SD Library Challenge - Wrap Up

I loved looking around the CAMIO website. I was familiar with most of the databases.I think this was a great way to refresh myself on what resources are available through SDLN and the State Library.

How will I promote these wonderful tools... well just last night I helped a person find a book on the GED tests so I directed them to the Learning Express Test resoruce. Then this morning as I was walking into work I explained about NetLibrary to another patron.

I enjoyed learning about these tools again.

SD Library Challenge - Lesson 9

Dealing with Genealogist is not one of my Favorite things to do. I can show them the online resources but I really could care less about their family history. I don’t need to know that you’ve traced your family back to the Mayflower. With that being said here are my thoughts for this lesson…

When I put my name in I wasn’t expecting to find anything, but there I am – my birth date and where I live. Can you say identity theft? OK … so it’s not as bad as my husband who was born in MN and has his birth date plus who his parents are. Hopefully no one is out there who wants to be me. I’m not going to lose sleep over this.

Ancestry is my choice for finding info. The drawback is that I can’t use it at home. The downloadable charts are easy to use and will be helpful in doing research. One thing you need to remind people is that it’s not as easy as it looks on all the Ancestry commercials on TV. As from my experience the information I was looking for was not there. I'll keep on searching.....

For my discovery experience I located a picture of the South Dakota Ship from 1903.

Heritage Quest can be used from home but I don’t like the layout when I’m searching for census material.


While playing around I used the Family Tree. I had never used that before. Odd how the people you are looking for are never found but the ones you know about are there. That’s the way life is. I guess I’ll keep on searching.

I have used the Map collection before. It was fun looking at maps of my hometown. There again the place I wanted to be listed wasn’t there. Rats!

On a side note it’s great that we learned how to upload to Google Docs in the last Library Challenge. I now keep all info there so I can have access to it from anywhere.

SD Library Challenge - Learning Express Library

Yes! I scored a perfect 5. Can I be excited about that. Learning Express is such a great resource. I think High School teachers should be using this more. I would have mentioned this site to my niece before she took her ACT test.

There are a wide variety of test to choose from and is very helpful that you can score it at anytime. I need a little more help in becoming a Firefighter!

The tutorials and help sheet are easy to use.

SD Library Lesson 7 - ArchiveGrid & CAMIO

So how long do we have to play with this. I enjoyed browsing through CAMIO - WOW famous art at your fingertips. I looked for the oldest piece of art  - from the early 1700s. The high resolution view made the picture come to life. Not knowing a lot about art I found it easy to Browse the collection. I was able to limit the collection to paintings and not sculpture. I loved looking at the pieces of jewelry and costumes. What craftsmanship! I did a search of Frank Lloyd Wright and Ansel Adams . Odd how no one owns a Harvey Dunn, Oscar Howe or  piece of Marghab Linen. The descriptions provided are very insightful on all of the works.In my free time I'll definitely come back to this.

The ArchiveGrid is a nice resource. However I think people will be disappointed that you can't have the instant satisfaction of seeing that information. From a library stand point it is nice to have this resource but patrons have to remember that not all libraries will make free copies of the information in these specialized collections. The books in these collections are not loaned out to libraries either.

SD Library Challenge - World Cat

I am quite familiar with using World Cat – I use OCLC First Search every day. I did change the catalog to OAIster and played around with that. This resource is best used if you are looking for a specific item. It is nice that you are informed if your library owns the item. The tutorial provided was easy to understand.

SD Library Challenge Lesson 5 - Net Library

There are pros and cons with Net Library -- so I'll just list them.


Pros - when searching SDLN titles are listed and the link just brings you to the book in the Net Library. You can then decide if you want to look at it or not. *It’s a great reference source. * Languages can easily be switched


Cons - I'm a book lover, so I like to read a copy of the book. I don’t see myself using this resource. If a parent comes in looking for a children’s book I would suggest the Tumblebooks which we subscribe to.

SD Library Lesson 4 - Gale Reserach

I found it easier to use the subject listing rather than the titles. It’s a simple step to find the subject then look at the materials on the subject. I looked under History and then explored the History of the Middle Ages… I would have been as tall as an average man at 5 feet 5 inches tall… of course since I’m over 25 my life would have expired.




When I used Middle Ages as a basic search it was nice to see the search broken down into subject matter on the left hand side. You were able to narrow the subject matter. It was easy to navigate through. I looked at the for the textiles of the Vikings. I also listened to the article. I noticed you could download as an MP3 format… see any high school aged kids doing that?


The articles are easy to print and cite. All in all its easy to navigate and to use.