Lesson 10 / Wrap-up

I don't know that I had any really big "discoveries" with the Electronics Challenge this time since it was more of a review after doing the Basic Challenge last year.  (I think my favorite database to "play with" is the World Book Encyclopedia.)    Although my position at work is not one where I have a lot of direct contact with the public, hopefully I will be able to direct people who do ask for help to the usefulness of these databases and resources.

Lesson 9

1.  In Ancestry, I went to the Search drop-down list and then to the "Immigration and Travel" section to find the "Ship Pictures and Descriptions" collection.  From there I went to the "Passenger Ships and Images" section.  I typed Titanic and "sister ship" in the keyword search and got back 7 results.  The Titanic is one of those listed.  The information regarding the Titanic states that the Olympic was a sister ship.  Four of the six others are from the White Star Lines (the company that owned the Titanic).  In looking at the information for each of those four, I found information and a photo of the Olympic.  (The Britannic is described as "Quite similar to the Olympic and Titanic."  I cannot find that Ancestry says the Britannic is a sister ship to them; however, Wikipedia does make that statement.)

2.  I did a keyword search for Hindenburg dirigible in the Newspapers & Publications collection and got back 545 results, of which 539 are newspaper articles and 6 are in periodicals and magazines.  The majority of the newspapers articles are from various editions of the "Stars and Stripes."  The magazine articles did not appear to be very helpful, and 539 newspaper articles is a lot to go through, so I added 1937 to my keyword search terms, thinking this would narrow my results.  Instead, however, it increased the number to 293,616 results.  I do not understand why adding terms increases the results, so I tried decreasing my search terms and just looking for the term "Hindenburg."  That search yielded 363 results with the first several being obituaries.  I can sort the results by category, but I still have over 300 in the various editions of the "Stars and Stripes" newspapers.  I looked at a few of these articles, but I didn't really find much that I felt would be of help to a student doing a report.  I think he would be better off using a different database.

3.  To find historical county information, I looked in the "Search Books" section of HeritageQuest.  From there I went to "Places" and put "Brown County" "South Dakota" in the search terms.  Several of the 30 results in the list dealt with genealogical information. I found only a couple which might be helpful.  They are A brief history of South Dakota by Doane Robinson and History of Dakota Territory by George W. Kingsbury.

Lesson 8

1.  I typed in the terms Nobel prize South Dakota Theodore Schultz and got one result.  This man's papers are held in the archives at Iowa State University in Ames.  I learned that Mr. Schultz received degrees from South Dakota State College and the University of Wisconsin.  He was on the faculty at Iowa State University for thirteen years before resigning "in protest" over the "oleomargarine controversy" and going on to the University of Chicago.  He received the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1979.

2.  I had a bit of trouble finding much to answer this question.  I tried general search terms such as Victorian fashion, England fashion, Victorian dress fashion clothing, etc. but either got no results or no results for the correct time period.  When I searched English clothing, I found pictures of one dress from 1875.  So I tried the terms English fashion.  I got the picture of the same dress I found earlier plus one other dress (from 1867-1870) as well as some other items that are not clothing.  I then did a search on the terms English dress and got one more result for that time period (in addition to the two mentioned above).  I did a search on Charles Dickens and found a couple portraits of him which show the type of clothing he wore.  It seems like I should be finding more results, but I have been unsuccessful at doing so.

After discussing this issue with a co-worker, she tried searching by just the term fashion.  That gives me 317 results.  Scrolling through the list, I found that there are some drawings of fashions from the correct time period.  I guess I don't understand the option to refine my results by date, because scrolling through the results I find ones that have dates of 1849, 1858, 1862, etc., but these dates do not show up in the refine section in the left column.  So, I guess I just have to look through all 317 records.

Lesson 7

1.  I did an advanced search using Martin Luther as as "named person," limiting the "type" to "books," and setting the "subtype" limits to "Juvenile" and "not fiction."  This gave me 932 results, but the first several were referring to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  So, I added the term "reformation" as a subject search.  This reduced the number of results to 57.  I think a good book to recommend would be "Martin Luther : father of the Reformation" Author: Somervill, Barbara A Accession Number: 61499876 which is owned by the Watertown Public Library. 

