Lesson 8: WorldCat, CAMIO, and more

Basic Discovery Exercise part 1
WorldCat.

1. We recommend using the Advanced Search screen for best search results. Click the “Advanced” tab on the toolbar 2nd to the top. In WorldCat, the right set of search boxes say “Keyword.” Click on the drop down menu to see other ways you can search.

2. Choose Title Phrase search, and click on the limiter (below the search boxes) “Books.” In the search box, type a book title. Note the number of results. How many libraries worldwide have item #1? Click the link. What is the top library?

I used "The Invention of Wings" by Sue Monk Kidd. There were 27 records (23 in English). 2554 Libraries have the first item. Alexander Mitchell Library is the top library listed.

3. Click into result #1 and look at the full record. What is the call number (class descriptor)? To see what else the author of your chosen book has written, click on the author's name. To see what else is available on that subject, click on a subject. What other information do you see?

The call number for this book is PS3611.I44. Other information that I can see is a description of the book, names of characters in the book, ISBN numbers, and the year it was published.

Discovery Exercise part 2
OAIster

The OAIster (pronounced “oyster”) database is one of the few mostly full text databases in WorldCat. Choose OAIster from the dropdown menu next to “Search in database.” In the “Keyword” search box, type South Dakota. Select one of your results. Click on the link next to “Access.” Add to your Lesson 8 blog posting by writing about your findings and your impressions of this tool.

I selected "Cruel and Degrading: The Use of Dogs for Cell Extractions in U.S. Prisons." After clicking on the link I found a pamphlet published in 2006. I found that South Dakota is one of seven states that uses dogs in cell extractions. I think this database would be very useful doing college papers.

Discovery Exercise part 3
CAMIO

You will need to complete this exercise at your school or  library. CAMIO is not accessible from home. You can access CAMIO via this alphabetical list.

1. In the search box, type “Sioux.” Click on an image and notice what information is given and how you can manipulate the image. Blog about your results.

The information given is a description, the creator, publisher of photo, date created, type, medium, format, identifier, and rights. You can manipulate the image by zooming in and out, rotating it, and going full screen.

2. How would you and your community use this resource? What other observations can you make?

You could use this resource if you needed images for presentations. You could use this for researching art history. I observed that the images are also sorted by the institute that has them, or you can search by type of art.

3. CAMIO has a lot of potential for personalizing and presenting research. Do a search on a subject of your choice. Choose 3 or 4 favorites by checking the box to the left of the image number. Click "Save to Favorites"on the toolbar at the top of the results next to "Relevance" and "Display Options." Then click "Favorites" in the gray bar in the upper right of the screen. On the left sidebar, click to export to PowerPoint or Zip Archive File. This allows you to manipulate and use the images in a variety of ways. Try out these features and report your findings.

I exported a picture into powerpoint. I found that it was not only very simple to do, but the format was also very nice. This is by far my favorite finding of this challenge so far. I will recommend it for patrons needing art images.