Proquest--

1) I searched for 'genealogy' first and then picked the subject listed as suggestions of 'tree and genealogy and genealogy' and found 8615 articles listed for this topic. I glanced through the first list of 20, and clicked on one for genealogy for kids which was very intriguing for me. As i moved down the list there were references to DNA in genealogy, software in genealogy, several guides to researching genealogy in different countries, and then I clicked on the link for "Providing Genealogy Research Services in Public Libraries: Guidelines and Ethics" and read several pages of this article. I then went back and used the advanced search feature to narrow down the long list, so I entered in genealogy and then kids and came up with a list of 2080 articles which is alot less, but still overwhelming. I did look through the initial list and clicked on one article "Fun with genealogy" and was very impressed with the first few paragraghs. They read:

"How to teach your child the joys of exploring family history.

Timeworn and slightly yellowed, the hauntingly beautiful photo was in itself a sight to behold. But it was the story behind the image-a proud Black woman in a lace dress-that 14-year-old Sara Saunders of Milwaukee will always remember. Her grandmother, Julia Saunders, a genealogy buff, explained that the woman was a slave and Sara's great-great-great-great-grand mother.

"She had a hard life," says Sara. "When I think about her and my other ancestors, and what they went through to make it, I'm even more determined to become a surgeon or an inventor, something positive."

Experts say Sara's pride and resolve are not uncommon among children who know their ancestry. "A family tree is a way of saying 'This is who I am.' For a child, that's powerful," says Richard Newman, Ph.D., director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for Afro-- American Research. "

It seemed to sum up the constant search for our forefathers.

1a) I looked at three different blogs and was first amazed that I was not the only one that is behind! Then I was intrigued with the different ways other people are blogging and I'm thinking it has to do with the persons background. The one blog seemed to be looking totally at the way the search system worked and the other one seemed to be more like me, looking at the ease of use as a general person with no library searching ability, and the third was a combination of both. This was very interesting and shows that there are all kinds using these databases.

2) I first searched for Librarian and only two items came up, 'The Distant Librarian' and 'Teacher Librarian'. I then switched the search to Library and had twenty items come up ranging from library issues with technilogy and computing, to library research journals, to different types of libraries such as Medical and/or Music. Quite an aray of topics. The options box on the right could help you narrow down the choices through several ways, such as the publisher or source type.

I was very impressed with the number of articles that came up in the initial search, which just shows us how much information is out there and how much there is to wade through to get to the facts or the right information for your topic or essay.

SIRS Discoverer-
1) I again looked up Manatee to be able to compare information. The articles were identified quite easily with the different colored books indicating the reading level and the short descriptive sentence told you what the article was about. Most of the articles had pictures or graphics and that also was indicated in the article listings with a camera icon. The activities at the end were very interesting and could easily be used in a classroom. I also found these articles a little more interesting than the world book ones, but they both had a lot of the same information. Again--quite easy to navigate.

2) I picked the United States and was amazed at all the information available before you even looked at the articles. The facts are listed in a very orderly way with the basic information first, a little more indepth information next and then the timeline history of the United States was very impressive.

I then picked Russia and there was a list of 25 maps and photos dealing with this country. I picked one in the timeframe of my relatives that came from there and it was a map of the invasion of Russia by Germany---could be very useful in a history class.

I then picked "Kennedy" in the Biography section and a list came up containing four choices---Edward Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, John (Jack) Fitzgerald Kennedy, and John F. Kennedy Jr. I then choose Jacqueline and only one article came up--"Unforgettable First Ladies" The article contained information on several of our first ladies and stated how some were very public and others were not. This would be great information if someone was writing an essay on 'First Ladies'.

Sirs Researcher-
1) I searched the topic of 'library funding' and it came up with "No exact subject match found, keyword search results below" which was 173 news articles, 330 magazine articles, 22 reference articles, and 1 graphic/media article. The list of newspaper articles were listed and glancing at them, they mostly had to do with library issues, but some were more on library policy. I then clicked on the one media site and it was a photo on the U. S. Women's Soccer team wins 1999 World Cup. Not sure what that had to do with my topic. I then clicked back on the newspaper articles and the first two articles listed refered to 'Stopping Smut on the Web' and 'Porn at the Library'. I'm not sure how to take that. Not the way I would want my young child to be presented with information. Maybe the articles were better than I thought, but I didn't go into them to see. Moving on----

2) The curriculum pathfinder page list several course subjects across the top including Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Fine Arts, and Health. As you glide over each of these the my courses box items change according to the subject. As I clicked on Social Studies the list included a topic of letters, which sounded interesting to me, so I clicked on it. A whole list of letters that are found on line or reference to tablets, papyrus papers, and other media was found. A wealth of information available to our children that we as students in South Dakota in the 1960s only read stories about in the encyclopedia. I'm really impressed our children and students have this kind of information at their fingertips. I delved a little more into the letter category and there were letter from George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and others. Unbelievable. I also clicked on Manauscripts and there again is a multitude of documents written by our presidents and others of significant prestige. Amazing stuff.