2.  I used the terms "graphic novel" as a subject phrase search along with the keyword "classic*" and  limited my search to English language books.  This gave me 16 results, which doesn't seem like very many.  I thought I would get more results.   Of those, I would probably choose to add "The Hobbit" published by Ballantine Books. [Addendum:  After finishing my post, I looked at a couple other people's posts and saw that they had many more results than what I got for my search.  I realize now that I should have used the terms "graphic novels" (not "graphic novel") and that gives many more results.]

3.  I did a Title Phrase search for "my fair lady" and limited the search to "musical scores."  I had 500 results,  which is a lot, but the first page of results had some good options.  I chose the second in the list, which is vocal score.  The accession number is: OCLC: 26429906

Lesson 6

1.  The first visual search I did was for South Dakota.  I had 116 results which could be conveniently sorted, grouped, or displayed in different ways.  I think the "column" display is helpful because you can choose a different path at the various points of your results.  I also did a search on Crafts and then looked at some of the books in the juvenile literature section.  The display is clear and fairly easy to maneuver.  One thing I found frustrating, however, is that I had to constantly scroll down to get to the tools to turn to the next page.  Once I turned to the next page, the toolbar was again down below the bottom of my screen and I had to scroll down again.  Maybe I am not doing something right here, but I did find this frustrating.

2.  First I tried a basic search using the terms "fairy tales colors" (without quotes).  I got back 5 results, but none of these were what I was looking for.  Next I tried an advanced search and put "fairy tales" (without quotes) in the search term under the "subject" heading.  This gave me 19 results.  Scrolling through the list, I found "The Blue Fairy Book,  "The Red Fairy Book," "The Violet Fairy Book," and "The Yellow Fairy Book" all by Andrew Lang.  In order to double check that those were all, I then did another advanced search using Andrew Lang as the author and "fairy" for any term.  This brought 7 results:  the four listed above, one which was a repeat of the "Blue Fairy Book," and the other two of which were not part of this set.  So it appears that there are four books in this set that are in EbscoHost.

Lesson 5

1.  To help the organization which is sponsoring an event with the theme, "Spring Holidays Around the World," I first went to the subject area of "Multicultural Studies."  Here I typed in the search terms "spring festivals" and then went to the publication titled, "Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Cultures."  I found 55 results pertaining to different peoples of the world.  Clicking on each result takes you to the article which tells about the holidays, foods, games and pastimes, and traditions of each people group.  Then I tried the subject area of "Nation and World" and found that there is the "Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World" which appears to have a section for each country concerning their "Food for Religious and Holiday Celebrations."  There is also the "Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays."  Both of these would be good sources of information for this organization to peruse.

2.  In the Advanced Search section I selected the button for "within" and then chose the year of 2012.  This gave me 28,952 results.  Then I sorted these by publication date, but I can't tell whether the newest is first or the oldest of 2012. It appears that these 28,000+ results are individual articles, not publication titles.  So, I tried a different approach and clicked on the "Title List" tab and then displayed them by "Publication Date (descending)."   This appears to be more of the type of listing I wanted, with the 2012 publications listed first.  I looked at the "U*X*L American Decades" book (for 2000-2009) and perused the chronology of the 2000s a bit.  I also browsed quickly through a couple of the volumes of the "Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World" (since I'm always interested in finding good recipes!).

Lesson 4

1.  I typed "Les Miserables" (without quotes) in the search box and had 5352 results.  When I used the Document Type limiters and excluded the areas of review, transcript, obituary, and market research, the number of results was cut down to 4653 results.  Then I excluded the Subject areas of:  theater, musical theater, motion pictures, actors, ticket sales, musicians & conductors, opera, motion picture directors & producers, musical performances, drama, musical recordings, television programs, awards & honors, music, theaters & cinemas, motion picture industry, performing arts, composers, motion picture criticism, aesthetics, popular music, entertainment technology & design, singers, art history, entertainment industry, theater directors & producers, visual artists, competition, set design, and musicology.  The results list was then reduced to 3718.  Then I clicked on just the "literary criticism" subject area and had 248 results.  It looks like these don't all pertain to Hugo's work, however, so I started the search over, including the terms Victor Hugo along with the title in the search (without quotations).  This resulted in 583 hits.  I then limited the search by the same types Document and Subject areas as my first search, and the results was 385 hits.  Limiting this field to just the "literary criticism" subject area gives 33 results.  Hopefully that would be a much more manageable number and would give the appropriate types of articles to satisfy the patron's needs.

