Discovery exercise #1. I was pleasantly surprised at how many full-text titles (581) NetLibrary carries on a South Dakota history search. I redid my search using quotations around my keywords and that did limit my hits to 42, but still a good number of full-text offerings! A lot of the titles are actually referenced in the South Dakota history magazine, but still relevant to my search.
Exercise #2. I think one of the very best things about NetLibrary is the fact that one can view the entire contents of the book, just as if you were picking it up off the shelf and viewing the table of contents. This is very useful for anyone working on a research project for a class. Even better is that you can search the eContent, eliminating the 'old way' of trying to figure out which chapter might include the info you need, then having to skim the entire chapter. So, for this exercise, I looked at the table of contents of my book choices and liked the subject matter from The ultimate New York body plan. I also like the fact that the author states he's not big into encouraging people to go under the knife to make themselves look better. Work with what God gave you.
Exercise #3. I got 83 hits with my Oklahoma publisher search. Number 41 was The Rapid City Indian school, 1898-1933. Might be worth a glance. Out of curiosity, I went back and added western as a keyword, which narrowed things down to 10. I'm not a person to read an entire book online. In fact, some of the titles I ran across in these exercises prompted me to find the physical book to check out. However, for research, quick info, and for those who do like to read entire books online, NetLibrary is the ticket.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Book title: WWII reference library
Search for: atomic bomb, Hiroshima, or Nagasaki
I'm thinking I assume too much, because I just figured that there would be a chapter or section that talked solely about the atomic bomb drops on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I checked the first two volumes with no luck, then the primary sources. I finally had to utilize the cumulative index to pinpoint where I could find info on this topic. I then backtracked to the main article in the second volume called "The defeat of Japan", then "The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki". A little cumbersome, but good experience to figure out how to get to the information, and a great resource for history projects.
I actually decided to use the zinc exercise for part 2 because my gut reaction to finding the answer to this was to go right to the medicine section and choose the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. When that did not pan out, I backed up to the basic search, tried 'foods with zinc', and still did not get results I wanted. So, I went with 'zinc' and the first artice from the Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health (which would not have been one I chose to search in) provided the information to answer this question and make me feel slightly guilty that I don't eat more meat. However, I do try to eat yogurt every day, so hopefully that will balance things out. The ReadSpeaker was very pleasant and conversational, not choppy and robotic like I've heard some other read features.
Search for: atomic bomb, Hiroshima, or Nagasaki
I'm thinking I assume too much, because I just figured that there would be a chapter or section that talked solely about the atomic bomb drops on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I checked the first two volumes with no luck, then the primary sources. I finally had to utilize the cumulative index to pinpoint where I could find info on this topic. I then backtracked to the main article in the second volume called "The defeat of Japan", then "The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki". A little cumbersome, but good experience to figure out how to get to the information, and a great resource for history projects.
I actually decided to use the zinc exercise for part 2 because my gut reaction to finding the answer to this was to go right to the medicine section and choose the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. When that did not pan out, I backed up to the basic search, tried 'foods with zinc', and still did not get results I wanted. So, I went with 'zinc' and the first artice from the Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health (which would not have been one I chose to search in) provided the information to answer this question and make me feel slightly guilty that I don't eat more meat. However, I do try to eat yogurt every day, so hopefully that will balance things out. The ReadSpeaker was very pleasant and conversational, not choppy and robotic like I've heard some other read features.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Kudos to SD DOT
I took a quick little trip to Denver over the past week. The trip on the way to and from Rapid City was less than enjoyable with icy roads, frost, slush, snow and whatever else mother nature could throw out there to slow traffic to 40 on I-90. However, I am proud to say that the SD Department of Transportation crews (most likely Murdo, Kadoka, and Wall) were out in full force and helped alleviate the stress a little.
Good job guys and gals! It's been a tough winter on all of the highway workers in SD, and as the daughter of a 39 year (now retired) DOT veteran, I remember many Christmas mornings when presents had to wait until Dad finished plowing the roads so everyone else could arrive safely at Grandma's house.
Check out the latest DOT newsletter for some photos of the roads they have encountered this winter.
http://www.sddot.com/docs/newsletters/newsletter_0210.pdf
Good job guys and gals! It's been a tough winter on all of the highway workers in SD, and as the daughter of a 39 year (now retired) DOT veteran, I remember many Christmas mornings when presents had to wait until Dad finished plowing the roads so everyone else could arrive safely at Grandma's house.
Check out the latest DOT newsletter for some photos of the roads they have encountered this winter.
http://www.sddot.com/docs/newsletters/newsletter_0210.pdf
ProQuest
I need a new carpet shampooer, and knowing that ProQuest indexes Consumer Reports, I figured this would be an exercise where I could accomplish two things at once. My initial search for carpet shampooer only yielded one hit, so I backed up and tried carpet cleaner, which got 90. I like the suggested topics when you do a search. If I'd not been able to get many hits from the terms I was using, clicking on one of the suggested topics would have helped.
