The Brevard County Libraries 23rd "thing" requires participants to look at the Florida Electronic Library and look at one of their databases. Since you need to have a library card in order to look at any of the databases, instead I'm going to look at Badger Link, which is the Wisconsin equivalent. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction provides access to certain databases for the entire state. One of the cool databases that I really like in the list is called Newspaper Archive. Newspaper Archive allows you to search for people's names or topics in certain newspapers. The newspaper coverage is kind of spotty in some geographical areas and during some time periods, but I like to go to this database and look up the names of my family members and just see what comes up. I found an article in which my grandmother was interviewed about what she does with her free time--she said that she didn't have free time--she had to help with chores on the farm, raise two daughters, and she was the president of the American Legion Auxiliary and the Rosary Society at church. Seeing this article made me smile and miss my grandmother.
This database could be an awesome tool for patrons who are doing genealogy or who are just interested in looking up themselves or their family members. It would also be useful if they want to find local coverage of a national news event in a historical time period. It has been useful in my work at the Wisconsin Historical Society--just a couple of weeks ago, a customer came in wanting to find photos of a statue in Henry Vilas Park because they were trying to restore the statue--we only had one picture in the archives, but there were many news articles about the statue in Newspaper Archive, some with pictures. There are a myriad of uses for this database and the others provided by the state of Wisconsin. It is definitely something that librarians should explore.
This 23 Things project has made me try out some things that I might not have without participating (Twitter, for one) and provided me with experience and a way to reflect on what I've done throughout the project. I think that is a useful tool for teaching librarians, especially those who might not be as familiar with Library 2.0 or Web 2.0 sites and tools. I enjoyed participating in the project and sharing my thoughts with you.
What (if any) library databases do you use the most often? Are there any that you say to yourself--why would we spend money on THAT? If you're a fellow 23 Thing participant, how do you feel this project impacted your professional life? Do you think you'll incorporate any of the tools you learned into your job?
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