Challenge Wrap Up

I reviewed my blog posts from this Challenge, and it is difficult for me to pinpoint a specific discovery that was my biggest. There were so many "aha!" moments for me.

This whole experience has been invaluable to me, and I'm enjoying sharing it with our patrons so much! My recent "Electronic Resources Challenge in Action" post is just one example of the times I have introduced a patron to our "e-sources." This would not have been possible without my involvement in the Challenge. It has made me a better helper, and has boosted my confidence in fielding reference questions.

I will continue to use my new-found skills to help our patrons. And I know from experience that you can teach an old(er) dog (that's me) new tricks. So I will encourage our patrons who may not feel very e-savvy to try some of the databases. It was empowering for me, and can be for others, too.

Many, many thanks to Jane and Julie for all of your work in making this challenge possible. Thank you, Jane, for commenting so promptly on my posts and for always being positive, informative, and encouraging. This is my 38th post! Yikes! Does that make me high-maintenance?

HeritageQuest and Sanborn Maps

The census information seems to be the same as that available in the AncestryLibrary site. This is the most useful part, in my opinion. A person could spend hours and hours searching here.

I searched Yellowstone National Park in the Serial Set. Documents included Congressional action regarding settlement of claims, pensions, etc.

PERSI (Periodical Source Index) Periodicals option could be very helpful, but you need to know what you are looking for since there are so many periodicals to chose from.

The full-text books option is really outstanding, providing information from sources that would otherwise be difficult to locate and obtain a copy.

Sanborn Maps is a neat site. I was born in what we call the "old hospital" in Brookings. The map shows that, at one time, it was called Wesley Hospital. The building is now known as West Hall on the SDSU campus.

Again, I could spend hours playing on these sites. I can definitely see a practical application for our patrons using Sanborn Maps.

AncestryLibrary

Well, that was interesting. Apparently mine is not an uncommon name. I'm not even the youngest one in the nation. The U.S. Public Records Index did list my addresses, going back 26 years, when I was living in Washington, D.C.

Searching South Dakota, the U.S. Phone and Address Directories 1993-2002 contains correct information for that time period. The "View Neighbors" option is interesting. Since the time of these records, one elderly neighbor has passed away. The other three women listed have since married and have different last names now. I sold my house last summer, so the U.S. Public Records Index still shows my old address.

I found my paternal grandfather and grandmother's marriage license, but the last name was spelled Hays instead of Hayes. I found it my searching my granmother's maiden name. They were married in Jasper County, Indiana. The date corresponds with the information my father gave to me. Their last name was also misspelled in the 1900 United States Federal Census. This tells me that I need to check alternate spellings as I search these records.

In searching the "Photos and Maps" tab, I found a 1917 map of South Dakota in the New Encyclopedic Atlas and Gazetteer of the World. Also found interesting historical information in the 1915 Ideal Atlas. This would be a useful resource for learners interested in our state's history and geography.

The Library of Congress Photo Collection 1840-2000 is really interesting, especially the old sterographs. It's cool that there is a printer-friendly option which include citation information. I also found the same photograph of a harvest scene near Brookings that I used in my OIASter post.

This is just way too much fun!!!! I'm trying a two week free trial of Ancestry.com so I can play with this some more at home.

We do have a patron that just loves to use AncestryLibrary in our computer lab. She said she's been doing genealogy work for many years, since before the advent of AncestryLibrary. This makes her work so much easier.

OK, now I can go home and finish the HeritageQuest and Sanborn Maps part of this lesson.

More CAMIO

I also love the work of Jessie Wilcox Smith, but only found one result on CAMIO. Isn't this a wonderful drawing!

Title She and Eleanor Would Sit
Description Provenance: Charles Scribner's Sons, NYC
Creator jessie wilcox smith
Creator smith, jessie W.
Museum Carnegie Museum of Art
Contributors Carnegie Museum of Art Andrew Carnegie Fund
Beginning Date nobr 1903 /nobr
Ending Date 1903
Date 1903
Type Drawings and Watercolors
Format (Medium) charcoal on cardboard
Format (Extent) 13 3/4 x 20 in. (34.9 x 50.8 cm)
Identifier 1000187
Rights Image © 2007 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

CAMIO continued

I did a search for works by Norman Rockwell. I really liked the "Compare" option, and the slide show option.

