Activity 15: Historypin.com is a website dedicated to bringing history to everyone on a global scale. It allows users to post pictures onto a map in the area that it pertains to
It’s a very interesting way to learn about where you came from or where you would like to go.

Blogging Exercise For This Activity

1. Look up where you were born. Is there something about the city you didn’t know about? The neighborhood?
I don't remember what neighborhood I lived in when I was born as I was only 5 at the time I left. I did look up the city and state and there were some interesting photos from previous times, but nothing that held any personal connections for me. I tried looking the name of the elementary school I went to, but I didn't find any photos of it.

This is Mount McKay which my family and I saw in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Thunder Bay Library posted this with some interesting commentary on how it might have gotten its name.

2. Look up a place that you would like to visit. What buildings or landmarks look interesting?

 This is a glacier in Alaska

 This is Centennial Library in British Columbia

This is Gruchy's Beach in British Columbia. Max loves watching waves and the tide.

Well, all of this make more sense when you look at the How to Guides....this could maybe be good for people doing History Day projects and for archives and the like..maybe tracking a trip?

Activity 14: Learning Express Library

Try it out!

• Find the LearningExpress Library tab under the Research Tab on our homepage.
•   Did this!
• Click on Welcome in the User Guides tab and watch the short video.
•  Okay-my comment on this is that it should say Welcome, Short video so it is more apparent that there is a short version of the video available. I do think that in the longer video it is nice that you can click on a certain section that you need as many people won't have or want to take 16+min to watch an instructional video, even if they really probably should...
• Click on “How to take a Test”  in the User Guides tab and watch the 2 minute video of the basics of test taking.
•  The How to take a Test video seems thorough and I like that you can get a list of questions/answers by subject area so you can see where you need to improve or what you already know and that it recommends other tests/products that may be of use.
• Take a look at the “Featured Resources List” at the top left of the homepage. It is under “Welcome to LearningExpress Library.”
•  There are quite a few resources. For career information, one might also want to check out iseek.org or Occupational Outlook or JobNow for careers not included in Learning Express, but it does include quite a bit. It's nice that it has academic help for grade school-adult, career info, adult basic ed, citizenship, etc.

Blogging Exercise:
What are some pros and cons about this site?
Sometimes you can't find the test/career you want, but it is overall a nice resource. I like that it has computer classes now which includes everything from how to install a printer to using the internet or various microsoft products. I wish the instructional videos for computer classes were close captioned as I can't watch them at the reference desk with the volume on and this would be good for people who have hearing impairments or who benefit from seeing words while they hear them.

Would you recommend patrons to use it? If not, why? I would recommend it in many cases as it has a lot of nice resources. It may not be right if someone needs a particular test that isn't there, but it does have quite a bit to offer.

Activity 13: Statistical Abstract of the United States

Search and browse the online Statistical Abstract of the United States. Reflect on what you find — content, ease of use, availability of help, etc.
Does your library still have print copies of the older editions of the Statistical Abstract? Have you used the print version before (for your own information or while helping a customer)? How do you think using the online version compares to using the print editions?

 

1) Yes, we do have older print copies of the Statistical Abstract.

2) Yes, I have used the print version way back when.

3) The online seems nicer for searching and is more interactive than just the pdf copies which are essentially the static books, but put on to a computer platform. You can get more up to date information, although need to watch for the relative standard of error: Mean RSE : the Relative Standard Error of the mean wage estimates, a measure of the reliability or precision of the mean wage estimates. The relative standard error is defined as the ratio of the standard error to the survey estimate. For example, a relative standard error of 10 percent implies that the standard error is one-tenth as large as the survey estimate. You can also see more years of data when you use spreadsheets as it isn't as limited as a printed page and you can see how to cite the information and have links to other data and press releases about the data. The ProQuest LibGuide is pretty helpful.

Activity 12: History Day Help

REMINDER: when a patron comes up to you and asks for help with a History Day topic, make sure the patron has an active library account AND a pin number set up in order to access our databases from outside and to check out materials. (good advice)

1. Find out what National History Day is. 
http://www.history.com/shows/classroom/videos/national-history-day-history-of-nhd#national-history-day-history-of-nhd



2. Find out what the theme for History Day 2015 is.
3. Find some of the topics the Minnesota Historical Society suggests students work on.
4. Find where you will direct students to look for information on History Day in SPPL?
Blogging Exercise:
1. Explain your experience working on the tasks.

Looking at History Center for information on Roy Wilkins I found background information, historical documents, articles, a media clip and journal articles.  I think this can be a good source of some primary materials and background information. Also on the Teen page History Day Help there are some good links to not only the History Database, but also online repositories like the Library of Congress, National Archives, Minnesota Video Vault (tpt). I think these are good resources to share with students along with checking our catalog for print resources. Another resource that we don't link to directly (you can get to it through Other Online Databases and Websites and then Books and Literature and then E-Books) is HathiTrust Digital Library which offers a great wealth of digitized titles (government documents, etc) from libraries around the world. The only thing I don't like about HathiTrust is that I find it difficult to search at times.

