Monday, March 31, 2014

Reference Challenge - Week #10 - Wrap Up! YAY! The GRAND FINALE!

So, in this last, final week of our challenge, which, lo-and-behold, I am doing on the very last possible day to be doing this (shocker...), I am to report on my biggest discovery(ies).

Ahem....

I RAMBLE!
Wow, I cannot believe that someone is actually reading this. I go off on weird random tangents that really don't relate, but somehow they kinda do. It's odd. I'm quirky. Thanks for putting up with me.

I PROCRASTINATE!
I have proceeded to do 5 weeks of challenges in about 6 hours. Not at all in the spirit of the challenge. While I did have a chance to play around while in the databases, I could have done more. And you know what, I am going to!

MY CAR IS EFFICIENT!
My Toyota Prius is a pretty stellar little car. Low maintenance, high fuel mileage, lots of safety recalls. Yes, I love my car.

I NEED TO LEARN JAPANESE!
The ability to read manga in its original format would be phenomenal! To not need subtitles? Amazing!

You know what though, I had discovered all of this stuff many years before. So really, they don't count and fall into that first category of rambling. Again, apologies.

My biggest and coolest discovery in this challenge would have to be the historic maps of Henry. As soon as I got finished with that one last night, I had to call my parents and tell them. We all thought that was pretty fascinating, which then led to a 20 minute discussion what other fun towns we could all look up. We are all a bit disappointed about the lack of maps of Hazel. Makes me wonder who I need to talk to or who would have control of those maps?

PROMOTION
I am so happy that I am now informed on these databases. Doing these lessons has brought back to mind several times where some of this information would have seriously come in handy. I didn't have the knowledge then, but I do now. I already try to inform people of some of the more requested areas, such as the Chilton Online and Mango Languages. Very handy, and I love showing people that there is so much that a library can do for them, and that it far surpasses what is on the shelf (although, we have that too).

Thanks for this challenge. It was fun. I am lazy. Great times were had by all, unless you don't enjoy rambling, dragons, or art. Then I do apologize. But not really.

さようなら
Sayōnara

Image courtesy Kiiro Yumi, Hiro Arikawa, and Google.

(This is my favorite manga! Go read it! The Library Force compels you.) 

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Sunday, March 30, 2014

Reference Challenge - Week #9 - History and Genealogy Resources - Ancestry Library, Heritage Quest, & Sanborn Maps

Ooh look!!!! I am on week 9!!!! And it's only like week 12! I am so good at this!

1. Ancestry Library

I get to look up myself. Should I be pleased or frightened? THAT is the true question here.....

Oh look, another to do tomorrow! Sounds good. While we wait for that, have some HTTYD2 and Hiccstrid. (I did kind of mention that this was a bit of a fandom blog as well, right?)

Update!
In the library, and it's still quiet. So, let's continue on.

Looking up myself. Oh, look. There is nothing. Lots of other Monnens out there, but not me. Granted, I don't own land, not married, and haven't died. Yay me!

.....Shayna's blog will return after these brief messages......

 2. I decided to look up my grandfather, Albert A. Schamens who I was quite close to. Very cool that I can see his and my grandmother's marriage license. And there he is, listed as a 16 year son in the 1940 Census. Its been 74 years, so there it is! Not much else is available.

 Side note: how does one report to Ancestry Library that a name is spelled wrong? It lists my grandmother at Doris Ketlwig, when it was actually Kettwig. 

 .....Shayna's blog will return after these brief messages......

3. South Dakota search equates to 5000+ pictures. Wow! In fact, there are 221 million! Kinda fun, I found an image from a 1924 Spearfish Yearbook that has a memorium for Mr. Fayette Cook, the husband of Wenona Culbertson Cook, who in turn has a dorm at BHSU named after her. I love the pan feature!!! So handy. Interesting finds!

4. Heritage Quest 
I hate to say this, but I am coming up with a whole lot nothing. Ok, not "nothing" exactly, but more like not related at all. I tried searching my hometown of Hazel, SD, some family names, ever surnames, but nothing that is at all relevant. 

5. Sanborn Maps 
Sad day, nothing for my hometown. There is however something for the town I graduated from. Oh, Henry, SD. How small you are...

Interesting!!!! My brother had built a house in Henry, and it is located where the livery used to be in 1893! No mystery as to why we found some old horseshoes when we were pouring his garage floor! However, by 1904 it had become a 170 gallon holding tank for gasoline. Sometime between 1898 and 1904, horses became obsolete. It was a dark time for humanity....  

Panning around the map, nothing is the same. The only building in town that is I think the original is the PO building, but it wasn't the post then. It is an insurance office. Maybe its not even the same building. The locations are still the same, the elevator, the bank, the churches, but I do not believe there are any other original buildings.

That is seriously cool about my brother's home. I will need to make sure to let him know about that.
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Reference Challenge - Week #8 - WorldCat, CAMIO, and more.....................(more what?).....................(more dots?)..................(MOAR!)................

The sun has set, the moon has disappeared, lapping noises are coming from the kitchen, and strange lights are blinking on the mountain. Welcome, to - Shayna's blog!