Title Man Varnishing Doll's Bed for Little Girl
Creator norman rockwell, North American, American, 1894-1978
Museum Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, USA. 1995:13.6 Gift of the Management, Associates and Shareholders of Pratt & Lambert United, 1995
Beginning Date nobr 1910 /nobr
Ending Date 1930
Date ca. 1920 (circa)
Type Paintings
Format (Medium) oil on canvas
Format (Extent) 30 x 32 3/4"
Identifier CAMIO: AKAG.1995:13.6
Rights Licensed for non-commercial, educational use. http://www.albrightknox.org/rights.html

CAMIO - Catalog of Art Museum Images Online

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston Massachusetts houses 18 silver items created by Paul Revere. The Sons of Liberty Bowl is very interesting, but I had difficulty reading the complete inscription. There was an order/bill of sale included with one of the teapots he created. That helps in establishing the provenance of the item.

"Sioux" search yielded 63 works. These include photographs, paintings, jewelry, textiles and utilitarian objects. I noticed that a number of paintings were held by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. I realized that they might not all be on public display, but our patrons could use CAMIO to locate some artwork they might try to see on a trip to our nation's capitol, or to other major cities.

I was listening to Minnesota Public Radio on the way to the library this afternoon. They were airing musical compositions based on the frescos of Piero della Franseca. So I searched his name in CAMIO. Six of his paintings were available to view, including The Crucifixion, which was the basis of the first musical piece I listened to on the radio. Although I think the version of the Crucifixion referred to was part of a fresco in a Basilica in Tuscany, and the item on CAMIO was a painting donated by John D. Rockefeller to The Fricke Collection in New York. Pretty neat to be able to go to this resource, though.

ArchiveGrid continued

Helene Hanff is a favorite author of mine. One of her more familiar works is 84 Charing Cross Road. I was pleased to find four hits from the Online Archives of California which referred to her writing (The Riddle of Mary Murray) and adapting (Jane Austin's Emma and Pride and Prejudice, and J.M. Barrie's The Little Minister) scripts for the NBC Matinee Theatre in the 1950s. Located in the Special Collections of the Young Research Library at UCLA.

"Helene M. Hanff, 1916-1997, author and playwright, wrote television scripts in the 1950s, American history books for children in the 1960s, and other books in the 1970s and 1980s. Her best known work was 84, Charing Cross Road, published in 1970, which was drawn from her correspondence with Frank P. Doel of Marks & Co. in London, Booksellers. She later did a monthly broadcast for the BBC from 1978 to 1985."

The Columbia University Library's collection includes Box 1: Correspondence, manuscripts, clippings, & books about Hanff; Box 2: Books by and about Hanff & plaque; Box 3: Books by Hanff.

This would be fun to play with at greater length.

Lesson 8 ArchiveGrid

"Sitting Bull, also known as Tatanka Iyotake or Tatanka Iyotanka or Ta-Tanka I-Yotan, was a Native American shaman and leader of the Hunpapa Sioux. He fought against the Crow Indians and was wounded in battle on several occasions. Sitting Bull greatly opposed the encroachment of the white men. He led Sioux and Cheyenne warriors against U.S. soldiers of the 7th Cavalry at the battle of Little Bighorn. After the battle, in which many were killed, Sitting Bull led his tribe into Canada, where they lived until surrendering to U.S. forces. After his capture he toured with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. Sitting Bull was killed while resisting arrest for his unwillingness to abandon the traditions of the ritual Ghost Dance, which had been outlawed."

The autograph card and envelope are part of Cornell University Library's Native American Collection.

Electronic Resources Challenge in Action!

On Friday, I had a real-life opportunity to share what I've learned during the Electronic Resources Challenge. The experience was really gratifying, and confirmed the many benefits of this Challenge.

A young man (mid- to late-20s) was asking for information about patents. We located several appropriate books on NetLibrary, and set up an account for the patron. He was extremely pleased. "This is so cool." Then I was able to show him the other databases with business-related content that were available free of charge. We toured a couple of them, and he was very excited. "I had no idea all this was here." I noticed that he was holding one of the German language course CD Roms from our collection. He said he hopes to retire in Germany. I was then able to introduce him to the Mango Languages site that is available for his use. "Awesome!" He was really jazzed about all of these electronic options. In fact, he said "This is so great! I could just hug you!" (He didn't.) :-)

So, kudos to the South Dakota State Library Challenge Team! Thanks for offering this great challenge and allowing me to understand and share this "awesome" information with our patrons.

