My biggest discovery was the book search section in HeritageQuest. I can't believe that has been hiding right under my nose this whole time! I will be utilizing that a whole lot and recommending it to genealogy researchers who come into the library. Who knows what they may be able to find?
I can promote this resource when helping patrons with their research, and also mention it as a great resource in the genealogy workshop I plan to host sometime this year.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
AncestryLibrary, HeritageQuest, Sanborn Maps
Ancestry:
I searched for my own name in AncestryLibrary....no results of mine came up. I tried different variations of my name (maiden included) but nothing. I could be too young? I've never had a land line--just a cell phone.
I searched for my great grandfather Christian Dutt and found him in the 1930 census record! I opened it up and there was my grandpa Edgar and all his brothers and sisters. It listed great grandpa Christian's homeland (Russia) and his wife (Elizabeth), his birth year, their home in 1930, marrital status, and if I clicked on the children's names it gave the same info about them. It also had a link to view the original document. How exciting!
I searched for the keyword "South Dakota" and limited the results to "Photos and Maps." It gave me pictures of WWII south dakota men and baseball players.
HeritageQuest:
Oh my gosh! Can't tell you how excited I am about THIS ONE! I do some of the family history research here at our library and I have never even looked at this before. I have been trying to trace my family on my dad's side back to England and I just discovered the Publications. I searched for "Snow" and received several results. There is a publication about a Richard Snow in England giving his family history....I'm looking forward to reading this to see if I can connect the dots. This is a great resource for patrons. And me! :)
Sanborn Maps: I selected Aberdeen, July 1884. I had to zoom in to to see the map, but once I did I could see the entire city divided into blocks and numbered. I could navigate my way around using the arrows. It told me what each building was. This is very usefull if someone wants to know where a building used to be.
I searched for my own name in AncestryLibrary....no results of mine came up. I tried different variations of my name (maiden included) but nothing. I could be too young? I've never had a land line--just a cell phone.
I searched for my great grandfather Christian Dutt and found him in the 1930 census record! I opened it up and there was my grandpa Edgar and all his brothers and sisters. It listed great grandpa Christian's homeland (Russia) and his wife (Elizabeth), his birth year, their home in 1930, marrital status, and if I clicked on the children's names it gave the same info about them. It also had a link to view the original document. How exciting!
I searched for the keyword "South Dakota" and limited the results to "Photos and Maps." It gave me pictures of WWII south dakota men and baseball players.
HeritageQuest:
Oh my gosh! Can't tell you how excited I am about THIS ONE! I do some of the family history research here at our library and I have never even looked at this before. I have been trying to trace my family on my dad's side back to England and I just discovered the Publications. I searched for "Snow" and received several results. There is a publication about a Richard Snow in England giving his family history....I'm looking forward to reading this to see if I can connect the dots. This is a great resource for patrons. And me! :)
Sanborn Maps: I selected Aberdeen, July 1884. I had to zoom in to to see the map, but once I did I could see the entire city divided into blocks and numbered. I could navigate my way around using the arrows. It told me what each building was. This is very usefull if someone wants to know where a building used to be.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
CAMIO
Paul Revere made a teaspoon, and it looks like he drew a picture of the Boston Massacre, a tea urn, a sugar bowl, and another tea set.
When I typed in "Sioux" I received all sorts of Native American Sioux items, from Gauntlets, to Scalp Shirts (I hope that's not as bad as it sounds), to pipe bowls, and paintings.
I searched for "Van Gogh" and pictures of his paintings came up, with descriptions of museums that have them in their collections. Now I know where to go if I ever want to see them.
I can see our community using this resource to research historical figures for school projects. It would also give people another lead as to where to go to find other historical collections.
I searched for "Dakota" and added a picture to my favorites. I was able to view my picture (a black and white picture of a cattle skull in a field) and it gave me the description of the picture below. When I clicked on the picture it made it bigger and gave the full title, museum information and photo info.
When I typed in "Sioux" I received all sorts of Native American Sioux items, from Gauntlets, to Scalp Shirts (I hope that's not as bad as it sounds), to pipe bowls, and paintings.
I searched for "Van Gogh" and pictures of his paintings came up, with descriptions of museums that have them in their collections. Now I know where to go if I ever want to see them.
I can see our community using this resource to research historical figures for school projects. It would also give people another lead as to where to go to find other historical collections.
I searched for "Dakota" and added a picture to my favorites. I was able to view my picture (a black and white picture of a cattle skull in a field) and it gave me the description of the picture below. When I clicked on the picture it made it bigger and gave the full title, museum information and photo info.
ArchiveGrid
I learned that Sitting Bull was about 56 years old when he died, that Cornell University has a card with his autograph on it, and that he toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.
I searched for "L Frank Baum," since my library has a special historical collection of his. I found out that there is a Fred M Meyer collection in Syracuse, NY. An inventory has not been created for this collection. Fred M Meyer was a founding member of the Wizard of Oz Club and edited the Baum Bugle. This was an interesting find.
I also found that Syracuse University has an L Frank Baum Papers Collection. This is a wonderful database for searching for historical documents.
I searched for "L Frank Baum," since my library has a special historical collection of his. I found out that there is a Fred M Meyer collection in Syracuse, NY. An inventory has not been created for this collection. Fred M Meyer was a founding member of the Wizard of Oz Club and edited the Baum Bugle. This was an interesting find.
