Library Challenge-Ancestry Library

After some problems with Ancestry Library connecting at our Library, everything if working again. So I went to finish my final assignment for the Library Challenge. I took a class a few years ago, and did some researching on AncestryLibrary. I remember finding my grandmother's marriage and death certificate at that time. Now, I was quit frustrated. I tried to research my own name, looking for our marriage license. I found a record through the US Records Index stating my birthdate and current residence. Although, I moved across the street about 8 years ago from 441 5th Street to 420 5th Street, and my old address was still listed. My mailing address is POBox 390, which was listed, but POBox 71 was also listed. That was a mailbox that we had some years ago, probably at least 25 years ago. Then when I tried to research our marriage license, I had problems. I also put in my maiden name, which was Eidem. I received information on names from Adams to Eatons, with a few Eidem's mixed in. They were my cousins, so I guess I was a little related to my research. I did find some information when researching my husband's name (Greg Gemar) and got a little info. but not our marriage license. I'm wondering if it's all legal?! I did find a couple of my husband's brothers' marriage to their wives. When I marked the box for "exact" it jumped me to JoAnn Efta's obituary. She was my neighbor years ago, so I felt a little "related" to that search also. But I was very frustrated after an hour of searching. Was I doing something wrong? Are we still having problems with our AncestryLibrary at our library? This is one database that I would love to be familiar enough with that we could offer a hands-on class at the library. We have a part-time staff of 3, and if we could all be familiar with it, we could give some explanations for searching, and then just all be there to assist as people gave this a try, so I was disappointed since I couldn't find what I was looking for at all. I would like more help, or some explanations of why I had so many problems. I hope everyong else had more success than I did. But as I expressed in more summary, I was pleased for the most part with the class, and I am glad I took it. But, I need a lot more work on AncestryLibrary.

Wrap up

There are so many discoveries that I made. It was especially good for me to use the Archive Grid and CAMIO, since I had not used them at all yet. It definitely teaches you that the more you "play around" the more you will learn, and the better service we can provide to our patrons. When you read the intoduction to each database, and it points out how many hundreds of thousands of resources are available, I think we could spend a lot of time each day, and never see all there is to see. I'm so glad I took advantage of this. We always say we are going to spend time researching, but until there is a deadline to do it by, we just don't take the time. There are some I was frustrated with, seeing "no results" several times. I need to continue to work on my skills.

I hope to encourage our patrons to explore the databases by featuring one every month, as they are doing in Cornerstone. I think that's a good way to do it without overwhelming people. We can post flyers and handouts around the Library, and I can talk about each one in a little more detail each month in my newspaper article to peak their interest. I hope to host an Ancestry Library night in the future. I can see that as being one that many people are interested in.

Thanks again for offering the course in the format that it was presented. Even over a couple months, it takes a lot of time. But by spending more time, it was more valuable than just a 1/2 day or even a full day. Those will continue to push me, now that I made it this far.

Ancestry Library, Heritage Quest & Sanborn Maps-Library Challenge

I am unable to get to the Library for my research, since it is late at night, and I am leaving in the morning for Denver. It will be interesting to see if I can access the databases while I am there. I hope I can get the Ancestry Library in before Sept. 10, but I will only be home part of a day before that.

I tried to search many people and places with Heritage Quest, but didn't have success. I will have to spend more time, and maybe I'm not selecting good names or places to use for my search. It is frustrating when you keep getting "no results". I'm sure the problem is probably me, but I'm not sure what to try.

I did enjoy searching through Sanborn Maps. I looked at Scotland at two different time periods. I found one of the businesses that was located on the map in 1923-1935 is still at the same location today, and though it has changed ownership it still goes by the same name.

Library Challenge-Lesson #8 Learning Express

I started with the quiz about Learning Express, and felt I did vert well. That was good, since I didn't do very well on the practice exams I tried. Oh boy, it's time to challenge our brains. This is a great site for anyone working on new degrees and challenges. It's also great for the adult population that just needs to keep challenging ourselves. While browsing through the site, I noticed there are 96 exams offered. The first one I chose was Health Career Practice Entrance- General Science. I was a nurse (some years ago) so thought this would be great. Unfortunately, I didn't think about General Science basically being physical or earth science. But it was a great experience. Then I tried the Biology portion on the Health Career Practice Entrance, and that went much better. I know it's not to see "how"we do ON the test, but rather navigating through the test. Learning Express is VERY user friendly. I spent some time in job searching and resume writing. I think it's time for me to review some correct punctuation, especially colon's and semi-colons. I looked through the ebooks offered in Learning Express and would like to spend more time with "Read Better, Remember More". I will have to go back. I hope we can encourage parents and teachers to get kids to try Learning Express in many situations.

Library Challenge-Lesson #7

Archive Grid and CAMIO are new to me. I spent this evening at the Library, since we cannot access this site from our home computers. I really enjoyed this assignment, since I had not had any exposure to this site before. I found it user friendly, and full if information.

Discover Exercise Part 1 instructed us to research "sitting bull autograph card". It is located at Cornell University, call # 9052. They have the autograph card and the envelope for the card. I clicked the link and learned that sitting bull, also known as Tatanka iyotake, Tatanka Iyotanka or Ta-tanka I-Yotah. Native American shamen and leader of the Hunpapa Sioux. He fought against Crow Indians and was wounded in battle on several occasions. Sitting Bull greatly opposed the encroachment of the white men. He led Sioux and Cheyenne warriors against United States soldiers of the 7th cavalry at the battle of Little Bighorn. After the battle, in which many were killed, Sitting Bull led his tribe to Canada, where they lived until surrendering to U.S. forces. After his capture he toured with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. Sitting Bull was killed while resisting arrest for his unwillingness to abandon the traditions of the ritual Ghost Dance, which had been outlawed.