P.S. I am a bit behind on Lessons 8 and 9 because I have to do them at the library, rather than at home, where I've done the previous lessons. I think I can access a library computer this afternoon and get to work.

OAIster - continued

I typed Brookings, South Dakota in as the keyword on OAIster, and found this photo of a harvest scene near Brookings. It's from the Denver Public Library. This type of thing could be very useful for researchers.

Also found some NASA photographs of the area near Brookings, dated 1985 and 2001.

Overall impression of this tool: Neato!

OAIster

Good heavens. The SD Dental Society and Board of Examiners are a busy lot. Which begs the question, who besides their members would be even remotely interested in this information? Is there a way to sort these results, or search them more quickly? I did select the access link on one of their listings, and Dental Cosmos contained an article from 1913 about the occupational diseases of dentistry.

I did find a reference to a photo that appeared in Minnesota Reflections. It is thought to (possibly) be a school house in South Dakota circa 1908. The photo features a log shanty with a woman (teacher?) and seven boys standing outside.

Tried to access a letter from Sinclair Lewis to Marcella Powers, but there was an error on the page when I clicked the access link.

I found a 1914 report from the Department of Commerce entitled Census of Manufactures for South Dakota. That was kind of interesting. FirstSearch apparently times you out after 15 minutes.

Lesson 7 - WorldCat

Wow! Just clicked the drop down menu to see other ways to search. Very specific. I'm not sure what some of these refer to. Musical composition phrase? There are several "phrase" options. What does "phrase" mean in this context?

Selected title phrase, limited to books, for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. 1151 libraries have the book, including Brookings Public Library. BPL is the top library when I click the link. Apparently BPL owns at least two different copies, since #7 on the list also indicates BPL.

Wouldn't the call number be FIC Smith? In Class Descriptors, the Dewey classification shown is FIC. There are also some LCCNs for this item.

Betty Smith also wrote Joy in the Morning, Tomorrow Will Be Better and Maggie-Now. She also has a play included in The Best One-Act Plays of 1945.

Clicked on subject "poor families - fiction". Got 1165 results in English. That option would be handy in helping patrons find more information on a subject or find read-alikes.

When I clicked Home, I was on the FirstSearch screen that allowed me to search in 13 different databases. Like I always say, serendipity is the spice of life!

And I did remember to click Exit when I was finished.

NetLibrary - Western History

Searched "Western History" and Nebraska publishers and got 12 results. Searched under Oklahoma publishers and got 33 results.

These results could point the learner in several directions for topics. The books cover military history, biographies, Native American history, even national parks. I was particularly interested in a book entitled Indian Place Names: Their Origin, Evolution and Meanings. That connects history and culture and geography.

NetLibrary - Constitution Day

How old are the students, and do they want information about the celebration of Constitution Day, or about the Constitution as a whole?

According to Representing Popular Sovereignty: The Constitution in American Political Culture, Congress changed Constitution Day to Citizenship Day in 1952. This was intended to change the focus of the holiday from the history of the document to the duties of the American people. That's about all I found directly referring to Constitution Day. It is still celebrated today, so the 1952 change was apparently reversed or changed again at some point.

There were a number of books about the United States Constitution. I don't know how old these students are, but I think the books on the Constitution might get into more detail than the students would be looking for. The avaiable books seem to focus on the details and interpretation of the Constitution, rather than on the production of the document. I guess I am missing something here.

Lesson 6 - NetLibrary

I watched the introductory videos for NetLibrary. They were helpful. I have had a NetLibrary account for a few years, but have previously only accessed titles through our library's online catalog. Going directly into NetLibrary seems simpler. I did a search for the terms voluntary simplicity and frugality. There were many more results when I searched using Full-Text, compared to searching using Keyword. I narrowed the results down further by typing "voluntary simplicity" in quotation marks. A search for "simple living" brought broader results.

In recognition of Women's History Month, I did search for women's suffrage. There were several results, so I played with the program for a while. Somewhere along the line there was a tab for Knowledge Builders, or something like that. It let me search in encyclopedias or by using a browers. When I tried to get back to it again, I couldn't find it. Puzzling.

I even found a LEGO book with projects in it. I'm sure that would appeal to some of our patrons.