MMI 3

My originial thought was to search for a particular issue regarding the election.  Since that time is way past, I looked for information on an event in Ellsworth of interest.  I was able to narrow down results well to only 7 articles that directly related to my search.  I was also able to set an alert in case more information becomes available.  It is great to have such good access to the Bangor Daily News as well as the other major papers in the state.

In reading another blog post I was surprised to read "my position in Youth Services rarely gives me the opportunity to educate someone in the wonders of Marvel...".  I find that I get the chance several times a week to introduce young patrons and their parents to NoveList.

Many times our young patrons or their parents are completely lost as to what might be a next good book suggestion.  I automatically seem to ask if they have internet access and if so, are they familiar with NoveList.  My desk is behind the circulation desk and the children's eyes light up when I ask them to "step into my office" and invite their parents, too.  Siblings come along and we begin our session with the WPL home page, click on the NoveList icon, and we are off and running with the reader's favorite book.  It seems that folks leave "my office" with a new found enthusiasm for seeking out just the right book, knowing that NoveList can be used for everyone.

MMI 4 way late...

Oh thank goodness I finally have gotten back to the MMI and found my way back into my blog. I did do week four about hobbies and enjoyed learning about all the resources avaialbe through that data base. When I looked at the magazine list after looking for needle arts I found that Windham Public Library does not subscribe to the magazines that came up. On the results page that gave projects I found a really nice teapot border in cross-stitch which I was able to download. The help link that opened my eyes was that phone and email support for the hobby link area is available 24 hours a day. Now if I can only catch up on lessons  3, 5, 6, 7, 8!

MMI Lesson 2

Week two of the MMI sure opened my eyes to what was available in Britannica.  I looked up bison on Tyler's recommendation and we learned that there are only two types, the American and European which is called a wisent.  For the second part of the lesson I went to the Middle School area and found a lot more history of the bison, rather than just easy information about the animal itself.  The information was much more in depth and provided a more complete picture of what had happend with the destruction of the species, something that wasn't touched on in the elementary article.  Part three took me to Barbados where I saw that I could hear the nation anthem, see the flag, go to related articles (President Obama was invited to speak there in 2008), and got a very interesting list of "primary sources and ebooks"...some wild choices there.  I don't get a lot of questions about countries revolving around encyclopedia articles in our public library children's room.  Most of my requests are for books in the library.  However, if someone wants to find info on a country we don't have a book about, I know I can use Britannica online as a quick resource.  Part four really got me thinking.  I read about how to use workspace and thought about how I might use it as part of our Summer Reading Program.  I set up a workspace, called it SRP 2013, and decided to see what would come up if I just entered the word "dig" because the theme next summer for the Collaborative Summer Reading Program is "Dig Deep Read".  I found 44 articles that came up in the elementary section.  To my delight two children's book authors were included.  Maurice Sendak for Where the Wild Things Are and Louis Sachar for Holes.  There were nice pictures of both of them.  That exercise got me thnking about how many things relate to the word dig.  This was a great exercise to play with and I sure learned a lot about what Britannica can do to support learning.

The Marvelous Maine Invitational has begun.  So, here's my newly created blog.  I wasn't sure what to use as a name so I googled how to name a bolg and came up with the three steps.  That was the key to unlocking what I chose as a name.  Kept it simple, related it to what it was, and I've already forgotten the third step. 

I hope that folks who were at the Friends of Maine Libraries 20th Annual Meeting at the Senator Inn yesterday enjoyed the day.  Many thanks to Nancy McGinnis who chaired the day and kept everything on track.