SDSL Challenge Lesson #2

This lesson focused on the Learning Express Library, with which I previously had little experience.

It is very helpful to know about the practice exams; at USD, students frequently ask about practice exams for various standardized license or entrance exams.
I chose to experiment with the MCAT practice exams. The MCAT is the medical school entrance exam. The interface was easy to work with, and the feedback was helpful. This is a great resource for pre-med students.

For the second part of the lesson (Job Search and Research skills), I tried the Career-course "Succeeding on the Job." Because Librarianship is a career change for me, there is still much to learn about succeeding as a librarian. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the content. The part I read was heavy on introductory pages; there were multiple pages that had little content that were all introductory in nature (such as "in this section, you will...").

After clicking through several introductory pages, the actual content was less than stimulating. There were a lot of bulleted "dos and don't s," without references, and specific examples were few and far between. There is much better advice for job success in the Chronicle of Higher Education's blogs.

Finally, the e-books included many of the practice exams as well as other content. I downloaded and added to "My Center" the "Just in Time Algebra."
Once again, after wading through an entire chapter of introductory material, chapter 2 starts with some algebra practice. Although I have a science background, my algebra skills could use some sharpening. This e-book appears to be a handy way to practice a bit each day.
I also like the organization of "My Center:" this is a very easy way to manage all the content one is interested in.


Overall, I am glad I know about this resource, and I expect that I will be sharing this with patrons quite a bit.

SDSL Challenge Lesson #1

I chose to explore World Book School Edition. For the first discovery exercise, I chose to research Coyotes, the mascot of Univ. of South Dakota.

The World Book Kids page is easy to navigate - I was able to easily find the Coyote entry, and copy this picture:

The habitat information, however, was sparse. All the coyote article mentions under "habitat" is: "Deserts, mountains, grasslands," which doesn't really describe their habitat.
"Coyote." World Book Kids World Book, 2012. Web. 11 Jan. 2012

World Book Student has a more traditional ("Google-like") search page, and the information provided is more detailed (but not much more). Definitely geared toward older students: fewer images and clickable buttons, more text.

World Book Advanced is a more familiar interface to me. I chose to search Sri Lanka because of some personal connections. The menu on the left provides a valuable limiting/filtering tool, similar to many academic databases. The right hand column had links to primary sources, mostly Presidential letters. The information about Sri Lanka seemed fairly accurate and up-to-date, including the effects of the tsunami in 2006 and the bloody end (maybe) of the long civil war in 2009.


Because I am a health science librarian, I don't imagine my students using this resource too much.


Finally, in World Book Discover, there is a translator "widget" on the left that will translate articles into many different languages (though not Tamil, spoken by Sri Lankans in the north).