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
Thursday, March 11, 2010
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.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
World Book
World Book has definitely evolved from the book version I knew as a kid. I've always enjoyed encyclopedias, but the online versions nowadays are so much more interactive with activities, games, videos, etc. There is actually quite a bit of difference between WB Kids and WB School edition. I searched for 'bear'. WB Kids gave me about four paragraphs of text, a few pics, some additional website referrals, and citiation info. WB Student, on the other hand, provided a lot more information, broken down into topic areas of a bear's life, bear's bodies, and the different kinds of bears.
WB Advanced Exercise: I think the type of info that is most valuable to a patron depends on what their purpose is for using the info. I picked England as my country to learn more about. If I were planning on vacationing there, I would be looking at information such as climate during certain times of the year, maps, facts in brief, food and drink, history, the Tower Bridge, Cliffs at Dover, etc. If I were planning on a job relocation to England, then I would be more interested in history, the people, the way of life, economy, education, religion and government structure. Anything in WB Advanced would be perfect for reports, no matter what age!
WB Advanced Exercise: I think the type of info that is most valuable to a patron depends on what their purpose is for using the info. I picked England as my country to learn more about. If I were planning on vacationing there, I would be looking at information such as climate during certain times of the year, maps, facts in brief, food and drink, history, the Tower Bridge, Cliffs at Dover, etc. If I were planning on a job relocation to England, then I would be more interested in history, the people, the way of life, economy, education, religion and government structure. Anything in WB Advanced would be perfect for reports, no matter what age!
New Challenge
I'm signing up for the latest learning opportunity offered by the SD State Library, the Electronic Resources Edition Challenge http://sdlibrarychallenge.blogspot.com. I am planning to learn a lot more about the electronic resources so that I can use the information in my job as well as my own training sessions.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
There comes a time...
Well, yes, there comes a time (or maybe an age) where one does some reflecting. I've been in that mood lately. Where would I be if I'd stayed...what would have happened if I'd done this instead of that...where would I be if I'd had the guts to...and if one doesn't like where they are now, what does one do to change it?
A great book that I read recently that seems to deal with the same type of issues is Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor. Both authors face roadblocks at different ages, and in alternating chapters, write about their struggles and their thoughts. It was a really fast read for me, and I really enjoyed it. It also spoke to me about the power of journaling, which I need to get back to doing on a regular basis.
A great book that I read recently that seems to deal with the same type of issues is Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor. Both authors face roadblocks at different ages, and in alternating chapters, write about their struggles and their thoughts. It was a really fast read for me, and I really enjoyed it. It also spoke to me about the power of journaling, which I need to get back to doing on a regular basis.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Reference Question of the Day
Fun and timely as we in the midwest want to maximize the warm air flowing throughout our houses: which way is a ceiling fan supposed to spin during the winter?
I love these types of ref questions. You know the answer is out there and it is a matter of who can find it first. BTW...all of the sources we found said clockwise.
I love these types of ref questions. You know the answer is out there and it is a matter of who can find it first. BTW...all of the sources we found said clockwise.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)