Ah hah! You thought this was going to be another episode of "Welcome to Night Vale", didn't you! Admit it, I had you going. No? You know, you could just lie and make me feel better

International holdings, strangely spelled sea creatures, and naked people.....I LOVE THIS WEEK! Ever since our reference presentation by you Julie (yes, you! Shout out to you on my blog!), I have been eagerly anticipating this one, ok maybe just CAMIO. Maybe.....

WorldCat
1. Searching by limiters - there's alot. I remember using WorldCat once or twice in college for those pesky resources that you needed to have for a paper. You know how it is. Your paper is due tomorrow by 5, you need atleast 10 sources, and one has to be a book. You put this project off way too long with no time for ILL, and now you are wee bit screwed. Wait! If you are incredibly lucky, you might just get a full-text book off of here. Ah, sweet victory......

And now I have told you all about my shameful dark days of undergraduate. Awesome.
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Moving on!

2.  I love Anne of Green Gables, and it's a classic, and everyone needs it, if they don't already. Nice! Over 1200 results, and a little under 800 are in English. Translation! Quite a few have it available in Braille. Item #1, there are 1163 holdings for this particular version, and the top one listed it at Augustana College, courier code SDA. Sadly, our library does not have this specific copy, but I know we have multiple copies of it!

3. It's fiction. We have it in our own system as J  MONTGOMERY and also as
YA  MONTGOMERY but LC has it as:

Class Descriptors: LC: PZ7.M768; Dewey: [Fic]

The other items that are available by Lucy Maud Montgomery include other works by her, biographies of her, audio and video resources in which she is credited (audio CDs, DVDs, VHS).

Similar subjects:
Clicking on Orphans -- Fiction. brings up many other juvenile and YA titles on the subject, including one of my favorites!


I like how the contents of the record include the chapter titles. DAWW!! I just love this book so much! I love Anne and Gilbert. They were my OTP before I even knew what that was!



OAIster (ah its finally time for oddly spelled, yet delicious seafood, No?)
I chose the HIV/Surveillance Report. Clicking into it, I notice that this is an item that has been put into ContentDM.


However, I see this first:


South Dakota State Library: Digital Collections. These collections are best viewed using Google Chrome



Too bad! I love Firefox! Moving on....

I clicked the first link, but that just took me to the SD State Library page. Rereading, it says that to access this specific title, I have to click the other link. Available for this title are the reports for 2013 and 2014. Very interesting stats on this. Very handy reference tool as well. I am not sure where else one could go online to find this information, unless you knew specifically which department kept tracks of these statistics.

CAMIO
I love art. I love art. I love art. Did you hear? I love art. Ssh! It's a secret.

Oh, no! I will have to finish this one at work tomorrow. Oh well, I will see you again soon, CAMIO. Until tomorrow......:D

As we eagerly anticipate what I find tomorrow, enjoy this image of sassy!Toothless!


(I hear if you give him a fish, he might lick you....)

Image courtesy of Google, Dreamworks, How to Train Your Dragon, and lots of other peeps, but sadly not me.

Update!
Yay! Made it to work, braved the blistering winds, and have quite empty library. Really? No takers for a blizzard with 25-35 mph winds? No one? Yea....

Anywho, since I am at work, this means I can finally finish with CAMIO! Yay! Art time.

1. Searching for Sioux brings up 63 results. Going through these, I note that just like Lesson 8 says, nothing is from local museums or institutions. Which leads me to a side question: how does one become affilliated with this database? Is there an annual fee that must be paid to have your museum or institution's materials available to be viewed online? Is it a significant amount? Interesting stuff. I mean, I could totally see a few entities that are more local the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, such as the Journey and the SD State Museum in Pierre.

I did enjoy seeing the George Catlins that are hanging in the Smithsonian came up in this search.

2. Hands down best use for this would be if someone wanted to look at something specific and wanted to view a high quality image that is guaranteed to be the image they are looking for. It is far too easy for someone to edit or manipulate a work and then post it on a website somewhere. This is as legitimate as it gets, bar actually seeing it in person.

On that note, the images are very nice quality. Very nice! And you have the option to download it as well, with quite decent resolution. I do wish that you could click and drag to pan around the image. There are button at the top, but not the most handy.

3. My own search. I am going to search "Norse". Hmm, one hit and not what I was expecting. Let's try this again with "Viking". Yay! There are 9 results. Look! A stirrup, some brooches, a sword, and a painting with Viking in the title. Viewing favorites allows for some fun features! If you wanted to show a bunch of images on ancient jewelry, this would be a great slide show. I am not sure of any personal uses for this tool, but might come in handy for a student, an art display, or on a web page.

-----------------
There! We all got some Viking artwork, Canadian childhood heroes, and a cute dragon. What a week!


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Reference Challenge - Week #7 - EBooks on EbscoHost

And guess what, I am still behind, but I am getting there! One thing I have always been good at getting it done. It may be down to the wire, but it will be done. :D

Woot! Ebooks. I got to use this resource on Thursday of this week. We had a patron come into the library looking specifially for a how to guide on how to write an employee handbook, and you know what? EBooks on EbscoHost has one!