2. Explain how you would apply it with History Day 2015?

I would/will hope to keep this information in my brain and to make sure the students are aware of these resources and at least point them out to the student/s and if there is time and desire on the student/s' part we could look at some of the resources together to try to see what they can find on their topic. Both the U of M and MHS have good information on how to organize one's search and presentation.

3. After performing the tasks, do you feel better prepared to help patrons out with History Day?
Yes, it is always good to have a reminder of what is available.



 

Activity 11: Search Engines Beyond Google:

I tried Bing and it seems pretty good. It does certainly have similarities to Google, but I like the sub-categories, reminds me a little of how Yahoo used to look. Under "More" there is a travel section, a translator and Explore Bing which has spotlights on timely information like Halloween and Elections (both coming up) and other topics depending on what time of year it is and then features of Bing.

 



I tried this search engine. It seems interesting..definitely less clutter and ads..and I guess it is good that it doesn't search your personal info..sometimes the ads/info gathered from data mining are interesting, but in general I suppose it is better if it doesn't do this. The searching seems pretty good. It does talk about instant answers and ways of searching, but I don't see how you get instant answers..I thought it would be something you click on.

I tried Ask and it definitely does have a lot of trivia questions, which are interesting..but I wonder what sources are being used to answer it and whether it is usually accurate. The one about Christopher Columbus and who funded his voyage matched what I had heard so that seems accurate...

 

RecipeBridge.com does have access to a lot of recipes..I guess it could be handy if you really want all of your recipes in one place? Maybe if you're very interested in food and cooking? Otherwise I think just searching the internet works well too.

 

I just tried  Momondo which seems interesting. I don't know whether Kayak being an "indepdently run" subsidiary of Priceline is bad..hard to say. I haven't really used either site before. But I did do a search on aurora borealis under "inspiration" and came up a list of the best places to see it so that's cool.  

 

At home I sometimes use www.goodsearch.com because I like the idea of donations being made to a charity of your choice. I used to use www.dogpile.com, but then I think I just ended up joining the Google bandwagon at work. 

 

 

 

 



Activity 10: Transparent Language



 

 Well, I have to say I am impressed. I last used this when it was Byki and it seemed okay..lots of online flash cards that you could flip over and practice learning different words, phrases, etc. But this seems better, practicing the alphabet, learning each letter and then being tested until you have it down and the various parts where you listen and then practice and you can test your speech (I have to take some of this for granted because I am working at the desk so anything with sound or that requires me to speak I can't really do right now, but it looks good.)

 

 



 

 

I like the vocabulary section as it looks like there is quite a bit you can learn there and I also like that grammar is included too. Something I liked from Byki that they've kept is the turtle icon which slows things down which I think can be important at first. I like the quizzes and the practice. 

 

I think it is good there are ways to connect with others learning the language and that there is a word of the day and even study materials and online help and ways to use this on mobile devices. In fact this reminds me that I have this icon on our ipad so I think I will show this to my son who is working very hard on learning as much Russian as he can. Coolski! (That's a vocabulary word you won't get in Transparent Language-mostly 'cause it doesn't exist..but it should!) 

 



Activity 9: Catalog Tips and Tricks

Well, there was certainly a lot to this activity, but it was a good reminder and informative as well because I did pick up a few things.

 

 

One thing is extended display when you do an author search, it is good to see the titles listed along with the authors' names. This makes it easier to pick out which author record you need.

Another thing that I found interesting is the reminder that you can click only available titles and limit it to a specific location to hone in on those titles that should be available at your agency.

I have used the Book Bag features of the catalog before, especially when making lists of materials to pull for displays, class visits, etc. and it's nice that I can e-mail it to my work address and then print it out.

I'm not sure I knew about saving preferred searches or if I did I had forgotten this. I will have to remember that you seem to have to be logged in to do this which makes sense since you are saving it I do like that you can check "mark for e-mail" and then click update list and be notified if there are updates to the collection that match your search terms. This is cool.

I did know about linking to records and searches..I have used this in blogs and other postings It is good to have a reminder about e-book records. There is an e-audio book record that I'm confused about. I looked up an author like-Stephanie Bond and I found a record for:

 

 

but when I click on this I am taken to an entry in One Click Digital but there is no way (I can see) to request it. When I login it refreshes the page and I no longer see this entry and when I try to look it up by title or author I can't find it. To which I say..wah! I don't know whether anyone actually reads my ramblings, but if they do I wouldn't mind listening to this e-audio book if we have it/could get it, etc. etc.

 

Learning about how to request issues of magazines was news to me...have to remember that to get a specific issue you click on the request button, log in, choose the pick up location, click submit and then you have a page where you can click on a bubble next to the various issues available.

 

I am supposed to tell about some tricks I use with the catalog. Can't think of any. I do like the Popular Searches as these make things easier for customers as a rule. Sometimes there are links that lead to nowhere or items that should have been cleared from the catalog but aren't or sometimes someone clicks on the wrong button and something says it has arrived, but it hasn't really..., but otherwise the catalog seems mostly good. As far as promoting it I know that staff offer training to people who ask for it or as part of answering questions when it seems appropriate. I think we may be working on some online training. Another thought is maybe posting catalog tips from time to time on the website and/or Facebook as reminders to people of what can be done in the catalog.