This database has been very popular at the library. I spent some time seaching for information about me and found very little. There was one entry under my name. A yearbook picture from the UM Prism 1967. I am not sure why that is the only year that was available, I have 4 yearbooks with my picture in each year. When I seached for Helen Ruth Fogler I got a great many results that were not me. When I removed my middle name I got only a few results but still just the picture. When I searched by my married name I got one hit from the US Public Records and that was listed under my ex-husband's name and his office address. I could not find my birht certificate.
I seached for my grandfather and found all kinds of things. The 1040 census record was very informative. Not only did it list his address but it listed all household members including the two people that work for him, 11 people in all. I looked on the map to see where Hinsdale is in relation to Chicago. There were many suggested records that I could search. It was interesting to look at his World War I draft registration card and see that he was registered in Knox County Maine but he was living in New Jersey and teaching at Princeton. I found his marriage certificate and saw that my grandmother's middle name was spelled wrong. When you look at the original document you can see that it is spelled right. One of the more interesting documents was a passenger list for a ship arriving in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1948. His occupation is listed as "President." I will have to check with my aunt, he was president of either Montgomery Wards or W.T. Grants then. Maybe he went to open a store.
I looked at the "Photo and Maps" tab and was not very successful. Using "Maine" as the keyword was not useful at all. When I searched Piscataquis County Maine I got better results but I found the maps to be hard to see and not very useful.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
Week 7 Consumer Health Resources
Health Source - Consumer Edition
I looked at the publication list and was surprised by the number of books that were included. Many of the books were several years old. I searched for "calcifications" found during a mammogram. The most recent article was in a 2003 Prevention magazine. The article was easy to understand but in the 346 words it was more about breast cancer in general than calcifications. I listened to the Early Cancer Clue section and found that to be very interesting. I checked out the British and Australian accents for fun.
Medline Plus
I have used Medline before but not Medline Plus. I really liked this site and will use it as the first place to send patrons. The format is easy to use and the home page gives you all kinds of options including a medical dictionary which will answer the majority of the questions we get. On November 23rd the Health News articles were on kids with diabeties, soy-rich diets and hot flashes, and teen smoking. Popular searches were aspirin, colera, hypertension, shingles, and tuberculosis. I followed the shingles link and found a great deal of information. The shigles article was very infomative and easy to understand. There were 339 articles but by refining my search with the suggeated keyword I found 41 articles on the vaccine.
Simvastatin is a medication taken to lower cholesterol. I do not think you could come up with a question that could not be answered using this resource. Besides the basic information of why it is perscribed , how it should be used and side effects if answers the questions of what to do if you miss a dose and storage conditions.
I seached breast calcifications and found an excellent article from the Mayo Clinic. Another article had some very good information on when further testing is needed beyond a mammogram. It had a connection to stereotactic core biopsy that was very informative and easy to understand. I learned a great deal more than I did in the Health Source.
I watched two videos. They were both very good. The first one on breast reconstruction was very technical and over my head. The second one about putting tubes in childrens ears was easy to understand and very reassuring for parents of children that are about to have this surgery.
I looked at the publication list and was surprised by the number of books that were included. Many of the books were several years old. I searched for "calcifications" found during a mammogram. The most recent article was in a 2003 Prevention magazine. The article was easy to understand but in the 346 words it was more about breast cancer in general than calcifications. I listened to the Early Cancer Clue section and found that to be very interesting. I checked out the British and Australian accents for fun.
Medline Plus
I have used Medline before but not Medline Plus. I really liked this site and will use it as the first place to send patrons. The format is easy to use and the home page gives you all kinds of options including a medical dictionary which will answer the majority of the questions we get. On November 23rd the Health News articles were on kids with diabeties, soy-rich diets and hot flashes, and teen smoking. Popular searches were aspirin, colera, hypertension, shingles, and tuberculosis. I followed the shingles link and found a great deal of information. The shigles article was very infomative and easy to understand. There were 339 articles but by refining my search with the suggeated keyword I found 41 articles on the vaccine.
Simvastatin is a medication taken to lower cholesterol. I do not think you could come up with a question that could not be answered using this resource. Besides the basic information of why it is perscribed , how it should be used and side effects if answers the questions of what to do if you miss a dose and storage conditions.
I seached breast calcifications and found an excellent article from the Mayo Clinic. Another article had some very good information on when further testing is needed beyond a mammogram. It had a connection to stereotactic core biopsy that was very informative and easy to understand. I learned a great deal more than I did in the Health Source.
I watched two videos. They were both very good. The first one on breast reconstruction was very technical and over my head. The second one about putting tubes in childrens ears was easy to understand and very reassuring for parents of children that are about to have this surgery.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Week 6 Business Resources
I am still a week behind from being on vacation 3 weeks ago. No outside meetings on the calendar this week so maybe I can catch up. One of the advantages of being behind is reading other blogs and getting a feel for the assignment. I have not spent any time in these data bases and have never been asked for information about them. Several people have commented about not being able to access Value Line at home.
In Business Source Complete I searched FM radio and got results using SmartText searching. Most of the articles seemed to be Academic Journals and Periodicals. Limiting my search to full text cut the results down some, but limiting it to Scholarly Journals really limited the result. I liked the Visual Seach, it gave me a number of ideas on the direction I could take with my search.
