Lesson 11…all good things must come to an end

I have totally enjoyed this class. It is amazing how much information is out there. Before this I had used NoveList (just used it again for Christmas gifts) and Health Source. I waded through, no more like slogged through, the financial week. But, having said that, I am glad that you introduced it to us, so that now I know it is there. I was totally sucked in by Britannica. I could spend a day just on that site. Marvel truly covers information on topics from A to Z.

We will promote this through bookmarks and signs by the computer. Carla has been exploring the various databases with me, so now be both know what is out there and can share with our patrons and friends.

I made myself a promise that I would keep exploring (Notice I say explore not play. I can explore on library time, I had a hard time playing with the db on library time.) It will make a great filler for those times when you really don’t have time to start a new project and don’t know just what to do. Now the answer may be explore.

EbscoHost/ebooks

Just took a gander at others postings for this lesson. Glad I am not the only one that encountered a few challenges. Makes me feel better!

Has anyone found if you can do and advance search in ebooks AND limit it to juvenile?

EbscoHost–part deux

I found the ebooks a bit challenging. For my “self search” I did Christmas stories as that is what we are doing for tonights cronc (our tween and teen book club). Came up with lots of Washington Irving excerpts.

Then on to Constitution Day. When I read students I mentally said kids, so tried CD and Juvenile and YA nonfiction. It came up with Geo. Bernard Shaw and Tobacco USA. Then went back and did constitution and history. Equally disappointing. So, lastly, did just constitution, abnd it worked. Two possible titles, State constitutions of the United States by Maddex and Constitution pride of reason, by Smith. Lesson learned, keep searches direct.

For the Western history I thought Frontier Army in the settlement of the west by Tate showed possibilities. Again, I was disappointed that I couldn’t look just for kids level books on the topic.

But having said all this, this is a great resource. We would probably use the ebooks less than the EbscoHost, but you never know.

EbscoHost

Looks like another 2 parter for reporting this week.

For the first part of the assignment I looked for wheat belly (aka Frankenwheat–thanks go out to Dr. Oz for this one. Time to kill yesterday, so watched him, and he had the doctor that is all het up about this.) 10 articles, and 6 seemed to be about this. I was surprised to find so many, from Better Nutrition to Utne and New York Times.

FYI: Dr. William Davis (author of the research) says that if you cut out ALL wheat in your diet, you can loose 15 pounds in 30 days, safely.

Learning Express — not Britannica, but a heck of a lot more fun than the business week

Did a couple of test. Well, partial ones. Discovered that I am glad I was born here and don’t have to take the test. Math test, sloppy sloopy mistakes. I knew better. But then, on cold meds and they never help the thinking process (good excuse, right??). I do like that fact that you can view questions, your answers and the correct answers all at one time. It makes it much easier to figure out what you did wrong this way then when they just list number and correct answer.

Looked at business writing. Nice set up to to course. Slides were simple and straight forward. The one I looked at WAS NOT jargon heavy. That was a nice surprise.

The ebook even had cataloging. Love that. Library friendly ebook. I also like that the answers were listed right at the end of the questions, not at the end of the book. Also, nice explanation.

Another db I can see myself using and recommending to others.

Ancestry.com continued

I knew I was getting frustrated not finding picture/map for my grandfather, so stopped the other day. I also know he always said the only time you should be in the paper was when you were born, got married and died, so on the other had, wasn’t surprised I found nothing.

Tried again today and found his yearbook from med school, U Vermont–medic.

Goes to show, don’t get frustrated. Take a deep breathe and try again.

Ancestry.com

I’m pleased to say, that after using Ancestry.com, that I am alive, and have not yet died.

I did a bit of playing using my maternal grandparents. My grandfather was a proud WWI vet, and I found his military records. I also found a passenger list of when the family traveled to Europe for my grandfather to study medicine in England, Ireland and Germany. That was cool.

I was also able to find a name for my Great great grandfather I knew that Rose was my maternal grandmother, but didn’t know that her husband’s name was (It was Cyrus). Again cool.

When using photo’s and maps I came up blank. I haven’t given up, but first handful of tries came up empty. Plan on taking another go at this later.

Again, another database that could suck you in for hours.

Health db, part II

Now that the consultants have straightened me out, and I know to click on the link included INSTEAD of going to Marvel to get to Medline Plus, I have been able to play a bit with Medline Plus.

The news column featured cholesterol testing, gene differences in smokers with lung cancer and spinal injections and sciatica. Topics that are in the news. Top searches included amlodipine, diabetes, MS and vitamin D. With the exception of the amlodpine, we have done searches for the others in the past month or so.

I liked the depth you could get into on the health topics researched. In comparison, Health Source, seemed a bit more general.

Video was short and sweet. Watched snoring. Hadn’t expected the snoring to be as loud as it was. It wasn’t as in depth as I had hoped, but was a nice introduction.

Health Source–Consumer edition

Just started this weeks challenge, and have already run into a brick wall! Can’t find Medline Plus. Arghhh!

However I did find Health Source–comsumer edition. I have used this with patrons in the past and have found it easy to use (big plus with the public) and the articles are written in English, not doctorese. I tried a condition a family member has been diagnosed with, and that I know nothing about. The articles read were well done. Easy to understand. Before I got to this point, I checked out the titles of the periodicals included in the db. Nice to see that they were all credible (no Joe Schmo’s heart disease magazine), and ranged from beginner to a bit more in depth, but still kept nonprofessional.

‘This is a db that patrons have seemed to find easy to use, be the adults looking for info on a topic or a student doing a report.

Medline Plus..,.to be continued.,

I just used what I have been learning! Thanks MM

I just had a mother and daughter in working on a report on the volcano Gede in Indonesia.  Couldn’t find it in any of our print resources, so tried Britannica on line.  Long story short, we found it!!!   Happy daughter.  Happier Mom.  Very happy librarian.