1. You said something I'm interested in so00000--since I saw somewhere in a description of netLibrary that there are craft books, I looked for something on embroidery. Typing in "embroidery" in the full-text box pulled up about 850 books, most of which mentioned embroidery in the description of the book, none in the titles (as far as I searched). Inclusion of embroidery in book descriptions usually indicated the book was about a country, or the art work/crafts of particular countries, or even about marketing of businesses that might include embroidery. Interesting, but not what I was actually looking for--embroidery patterns on fabrics, how-to illustrations of different stitches, etc. So, back to the drawing board, tried a keyword search on embroidery and, aha, no results. No wonder I didn't find what I was looking for in the full-text results. However, since I'm pretty easily distracted and somewhat interested in quilting, I spent some time perusing the ebook The Complete Idiot's Guide to Quilting (c1998) that popped up during my original search. And this is cool, seeing the whole book on my computer screen, hopping around through the table of contents, seeing the quilting illustrations really clearly. In the lower left corner there was even a link offering the option to search the contents of the ebook for "embroidery" within the content of ths book. Did that and found 2 pages containing suggestions for using embroidery in quilting projects. To this quilting pre-novice's eyes, this looked like a great beginner's guide to quilting. Had something comparable been available on embroidery, I'd likely have been just as impressed.
2. Ooh, here's a good one: Please Don't Wish Me a Merry Christmas: a Critical History of the Separation of Church & State by Stephen Feldman
another: Letters, by Thomas Jefferson (primary source-type stuff, good for History Day projects)
and: Our Elusive Constitution: Silences, Paradoxes, Priorities, by Daniel N. Hoffman
and: The Illustrated Dictionary of Consitutional Concepts, by Robert Maddex
and: A Companion to the U.S. Constitution and Its Amendments, by John R. Vile
3. 83 books on western history published by University of Oklahoma Press. Not all about Oklahoma by any means, many included about SD--for example, #41 in list: Rapid City Indian School 1898-1933. I'd forgotten that there was an Indian school in RC at one time. Published in 1999. Students would appreciate clicking on the colored numbers to bring up the footnote citations. I flipped through and read a few pp of Chapter 2 which discussed nutrition issues at the school and referred to a complaint from a Lower Brule parent whose daughter was attending the school. The parent suggested that his daughter, who'd complained of being underfed, could come home and be educated at the local public school.
Students would use netLibrary and like it if instructors who'd done a little pre-planning referred them to the resource. Much of value to be found with minimal digging--and reliable, too.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
ER Challenge: Week 4 GVRL
1. UXL Encyclopedia of Mythology - would've been so nice to have had this as a resource in the library days. The library owned a one-volume mythology encyclopedia, heavily used by students, to the point that the binding gave out. Such an expensive tool to replace that I had it rebound, resulting in an unsatisfactory product because text closest to the spine "got lost" in the new binding. Another + with the UXL product is the copyright date, 2009, far more recent than what I had on the shelf. I looked up Zeus, found an excellent, clearly-written discussion with at least one illustration of a seated Zeus in vol. 5 of the 5-volume set. My library could've never afforded a 5-volume set on mythology.
The read-aloud capability is particularly nice in this resource because mythology research was usually a required topic for 9-grade English, also required. Some grade 9 research students would definitely derive more from the text if it were read aloud to them.
Access to Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World would've been helpful during the post-9/11/01 reaction when students were curious about the religion, but adult patrons (including some school board members) didn't want anything that had to do with Islam and Muslims on the library shelves. Copyright date of 2004 isn't too bad. This is a 2-volume set; most school libraries couldn't justify the cost and would have to rely upon the discussion of Islam in sources that discussed it as one of many religions (as we did).
Also appreciated the 2006 cr date of Extremist Groups: Information for Students. Always a topic of high interest to students, hard to keep current info on the shelves, and we all know kids prefer to find this kind of info electronically anyway. Better this kind of resource than a Google search.
