Wednesday, March 19, 2014


Lesson 10

                I enjoyed most of the lessons.  My favorite was the study of genealogy which has always been an interest of mine.  I hadn’t used these before but will use them now.

                I have already used some of the sites with patrons and will continue to spread the word.

                Thank you so much for all the wonderful tools at my fingertips.

Thursday, March 13, 2014


Lesson 9

                This is my cup of tea!!  I have been studying my family since I can remember. 

                I looked myself up and found myself seven times.  I found they have me one day older, but only a day not a year.  I am not listed at all by my maiden name. 

                I was able to get back to my Great-great-great grandmother.  However they have my great grandmother as an unmarried man.  I have found many others that are correct.  Pear Davis McCall has made this easy because she had a book published years ago.  That is why I looked her book up last week.  This part of my family has been traced to the 1700’s but I still like to look into things.

                I will have many hours of fun to come because of this lesson.        

                We have been using these for some of our patrons that have been looking for information and each time I learn more about using these tools.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014


Lesson 8

                WorldCat is wonderful.  I decided to use a cousin for the author.  I typed “Pearl Davis McCall” in as the author. It listed eight entries of which four of them were right on target.  The Holland – Jackson book is my genealogy.  There are 44 listings in 16 states.  I used this because I didn’t think I would find it but wow.  The book is in the Library of Congress.  One entry is an audio book.  I tried out other searches as well and found that WorldCat is very easy to use.

                CAMIO was fun to investigate.  When I typed in Sioux I went to beads and found 272 and spent most of the day just enjoying the pictures.

Monday, March 3, 2014


Lesson 7

                I did a search of e-books on EbscoHost using the topic of sinusitis.  I found 17 e-books of which I found several very interesting. However when I did a search using the topic of the Constitution, the outcome was not what I wanted.  Maybe I did it wrong so I tried different approaches for the topic.  I don’t really know what I did wrong.

                When I did a search of western history – Oklahoma, I found many useful e-books on different levels.  I really find EbscoHost interesting and with practice I should get better at finding information.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014


Lesson 6

                As usual before I start with the work at hand, I go exploring.  This time I started with Colonial America because of my ancestry.   I like that there is a timeline to speed me up to my destination. 

                When looking up zinc, I tried to narrow the field too fast and couldn’t find what I wanted so I just entered zinc.   I then found my way rather quickly.

                When looking up Huck Finn I like how it is divided into sections by a few chapters.  Most things I was checking into had some type of divisions instead of putting the subject into one large section.

It is nice to have audio and translation for individuals that need help.

 We have a patron from South Africa that is doing on line classes.  I thought of her last week and when she came in I was showing her what I had found and she now has her own South Dakota Library e-card.  Then less than an hour later I was showing another patron the maps from SIRS for her research.  I have even had to use the Chilton Library for someone.  Wow this is wonderful.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014


Lesson 5

                I started off by searching about sinus infections which gave me a result of 12,417.  After experimenting for a time I was able to narrow the field down.  I found that this was not as user friendly as some other things we have done.  As an older person I am more intimidated by new technology therefore I lose my way but enjoy the challenge. 

                One of the patrons of the library is doing online research for classes she is taking and I thought of her right off.  I think she could make use of Proquest.

                I have studied the blogs every week because I enjoy the different points each of them have given.  I have learned much from them.

                I am new to working in a public library so these publications can help me in the future.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014


Lesson 4

                I choose to look up the okapi because my daughter had to do a paper on them a few years ago and we had a hard time finding any information.  We found one paragraph for her.  On SIRS I found 19 articles, and several good pictures.  The only picture she had was one that I had taken at a zoo. 

                I keep choosing South Africa because I have contact with many people from different parts of that country.   Not long ago I needed to find a map for someone but it wasn’t as nice. 

                SIRS Issues Researcher will help students with many classes such as debate and speech.   It can be used to find information on both side of an issue and different points to study.