The two resources we explored that I was most surprised to find were LearningExpress and the Hobbies and Crafts Resource Center. Because I had used resources such as MEDLINE, NoveList and some of the Ebsco databases, I thought I had a pretty good idea what Marvel had to offer. Not so. The Marvelous Maine Invitational was truly valuable and has improved my ability to serve patron needs. I plan to explore some more of the databases on my own.
I've already put my invitational discoveries to use, searching for a specific article in a health periodical for a patron, suggesting the hobbies and crafts database to a mom who was looking for holiday projects for her kids, and pulling books out of the stacks for a read-alike display.

I was surprised to learn that MasterFILE Premiere contained not only popular periodicals like Consumer Reports but also trade publications, biographies and primary sources. I did a search for reviews of various appliances in Consumer Reports and, after some tinkering, discovered that I got better results by doing an advanced search for Consumer Reports AND vacuum cleaner. (This still, however, gave me some irrelevant results.) The various limiters on the left side were helpful, though it was not clear that you needed to actually move the slide, rather than type in the date, to limit the year of publication.
In the ebook collection, my search on hiking turned up some relevant results but also a book on choosing a dog and "Understanding Negative Body Image." That was odd. When I changed my search to "New England hiking," the results were relevant, but only two books were listed.
For the Constitution Day search, I found books on the founding fathers, the Federalist Era, and Lincoln and constitutionalism, among others. I didn't see a way to limit my search to items suitable for young people, though, and I think I'd prefer to use the Middle Search Plus database for this. Several interesting books published by the University of Oklahoma Press turned up in the last search, including a field guide to Oklahoma prehistory and books on archaeology, the Buffalo Soldiers and the creation of the National Park Service. I also found the intriguing title "The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown: Civil Rights, Censorship, and the American Library." Interestingly, some of these titles only showed up if I entered "Oklahoma" in the publication field and nothing in the main search field, which patrons would be unlikely to do.

LearningExpress is a resource of which I was completely unaware, and I look forward to suggesting it to patrons looking for study guides for the ASVAB, AP exams, etc. These books seem to be ones that are too often borrowed and never returned at our library, so it will be good to have an alternative resource to suggest. I'm thinking, too, that accessing this information online might be more appealing to some younger patrons than borrowing a book.
I took part of a practice SAT writing exam, and having the little timer lent the experience some realism. The ability to view and read an explanation of the correct answers was helpful. I also reviewed a business writing/grammar skills course. The instruction was very clear, and the low-key tone ("You can stop at any time and take a break ...") would appeal to patrons who might be a bit anxious about polishing skills. A course on resume writing also seemed very clear and practical. Finally, from among many options, I downloaded a book of practice math questions. It was a snap.

I did find my marriage license, and I also found my name listed in the U.S. Public Records Index at two prior addresses, although one was actually a mailing address and not a town where I have ever lived. (In a previous search on ancestry.com, I found a significant error in a family obituary. I guess this shows the need, when possible, to double-check information discovered through genealogical research.) It was handy to be able to quickly print results and to hover the cursor over results and get a brief overview. I’d like to further explore the yearbooks link to see whether that would be useful for library patrons.

My great-grandfather was easy to find in both the 1920 and 1930 U.S. Census records. The record listed everyone who lived in his household, including his grandparents, my great-great-grandparents. I have looked up family members at the U.S. Census Web site, and I found that I was able to get information much more easily with Ancestry Library.

The results I got for "Maine" under "Photos and Maps" were curious. The first two results were photos of California soldiers who served in World War I, which didn't seem to have any connection to Maine. Other results, though, were various Maine-related photos and many images of baseball cards featuring Maine natives. When I tried to refine my search by naming a specific town, I got results from every town in that county. I'd like to do a little more experimenting with narrowing  the search.

The Health Source - Consumer Edition database contained a wealth of publications: books, journals and even pamphlets. I was surprised to be able to link to full-text articles in publications that are popular in my library, including Health and Natural Health. The article I read was about a specific prescription drug, and it was very clear and comprehensive. However, to read some of the academic journal articles I scanned, I'd want a medical dictionary handy. And it's easy to link to one right at the top of the page!
Among the top searches on MedlinePlus were autism, breast cancer and diabetes. Not surprisingly, one of the news stories today was on the nation's soaring diabetes rates. Also on the right was an opportunity to sign up for e-mail updates on topics of interest, which would be useful for patrons coping with various illnesses. How interesting that you can watch surgical procedures in the video library. That wouldn't appeal to everyone, but some patrons might find this helpful as they prepared for surgery themselves.
Although the drug article I read in MedlinePlus was almost exactly the same as the one I read in Health Source, MedlinePlus overall did seem to be geared more directly toward consumers. It returned only about half as many results as Health Source on the topic I searched, but they seemed to be more relevant. The opportunity to refine a search by keyword ("treatment") or type ("videos and tutorials" or "external links") was helpful.