2. Found the answer to the zinc question (lamb, beef, leafy grains, root veggies . . .) in the discussion of Minerals in Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health. Highlighted just that paragraph, clicked ReadSpeak and heard just that paragraph read aloud, clearly and at a good rate for listening. Five articles came up as a result of my basic search, but just this one yielded the info I'd requested--perhaps I didn't dig deeply enough in the others. Three of the others were in Gale Enc. of Medicine, one in Gale Enc. of Cancer.
Found critical discussions of Huck Finn in a couple places, Literary Themes for Students: Race & Prejudice, and Literature and Its Times: 300 Notable Literary Works . . . These were results from a basic search of the title plus the term "literary criticism" and then use of the ebook index for each book. There were 3 discussions of the book in Literary Themes . . ., with the first listed in the index being the most complete discussion and containing links to both "Critical Overview" and "Criticism" sections. Voila--literary criticism on the fly for the procrastinating student and many thanks to the savvy librarian, no doubt.
The read-aloud capability is particularly nice in this resource because mythology research was usually a required topic for 9-grade English, also required. Some grade 9 research students would definitely derive more from the text if it were read aloud to them.
Access to Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World would've been helpful during the post-9/11/01 reaction when students were curious about the religion, but adult patrons (including some school board members) didn't want anything that had to do with Islam and Muslims on the library shelves. Copyright date of 2004 isn't too bad. This is a 2-volume set; most school libraries couldn't justify the cost and would have to rely upon the discussion of Islam in sources that discussed it as one of many religions (as we did).
Also appreciated the 2006 cr date of Extremist Groups: Information for Students. Always a topic of high interest to students, hard to keep current info on the shelves, and we all know kids prefer to find this kind of info electronically anyway. Better this kind of resource than a Google search.
2. Found the answer to the zinc question (lamb, beef, leafy grains, root veggies . . .) in the discussion of Minerals in Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health. Highlighted just that paragraph, clicked ReadSpeak and heard just that paragraph read aloud, clearly and at a good rate for listening. Five articles came up as a result of my basic search, but just this one yielded the info I'd requested--perhaps I didn't dig deeply enough in the others. Three of the others were in Gale Enc. of Medicine, one in Gale Enc. of Cancer.
Found critical discussions of Huck Finn in a couple places, Literary Themes for Students: Race & Prejudice, and Literature and Its Times: 300 Notable Literary Works . . . These were results from a basic search of the title plus the term "literary criticism" and then use of the ebook index for each book. There were 3 discussions of the book in Literary Themes . . ., with the first listed in the index being the most complete discussion and containing links to both "Critical Overview" and "Criticism" sections. Voila--literary criticism on the fly for the procrastinating student and many thanks to the savvy librarian, no doubt.
Monday, July 12, 2010
ER Challenge: Week 3
1. Basic search of multiple databases for topic "gulf oil spill" in quotes yielded 539 documents
Refining search to full-text = 339
same topic limited to last 7 days = 27
same topic, full-text, scholarly journals = 3
same topic, full-text, newspaper abstracts - 196
I liked the big square box right in front of the researcher, "List of Other Related Topics," really nice for students still trying to narrow their topic.
Advanced search, same topic in quotes and Texas, not Mississippi, not Florida, full-text, last 30 days = 2
A search of People magazine for the last 3 months, same topic, full-text, yielded 0 results because the most recent issue indexed is 3/10/10, weeks before the recent Gulf spill. Same search in Newsweek for the last 30 days showed 7 articles. Conclusion: Newsweek is better about getting indexed quickly than People. Duh, huh?
On the right, "Find More Documents Like This" is another handy tool for students who like to keep exploring and clicking away.
From a teacher's perspective, the citation capability looks really easy to use--quick and accurate.
2. One of the periodicals of which I was an avid fan in my former school librarian life was School Library Journal. A publication search for that title showed the magazines indexed back to 1988. Those oldest issues contained articles in abstract format only, not full-text as they are now. Archiving happens pretty quickly with SLJ: the June 2010 issue was indexed and showed 16 full-text articles that could be printed, linked to, cited, etc. So, if I wanted to explore articles in issues of SLJ I could do that and take a pass on the $100+ subscription cost. However, I really relied on the book reviews in SLJ (among other reviewing periodicals) and I don't see those included. Am I just not seeing them? Not digging deeply enough?
