SIRS

I haven't used SIRS at all up until now. In Discoverer I looked up zebras and found a good collection of articles from magazines and books. They are clearly marked as to reading level and whether graphics are present or not. The citations are easily found at the bottom of the article but I did notice that if I clicked on the PDF there wasn't a citation included, at least I didn't see it on my screen.

I looked up Moldova in "Country Facts" and the maps. There was lots of good information included.

I picked the 2012 election from the leading subject list. There is a good variety of sources to choose from and they are easily sorted if you want to look at only one type. They also included good summaries and the citation was easily found. I liked the graphics/media category that even included some political cartoons. The citations included some from this weeks newspapers.

I looked at a few subjects under "Curriculum Pathfinders". History under Social Studies includes primary resources, government documents and web sites. One way to narrow the matches is to click on a subject included with the citation.

Learning Express

It was easy to set up an account and login. I selected a word analogies test. The instructions were clear and I easily moved through the test and viewed the results at the end.

Under "Job Search and Workplace Skills" I looked at a business writing course. It seemed like it would be a good way to improve writing skills.

Under ebooks, I looked a book on Algebra and one on MAT. Both were 2011 copyrights so I take that as a good sign that the ebooks are current. It was easy to download and use them.

This database has something to offer to everyone in the state of South Dakota from elementary to senior citizen. It has tests and books to improve skills or just to challenge your brain.

World Book Thoughts

This is a great resource to have available to South Dakota schools and public libraries. There is just so much to explore and learn. I could spend hours just browsing and I can see my future six year old step-granddaughter doing the same thing.

Lesson 1c -- World Book Foreign Language Edition

I pulled up a horse in both with many labels in French and Spanish. This would be a great way to learn words that aren't used every day in both languages. According to the tutorial you should be able to click to view the English version but I didn't have that option on my screen. Without that option it's pretty hard to know what some of the labels are pointing to.

Part of learning a language is hearing it. Even though this is a computer generated voice it's helpful

Lesson 1b -- World Book Public Library Edition

World Book Online for Kids/World Book Online Info Finder give the same information on zebras as the World Book School Edition's World Book Kids'/World Book Student. The home pages for the public library edition are different and have access to some different information and activities. Something that I didn't take of note of before is that both Student and Info Finder have access to magazine articles from EBSCO Content Solutions.

World Book Online Reference Center - The informaition given is the same as what was found in World Book Advanced. I like the World Book Explores feature.

One of the things that I notieced that was different between school and public library version is that the public library version allows you to play an audio version of the article. This would be great for a person who has trouble comprehending what they read and can better do that if they hear the information.

Lesson 1a -- World Book School Edition

World Book Kids articles are short with just enough informaiton for short attention spans. World Book Student articles are much longer with more discussion about the zebra and their environment. In this case the picutures used were different but I noticed that this isn't always the case. The videos included were the same in each article.


World Book Advanced - Moldova - I think it's great that a audio pronunciation is included. The first page includes lists of other sources on Modova, even Presendential Papers. I like the "facts in brief" and the maps that are available. The link to web sites which includes a link to Dept. of State Background notes is one the best pieces of information and would be great help to the patron.


World Book Discover - The articles can be translated into a different language with the click of a button. Not only does this help ESL learners but it's a great tool for teachers to use to expose the whole class to the language of one of their classmates or to easily share what a language like Chinese looks like.