I also found that Syracuse University has an L Frank Baum Papers Collection. This is a wonderful database for searching for historical documents.
Monday, February 27, 2012
ArchiveGrid
I do not believe that our library is subscribed to this database. It is not listed among our resources and I received this message when I tried to search:
Subscribe
Faculty, researchers and students at academic institutions may have access to ArchiveGrid through a subscription provided by their institution. Consult your academic library to find out if your institution is an ArchiveGrid subscriber.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
WorldCat & More FirstSearch Indexes
I searched for "Hunger Games" in WorldCat under "title phrase" and limited the results to "books". There were 104 records-my library owns this item! I can tell this because it is the first result and our library name is highlighted in turquoise. This is the item that I was looking for. 5045 libraries worldwide own this book. I clicked onto the worldwide libraries link. The first library listed is my own. The second one down is Augustana College. I clicked into Augustana's record-the call number for the Hunger Games is Ole's Oasis PS3603.O4558 H86 2008.
When I clicked on Suzanne Collins' name it took me to an ALEPH menu that gave me the option to find other documents in the database. I clicked on the "author term" option and got a listing of her other books. I tried to search for related subjects using the links below Suzanne Collins's name on the catalog (survival skills, television programs, science fiction) but there must be something wrong with my computer or SDLN because it just sat there and didn't go through.
Part 2: OIAster....I tried searching for South Dakota and it told me an error occured while searching. I'm assuming something isn't working. I will have to come back and try this later.
*****Oops! I guess I did this wrong. I went back and clicked on the Author's name in world cat-not aleph. It gave a list of her books, with links to that record. I was amused by "Hunger Pains: a Parody." I may have to look into that one. I found the subjects heading in worldcat as well. Among them was: Insurgency -- Juvenile fiction. Survival -- Juvenile fiction. Television programs -- Juvenile fiction. Interpersonal relations -- Juvenile fiction. Contests -- Juvenile fiction. Dystopias -- Juvenile fiction.
When I clicked on Insurgency it first listed similar books that my library carries. Very handy.
I was able to get into OAIster. I searched for "South Dakota" and noticed that most of these records....in fact it looks like almost all of them...are only owned by one library worldwide. I clicked on "Letter from Sinclair Lewis to Marcella Powers May 15, 1942 and it took me to an original copy of that letter. Am I right in assuming that this is a good database when looking for original documents?
When I clicked on Suzanne Collins' name it took me to an ALEPH menu that gave me the option to find other documents in the database. I clicked on the "author term" option and got a listing of her other books. I tried to search for related subjects using the links below Suzanne Collins's name on the catalog (survival skills, television programs, science fiction) but there must be something wrong with my computer or SDLN because it just sat there and didn't go through.
Part 2: OIAster....I tried searching for South Dakota and it told me an error occured while searching. I'm assuming something isn't working. I will have to come back and try this later.
*****Oops! I guess I did this wrong. I went back and clicked on the Author's name in world cat-not aleph. It gave a list of her books, with links to that record. I was amused by "Hunger Pains: a Parody." I may have to look into that one. I found the subjects heading in worldcat as well. Among them was: Insurgency -- Juvenile fiction. Survival -- Juvenile fiction. Television programs -- Juvenile fiction. Interpersonal relations -- Juvenile fiction. Contests -- Juvenile fiction. Dystopias -- Juvenile fiction.
When I clicked on Insurgency it first listed similar books that my library carries. Very handy.
I was able to get into OAIster. I searched for "South Dakota" and noticed that most of these records....in fact it looks like almost all of them...are only owned by one library worldwide. I clicked on "Letter from Sinclair Lewis to Marcella Powers May 15, 1942 and it took me to an original copy of that letter. Am I right in assuming that this is a good database when looking for original documents?
EBooks on EBSCOhost
I searched for cats, selected "apply related words" and "search withing full text of article." I received over 4,000 results-not all of them related to my search. I took another look at my options. I could sort by date, relevance, title, and author. A lot of the books were medical references for pets. There was a link below that would let me download the full ebook text. I could also save or share my findings.
Constitution Day: "Companion to the United States Constitution and its Ammendments," by John R. Vile, 3rd Edition. "Representing Popular Sovereignty: The Constitution in American Political Culture," by Daniel Lessard Levin. c. 1999. "Illustrated Dictionary of Constitutional Concepts," by Robert L. Maddex. c. 1996.
Western History: I typed in "Nebraska" in the PB Publisher field and the search resulted in many Native American books-Cherokee, Apache, Blackfeet. It also displayed books about Lewis & Clark, Deadwood and many more western subjects. By limiting the search this way, you can get a variety of topics on a certain locations.
Constitution Day: "Companion to the United States Constitution and its Ammendments," by John R. Vile, 3rd Edition. "Representing Popular Sovereignty: The Constitution in American Political Culture," by Daniel Lessard Levin. c. 1999. "Illustrated Dictionary of Constitutional Concepts," by Robert L. Maddex. c. 1996.
Western History: I typed in "Nebraska" in the PB Publisher field and the search resulted in many Native American books-Cherokee, Apache, Blackfeet. It also displayed books about Lewis & Clark, Deadwood and many more western subjects. By limiting the search this way, you can get a variety of topics on a certain locations.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)