I don't think one can look for articles on a particular subject, say, "electronic databases," in a particular journal, right? One would have to do a general search of all publications using chosen limiters such as date ranges and/or type of database to search to find such info.
Again, "Find More Documents Like This" on the right is a handy tool for exploring.
I translated a SLJ document into Spanish--cool for foreign language teachers and their students. I don't understand a word of it, of course, but this would be a good cross-curricular activity and an opportunity for collaboration between librarians and foreign language teachers. I need to mention it to the appropriate personnel at the school here and will do that.
For someone who wanted to know when the next issue was available, the "Set Up Alert" feature with options for alert of abstract or of full-text release would be great. Or the RSS feed as well.
Refining search to full-text = 339
same topic limited to last 7 days = 27
same topic, full-text, scholarly journals = 3
same topic, full-text, newspaper abstracts - 196
I liked the big square box right in front of the researcher, "List of Other Related Topics," really nice for students still trying to narrow their topic.
Advanced search, same topic in quotes and Texas, not Mississippi, not Florida, full-text, last 30 days = 2
A search of People magazine for the last 3 months, same topic, full-text, yielded 0 results because the most recent issue indexed is 3/10/10, weeks before the recent Gulf spill. Same search in Newsweek for the last 30 days showed 7 articles. Conclusion: Newsweek is better about getting indexed quickly than People. Duh, huh?
On the right, "Find More Documents Like This" is another handy tool for students who like to keep exploring and clicking away.
From a teacher's perspective, the citation capability looks really easy to use--quick and accurate.
2. One of the periodicals of which I was an avid fan in my former school librarian life was School Library Journal. A publication search for that title showed the magazines indexed back to 1988. Those oldest issues contained articles in abstract format only, not full-text as they are now. Archiving happens pretty quickly with SLJ: the June 2010 issue was indexed and showed 16 full-text articles that could be printed, linked to, cited, etc. So, if I wanted to explore articles in issues of SLJ I could do that and take a pass on the $100+ subscription cost. However, I really relied on the book reviews in SLJ (among other reviewing periodicals) and I don't see those included. Am I just not seeing them? Not digging deeply enough?
I don't think one can look for articles on a particular subject, say, "electronic databases," in a particular journal, right? One would have to do a general search of all publications using chosen limiters such as date ranges and/or type of database to search to find such info.
Again, "Find More Documents Like This" on the right is a handy tool for exploring.
I translated a SLJ document into Spanish--cool for foreign language teachers and their students. I don't understand a word of it, of course, but this would be a good cross-curricular activity and an opportunity for collaboration between librarians and foreign language teachers. I need to mention it to the appropriate personnel at the school here and will do that.
For someone who wanted to know when the next issue was available, the "Set Up Alert" feature with options for alert of abstract or of full-text release would be great. Or the RSS feed as well.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
ER Challenge: Week 2
SIRS Discoverer
1. Tasmanian Devil - a face only a mother could love, right?
Search yielded 30+ total articles, 21 from magazines, 4 from newspapers
Most articles contained pictures; picture tab from search results bar indicated 8 pictures, some repetition among those, but all are in color and are good up-close photos.
Magazine article editorially-assigned reading levels ranged from easy to challenging with most falling somewhere between the 2 extremes. A re-sort of those articles according to lexile levels from easiest to most difficult revealed lexiles ranging from 660 to 1160.
2a. Went back to Germany again--stuck in a travel rut, I am.
The leveled graphic organizers could be a very useful tool for geography techers at whatever grade level is being taught.
Nice to see phonetic pronunciation guide, printable country map and flag
Handy quick facts organized to be easy to use, especially liked the facts under "Economy"--such current info is usually available but can be hard to uncover
2b. The map of Afghanistan found under the Nations tab could be useful to a teacher of current events, considering the importance of the topic of the war in Afghanistan in the news for the past several weeks/months. Many of the towns whose names appear in newscasts and articles are on that map as are the provinces frequently referred to, i.e., Helmand.
