Lesson 10: Wrap Up

1.  My biggest discovery was just how much I had missed out on by not knowing what the Electronic Resources on the State website offered.  I'm relatively new at this job, and really only had a good handle on one resource -- Worldcat -- because I used it to place interlibrary loans.  I just find it hard to believe all of the information/resources we can provide to our patrons. 

Some of the lessons I enjoyed most were those on the Learning Express Library and SIRS Issues Researcher and SIRS Discoverer.  I even used SIRS Discoverer just yesterday to look up information on St. Patrick's Day for today's Story-time theme.  I found out information I had never known about St. Patrick and links to all kinds of St. Patrick's Day ideas. 

The Learning Express Library is just amazing.  I really hope I can get the word out about this tremendous resource.  I just know students and their parents would appreciate having access to test preparation and practice tests for almost every test one could think of.  I hope when my son is preparing for the ACT in a couple of years that he will take advantage of this free resource.    Also the courses on this site are very helpful.  A lot of the folks who are now looking for jobs are middle-aged and haven't had to write a resume or cover letter in a long time.  Having access to these courses to walk them through the process will help them end up with a better end-product and a better chance of getting a job. 

Another thing I like about many of the resources is that they provide guidance as to how to cite the source.  I would have loved having all of these resources, plus information on how to cite the source back in the dark ages when I was in college.  Heck, I would have loved to have just had the internet then.  Students who need to write a persuasive essay on a controversial subject nowadays have it made.  They can go to SIRS Issues Researcher, type in their subject, and have access to a variety of pro and con articles on the subject from a variety of source types.  They don't even have to take notes, they can just print it off.  To top it all off, they can just copy and paste the citation into their document.  Half the battle taken care of just by using these electronic resources.  They can devote their energy to writing a coherent paper.  The research and figuring out how to cite it was always the most time consuming part "back in my day."  Thank goodness for progress.

2.  Obviously, when patrons ask us for help, we will be able to enlighten them to the potential information at their disposal through using the electronic resources available on the website.  For example, we recently had a middle-aged student who is taking on-line courses and needed to write an essay on medical malpractice suits.  We showed her several of the resources she could access from home and got her signed up for a State Library Card. She was so relieved to find out about these resources.

I have called the Counselor at the local high school to talk to her about making the students aware of the opportunity to practice for the ASVAB, ACT, and SAT tests through Learning Express Library.  She said she had mentioned it to teachers before, but that she maybe needed to remind them to talk to the students about it.  I think I need to just write an article every now and then on one of the electronic resources and sent it to the local paper.  I would start with the Learning Express Library.  The students probably wouldn't notice the article, but their parents would.  They would encourage their kids to use it.

Personally, I will be able to use SIRS Discoverer and the World Book resources to prepare for Story-Time each week.  I also will be able to show my mom how to use AncestryLibrary and Heritage Quest to keep her occupied during the day while my Dad helps thin trees in our woods when they visit this summer.  She's a geneaologist, so she'll love playing with those sites.

I'm kind of afraid I won't remember which resource to use for what.  If I hadn't looked through my blogs, I would have forgotten which source had the College Blue Book.  It was Gale Virtual Reference Library.  For some reason, that doesn't stick in my head too well.  I had forgotten all about that site.

At least I'll have more opportunity to become familiar with the electronic resources through pre-work for the Library Institute and the actual Institute Session this summer.   Hopefully, I'll have a good handle on it after a little more reinforcement. 

Thanks for the opportunity to learn more about the electronic resources!