Several of these resources seemed more useful for someone conducting research on business, such as policymakers, rather than business owners. My EconoLit search, for example, turned up a lot of titles like "The Effects of Hazardous Waste Taxes on Waste Generation and Disposal." I did find a 1988 tax planning guide, but that would, obviously, be too dated to be useful. That being said, I would like to return to these databases and do more experimenting with limiters to try to improve my searching.
Most of the results returned on my "FM radio" search of Business Source Complete were articles from academic journals. I experimented with the various tools on the left to limit my results. Oddly, I initially got no results for "FM radio" in the visual search mode, but when I tried again a few hours later, I did. I found this search option clunkier to us, and the one full-text article I linked to was blurry and difficult to read. I didn't have this problem with the full-text articles I accessed through the basic search, but perhaps it was the specific journal.
I had varying degrees of success with my Regional Business News searches. A search of the Boston Globe turned up relevant information about circulation and new products, but I didn't have much success with searches for Maine companies. A search of L.L. Bean returned only seven articles, ranging from a piece on internet marketing to a brief on an appearance by the Bootmobile. It was entertaining to have stories read to me in an Australian accent.
Value Line has a wealth of information for patrons minding their own investments. (And it reminded me why I stick to mutual funds.) Again, I'd like to return and spend more time with several of the useful "Investment Education" tools. It was interesting that, even here, the first result listed in a search of a company is a Google ad.
The Wall Street Journal is a good resource, and the limiters, allowing sorting by publication date, document type, etc., are useful. However, when I attempted to sort by location, I found the limiters were not in alphabetical order, so I gave up on trying to search only for Maine stories. Interesting that I was cautioned that I needed to be at least 13 years old to create an alert. Why would that be?
I'm wondering if the Business and Company Resource Center database that was dropped from the assignment is now called Business Insights: Essentials?

NoveList Plus is a Marvel resource I've used before, but this week's exercise is a good refresher on a very valuable readers' advisory tool. The "detail" and "brief" views of results seemed most helpful, offering brief plot descriptions that would be useful for patrons. It's also easy to spot what book comes next in a series, a common patron question. I've been using the What's Next: Books in Series database for that, but this may inspire me to switch to NoveList.
The options for limiting and narrowing results are useful. They might help pinpoint the title when a patron says, "I can't remember the name of the book I'm looking for, but I can tell you a little about the plot."
I could imagine using the author and title read-alike tools to build a book display. For example, Maine author Paul Doiron is very popular with our patrons right now. NoveList could help quickly locate read-alike authors and titles for a display that would promote similar books we have in our collection.
I don't have a lot of experience with readers' advisory, and when a patron does ask for a suggestion, I always feel like the clock is ticking -- very, very fast. Can some of you with more experience offer any tips on providing good readers' advisory service?

Well, I didn't heed the warning contained in this week's assignment, and I fear I will, indeed, become addicted to this site.
I searched for crochet articles and publications. Under the projects tab, I found a couple of patterns for ornaments that I'd like to try, and it's handy to be able to e-mail myself the results. My library does carry at least one of the publications listed on the results page, but I found several with which I was not familiar as well.
This database is a good pattern source for patrons who are already competent in specific crafts, but it also contains a lot of how-to articles and books, so it would be useful for beginners, too. I learned from the "Help" link that the database includes videos and was able to find a couple of how-to videos by doing an advanced search.
Curious about what the database would offer for hobbies that are not crafts, I searched for suggestions for hiking trails in Maine. I did find some articles and books, but I'd like to play with this some more and try to better refine my results.

Maine Newsstand offered a lot to explore. I performed searches on a murder and on the upcoming election. The "narrow results" box that appeared on the right when I was reading an article was really useful, especially the ability to select a specific person's name. The ability to rest my cursor on the "Preview" icon and read an abstract of each article was also a useful way to sort through a long list of articles. Saving the search was easy to do, as was e-mailing an article, and the translation function would be useful for Maine's many French speakers.
Why doesn't Newsstand include all of Maine's dailies? The Times Record, which serves the area serviced by my library, is among those missing. Also, while the ability to search obituaries would be very useful for patrons, including those researching genealogy, my search did not turn up a couple of obituaries that I know ran in the Bangor Daily. I wonder why not?
I have not had an opportunity to assist a patron using Marvel this week, but I'm definitely feeling more confident about my ability to do so.

I confess to a "doh!" moment when I read the week's assignment. Over the weekend a patron requested help with a high school research topic, and if I had consulted Britannica initially it probably would have helped me find useful resources for her a little more quickly.
My Britannica search on hydraulic fracturing turned up a good basic encyclopedia article, but I was especially interested in the "Expand Your Research" box that appeared on the right. The "Additional Readings" link had some very useful suggestions for books and documentaries. The listings under the "Journals and Magazines" link, however, seemed a bit out of date, with the latest article published in January 2011.
The Google translator could be useful for high school foreign language students or adults for whom English is a second language.
The World Atlas and World Data Analyst research tools would be a quick source for answering simple patron reference questions (What is the population of the United States? On what date did Maine become a state?).  The Video Collection could be useful for teachers and homeschooling parents. The links to current New York Times and BBC articles were unexpected; would patrons using Britannica be looking for today's news stories?

Setting up a blog was simpler than I expected, and the Marvel tutorials were quick and clear refreshers. I'm looking forward to the first lesson.