Reference Universe - Worth A Second Look

It is easy to overlook, but Reference Universe is vastly improved in content and searching. For example, a search on Irrigation was slow. Two years ago, this subject search allowed you enough time to 'go for a cup of coffee and come back to get results finally...' to now being WOW... I can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and get 10 citations on "irrigation" before getting to the "cious" part of the word -- Reference Universe is FAST.

There is a higher level of detail in Reference Universe then the regular ibistro catalog for hard to answer questions using print resources and it even has a few electronic resources we have access to.

Database content...
- 20,000 works from print and e-resource form with table of contents and index citations, 100's recently added just in June alone....
- Prominent publsher with the books in our collection from Gale, Greenwood, Springer and others..
- Patrons stumble upon seredipitous/useful facts to what they are looking for...

Keys to searching the database well...
- Use the browse searching if your unsure how to search. It functions similiar to catalog subject search.
- Use of phrase searching is the main way to use the databae.
- Use of "and" or "or" boolean searching in a strict sense does not work -- think phrase searching.

Things to watch for while searching...
- Each result should be checked for a title availability searching in Ibistro. Due to ISBN linking, format, and edition problems e-resources/books we do have in the collection say (prior editions) to links in database might not show up in Ibistro eventhough it is on the shelf or available online.
- AccessScience/GVRL direct full-text links within the database recently went down... we are hoping to restore these soon.
- If a title sounds to scholary for a public library, we probably don't have it -- try ILL or CofC if this is what the patron wants and it seems there is NO alternative for the needed info...

Database Updates: PowerSearch, RefUSA and others...

Spring is gone, and Summer is here. There are a few new and upcoming changes to the Resource Tools listings on the ccpl.org website.

- PowerSearch is getting a website refresh, with much of the same standard search as norml with new window dressing. The PowerSearch trial version is currently the featured product on SC Discus.

- RefUSA is scheduled to get a website refresh this Summer with new user interface.

- Salem Press e-resources based on the Magill's Medical Guide and Milestone Documents in American History were added recently to the Resource Tools section of http://ccpl.org/ website as Salem History and Salem Health.

- Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) books are being added with additional volumes such as Business Plans Handbook Volume 14, U*X*L Encyclopedia of World Mythology and others in the Gale liturature for Students series are coming.

Also, we are in the process of dropping a few electronic resource tools as well due to budgetary reasons in the coming months. As changes are about to happen, notes will be posted to this blog and in other places.

Job Hunting Resource - Part 4 Furthering Your Education

This is the forth post in a series on Job Hunting and the South Carolina Pathways.org website. Previous posts on the topic are available in 1, 2 and 3. Are you looking at continuing your education in a degree or non-degree program? The Kuter “Considering Education or Training” section may help.

The education or training component covers degree and non degree programs for further areas of study you may want to consider. The schools profiled in detail are based on in person classroom settings or online throughout the United States, military installations and US territories. Various tabs such as “name and location”, “school and campus characteristics”, “programs and majors” and “admissions and costs” all allow a person to narrow there list of schools down by various criteria in one search list combined in a “see list” format.

Overall, the Kuter education component is very useful in considering furthering your education, tuition costs, application process and other preferences associated with selecting a school of your choice and desired education outcomes.

The Job Hunting Resource Helps Statewide...

A new resource is available for South Carolina residents looking for a job change, wanting directional help in their job search or returning to the workplace after an abscence. The SC Pathways website, which is powered by Kuder skills assessment testing and paid for by various state agencies/organizations, for SC residents is available to adults, students of all ages and businesses for people to find jobs that interest them and businesses to find employees. In the next series of posts, I'm going to cover the four main components of the Kuder resource. Keep in mind this product does require a registration process that takes a few minutes. SC Pathways is available for just SC residents and residents of other states who have paid access to the the following:

Skills/Interests Assessments Section

Occupational Interests

Education or Training Considerations

Getting Ready for the Job Search

= Creating Resumes Online

= Finding Employers

Note: SCOIS at this time is not available as part of SC Pathways for adults, but is available to most students state wide through individual schools.

Reference Universe - Need for Speed Answered...

Reference Universe in the past was a product you could go for a cup of coffee and still be waiting on search results... Recently, search result speed was greatly enhanced. The same general search strategies of using just one or two words in a phrase still works best and it will be nice to see possibly boolean searching become available some day. Bottom line, by far the faster retrieval time of search results is the best improvement to the database outside of content since we got it a couple of years ago or so...

Newsbank Gets Video Content

Video content is now available on Newsbank. Sources vary such as large market CBS, NBC and ABC affiliate television stations to traditional Newswire sources providing video content such as the Strange News Broadcast from the Associated Press (AP) to Chiiki.tv specializing in Life and Leisure.

Hathi Trust Ditigal Library - Great Ebooks Online

The Hathi Trust provides a combined collection of public domain/content restricted titles from primarily academic libraries in ebook form online. According to the Hathi website on November 8th, 2008, there are approximately 353,000 titles like Charleston Furniture 1700-1825 which are publicly available online, while approximately an additional 2 million are online with digital rights management restrictions. The Hathi Trust now has a beta ebook search website.

Daily Life America and Daily Life Online Updates

Daily Life America and Daily Life Online websites were recently enhanced. Text is bigger in the menu options on the intial landing pages, but once past those pages, the websites both remain about the same. It would be nice if Greenwood provided cross searching on Daily Life America to also cover

Charleston Walking Tour On IPhone

Charleston walking tours in a generic sense may be taking a large leap forward in technology with the Charleston City Slickers product. In reading an Apple News Release and another article, I was amazed to learn that the IPhone based product verifies places of importance by GPS while walking down Charleston streets. A person can also reportedly see additional images online of historic sites and read up on locations in history by taking a guided or unguided walking tour over the IPhone. If you have taken this Iphone app for a spin downtown on the tour please let me know your thoughts on it :) PS. I had been on vacation, busy and doing other things so I have not posted to the blog in a while.