Collection Covers: Sitting Bull 1834?-1890 Hunkpapa Band of Dakota or Sioux Indians and Autographs--United States.

For the second part and my "own search" I searched SD Artists and got 189 results. Just below it said "searching for a name use SD artists as a proximity search". I was able to click the words SD artists from that phrase and got 3 results. 1. Eleanor Tufts papers from Southern Methodist University. Tuft was a recognized authority on women artists, and it matched by search options since it featured woment's artists project South Africa, South American and South Dakota. The word "south" was highlighted in each spot. 2 Papers, 1898-1989 Huseboe, Arthur R. (1931- ) Library of Congress National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections located at Augustana College, Center of Western Studies, Sioux Falls, SD. It gave me the opportunity to click on "read more" Dakota Artists. This told me "correspondence, lectures, notes, curriculum material, meeting records, biographical material, project papers, reports, published articles, periodicals, books, photographs, and other papers of Huseboe and his wife, Doris E. Huseboe, also a professor at Augustana, chiefly relating to the promotion of Norwegian American heritage in South Dakota. . . and Huseboe's An Illustrated History of the Arts in South Dakota (1989) commissioned by SD Arts Council and SD Committees on the Humanities containing an article on Sioux Indian Art by Arthur Amiotte and many references to state artists of Norwegian origin. There was a long list the collection covers. 3. Walter Bone Shirt ledger. Eighteen drawings: topics include buffalo robes, elaborate masks, and figures on horsebacks. Under "read more" it referenced Brule Indian ledger drawings, SD Rosebud Indian Reservation. This is located at the University of Montana in Missoula.

It was fascinating that even small items can be located and accessed with time. Even though my search took me through a Norwegian heritage as I researched SD artists, thinking I would find mostly native american artists, it taught me a lot. I actually attended Augustana at the time that the Huseboe's were there, so that was awesome to learn. The Center of Western Studies is a great afternoon visit. This is a fabulous resource, and there is so much that can be accessed.

The CAMIO site is all new to me also, and another awesome site. I typed "Paul Revere" in the search box and found 34 works. Many personal items and photographs are included on the site, but is states the creator of each and the the approximate time they were made or discovered. There were 25 separate displays in 2 pages that were made by Paul Revere. Some photos showed more that one item in a photograph, so actually more that 25 items were made by our Revolutionary War Hero, most from 1761-1793 from the dates recorded. What a talented silver- smith I typed Sioux in the search box and found displays of beautiful art work, beaded clothing, hand carved pipes, and photographs. There were 4 pages and 63 works listed. The location of each item is listed. I searched Monet for my favorite artist and was able to view many of the artists work. I paged through many of the paintings, clicking the box to the left of the image number and choosing them to "add to my favorites". After making at least 10 choices, I could view my favorites, move them around and delete any I changed my mind about. It gives many options for us to use these beautiful works of art, expecially at a time when art budgets are being cut. We should all take some time the look, and enjoy.

Library Challenge-Lesson #5

I am finally doing my NetLibrary assignment. I had trouble accessing this site from home, maybe I missed that somewhere if it told me I needed to use it from the Library only.

The search topic that I used as my "topic of interest" was immigrants. Since I am reading One Read SD, that is a topic of interest to me now. There were 1444 results, all were ebooks. When I focused the search to immigrants to South Dakota, it narrowed it to 34. It was interesting, since I was thinking of modern day immigrants to SD, but it reminded me that we are all immigrants (other than the Native Americans, that is). The first article I read was an article by a Native American who made the statement, "we don't view it the same as the immigrants arriving". So that was a great reminder to me, and reminded me that the immigrants they were talking about (our ancestors) were not the same immigrants I was thinking of by reading "What is the What" by Dave Eggers.

The second part of the assignment instructed us to look up Constitution Day. I got 1067 results. From the first entry, I learned that "Sept. 17 , marks the day the constitution was signed, thus Constitution Day. It was first proposed in 1916 that this day be recognized, and it was first observed in 1919. It was remade as Citizen Day by Congress in 1952, changing the focus of the holiday from the history of the document to the duties of the American people." from Representing Popular Sovereignty. I tried constitution and day or observation without success Related topics listed were constitutional and administrative law. So I would recommend Representing Popular Sovereignty: The Constitution in American Political Culture by Levin, Daniel Lessard and Let's Celebrate Today: Calendars, Events, and Holidays by Marks, Diana F.

The final assignment required us to research western history. Using advanced search I put western history (keyword) and Nebraska or Oklahoma. There were 61 results, all ebooks. The sort by box stated rank, and most of the articles made reference to pioneers and prairie stories. Then I changed from "rank" to "oldest first" in the sort by box, and the focus changed to titles of Great Western Indian Fights and My People: the Sioux. Once again the era made a difference to what was pertinent through the search.

It was very good to spend time searching NetLibrary, and it will be a ongoing learning process.

Library Challenge- #5 NetLibrary

Oh brother, I am lost with this one. I have spent a lot of time searching, but I must not have any basic skills. I typed in "constitution day" into every search box I could find. I also tried "western history" in all my search opportunities, and nothing. I did find some interesting information, (none of which I was looking for) by starting with view all resources. I found an interesting chart about education statistics for all states, and I did find the South Dakota information there very interesting. Am I suppose suppose to have a specific ebook that I am searching, and know what chapter, and then go from there. I guess I failed on this one, unless tomorrow brings more inspiration on how to approach searches in NetLibrary. This is my first attempt on NetLibrary. Any suggestions? Anyone?