Lesson 5 -- Gale Virtual Reference Library

1.  Typing Spring Festivals brought up 444 results. The best resource for general information concerning holidays appeared to be the Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays. Several results covered spring holidays from this resource.  Clicking on Holiday cooking under Subjects brought up many examples from the Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World. It might be more useful to limit any further searching to these two resources.

2.  Using Advanced Search and limiting the publication year to within 2012 brought up 28,952 item results. On the left hand side nine titles were listed under Publication Title.  I think a faster way of finding the newest titles is to click on Title List and sort by Publication Date (Descending.

     I first chose to browse through Gale E-Commerce Sourcebook because my younger daughter’s job is as an e-commerce merchandise coordinator. This sourcebook appears to be a good overview of the expanding facet of business today.

    I then browsed the Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World  (I was hungry and lunch was calling…). Because I am a proud Scandinavian, I looked for recipes from those countries. No Danish or Norwegian recipes, only Swedish. Pictures accompanied some of the recipes, and I appreciated the links to internet sources.

Lesson 4 - Proquest

1.  Les Miserables:

  To limit the results, I chose Reviews under Document Type and Novels under Subjects. That reduced the selection to forty. I then chose Literary Criticism within the Novels subject area which reduced the results to eight.

2.  Hurricane Sandy and libraries:

  I decided to use advanced search, and inserted hurricane Sandy in one search box and libraries AND librarians in another search box. I decided to leave both boxes at all fields + text to get as many hits as possible. I narrowed the results by using the publication date bar graph and choosing Oct 2012 and up. I also sorted the results by publication date – most recent first. The most recent article out of eleven was published February 13, 2013. 

Lesson 3 -- SIRS Issues Researcher and Discoverer

SIRS Discoverer

1.  I would use Advanced Search and choose Easy for the Reading Level. Using “solar system” for a keyword search brought up several articles that the student could use. The student may also want to perform separate searches for individual items such as Neptune or comets.  I performed another search checking the Encyclopedia and World Almanac boxes. This brought up many General Reading articles that may be helpful to the student, but also may be too high of a reading level.

2.   I first tried searching for “volcanoes” by clicking on Pictures and Maps of the World under Database Features. The results were: 105 pictures and 21 maps. I next performed a subject term search for Volcanoes, and then chose “Volcanoes” from the 18 subject headings provided. That search brought up 179 graphics (maps, pictures, etc.) concerning volcanoes.

SIRS Issues Researcher

1.  I would suggest using a keyword search for Suicide Prevention. This brings up 970 results, which can be narrowed to 7 WebSelect sites.  This is a quick way to get reputable sites. However, if a longer list is needed, then a Google search might be necessary.

2.  I would search for information under the subject headings of Water Use, Conservation of Natural Resources and perhaps Environmentalism. I believe Water Use should be searched first. This brings good results including interesting Pro/Con issues.

Lesson 2 -- Learning Express Library

1.  I would first show the student the Grade 4 Reading Comprehension Practices under the Reading Skills Improvement Section. Then, the student can move on to other sections such as Informative, Narrative, and Persuasive practices.  After using the practice modules, the student may want to take the diagnostic tests. Also, the e-book Getting Ready for the 4th Grade Assessment Tests, under FCAT 4th Grade Reading Practice has a section on Language Arts that the student may find helpful.

2.  I would direct her to the Job Search & Workplace Skills section. She can get great tips on interviewing for a job and also brush up on her business writing skills. I would also recommend the Skill Building for Adults section. This section has writing, reading, math, and public speaking skills practice - skills that may improve her qualification for an office manager.

3.  For information about a nursing career, the student should visit the Nursing and Allied Health section under Jobs & Careers. Becoming a Nurse within the Career Guidance area gives a good overview of this profession. Then the student should check out nursing tests in the Entrance Test Preparation and Licensure and Certification Test Preparation sites. 

    Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) information can be found in the College Students section under Graduate School Entrance Exams Preparation. Also, the student may wish to browse the College Preparation section for practice tests concerning math and science which are important subjects for both nursing and pharmacy students.