Daily Life America: Focus on the US

Daily Life America explores the activities and influences of our landscape and culture over time primarily here in America. The resource covers topics such as world war II "victory gardens" and the impact on daily life. The cultural influences such as Germans bringing the tradition of Oktoberfests or natives from Holland celebrating tulip festivals and such practical things as wooden shoes for dirty farm work. We have had Daily Life Online for a while, but the titles from Daily Life America adds to our list of resources greatly. If you want to search both simultaneously, use Daily Life Online.

Historical Newspapers - Treasured Sources...

America's Historical Newspaper is a great source for original primary source materials. There are wonderful primary source articles covering the titanic sinking, civil war, world war I, and all the way back to 1690. Overall, this resource is rather solid. Keep in mind that the text is scanned so if you search for genealogical information on say the family name of "Volkman" you may get some results centered on "workman" instead. My favorite part of this resource, for example, was reading an article about the Chicago World Series Championship season back in 1908. One game was called due to darkness in the 12th inning. This resource tool was recently added to the website.

American Decades (1900-1999)

American Decades and American Decades Primary Sources are 10 volume reference print and ebook resources covering American society and major historical events. Ebook versions are available in the Gale Virtual Reference Library. Both sets provide general decade overviews and major items of note in the: Arts, Business and Economy, Education, Fashion and Design, Government and Politics, Law and Justice, Lifestyles and Social Trends, Media, Religion, Science/Technolgy and Sports. Both versions have table of contents and back of the book indexes available. Keyword and text searching is available in the ebook version found in the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

1920's sample topics from the Primary Sources set includes: Advertising for the 1926 Studebacker from American Motorist- The 1929 Metropolis of Tomorrow essay by Hugh Ferriss on large cities- Futuristic House Plans such as "4D House" Fuller, R. Buckminster. "4D House (1928)." In the archives of the Buckminster Fuller Institute. - Letter to Calvin Coolidge about installment plan buying (1926) and how this financing impacts small business owners.- Images from Life magazine and the 1928 book Our Dancing Daughters of couples doing the "Charleston" dance.- 1929 NY Times Newspaper article about 7 Gangsters killed by rival gang firing squad.

History Resource Center : US Update Worth the Wait

The History Resource Center : US database update was worth the wait. The database is a much improved with better chonology searching, ability to limit search to specific reference titles in a prominent fashion. The window dressing of the database is engaging as it is elegant, but yet reasonably easy to use. Maybe I had not noticed it before, but the research guide explaining the difference between primary and secondary sources is explained in very practical terms. Overall, this is a great update to the database.

Greenwood Daily Life Online: A Spin Down Memory Lane...

What is the origin of the lollipop or rotisserie chicken? Was apartment living feasible for most folks in ancient Rome? Greenwood Daily Life Online (basic) covers food, clothing, shelter and the social aspects of daily life involving education, family time, holidays, music/dance, politics and economics, recreation, religion and myths.... Topics such as science and/or the influences of religion over time are also included. In order to get a good idea of what is and what is not in the database, take a look at the Greenwood Daily Life Online (basic) database title list and primary documents to get a feel for the database. Bottom Line, there is great daily life in history content within this database.

Fodor's Travel Guide Content on General OneFile

Fodor's Travel Guide content is now available online in General OneFile database. The publication date on all Fodor's titles in the database currently is January 1, 2007. You are more likely to find in the database say Fodor's Charleston then Fodor's South. When thinking travel, choose specific locations instead of broad regions for example Fodor's London instead of Fodor's England. As for content type, much of the Fodor's guides are without graphics or images with the exception of some maps. In looking at a handful of guides in print, not many of the print versions have much if any photography, graphics, or images in general except on the cover or introductory content. Overall, it is great to have such respectable travel guides like Fodor's in this database.

Historic Digital Maps of SC (1860s to 1970's)

Digital Sanborn Maps are historic insurance maps of cities covering streets and various structures. There are over 80 places covered in the SC component over several periods in time. This database is available online at home with a library card and in-library access. The maps identify commerical sturctures with such details as wells, stabbles, factories (and select owner information). The maps illustrate some transitions communities make with additional factories, pipelines, railroads and heavy machinery added in a community out over time. Click the link below the labels to read more.

Some of the original Sanborn maps have color coding differentiation for commercial (sometimes showing ownership of identified facility) or residential buildings. Unfortunately, color print versions do not appear with color online. For the most part, this may not be an issue, but keep this in mind. The residential sections of these maps cover homes, garages, wells, stables, and other structures. Generally, each map is broken into several pages with the first page providing an index. Sometimes, there will be two volumes in a section. One example is the Charleston [Charleston Co] - 1902-April1944; maps - Volume 2 - Includes the North Charleston area, but is not mentioned in the menu when looking for map availability. As a side note, North Charleston did not become a city until June of 1972.

Points of Local Interest in Charleston County.
Charleston - May 1884, June 1888, 1902, 1902-April1944;1902-Feb 1951* New and Additional Sheets; Republished 1955
Moultreville - July 1893, Mar 1912, Oct 1924, Oct 1924-Feb 1938
Mount Pleasant - June 1893, Aug 1912, Sept 1924; Sept 1924-Feb 1938
North Charleston - (See select Charleston maps)