2c. My students frequently looked for pictures so that searchable picture file is a nice feature. During library visits, I've frequently taken school librarians to the Educator's Resources for the explanation of lexile levels, the workbooks for student lessons, and for the SIRS vs. Google chart.
SIRS Issues
1. "Human Trafficking" - Liked the definition of terms on the left side of the overview, i.e. dissidents, ethnic cleansing
Useful timeline for topic accompanied by a world map indicating hot spots in the world for human trafficking
Global Impact and Statistics could be helpful
Students would be fascinated by the Interactive feature on the right, this one about sex slaves. Both interesting and frightening
Pro-Con Issues & Essential Questions good to explore during research, especially early in process
150+ articles, mostly magazine & newspaper, with lexile levels, subject heading links, many available in pdf format, some accompanied by pictures, diagrams, maps, etc. Most, if not all, available in full-text
2. I chose the "Health" tab; a click there brought up several areas of interest under that topic: adolescent health, family health, diet and weight, eating disorders (always a subject of interest for students).
Clicking on eating disorders took me to the discussion of the topic as one of the 10 leading issues at this time. Clicking on sexually transmitted diseases in the word cloud under Research Topics yielded articles related to that topic.
The 2 interactive quizzes on the right side are a nice feature with potential for a health teacher working with students. Yikes! Don't know as much about health as I thought I did.
1. Tasmanian Devil - a face only a mother could love, right?
Search yielded 30+ total articles, 21 from magazines, 4 from newspapers
Most articles contained pictures; picture tab from search results bar indicated 8 pictures, some repetition among those, but all are in color and are good up-close photos.
Magazine article editorially-assigned reading levels ranged from easy to challenging with most falling somewhere between the 2 extremes. A re-sort of those articles according to lexile levels from easiest to most difficult revealed lexiles ranging from 660 to 1160.
2a. Went back to Germany again--stuck in a travel rut, I am.
The leveled graphic organizers could be a very useful tool for geography techers at whatever grade level is being taught.
Nice to see phonetic pronunciation guide, printable country map and flag
Handy quick facts organized to be easy to use, especially liked the facts under "Economy"--such current info is usually available but can be hard to uncover
2b. The map of Afghanistan found under the Nations tab could be useful to a teacher of current events, considering the importance of the topic of the war in Afghanistan in the news for the past several weeks/months. Many of the towns whose names appear in newscasts and articles are on that map as are the provinces frequently referred to, i.e., Helmand.
2c. My students frequently looked for pictures so that searchable picture file is a nice feature. During library visits, I've frequently taken school librarians to the Educator's Resources for the explanation of lexile levels, the workbooks for student lessons, and for the SIRS vs. Google chart.
SIRS Issues
1. "Human Trafficking" - Liked the definition of terms on the left side of the overview, i.e. dissidents, ethnic cleansing
Useful timeline for topic accompanied by a world map indicating hot spots in the world for human trafficking
Global Impact and Statistics could be helpful
Students would be fascinated by the Interactive feature on the right, this one about sex slaves. Both interesting and frightening
Pro-Con Issues & Essential Questions good to explore during research, especially early in process
150+ articles, mostly magazine & newspaper, with lexile levels, subject heading links, many available in pdf format, some accompanied by pictures, diagrams, maps, etc. Most, if not all, available in full-text
2. I chose the "Health" tab; a click there brought up several areas of interest under that topic: adolescent health, family health, diet and weight, eating disorders (always a subject of interest for students).
Clicking on eating disorders took me to the discussion of the topic as one of the 10 leading issues at this time. Clicking on sexually transmitted diseases in the word cloud under Research Topics yielded articles related to that topic.
The 2 interactive quizzes on the right side are a nice feature with potential for a health teacher working with students. Yikes! Don't know as much about health as I thought I did.
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