The only thing other than the articles that came up that I personally didn't feel appropriate, was the fact that the loading time seemed a little slow. It seemed I waited longer for the information to load than I have on any of the other databases. Still, alot of good education information there. I would recommend usage with parents guidance.

2) As I was taking the practice test for Biology, I was very intimadated by the questions as I thought I was pretty knowledgeable in biology, but boy was I wrong. The taking of the test was easy and the answers and explanations were very good. Overall--the experience was very worthwhile.

The course on Resumes, seem very straight forward, easy to follow through with the next buttons, and has very good content.

I searched "library" and it came up with 3 e-books of which I picked "Research & Writing Skills Success in 20 Minutes a Day".
The book seemed very informational about the research process and the writing of an essay, step by step. I actually downloaded the book as I would like to completely read through it. I think it could help me with the writing of a Family Tree book I would like to put together.

This whole process in Library Express was easy and full of information. I would recommend this to anyone and would definitely point patrons in this direction for anything on work skills, testing or further education.

1c) Not having taken any other language in school and having no one around that speaks another language, this area was hard for me. I did find my way around the spanish world book by the pictures and found the article for an Alpaca. I had the computer read the article to me, but did not understand it as it was read in Spanish. It would be helpful if you had a patron come in that spoke only spanish, as he could get around in the site quite easily and then the librarian could compare the page he is on to the English version, and maybe able to communicate that way. In the french world book I could get around like in the spanish world book by the pictures, but that was about it.

Here goes---After being on the World Book sites for two hours last night, and then attempting to get into my blog from home and not being able to figure it out, I'm here putting the first blog note on my site since I started this.



1) The world cat for kids was easy to get around in and also to find things easily. My animal was the manatee(I picked this as I had went snorkling in Florida looking for one of these and never did see one) and the picture was wonderful.

Manatees are large water animals. A manatee has gray skin with bristly hairs. Its front legs are shaped like paddles, and its tail is rounded. It has no back legs. Manatees grow up to 13 feet (4 meters) long. The manatee feeds on water plants. Its upper lip is divided into halves. The halves give the manatee a good grip on the plants as it eats.

Manatees live in the Amazon River and Caribbean Sea and along the coasts of northeastern South America, southeastern United States, and western Africa.

As a child, pictures mean so much more than the printed word. Also the opportunity to change the text to a different language and have it read to you were wonderful features that our varied population would and should appreciate.

2)As I wondered through the Student version, I could see the improvements with more information to read and the video. The options on the first page were very nicely done, covering the main areas of interest most middle school children have- geography, biography, current events, etc. The Tools section was easy to navigate and I could see children going to that initially for help.

As for the Manatee information it was much more detailed and gave other options for futher research such as magazine articles, other encyclopedia articles and Special reports.

3) When I went into the the advanced area and watched the tutorial for this website, I was overwhelmed by the amount of information that is there that I did not see upon looking at the home page. The research function is a hit in my book, as keeping track of what you have research and keeping it in an organized manner is priceless.

I researched Prussia (my ancesters came from there) and there is a multitude of articles, e-books, maps, primary sources, special resports and research quides. There is so much information, but with the pictures and leading sentences of each article, the patron can easily find the articles that they are interested in learning more about.

4) World book Discover would be a great help to any librarian that has patrons with special needs. There is also a lot of helps for researching techniques and writing research papers. The life skill section is for anyone who is not familar with our way of doing things or needing help with employment, finance information, health issues, and working on your own car. It had a wonderful aray of information.

Using the browse box and clicking on History and government, then into government; it came up with an article on government in general and then at the bottom it gave you options of different types of government for further research. It also would allow the patron to change the information into another language if needed or it could be read to them or if they were having trouble with understanding a word, they can click on it for a defination.

In conclusion I would have to say they are all wonderful sites and any age or nationality should be able to do research on any subject they wish. Isn't the tech age wonderful!

This is something I'm not very good at---and that is writing about myself---actually I'm not too good at writing, period. Anyway, here is the first posting to this new blog I created (I did create one in 2008, and I believe it is still out there and exactly like I left it---with not much information on it) and I'm in hopes to learn more about this avenue of information. Anyway---here we go!