2.  First I did a full text search on "hurricane sandy impact libraries" (without quotes).  This gave me 264 results.  Then I narrowed this group by selecting to include according to publication titles.  The ones I chose to include were:  Library Journal, School Library Journal, Teacher Librarian, and Journal of the Medical Library Association.  This narrowed the results to just 16.  These I sorted by Publication Date (most recent first), and the newest article displayed was from Library Journal (Jan. 1, 2013 issue).  The article deals with the effects the hurricane had on the NYU Medical Library.  The second article in the list is from the same issue of Library Journal, but it really doesn't have much to do with Hurricane Sandy, other than stating that the effects of the hurricane on libraries' budgets are yet unknown.  The third article in the list is again from Library Journal, this time the Dec. 1, 2012, issue.  Again, it doesn't deal with the impact the hurricane had on libraries.  It came up because of a story about a raccoon that was found in a library atrium after the hurricane.  I tried a new search using the same terms, but this time putting "hurricane sandy" within quotation marks.  This resulted in 40 hits, which I then sorted by publication date, listing the newest article first.  The top result in thee list is from the Federal Register, dated Feb. 7, 2013, but it has nothing to do with the impact of the hurricane on libraries.  The only reference I saw to the hurricane was in dealing with the transit system.  (I am really glad that the terms I searched are highlighted in the text, as that makes it much easier to find them in lengthy articles such as this one.)  In fact, the first six hits did not seem to have anything to do with the impact of the hurricane on libraries.  Hits 7 & 8 were the same ones that came up in my earlier search (as the first and second hits).  Article 13 touched a bit on some libraries that benefited from a book donation made by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt after the hurricane.  So perhaps my first search with the limitations by document type was the better way to go.

Lesson 3

SIRS Discoverer

1.  In SIRS Discoverer, you could show the third grader how to do the advanced search.  I put "solar system" in the Full Text field and then limited it to articles with the Reading Level of "Easy."  This resulted in 44 hits, 28 of which are magazine articles.  Several of the magazine articles contain pictures, which would probably be a good aid for this student who has difficulty reading. The student may want to take advantage of some of the activities included in some of the articles.

2.  To find maps and/or images of volcanoes, you could first try a Keyword search of the word "volcano" and then go to the tab labeled "Graphics."  I had 137 hits by using this method.  By scanning through the list, you can see the ones that have "Maps" listed as part of the descriptor fields.  A second method is to click on the "Maps of the World" link on the lower right and then do a search for the term "volcano."  This resulted in 21 hits of graphics of volcanoes, some of which are pictures and some of which are maps.

SIRS Issues Researcher

1.  I did a subject search  for the words "suicide prevention" and got 971 results.  Of those, 7 are WebSelect sites.  The rest are hits from newspapers, magazines, reference and graphics/media.  The WebSelect sites would likely be a much more pertinent search than what you would get by going through Google, since searching those terms on Google resulted in well over 8 million hits--and who knows what information or misinformation they might include, or what topic they may even be covering.  It would be a bit tedious to sort through them!  According to the SIRS Help section, "SIRS editors evaluate sites originating from around the globe for credibility and relevance to researchers' needs. WebSelect is continually updated to include new sites and dynamically changing data."  

2.  I searched for the term "drought" and got well over 1000 results.  Then I looked up "water restrictions" and again had over 1000 results.  Those are large numbers to sort through, although they can be sorted by date to bring up the most recent articles first.  Then I put all three terms in the search field (water restrictions drought) and the number dropped to 135.  Although some probably would not pertain to the issue of a town considering water restrictions (such as the article entitled, "Water, War and Peace in the Middle East"), this is a much more manageable number to peruse; and the summaries give a pretty good idea of whether or not the article would be pertinent to the issue at hand.

