Wrap Up

My favorite discoveries were NetLibrary and Gale Virtual Reference Library.  Both are tools that would help individuals who cannot come to the Library begin researching subjects from their homes if they have access to a computer.  Working with outreach services, many of my patrons are older and not very comfortable with computers, but some of them are or have families that can help them navigate the internet.  It is wonderful to have a sense of the State Library's electronic resources to share with them.  For example, I was particularly impressed with NetLibrary's books about selecting Assisted Living facilities.  Also, in an outreach role,  I am out in the community interacting with many more people than just the patrons to whom I bring books, and it is exciting to tell them about all the great things I have learned during this challenge.  Thank you for helping us keep learning!

Lesson 8: Archive Grid and CAMIO

In searching for "Sitting Bull Autograph Card", I picked up the following information, even though I could not see the card itself :

"Sitting Bull, also known as Tatanka Iyotake or Tatanka Iyotanka or Ta-Tanka I-Yotan, was a Native American shaman and leader of the Hunpapa Sioux. He fought against the Crow Indians and was wounded in battle on several occasions. Sitting Bull greatly opposed the encroachment of the white men. He led Sioux and Cheyenne warriors against U.S. soldiers of the 7th Cavalry at the battle of Little Bighorn. After the battle, in which many were killed, Sitting Bull led his tribe into Canada, where they lived until surrendering to U.S. forces. After his capture he toured with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. Sitting Bull was killed while resisting arrest for his unwillingness to abandon the traditions of the ritual Ghost Dance, which had been outlawed. "

I also learned who contact to access the material.

For my own search, I typed "Lakota Treaty" and my results included pamphlets from AIM, and interestingly, the papers of James Henry Red Cloud.  His biographical information is fascinating:

"James Henry Red Cloud was born at the Pine Ridge Agency, South Dakota, in August 1879. His father, Jack Red Cloud, was the only married son of the illustrious Chief Red Cloud. His mother was Her Roan Horse. James H. Red Cloud went to school at the Holy Rosary Mission for two years. He spent most of his life on the Pine Ridge Reservation. His wife, Dealie, was the daughter of Red Feather, whose sister was married to Chief Crazy Horse. James H. Red Cloud died in 1960"

It is wonderful that his papers remain at the Nebraska State Historical Society.

CAMIO

I searched for Paul Revere and found pictures of paintings, and what excited me most, of silver items he had crafted, including one beautiful set at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.  The photographs of the paintings and drawings impressed me with their excellent quality.  When I searched for "Sioux"  there were many paintings by George Catlin, but I loved the first photograph of the mother and child.

When I looked forPaul Goble's paintings, I hit a dead end, and again for Oscar Howe and Harvey Dunn.  However, there were LOTS of Norman Rockwell paintings to look at and they were a real treat.  I can see where art teachers with large screens and projectors could really have fun sharing these images with their students.  The ability to select favorites and create a slidehow adds a lot to this process, making it much quicker to display the images just using your browser.

Lesson 9: History and Geneology Resouces

Looking through AncestryLibrary was very interesting.  I found my marriage license when I searched for my husband.  I didn't find it under my name, because my last name had been misspelled!  My husband was shown as living at an address he never resided at.  My brother's birth certificate popped up when I looked for my name.  It was also very interesting to see the census listings for my husband's grandparents. I noticed there was often a person in the home who was servant. I couldn't search for my own grandparents as they lived in India.

Searching for South Dakota in Ancestry/Library led me to lists of yearbooks with photos to view, old Sears Catologs and Family photograph collections.  I almost found a picture of my mother-in-law in a yearbook.  But it turned outo be someone else.  :(

I found searching HeritageQuest to be difficult and often had my census searches return no results, even when they had been successful on AncestryLibrary.  Looking for information about Brookings however, was succesful and I had long lists of articles that one coud request from the Brookings Area genealogical Society.  I also found several books that had been published in Brookings about the hsitory of South Dakota.

Sanborn Maps was fantastic!  The earliest years were hard to navigate with different street names and only the railroad tracks to give you a sense of things.  By teh 1928 map you could see the County Court House which is of couse still in use and you could see the then Library, which is now the Community Cultural Center.  Fourth Street was called Williams which somehow blows my mind! This was very enjoyable lesson.

Lesson 7 -- WorldCat

I searched for "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" by Amy Chua on WorldCat and learned that 1141 libraries have the book.  When I clicked on the number, the Brookings Library appeared as the top listing, with other SD libraries listed next.  I was able to acees the Ames, Ia Public Library record, but got an error message when I clicked on the link  to the Brookings Public Library (404 - File or directory not found.)  The call number was 920 CHUA, A. 2011.  When I clicked on Amy Chua's name, no other books, (other than a sound recording of the same book) were listed.  She has written other professional books for attorneys. but these were not listed.  In looking for material related to the subject of this book, there was nothing more in which Ms. Chu was the subject, but there were books to consider about mothers and Chinese American women, including Maxine Hong Kingston's recent biography.

Searching OAIster for South Dakota was very interesting.  It produced such an odd assortment of information, from agriculture to photographs of school houses to 1912 election information.  I looked at : "Sweet Clover in Great Plains Farming" and it had a 54 page publication to  read.  It seems as though OAIster woud require careful searching to end up with pertinent information, because a rather general search about South Dakota led to oddly specific information about other subjects.  It was fun to review the older documents that this search revealed.

In looking at Gentle Reader's blog, I saw that she did no seem to have trouble accessing the BPL information on WorldCat, leaving me feeling just a touch envious...