1. Search for a topic that interests me.....you know, I have become a big coffee drinker in the past few months. I'm gonna search "coffee".
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Um, ok. Interesting results. I get everything from wireless hacking to online dating to easy family meals. NOT what I was hoping for. But then, there might just not be that many ebooks written about coffee. Instead, let's check out wireless hacking! Always a safe option there. Nothing illegal at all.

So clicking into the title, it shows me why this particular title came up in my search. There are entires on making antennas from coffee cans and the open wi-fi networks of coffee shops. Well, I wasn't super specific in my coffee search. Guess I am going to get what they give me.

Looking at the Ebooks is about the best it could be on a screen. There are no fun page-flipping animations, but you can search a table of contents, go to specific pages, and get citations done for you. How perfect is that?!

2. Constution Day:
Depending on the age of your students, there are really only two options there that could be relevant. Ok, the one might be a bit of a stretch, but its for high school students.


The Colonies and Revolution is the better bet, but like I said, the other maybe?
Maybe? No? Ok.

After a quick text search (hehe, nice) of Colonies and Revolution, there are however no entries in the book that have both the words "Constitution" and "Day" together. Nor is there in the A.P. U.S. History. Perhaps neither are your source for this particular search.

3. I chose to do "Nebraska" in my search. While a great many results would be beneficial to the search topic at hand (on Native cultures, tribes, etc), many are also publications that are from the University of Nebraska press that are not at all related to the topic, which makes sense because it's just searching the entire record of all the items for the term "Nebraska". That could come in handy later on if someone was looking specifically for something printed there.

Yay, coffee, wi-fi hacking, employee handbook writing, Constitution, and many books on Native culture later, this has been another episode of Shayna's reference challenge. Stay tuned for another catch up episode, coming up next!
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Reference Challenge - Week #6 - Gale Virtual Reference Library

Wow! I am slow.....here's to the hope that I can get the last challenges done in the next day or so! Clock is ticking.

Alright, confession time. I have.....(sheepishly)....never used GVRL. I am so SORRY!!
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NO! That's a lie. I have used it! Once! We had someone looking for the College Blue Book.

OK, better confession time. I have used GVRL once!

So, let's fix that. Time to play.

1. What is available? A LOT. Let me quickly point out a few that caught my eye:

Since I love history a great deal, when everything is immediately better with "Europe" in the topic, let's go with my first choice. OK, not everything. "Right on red" is a purely American thing, and according to Jeremy Clarkson, America's greatest contribution to western civilization. Go us!

Smoky goat cheese on a cracker, there's more MAPS!

 

They're not the greatest looking, but this one shows ancient burial sites and ritual locations! My favorite! The location in Ireland right next to my PDF hand is Newgrange, which is an amazing location to visit. We even got to go inside!

Ok, ok. No more maps. Moving on.

While going through the table of contents the article on "Archaeology and Language" looked interesting. What a fascinating article on the basis of language, how it spread, where it originated, and why it hasn't been solved yet! One very interesting tidbit of information is that when it was determined in 1786 that the Romantic, Germanic, Greek, and Persian languages are part of the same language family as Sanskit, and that they all were derived from a base language called Proto-Indo-European. Many cultures claimed that the basis for this "pure" national heritage (Aryans) and language originated in a variety of locations, but one German scholar Gustaf Kossinna made his claim that the origins were in northern Europe, and more specifically Germany. His writings are based on the idealized thought that Aryans originated here, and was a major contributor to the Aryan ideals of one Adolf Hitler and his programs some 20 years later. It's crazy how history intertwines!

Some of the uses that I could potentially see for GVRL and not necessarily just this specific title is that it essentially just more detailed and in-depth reference materials and encyclopedias for more finite subjects. This would have seriously come in handy the other day when one of my teenagers came into the library and wanted something on Norse culture. We had some items on the shelf, but she (and I) would have benefited from this.

2. Search for anything? MUAHAHA! The possibilities are endless...what to do? What to do?

You know what, let's go with my teens question. Let's check out Norse. Typing....BAM!

First hit is on Norse mythology. Perfect! Ooooh, another on Ragnarok. Did you know: according to most Norse scholars, Ragnarok occured on February 22, 2014. It sparked the epic battle of the Norse gods against the giants, that equates to 3 years of winter. Do I think it happened? With all this snow and more coming, you bet I do! :D

Listen feature is nice, but quite comical. Not all of the words (especially those in the pronunciation part) come across clearly. At one point, it spelled out the letters. However, that aside, this is a nice bit of extra features for those who don't know how to pronounce words or have difficulties reading (friend who had dyslexia comes to mind). What is really cool is that say there is a word 3/4 of the way through the article and you don't want to listen to all of it, you can actually highlight that word and click the listen button and it will say your highlighted section! That is cool!

Nice additional features available at the bottom of the article that allows you to go directly to terms that are used and their own respective articles or entries.

Alright, I promise to use Gale more often!
 
  
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