Lesson 2

1.  For the fourth-grader who needs help with reading comprehension, he could be directed to the Elementary School section of the Learning Express Library.  From there, he could go into the section on Reading Skills Improvement, and then to the Fourth Grade Reading Practice.  I think it would be good for him to do any number of the reading exercises in this section and then take the quizzes to see how well he understood what he read. He should also be shown that after he scores a test, he can go back and see the answers, so he can see exactly where he might have made any mistakes and see the correct answers.  It would also be useful to point out that when taking a quiz, rather than scrolling back up to the top for the text, he could open a "New Window" to display the reading section.

2. Where I would direct her would depend upon what skills it is she feels she needs to improve. She might want to look at the sections of Job Search and Workplace Skills, Jobs & Careers, and Skill Building for Adults.  There are areas in these sections she could get help doing her resume, preparing for an interview, and improving skills such as math, reading, speaking, finance, etc.  If she is looking for a job in one of the fields listed in the Jobs & Careers section, she may want to look at the ebooks listed there and/or take some of the practice exams in that field.  The Job Search and Workplace Skills tab includes a section on Success on the Job.  Here she will find some ebooks that cover topics such as team-building, professional relationships, etc., which will be important skills for her to develop to be an effective office manager.

3.  If the high school student would like help with the actual writing of his report, he could be directed to the Writing and Grammar Skills Improvement and/or the Vocabulary and Spelling Skills Improvement sections under the High School section.  Next he could be directed to the Nursing and Allied Health section under the Jobs & Careers tab.  There he will find ebooks about these careers as well as test preparation areas and practice tests.  He could also be shown that the College Preparation tab has practice tests covering several areas.  This information might be good to add to his report to show where students can help prepare themselves for college directed towards such careers.

Lesson 1c

1.  I'm not sure if I did this correctly, but here goes.  I typed the work "house" in the search term on the Spanish edition.  That resulted in eight hits of articles which appear to be mostly biographical.  The only information it appears to give in the sidebar is the citation information (when I click on an individual article).   When I went to what I think is the browse feature, I clicked on the "A-Z" link and then clicked on the "H" to try to get the the term "house."  But that term is not in the list, so I'm not sure where I'm supposed to find it.  Perhaps I was supposed to be searching for the term "casa"??  That brings up a totally different article that is apparently about different types of houses, as well as links in the sidebar to related articles on such topics as architecture, construction, etc.

2.  The search box would probably work better if you knew a specific term you wanted to search.  The browse feature would be good to use if you didn't want to search a specific term or if you didn't know the exact spelling of a person's name but knew the first few letters and could recognize it if you saw it.

Lesson 1b

1.  In World Book Online Kids (Public Library Ed.), I looked at the Games & Activities.  We have a lot of kids who come to play computer games at our library, and there are some educational but fun games in this section.  If we could make parents and kids aware of these, perhaps they would be challenged to play them.

2.  In the Online InfoFinder, I first looked at the "Interactive Earth" feature.  I was glad to see that you can zoom in with the maps and switch to the satellite view.  This feature doesn't have nearly as many fancy viewing features as GoogleEarth, but it would probably suffice for someone wanting basic knowledge about an area or a student doing a report.

3.  In the Online Reference Center, I looked at the ebook of "Emma" by Jane Austen.  It appears that the same features are here as are in the World Book Advanced E-Book Center.  Based on what I found out concerning the Korean translation in that section, I suspect that the same problems would exist when using the translate feature in this Reference Center. Being able to hear the text read aloud would be useful for someone who had vision problems or who perhaps just wonders how a particular word is pronounced.

Lesson 1a

1.  In World Book Kids, I looked at the "Science Projects."  This section has some good experiment ideas.  Some are quite simple and basic (seeing how the amount of sunlight differs between the equator and the polar regions), while others are a little more involved (testing how yeast works or growing crystals).  These ideas could be useful for elementary teachers or home school parents to get their students interested in science and how things work.

2.  In the Student edition, I looked at "Quizzes and Activities" and went into the "Trivia Quizzes" section.  I tried a couple of the quizzes there--did well on some and not so well on others.  These quizzes might be really useful for students to try after studying different units of history, science, etc.  There is a lot there that I didn't know!