I found that carpet cleaners means a lot of different things, from the actual guy/gal who comes in to clean, to the spray/foam products to clean stains, to the actual shampooer, which is my topic of interest. It looks like the article that will be of most use to me is not full text. However, my library does subscribe to this magazine, so it will be easy for me to retrieve the article and read it.
I did a keyword search for publications with library in the title and got a list of 23. All but three appear to be full text. Using references from professional journals is always helpful when we go out to do trainings. I've used examples of what is happening in other libraries (citations and articles obtained from ProQuest and Ebsco) when doing a policies/procedures training session. It is good for training attendees to see how policies/procedures are adapted depending on the size of a library and population served, and real life examples can be obtained from professional journals in these databases.
I found that carpet cleaners means a lot of different things, from the actual guy/gal who comes in to clean, to the spray/foam products to clean stains, to the actual shampooer, which is my topic of interest. It looks like the article that will be of most use to me is not full text. However, my library does subscribe to this magazine, so it will be easy for me to retrieve the article and read it.
I did a keyword search for publications with library in the title and got a list of 23. All but three appear to be full text. Using references from professional journals is always helpful when we go out to do trainings. I've used examples of what is happening in other libraries (citations and articles obtained from ProQuest and Ebsco) when doing a policies/procedures training session. It is good for training attendees to see how policies/procedures are adapted depending on the size of a library and population served, and real life examples can be obtained from professional journals in these databases.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
SIRS Discoverer/Issues Researcher
Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss today!
SIRS Discoverer:
Scott Hamilton has always been my favorite Olympic athlete. From the moment I watched him win gold at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, I've admired him. Reading his biography on Discoverer just emphasized to me what a great athlete and person he is and the trials he has faced in becoming such an exceptional person. There were no photos or activities associated with Scott, so I did another search for Apolo Ohno. I spelled his first name wrong but last name correctly. Interestingly, Discoverer did not pick up on that and I got a "no results" message. I tried adding his middle name Anton and still no results. I finally Googled his name, discovered my error in spelling of his first name, went back to Discoverer and put it in correctly, then finally got results. That part seemed a little cumbersome. Maybe Discoverer will add a "did you mean..." like Google at some point. Anyway, I did not find a lot of biographical information about him, but there were plenty of headlines as well as some photos.
Since Chile and Haiti have been in earthquake news lately, I chose them for the second exercise here. I loved the country facts organizers for different age levels and that Discoverer gives lots of basic info about each country including maps and flags; just the kind of stuff the K-9 age group would need when writing a report about that country.
SIRS Researcher:
I chose bullying as my subject of interest for Researcher. I was impressed with the research tools section: timeline, global impact statistics, etc. I found the timeline to be especially sobering on this topic. Clicking on the topic overview link takes a user to a page that carries a lot of useful information as well, so clicking around and exploring all of the different links is important when using any database.
Having not used the curriculum pathfinders before, I found this to be a really neat tool. The stuff students have now, compared to when I was in grade and high school, is just mind boggling. Under the math heading, I noticed math careers. I chose to look closer at that because I was a math major in college. At the time I got my degree, I figured the only thing I could do with a math major was teach. Then I discovered that I really didn't like teaching middle and high school. That's another story, but if there had been more resources readily available like we now have online and in databases, I may have been more ambitious about researching what else I could do with a math major. These resources are great for grade and high school students, and even college age.
SIRS Discoverer:
Scott Hamilton has always been my favorite Olympic athlete. From the moment I watched him win gold at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, I've admired him. Reading his biography on Discoverer just emphasized to me what a great athlete and person he is and the trials he has faced in becoming such an exceptional person. There were no photos or activities associated with Scott, so I did another search for Apolo Ohno. I spelled his first name wrong but last name correctly. Interestingly, Discoverer did not pick up on that and I got a "no results" message. I tried adding his middle name Anton and still no results. I finally Googled his name, discovered my error in spelling of his first name, went back to Discoverer and put it in correctly, then finally got results. That part seemed a little cumbersome. Maybe Discoverer will add a "did you mean..." like Google at some point. Anyway, I did not find a lot of biographical information about him, but there were plenty of headlines as well as some photos.
Since Chile and Haiti have been in earthquake news lately, I chose them for the second exercise here. I loved the country facts organizers for different age levels and that Discoverer gives lots of basic info about each country including maps and flags; just the kind of stuff the K-9 age group would need when writing a report about that country.
SIRS Researcher:
I chose bullying as my subject of interest for Researcher. I was impressed with the research tools section: timeline, global impact statistics, etc. I found the timeline to be especially sobering on this topic. Clicking on the topic overview link takes a user to a page that carries a lot of useful information as well, so clicking around and exploring all of the different links is important when using any database.
Having not used the curriculum pathfinders before, I found this to be a really neat tool. The stuff students have now, compared to when I was in grade and high school, is just mind boggling. Under the math heading, I noticed math careers. I chose to look closer at that because I was a math major in college. At the time I got my degree, I figured the only thing I could do with a math major was teach. Then I discovered that I really didn't like teaching middle and high school. That's another story, but if there had been more resources readily available like we now have online and in databases, I may have been more ambitious about researching what else I could do with a math major. These resources are great for grade and high school students, and even college age.
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