Lesson 10 - the wrap up!

My biggest discovery was the genealogy section.  We have so many patrons/visitors that come to our library searching for information on their heritage.  Although we have many sources in printed materials, quite often then want "the rest of the story", or more information on other names they come across in their searches.  HeritageQuest and Ancestry will be so helpful as we assist them.  I was always skeptical on the validity of the information these sites concerned, however after finding out so much about my family, I believe these will be great resources.  As you know people who research genealogy are usually quite tenacious, so I am looking forward to having a couple more sources to assist them.

I enjoyed the challenge, and as time permits, I look forward to doing more exploration in the various databases.  As a library "weeds" the non-fiction section due to the age of most materials, these will all come in handy when we are helping students with their research.

Lesson 9 covered genealogy, and I found this to be terribly frustrating.  I searched my name, and on the first try, I found hundreds of people with similiar names, however, I never did find any information on ME.  I tried limiting the search with my exact information, to no avail, and then broadening the search, again to no avail.  I was born in South Dakota in 1962, shouldn't there be something about me in there somewhere?

I then tried searching my grandmother who was born in 1899 in South Dakota.  I found her birthdate and social security number.  In searching further, I found information about her husband, and her three daughters.  I did know my grandfather, who died before I was born, was born in Denmark, however I didn't know my grandmother was born in Illionois.

I searched location, South Dakota, and found numerous bits of information regarding South Dakotans, such as their birthplace, age, occupation, and weekly income, among other information.

In HeritageQuest, I researched my father's family.  I found that his grandfather and grandmother were born in England, and his father was born in Bon Homme County, South Dakota. My grandfather was 5 years old at the time of tine 1880 census.

In Sanborn Maps, I researched Spearfish, from 1885 and 1903. I noticed how much the town had grown, and there were many of the same buildings in both maps.  I was disappointed they did not have a map of my hometown, Gregory, but did enjoy browsing other towns in the area that I have a "history" with.

Lesson 8 of the South Dakota Library Challenge covered the use of Worldcat and more.  I think I enjoyed this section the most, my familiarity with this site enabled me to navigate quite easily.

I searched for the title, A Cricket in Times Square by George Selden.  There are 1,637 libraries that have this title worldwide and the top library in my search is Dakota Wesleyan University McGovern Library.  The full record was very detailed, can't imagine there is anything else I need to find this book.  The call number in the Dewey system is Fic, and in the LC the call number is PZ737154.  Many other works by this author, and many, many other materials available on "crickets". 

I did find it interesting that there are versions of this material offered in Spanish, as well as the English version.