I seached small business in EconLit. Using advanced seach I searched for small buimess and then limited it by EPA and then by tax policy. All of the results seemed to be old until I realized that the Publication date was set at 2002. It took me a while to figure out how to change the search date.
Regional Business News had the publication date set from 1985 - 2005. I seached for information on Great Northern Paper Company and had to limit my seach to Maine, I did not get any results. I seached L L Bean and did fine some interesting articles.
I spent some time looking around Value Line. I looked at all the reports and looked up several companies. It was interesting to read about the history and prospects of the those companies.
I found the Wall Street Journal site the easiest to use. I limited the seach to small business and health insurance. I found articles going back to 1984 and again limited my search to the last three years.
I have a learned about these databases and have a very small understanding of what information is available. The lesson I really learned from this weeks exercises is that it is very hard to navigate and use a database when your knowledge of the content is so limited. I can better understand the frustration that many of our partons experience when introduced to MARVEL.
In Business Source Complete I searched FM radio and got results using SmartText searching. Most of the articles seemed to be Academic Journals and Periodicals. Limiting my search to full text cut the results down some, but limiting it to Scholarly Journals really limited the result. I liked the Visual Seach, it gave me a number of ideas on the direction I could take with my search.
I seached small business in EconLit. Using advanced seach I searched for small buimess and then limited it by EPA and then by tax policy. All of the results seemed to be old until I realized that the Publication date was set at 2002. It took me a while to figure out how to change the search date.
Regional Business News had the publication date set from 1985 - 2005. I seached for information on Great Northern Paper Company and had to limit my seach to Maine, I did not get any results. I seached L L Bean and did fine some interesting articles.
I spent some time looking around Value Line. I looked at all the reports and looked up several companies. It was interesting to read about the history and prospects of the those companies.
I found the Wall Street Journal site the easiest to use. I limited the seach to small business and health insurance. I found articles going back to 1984 and again limited my search to the last three years.
I have a learned about these databases and have a very small understanding of what information is available. The lesson I really learned from this weeks exercises is that it is very hard to navigate and use a database when your knowledge of the content is so limited. I can better understand the frustration that many of our partons experience when introduced to MARVEL.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Week 5 NoveList Plus
I have used NoveList often and am always amazed at the information I find and how easy it is to use. I have attended a couple of training sessions on this data base and yet I still learn something new each time. I seached for Vince Flynn's "Mitch Rapp" novels. I had a patron ask about the order of the books. Using the "More About this Series" we learned that NoveList lists the books in order according to the author's website. It did tell us that the books progress up to a certain book and then they jump to an earlier time and that time frame is continued in the next book. Using the "More about the Author" tab we were able to connect to his website. I liked looking at the different views. I had not paid attention to this option before. The "Title Only" option is wonderful for printing lists.
I had a good time (way too much time) looking at the read-alikes. Having the short description and the reason readily available made it very easy to look at all nine suggestions. Our library has a small group of patrons that want to read everything an author has written and in the proper order. We have worked hard to recommend like authors but after several years it is hard to stay ahead of these readers. I am planning to sit down with several of these patrons and introduce them to NoveList. I have mentioned it before but have not taken the time to make them sit down and use it.
I spent some time looking at Award Winners and Book Discussion Guides. I found a guide for the book our reading group is reading this month. I will be taking the books suggested for further reading to the meeting. I think the Read Alike sections and the sugesstions for displays will help us promote our collection by connecting our patrons with older books that relate to what they are currently reading.
I did spend some time reading other blogs. I especially enjoyed reading about the series that others were interested in. My list of books to read just keeps getting longer and longer.
I had a good time (way too much time) looking at the read-alikes. Having the short description and the reason readily available made it very easy to look at all nine suggestions. Our library has a small group of patrons that want to read everything an author has written and in the proper order. We have worked hard to recommend like authors but after several years it is hard to stay ahead of these readers. I am planning to sit down with several of these patrons and introduce them to NoveList. I have mentioned it before but have not taken the time to make them sit down and use it.
I spent some time looking at Award Winners and Book Discussion Guides. I found a guide for the book our reading group is reading this month. I will be taking the books suggested for further reading to the meeting. I think the Read Alike sections and the sugesstions for displays will help us promote our collection by connecting our patrons with older books that relate to what they are currently reading.
I did spend some time reading other blogs. I especially enjoyed reading about the series that others were interested in. My list of books to read just keeps getting longer and longer.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Week 4 Hobbies and Crafts
This was a fun data base. I was surprised at the amount of information available about so many varied crafts and hobbies. As a weaver I went to the weaving section first. I subscribe to Handwoven and the library subscribes to Spin-off. It was nice to be able to check out the projects and narrow my search by the type of item I was interested in.
I really liked the Browse Popular Sources section. I found several things in the Sew Special Fat Quarter Gifts that I would like to do for Christmas. I tried to print the "Little Scrappy Pincushions" pattern and had to e-mail it to myself before it would print.
The Kids' Craft section has some good suggeations for story hour crafts.
I learned about Visual Searching in the Help section but I could not find one in the database.
I really liked the Browse Popular Sources section. I found several things in the Sew Special Fat Quarter Gifts that I would like to do for Christmas. I tried to print the "Little Scrappy Pincushions" pattern and had to e-mail it to myself before it would print.
The Kids' Craft section has some good suggeations for story hour crafts.
I learned about Visual Searching in the Help section but I could not find one in the database.
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