Lesson 10--Wrap Up

1. Oh my! What was my biggest discovery? I'd have to say, via ArchiveGrid, finding my father's Musson family genealogical notes archived in the Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA! He and Robert F. Cell co-authored the book, MUSSON FAMILIES IN AMERICA, which Robert Cell published in 1993, three years after my father died.

Overall, I experienced many "biggest discoveries"! Having this summer opportunity to explore other databases the South Dakota State Library provides that I have not been using or promoting, has really opened my eyes.

For years, I have promoted ProQuest, and SIRS to high school students seeking information for speech topics, FCCLA Star Events research and Senior term paper topics.



For 14 years, I have been focused on getting two card-catalog libraries (12,000 volumes at their peak) weeded and ready for automation, teaching library skills classes to grades K-6, assisting students in grades 7-12 and their teachers find resources/interlibrary loans, doing Scholastic Book Fairs to earn new books, and then card-catalog-processing the usual 200 earned books, and since 2005, assigned to other duties elsewhere in the building for 2 hours per day.

Combining these two libraries into one location is being considered.



I've taken Webinars and attended the database presentations at SDLA, observing, but this Electronic Resources Edition Challenge has been the most helpful.

All high school students and teachers in Eureka School have laptop computers. These South-Dakota-State-Library-provided-databases literally, virtually, increase our holding$ by the thousand$. The available content at the click of a button i$ profound!

netLibrary's full text access to over 12,000 books appropriate for grades 6-12 is a God-send, especially for the Eureka High School Library. netLibrary ranks next in line to "biggest discovery."

Then there would be a tie between Learning Express Library and Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale Virtual Reference Library certainly fills the gaps in the High School Library's collection. Thanks to this summer class, I was able to pull up full text. For some reason, years earlier, all I could ever access in Gale Virtual Reference Library were the names of the resources and an abstract, no full text. Consequently, I ignored it. But no longer.
More wonderful surprises were revealed with AncestryLibrary, HeritageQuest, CAMIO, and Sanborn Maps--SD.
Thank you, thank you for offering this 10-week summer session on the Electronic Resources!



2. How will I promote or use the resources with patrons, colleagues or students?

At the 8:00 AM high school teachers meeting on Tuesday, August 31, 2010, I handed out copies of the South Dakota Libraries' Guide to Learning Express Library, LearningExpress Searchable eBooks, and the colored "puzzle map" complete list of the electronic resources with Learning Express Library and Practice Exams highlighted in yellow.

I gave a brief introduction to Learning Express Library at the end of the teachers meeting and spent an hour with the FACS teacher stepping her through how to use the database. She was specifically looking for a practice exam for dental hygienist, which we did not find, only dental assisting.

Before the meeting, I showed the English teacher (grades 8-12) the 364 books via Gale Virtual Reference Library on mythology and the UXL Encyclopedia of World Mythology. She was absolutely delighted! She also had had trouble finding full text in Gale Virtual Reference Library.
On Thursday, this same English teacher was speaking with the 6th grade teacher in the hall. As I passed by, I overheard her say,"We can use Learning Express Library that Merrill gave us, [to show and demonstrate] for [their] Technology Boot Camp assignment."(The elementary teachers have not yet received my Learning Express Library introduction.)

At the 8:00AM August 31st high school teachers meeting, I pointed out to the computer/personal finance teacher the Goof-Proof Personal Finance ebook. He seemed most interested. I have yet to follow up to see if he has had time to explore it.


For the past 3 years, I have been scheduled to do before school student tutoring and have been prevented from attending the high school teachers meetings. In May 2010, I specifically, emphatically stated to the Supt. that I needed to be at the high school teachers meetings, because that is the only time I can reach them. E-mail does not cut it. Face-to-Face does with a few seconds of demonstration. If more time is needed, we schedule it.

For each high school teachers meeting, I will be featuring one database at a time, handing out the prepared SD Libraries Guides for each database. I started doing this 4 years ago. I hope scheduling allows it to last. So far, so good.
And, I need to create my library "highway signs" for these databases in the high school library and a few for the halls, too!

Again, thank you, Julie and Jane!

At the 8:00