of media come up with a "South Dakota" search.  The first item I picked was Harney Peak.  It was to be a picture but I got a 404 page not found error.  I picked the Deadwood Stage of 1876 and was able to Access the item.  The quality of the photo here is very good.

I don't currently do anything with interlibrary loans but know that I can look here to find titles that patrons MIGHT be able to utilize for research and forward that info on to our manager.  One can never have TOO much knowledge or experience!

My son will soon be getting a new black lab puppy that he plans to train for waterfowl hunting.  I entered black lab dog into ProQuest search. There were MANY reports.  I ended up narrowing my search to black lab AND waterfowl AND training as I noticed options under suggested options.  I narrowed further by magazine article and found a nice one that I ended up printing out for him.  I like the suggestions given as they remind you how to limit your search.  It is also nice having the option of different types of articles to read.

After clicking the publications tab and noticing all the different publications available I was overwhelmed.  WOW!  I entered "library" as my search term.  I got 20 options.  I do a preschool story time each week so searched "preschool education"  I ended up with Turtle magazine which is an educational magazine for preschoolers.  I then tried searching education.  I got 119 results that have education in the title.  I like that you can search the topic in title, summary,or subject.  It surely helps narrow the search so you can find what you are most closely looking for.

I will continue to search on ProQuest this week so I can better understand how it works so when we have patrons asking we know how to best help them.

Lesson2:  I started the ACT test prep for science (YIKES)  I think this would be EXTREMELY helpful for college bound students.  You can pass and on question and come back, it gives you correct answers and what your answers were when you have finished.  I think it would be helpful for students to be able to study more of what may cause them trouble on the actual test.  Moving around on the site is pretty easy.  I am looking forward to studying more of the options for testing so that I can better guide our patrons and use these options as marketing tools for our library.

I explored the writing resume section.  I liked the way it asked questions that were to be answered in a resume, gave samples, listed GREAT verbs to be used.  If a person has the inclination to sit at a computer and read through this help, I think s/he could create a nice resume.  I think the job search section would be a big help to many people in our area and am looking forward to directing folks in that direction.

I looked at the chemistry review (20 minutes a day) because I have a high school freshman who doesn't particularly care for science but I am his home study partner so I think we will be visiting this book again!  It starts with a pretest (boy, I don't remember much) then leads you through so that you feel comfortable with the topic.  I do believe I will be back to this book in "my center."
It appears there is a lot of good help available.  The next time someone asks about word problem help for his/her student I will have them come in together so we can show off what our state library can offer!!

Lesson 1B

The info in the kids edition is shorter and easy to read.  It gives a general overview of the otter.  The info finder version has 3x more info about the otter in general.  Regarding habitat, the kids edition tells only that the otters live on water sources, except sea otters which live in the water and rarely leave.  The student version gives more detail of the homes on ledges or abandoned homes of other animals. 


I requested information about Zimbabwe in the reference center.  I liked how the information is broken down on the left hand side showing the different types of materials I can see:maps, sounds, presidential papers etc.  I think the info patrons need depends on what question the patron has about the country: Where is it located?  What are our relations like with this country? What is the land like? (etc)
I like how they show you citations, pics and basic info.