3.  In the E-book Center of World Book Advanced, I looked up "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."  At first, I thought the tool to be able to translate to another language would be really useful for a student whose first language is not English but who needs to read a book for say, a literature class, or for someone who is trying to learn another language.  However, I can't verify the accuracy/readability of any of these languages because I don't know any other language well. So, I printed off "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" in both English and Korean and asked some Korean friends about the translation.   The Korean friends I checked with agreed that the Korean translation of the story is "bad."  One said it would be very confusing to a person whose native language is Korean and who is trying to learn English.  The sentence structure is incorrect (they use a different word order than English) and some of the words are translated oddly.  Apparently the translation is just a literal word translation which does not adjust for context, sentence structure, etc.  I cannot verify the correctness of any of the other languages in the translate feature, but I would be suspect of their accuracy as well. On another note, being able to click into other articles via the Related Information would also be helpful, as is the "How to cite this article" note at the bottom of the page.  All of this information would be useful to students doing papers, projects, etc.

4.  Regarding the World Book Discover assignment, I work at a library and am not a teacher, so I don't have students to be able to say which features would suit them best.  However, using the Dictionary, I tried looking up a word that I didn't know how to spell (onomatopoeia).  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to guess correctly and it doesn't give you "Did you mean ....?" with the correct spelling.  So, I went into Dictionary.com and was given some alternatives and was able to find the correct spelling.  (I really wasn't too far off in my attempts.)  Even more unfortunately, when I copied and pasted the correct spelling into the World Book dictionary, it said there were no matching entries.  I also tried out the Atlas feature.  It gives maps according to country, and on some it has additional features (population density, rainfall averages, etc.) for the continents.  These would be useful for students doing reports or studying particular parts of the world.

Addendum

I would have to agree with another blogger who felt that the statement that this challenge would take about an hour per lesson was not enough time.  I spent considerably more time than that some weeks, and yet I felt like I've only skimmed the resources.  Thank you for the Challenge and the opportunity to better learn what is available!

Lesson 10

Probably the biggest "discovery" for me was SIRS.  While I had previously used several of the other databases, I was not familiar with this one.  It has a great deal of useful information and tools for all ages.

In the past I have had opportunities to show others where they can find information using Proquest,  Infotrac, Ancestry, etc. Of course since we use WorldCat here for our interlibrary loan services, I've used that in the past and have shown others how to do so.  I plan to continue to promote these services with those who come into the library as well as those with whom I speak in other venues when these resources would be helpful and appropriate.  

Lesson 9

I searched for myself in Ancestry and did find my name and address listed for both my current address and the address where I lived 20+ years ago.  It appears this information came from voter registration records.  I also found my marriage record and some other listings (probably again from voter records) when I searched under my maiden name.

I found my paternal grandparents listed in the 1910, 1920, and 1930 censuses.  I found my maternal grandparents in the 1920 and 1930 censuses.  I had searched for them a few years ago but had difficulty finding them in the 1920 census, even though they were married in 1918.  At that time I was finally able to locate them by going through township pages.  Even though they were married, Grandma's name was listed under her maiden name (they did live in the same home with her parents), and Grandpa's name was listed below the other siblings.  Plus, the last name had been transcribed incorrectly.  (I reported it to Ancestry at that time, and they have since added the corrected spelling to the record.)  And, even though Grandpa's first name was Anton, the 1920 census listed him as Anthony.  Grandpa immigrated to the U.S. in 1913, so I know he won't be in the 1910 census.

A search for South Dakota that is limited to photos and maps brings up more than three million results--a few too many to browse through at this time!  I found it interesting that a picture of the 1909 Corn Palace in Mitchell shows  the emblem of a swastika in the decorations!  (I digressed to do a little research and learned that the emblem is an ancient Eastern religion symbol, and I'm sure that in 1909 it did not have the same connotations we associate with it today.)

