Week 10

Wrap up

It’s hard to pick my biggest discovery because almost all the information I gain through is experience was new to me. I am new to the library and because of some circumstances my training was lacking in some areas. So could I say my biggest discovery was this online program? Each week was something new to me and could see how this would help not only me but our patrons. I have already used World Book and SIRS multiple of times with great results. We have a small non-fiction selection and with students needed information for a paper or project within a week these are great resources.

We have started to promote these resources in many ways. On our website and brochures we give general information about the resources offered and links to the South Dakota State Library. On our community library news & events board we have hung information slips and have handouts for patrons. We have also started helping patrons on our community computer find the information online using the State Library links. We have had great feedback from patrons and I am personally excited to keep using these resources in the future. Thank you South Dakota State Library!

Week 9

AncestryLibrary

I first search my name and I had many results but none were relevant. What was interesting that two people with my same name were listed but from Ohio and Georgia. I decided to change things up a little and did my last name with my home town. From these results I found many family members including my great grandmother and grandfathers Social Security Death Index. Also, I found public records index for aunts, uncles, great uncles, my dad, and even my brother. There is a lot of general information which would be great while making a family tree.

I couldn’t find the tab pictures and maps so I searched South Dakota and under the categories looked at pictures. What I found was over 400,000 results with most of the school yearbooks. What I thought was interesting was 6 results about professional baseball players that either were born in South Dakota or died in South Dakota. Under the category maps & atlases there are 138,803 results with most being county land ownership maps.

HeritageQuest

I went to search books and then in places search my small hometown Walcott, Iowa. There were 13 results but only one that was relevant being the History of the war activities of Scott County Iowa, 1917-1918. Looking at the hits within the book it looks like a very interesting research tool for our area. I went clicked on the section title that interested me the most, Aid for French Orphans. It gave very interesting information about how the area secured the adoption of 554 French Orphans and then gives the names of the people that served on the committee.

Sanborn Maps

I could not find North Sioux City or Jefferson on the list of cities in South Dakota. I went ahead and selected Elk Point in Dec. 1882. It was interesting seeing which lots were filled and looking down Main Street seeing the bakery, produce store, post office, etc. I moved up the year seeing how the town grew and how it took more sheets to show the town, starting with one sheet and by the last map July 1941 there were 5 sheets. I love looking at old maps like this and comparing them by years so this was right in my interest level. I only wished we had more cities and states to look at.