Final Week:
I have greatly enjoyed my exploration of Marvel. All in all, my biggest discovery was Learning Express, which alas the academic library can't use. But I did tell everybody about it at the last staff meeting and encouraged them to try it at home. Maybe this will be something we can offer in the future. I also will direct students to the Encyclopedia Britannica more often, something I had overlooked in the past. The business sources were also new to me and will be useful here at SMCC. I find the hardest part of doing reference is knowing which database or source to use. So the broader my knowledge, the better. Often, a newspaper turns out to be the best source, if the topic is current and political. I was advised to always find out what the class is that the assignment is for, since this will slant the research in a particular way, such as psychology vs political science vs english comp.

I am a reference-librarian in training, so the more exposure to useful sources the better. Of course, SMCC has other resources and databases as well. We man a centrally located reference desk and also have Ask a Librarian online. We are exploring other ways of reaching our students, such as live chat.
E-reference books are increasingly important, and we subscribe to Credo reference books.

This week I viewed the tutorial for AccessScience, which is very important to SMCC. I also reviewed the literary resources in Marvel, most of which I am already familiar. A common assignment here is to find a review and or criticism of a published work.

EbscoHost

This week’s assignment is easy for me. We often use Ebsco when working with students on research topics. In my experience (limited, I’m new a reference librarianship) the difficult part is knowing which database to use or perhaps a book would be better. So I tried out the request for info about zinc in foods. As I expected, a search for food- zinc content using Academic Search Complete and anything that was medical related, turned up 112 results. BUT these were scholarly articles such as “Heterosis studies for grain iron and zinc content in rice”…very specific high level research, but not simply a list of foods that contain zinc. So when talking with a student, I would need to know exactly what they were after, a list or perhaps some very specific research. That would make a big difference.

In order to find a list of foods that contain zinc, I searched for an ebook. Using Ebsco b books, I again tried my food- zinc content and came up with books such as “Prescription Alternatives” and “Smart Guide to Healing Foods”. Both listed food contents.

I tried another search for an actual topic a student asked me for, an ancient Greek sculpture in Samothrace of Nike. Ebsco turned up “Literature and the Visual Arts in Ancient Greece and Rome.” But I also went to Credo reference, where I found lots more info and photos. It is definitely useful to search all text sometimes rather than subject or keyword. When doing reference at SMCC, the questions run the gamut from art and literature, esp criticism or reviews, to global politics. Some topics are easier than others but again, it takes experience to know which database to try first. And often, they are required to cite a book, so ebooks have been a blessing.

Learning Express:
I had to use this one from home with my public library card, as it doesn't work from an academic library.Too bad, since the practice tests and ebooks were exactly what our students need. I have many times requested test materials through ILL for the ASVAB, TOEFL, NET, NCLEX, HOBET, and also accuplacer. I am going to look into subscribing to this for SMCC.

I tried the Nursing School Practice Entrance test and got a perfect score of 8 out of 8 (took me forever) on the first segment. Maybe that will be my next career? I did the Reading Comprehension segment (avoiding all things math or science) and liked the breakdown in the results as to drawng conclusions, inferences, vocabulary etc. This was under Jobs and Careers. I found many tests here that would be excellent for our trade and medical profession students. Also for incoming high school students, who often take one course here. We have many students who come for one or two courses and then sekn full time entry, so they have to take the Accuplacer. I also looked at the Real Estate Person exams (another potential career for me) but found no Maine specific test. A few ebooks to download though. I think I will read up on this.

Ancestry:
I love Ancestry and have done lots of research in it in the past. I am thrilled that Marvel has this available. It has been  while since I used it though, but a few years ago I searched for my great grandmother who died right after my grandmother was born and was immediately erased from the family history. We only knew she was born in Holland and maybe was named Marie, last name Byfield but changed from something Dutch. And we had a photo that we thought might be of her. With Ancestry, I found my grandmother's and great Uncle's birth certificates, naming the mother, then I found a death certificate for Marie. But it was using the message boards that led me to a distant relative who was researching this Dutch family the von Bylevelds.  It turned out that Marie was the missing link...she had about 10 brothers and sisters and nobody knew what happened to her! My newly found relative had photos of my great great and great great great ancestors in Holland! Turns out this large family was living in Chicago at the same time as my grandmother, but they didn't know about each other (or had disowned each other)!!!

This time I tried a search for my Jewish -mother in law's father's family, who came over from Hungary in the 1800's. I was very successful and plan to send this research to her (she is 92). There were lots of relatives she has never mentioned also. Aren't families interesting? And she told me her grandfather was smuggled out of the country on a potato cart (highly unlikely) as he came over on a very fancy ship.

Alas, I found nothing on myself! Also no photos and maps tab...

Now ,back to Ancestry. I could waste time all day here at work on this!

Consumer Health Resources:
I began this week with Health Source: Consumer Ed. I searched for "Shingles" and got peridicals ranging from AHFS Consumer Medication Information to Women's Day, and also reports from CRS: Adult Health Advisor. I noticed there were over 80 full text consumer magazines and reports available. The article I read was very easy to understand. I did notice there was a dictionary feature, but I didn't need it.

Next I decided to try Health Source: Nursing/ Academic Edition, which we use here at the college. This included over 550 full text scholarly journals. My search for shingles retrieved all academic journals and also the AHFS. I looked at an article from the Mayo Clinic Proceedings and found that it was most certainly not for the consumer, but our medical students would be able to use it for their research.

Next I compared Medline Plus with PubMed Central, which we also use here at SMCC. Again, Medline was fun to use, very consumer friendly with colorful graphics. I found links for the latest issue of the magazine, announcements for Get Smart About antibiotics Week and COPD Awareness Month. My shingles search led me to links to images and videos. The video I watched was informative and easy to understand. A search for Black Cohosh under herbal medicine led me to a branch site calledd the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. I found info about the science behind use of this herb, side effects, a good list of ources and links to clinical trials. All great stuff, I'm sure our students will be able to use this. And me too.

Pubmed is a free full text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal lit at NIH/NLM. This is much more academic-friendly, and my search for shingles led to an article from the Journal of the American Geriatric Society. For this, I needed a dictionary!

Wall Street Journal: this I am familiar with and read regularly. My search for small business (su) and health care (all text) FT, and only the last year turned up 58 nice results all sorted by relevance. The suggested limiters were also good: I expect a small business owner would want to know about insurance, policies, and expenditures. This is easy to use, but of course, is slanted toward the editors of the WSJ.

Value Line public: ai have decided to lok at the public version since I sub in a public library and this
often comes up. There sure is alot here...I found it hard to navigate through..in current issue I looked at the various sections. Selection and Opinion is a newletter format, including model portfolios and overviews of the market. Good for someone like me, a novice. Ratings & Reports is a list of companies in the current issue, with one page summary for each with historical value, projected value and a written summary of the company. I suppose anyone investing in an individual stock would want to read this. Summary & Index is what I have seen in paper form, a huge listing that includes the ticker symbol, recent price, ranking, P/E, and estimate for next 12 months. The meat of Value Line. Cover page was just that and Suppl Reports was more narratives about companies. I searched for Linkedin LNKD and found ratings and reports. I couldn"t find a Full Research Report. I noticed alerts: I suppose anyone investing would find that useful. All of this shows me how much I don't know! I will also look at the academic version to see if college students could use it.