In HeritageQuest books, I searched for my hometown of Highland, Wisconsin.  I had 26 hits, but nothing that seemed of interest or pertained to my hometown.  (Some hits were for other towns in Wisconsin with streets named Highland.)  So, I tried a search for Aberdeen, South Dakota and looked at some of the pages of the book, "History of Dakota Territory" by George W. Kingsbury.  I didn't feel like this resource would be very helpful for my personal genealogical research, but perhaps it would be for others.

In Sanborn Maps, I looked at maps for Aberdeen.  Even though our house was built in 1911, I could not find it until the map for 1923.  It looks like our house was on the edge of town back then . . . which is far from the case now!  I also looked at the 1908 map and found what was then the Alexander Mitchell Library (a different location from where it is now).  That building no longer exists.

Lesson 8

I learned that Sitting Bull lived from around 1834 until 1890.  His autograph card and its envelope are housed at the Cornell University Library Archives, and one would need to contact them to find out about access to it.

I did a search for Highland Wisconsin (my hometown) and came up with some interesting finds.  There are 248 hits for such things as school records, business records, church records, cemetery records, a letter from President Harrison, personal histories (including one of a family I remember), tax rolls, etc., etc.  It looks like the bulk of them are held by the Wisconsin Historical Society, with some being held by the University of Wisconsin and other universities.  These types of items would be useful for serious historical researchers or genealogy researchers (especially church records of baptisms, births, etc.)

In CAMIO, a search for Paul Revere shows several items made by him, including prints, spoons, tea and coffee urns, sugar bowls, tea service, teapots, etc.   A search for the term "Sioux" yields 63 results including photographs, clothing, pipes and pipe bowls, books, paintings, dolls, etc.  Norman Rockwell is one of my favorite artists, so I searched his name and got 6 results.  Five of these paintings are held at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, with the sixth item at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  I found it interesting that the five paintings at the Buffalo Gallery were gifts to the Gallery by the Management, Associates and Shareholders of Pratt & Lambert United.  Four of those five paintings depict a can of  "Pratt-Lambert Floor Vanish" in them.  I searched for Wisconsin and got 49 results, most of which were photographs.  I added some of these to my favorites and was able to move them around, remove some from my choices, etc.  I really don't see our general patrons using CAMIO a lot, but it could probably be useful to history or art teachers.

Lesson 7

I am quite familiar with WorldCat since I used it regularly to do interlibrary loans for several years.  For this lesson I looked up the book, "Cuddly Crochet" by Stacey Trock.  There are 191 libraries that own this, with Anchorage Public Library in Alaska being the first listed.  The LC number given is TT825, and the Dewey numbers are 746.43/4041 or 746.43.  I found two other records in WorldCat linked to this author (although I believe they are the same book with different publication years).  When I clicked on the subject heading "soft toy making", I got 1234 results in various formats.  When I tried the subject heading, "crocheting -- patterns" the result was 4076 total hits.  These results can be limited by format using the tabs at the top.

In the OAIster database (something I have not used before), I had 764 results for my subject search of  "South Dakota".  I clicked on the link for "Flax Cropping in Mixture With Wheat, Oats, and Barley."  When I then clicked on the "Access" link, I could further click to view each page of this 47 page document.  This would be something for serious researchers to use.  We don't get a lot of requests for the type of information that seems to be in OAIster, but it is good to know it is available.

When looking at other participants' blogs. I noticed that some had difficulty accessing articles on OAIster either because the article just didn't open or else you had to log in to get access to it.  I looked at a couple documents they had also looked at and got the same results.  I guess I just happened to pick one of the right ones initially.  I think everyone at our library is pretty familiar with how to search and use WorldCat since we submit our interlibrary loan requests through it.

Lesson 6

In the EBooks on EbscoHost, I typed in the term "cooking."  There were 121 hits.  I scrolled through the list and looked at one called, "Cooking the Australian Way."  There is a handy Table of Contents listing to the left of the screen.  I tried to email or print a page from this, but the publisher had blocked access to doing so.  So, I scrolled further through the list of 121 hits, and found one titled "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Sewing."  It doesn't really have anything to do with cooking, but since the term "cooking" was used a couple times in the text, it was in my results list.  I looked at this book and found I was able to both email and print a couple pages from the text.  There is a limit of 60 pages, but this would be a handy tool for someone doing research and wanting to be able to reference some specific pages later.

