Week 5 - GALE VIRTUAL REFERENCE LIBRARY

1.    I first typed World Holidays in the search box and came up with 1194 results. I then entered spring festivals in the search box and came up with 444 results. The Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays seemed to be the best source for finding information.

In the search box “search within results” I entered holiday foods and got 5 results. The Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World seems like it would be the source the patron needs. By entering Holiday Cooking, I got 14 results, but still think the Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World would work best.

In the search box I entered holiday games which retrieved 519 results. I narrowed that by using the search within results and came up with two hits. Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays again seems to be the book to refer to. In clicking on the “readers guide” section I came up with the result: “Arts, Crafts and Games: Described here are famous works of art associated with specific holidays, as well as crafts created by different peoples in connection with the holidays.” 

2.    In Advanced search I limited the publication date to after 2011 and came up with 28,952 publications.

On the left hand side, I clicked on Family Life and came up with 310 results. Since my niece has gone to Haiti for several missions to work as a nurse in an orphanage in the mountains, I looked at the Haitians chapter of the Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Cultures. It was interesting to read about the language, topography, etc. There were even some recipes provided. I also liked the websites provided.

I then looked at Bowling Beatniks and Bell Bottoms and chose Volume 4, 1960’s-1970’s. Within that book I chose the chapter on Beach Movies, which brought back a lot of memories of Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon! What fun my friends and I had during that time period!  There was also a list of books that I could read if I wanted to dig deeper.

Week 4 – Proquest

I don’t know why, but this challenge was a little hard and somewhat frustrating for me! I worked on it for a long time before being even somewhat happy with the results I was getting.

1.      I typed in Les Miserables and chose full text as requested. Under subject I chose novels and literary criticism. Under document type I chose reviews and came up with 8 results.

2.       I immediately used advanced search and typed in Hurricane Sandy. In the other search box I typed in libraries. I limited the search to full text and the date as the last three months, asking it to sort newest first. I came up with 119 results with the latest being February 20.2013, which was an article about a disaster recovery center in a library closing. I tried adding impact to the search, but that didn't help. Some of the articles were relevant with libraries being recovery centers and food and clothing distribution centers. There were also articles talking about the library being a place to use computers, charge their cell phones, etc.  I would think that this would all be impacting the communities in some way.

SIRS DISCOVERER

1.    I would first choose advanced search and enter solar system, making sure the easy tab is checked for reading level. You could also choose a lexile level here.  44 results came up. The student could also then click on any of the subject heading in the articles to bring up more results. By checking the encyclopedia and World Book tabs I came up with 122 additional articles. A nice addition to this search might be sorting the articles by date.

2.    I first performed a subject search for volcanoes and 934 articles came up.  By choosing graphics at the top of the page it was narrowed to 137. They are listed in alphabetical order in the search results.  You can also choose Pictures and/or Maps of the World on the home page and enter volcanoes in the search box. You get a list of 21 graphics from Maps or the World and  105 results from the Pictures search.

SIRS ISSUES RESEARCHER:

1.    When entering suicide prevention in the keyword search I couldn't seem to find a list of the web sites like Sara did.  I ended up clicking on Leading Issues A-Z list and clicking on suicide. I came up with 441 results with 10 WebSelect sites. This is a good way to find good web sites, however it is not dedicated to teen suicide.  If you want to be more specific in the subject (teen vs all) I would use Google, because you can come up with sites geared to teen suicide.

3.    I first searched using the term water restriction in subject search and came up with a few interesting articles that I think would be of help. You can also search water use.  By searching water use as the subject, the search led me to Leading Issues, which has an “At Issue” debate on the subject” “Should mandatory restrictions be implemented to conserve water?” You can also use the subject drought water restrictions and a few articles do come up relevant to the question.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE LIBRARY ELECTRONIC RESOURCES CHALLENGE – LESSON 2 – LEARNING EXPRESS LIBRARY

1. A fourth grader needs help with reading comprehension. What are three things you will show him on Learning Express?

The first thing I would show him is a section under Reading Skills Improvement.  At the bottom of the list are two Grade 4 Reading Comprehension Practices.  I would also point out that after completing those, he could move on to the 4^th Grade Reading Practices, Informational, Narrative and Persuasive, where there are reading diagnostic practice tests.

2. A recent high school graduate has her eye on an office manager job, but she knows she needs to improve her skills before she applies. What do you recommend for her in Learning Express?

I would recommend that she use the Job Search & Workplace Skills section of Learning Express. There are many things she could use in that section, including Career Course, Succeeding on the Job, Interviewing and the Complete Professional.  All of these should be very helpful to her in her pursuit of an office manager job.

3. A high school student comes to you for help on his report  on careers. He is interested in being either a nurse or a pharmacist someday. What do you show him on Learning Express?

For nursing, I would direct the student to the Jobs & Careers section of Learning Express. Under that tab there is a section on Nursing and Allied Health. In that section he will find Becoming a Nurse. The Nursing and Allied Health section also contains Entrance Test Preparation and Licensure and Certification where there are practice tests on various subjects such as biology, math, general science, etc.

For pharmacy, I entered both pharmacy and pharmacist in the search box. 4 results appeared for pharmacy.  There are 4 practice tests that the student could look at or take which might help in deciding his career choice.  There were 2 results in ebooks. One was an exam for pharmacy technician and the other was preparation for the PCAT.