NoveList is great fun

I have always been interested in NoveList, but haven't really used it much.  I started out searching series:  Maisie Dobbs (by Jacqueline Winspear) Roger the Chapman (by Kate Sedley) -- I found this to be very easy to use.  I can imagine that patrons would

Then I looked up David Baldacci.  Interesting that you can either type first name last name or last name first.  That makes it pretty user friendly.  For my read-alike I chose Jeffrey Archer:

Reason:  Fans of David Baldacci might like the Suspense stories of Jeffery Archer. Political skullduggery fills these fast-paced stories, known for their intricately twisted plots. Good versus evil, black-and-white characters, and engaging heroes will all remind readers of Baldacci's popular novels. -- Ellen Guerci

 

I enjoyed exploring this "robust" database and I will definitely return to it. I did a search for "librarians as characters", limited it to "adult" audience and published since 2000, and got 385 hits!  Who knew librarians were such popular characters...? Of course, most of the librarians I know ARE characters.

 

In terms of increasing awareness of our collection, I am not sure - I tried to check the MaineCat catalog for this book, and the link did not work.

 

 

 

Arts and crafts

I used the arts and crafts database to look up some instructions for knitting and beading projects and I was very impressed with the instructions, diagrams and photos included -- very clear, easy to read.  I easily found exactly what I was searching for.  I had no idea that the library had that sort of detailed information in a database.  I usually like using books or magazines for instructions, but I could imagine using this if I couldn't locate my own copies....

Week 3 Newspapers & Maine Newstand

Wow, I actually had no idea that I could access so many newspapers and wire services through Marvel!  I could not think of much to search for in the Maine Newstand, but I explored a bit.  I then went to the Proquest site, to search international and national sources.  I decided to search for the column of one of my favorite pundits:  Mark Shields.  I never get a chance to read his columns, but listen to him on Friday nights on the Newshour.  Anyway, I easily found his columns and read the most recent.  I then tried to create an alert, but was not able to do that.

Next, I looked at the Maine Memory Network (also mentioned in the tutorial).  I had learned a bit about that when I did some research on the Swan's Island Library fire -- the library burned to the ground in 2008.  It was rebuilt, but the interesting thing was that because the library had been the depository for so much island historical material, the fire led to the creation of the Swan's Island Memory Project -- photos were collected from residents, scanned and are now part of the Maine Memory Network.   This is a v. cool resource.

Britannica mixed bag

I explored Britannica Academic for this assignment, and I found it to be a mixed bag.  I was not very impressed with the results in searching for current events.  I did do some searching so that I could see the three parts described in the assignment: scrolling over the list of articles and then seeing the description the right and that is a nice feature.

While  I couldn't find much on current events I was interested in, such as recent political conventions, I really enjoyed looking at some of the features, and would recommend it for students doing some basic research. I would be more inclined to recommend the site for historical information, rather than current events. For example, under the "Spotlights- special features from the encyclopedia", I looked at the American Presidency-- practically everything you would want to know about presidents, vice presidents, first ladies, the electoral process, etc.  I was thinking, my dad would have a field day with this site!

I also looked at Compare the Countries and Timeline within the Research Tools -- very interesting.

Regarding the Workspace tool, I watched the short instructional videos on using the workspace, and I thought it seemed like a neat idea, though I am not sure how I would use it if I was a librarian.  I'll be eager to hear how others might use it in their setting.

Bottom line:  I am encouraging my two teenagers to take a look at Britannica RATHER than Wikipedia when they need some information.

Hi, this is my test blog or "web log" if you will.