When I searched "constitution and United States," these are some of the results I had:

     Companion to the United States Constitution and Its Amendments Vile, John R. 3rd ed. Greenwood Publishing Group. 2001. eBook. 326p.
     Representing Popular Sovereignty : The Constitution in American Political Culture Levin, Daniel Lessard. In: SUNY Series, American Constitutionalism. State University of New York Press. 1999. eBook. 289p. 
     Illustrated Dictionary of Constitutional Concepts  Maddex, Robert L. Congressional Quarterly Press. 1996. eBook. 349p. 
     Our Elusive Constitution : Silences, Paradoxes, Priorities  Hoffman, Daniel N. In: SUNY Series in American Constitutionalism. State University of New York Press. 1997. eBook. 299p.

A quick browsing of the results list impresses me with the thought that these resources would be appropriate for upper-level students, but certainly not for elementary age students.

As I expected, searching for the term "Oklahoma" in the Publisher field of the Advanced search yielded results with the term "Oklahoma" somewhere in the Publisher name information. A quick spot-check of the results list makes it appear they are all from the University of Oklahoma Press.

Lesson 5

1.  I looked at the Title List in the Gale Virtual Reference Library and took a look at the "Encyclopedia of Science."  Then I used the search box to look up the "echidna" since I had looked at this critter in the World Book section of this Challenge.  The information given in the Gale encyclopedia is more detailed than what is in World Book, so this could be another avenue of reference for a student doing a report.  A bonus is that at the bottom of the article is a section titled, "View other articles linked to these index terms" which directs one to even more information.   I also looked at the "Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States" and looked up South Dakota.  There is a great deal of information in this publication.  Unfortunately, it has a copyright date of 2007, so some sections are a bit out of date.

2.  I looked up the search terms "foods containing zinc" (without the apostrophes).  My search yielded several articles in about five different publications.  I also looked at articles regarding the Huckleberry Finn.  The "Listen" feature is similar to the one in World Book and would be helpful for those whose native language is not English.  The "Related Subjects" column on the left is another source for linking to additional information, and being able to look up words in the Dictionary link at the top is also a helpful tool.   In addition, I tried the "Translate" option for a few different languages.  (There aren't as many language options as in WB.)  It worked for French, Russian, Spanish, etc. and seemed to work partly for Arabic and Japanese.  However, for Chinese and Korean, the characters displayed only as little boxes.   I thought perhaps there was a problem with the settings on my computer, but I checked in World Book Reference, and articles do translate there with the  Chinese and Korean characters.

3.  I looked at the blog posted by "Electronic Resource Challenge 2012."  I'm glad she pointed out the ability to download articles to an MP3 player or eReader.  I had totally missed those tabs when looking at the "Listen"  and "Translate" options.

Lesson 4

I have used Proquest in the past (mostly doing advanced searches) to find information for library patrons.  Today I did a basic search for the terms "healthy dieting" and had 4601 hits.  I sorted them according to date, and found there were articles posted that were from as recent as yesterday.  The search yielded results on a very wide variety of information about the subject--everything from the cardiovascular risks of consuming high fructose syrup to how Kate and Pippa Middleton stay slim and trim to how to look "7 years younger"--and those were just from the first couple of pages in my list of hits.  Obviously, I could narrow the search by narrowing my search terms.  I also could narrow the results list by choosing to view articles from particular types of publications (scholarly journals, magazines, etc.) or by time frame or by looking only at a particular publication's articles, etc.  I think the "Preview" feature is very beneficial if you just want a quick glance of what an article is about.

I commented on Librarian 2's post about bonds.

Under the Publications tab, I typed in the term "Library" to come up with all the journals that have "Library" in the title.  It showed 20 titles.  I scrolled through the list and read an interesting article in the Jan. 2012 issue of "School Library Journal."  It's great having these articles in full-text since our library has canceled several periodical subscriptions over the recent years because of rising costs.  I also took a quick look through some of the other publications listed (even though they are not in my "profession").  I was impressed by the number and variety of publications with full-text articles available.  I just wish there were more pictures!