Lesson 10

Wrap Up

1. My biggest discovery was probably SIRS Discoverer and SIRS Researcher. I think these are both fantastic resources for students. Going into this challenge I was already pretty comfortable with AncestryLibrary, WorldCat, and Learning Express Library. However, I still learned things about each of those. Becoming more informed/comfortable with our online databases had been on my "to-do" list for quite some time, and I'm thankful for the push/direction this challenge gave me. I now feel much more comfortable directing patrons to these services. It feels great to be able to direct patrons (especially students) to these databases and be able to tell them specifically what they can do! I have already directed numerous patrons to these resources because of what I learned through this challenge. I WILL be revisiting what I did during this challenge to make sure I remember everything! :-)

2. I have already been promoting these resources to patrons coming into our library wanting information. What I really love about directing patrons (mainly students) to these resources is the fact that I am confident they are going to be able to find up-to-date information on the subject they are researching. I hate it when a patron comes in looking for information on a subject and the only information we have is outdated. These resources give patrons the ability to find information that is as up to date as Google/Wikipedia with the reliability of books. It also saves libraries money on books that become outdated almost as soon as we get them processed! I will definitely continue to direct patrons to our online resources.

Lesson 9

AncestryLibrary

1. I searched both my maiden and married names. The only thing that came up for me was my father's obituary.

2.All 4 of my grandparents were born after 1930. Since the 1940 census information is not yet available, I was unable to find any of them. I then searched for one of my great-grandfathers. I found him in the 1930 census. He was 27 at the time and married with 3 children. Also, his name was spelled wrong, so the result did not come up right away. I had to search for him, click on his marriage record, and then the 1930 census showed up on the right hand side.

3. I searched "South Dakota" as the keyword and restricted the results to "Photos and Maps". It came up with WWI soldier photos, baseball photos, and photos from the Library of Congress.

HeritageQuest

4.I searched "Aberdeen, South Dakota" and found a publication called "History of Dakota Territory". When I clicked on it, it shows images of the actual book page by page. It was from 1915 so it had a few interesting little tidbits in it. :-) It also had options to download, print, and make it appear negative.

Sanborn Maps

5.I chose Aberdeen- February 1904. I went to Main Street and found what is now called the Citizen's Building. I found out that it used to be the Ward Hotel. It now has a coffee shop in it!