A website that I think is good is one that you can refer to if you have a certain author or type of book you like, you can find authors that write similar to it.  It is:
onlib.org/web/serv_coll/readers_advisory/read_alike.htm

Today I went on and spent a lot of time exploring and learning about the different databases.  I got into WORLDCAT first and looked up the book Hunger Games which is the book I am currently reading.  I clicked the first record to see all the information about the book.  The first one listed was at the South Dakota State LIbrary.  I clicked to see other books by the same author and also saw the publishing information, the type of documant it was and the # of libraries worldwide that carry it.  Interesting!

Then I searched in Oaster for South Dakota.  I found a book containing flood tracking charts, and a lot of information on the Sioux Indian tribes.

Next I went into Ancenstry Library and looked up my name.  I found my birth information and then the most current information they had for me was from 2002 for address.  I then looked up my deceased grandfather and was able to see his and my grandma's SD Marriage information.  They were married in 1931.  My grandpa was 21 and my grandma 19.  So cool!

I then went into Heritage Quest and tried to search for a place.  I was trying to find old school records from Summit SD.  Didn't have any luck there.

Though, when I went into Sanborn Maps, I found a map of Summit from 1930's.  There used to be a Lumber Co., Elevator, and Train Depot there.  None of those are there anymore, but the Community Hall was built then and still stand today.  It is still used for school sports events, and community use..

My biggest discovery is basically all the information that is out there that you forget about or didn't even know it was there.  Our library does a very good job of promoting these databases.  We have them listed by each of our computers for patrons to see.  I am also a school teacher and found much of the information to be very helpful to myself and will share the information with fellow teachers.  I enjoyed doing the Challenge and look forward to learning even more at Institute.

I researched on Proquest today.  I looked up American Idol which is my favorite tv show.  There were several articles that put down the show and kind of made fun of it.  I was not impressed with this.  I guess maybe not the best topic to research.  I also went in and looked up an article in Library Journal called "Learning Everywhere."  This article talked about how learning approaches have changed with technology.  When we were young and you had a group project, you met together at the same place.  There always seemed to be someone who didn't do their equal share.  With today's technology it has changed.  They use peer evaluation and can have meetings on skype, dropbox with cloudsharing, and google docs. for group collaboration.  I really don't know what "dropbox" is but maybe someone out there does and can enlighten me.

I haven't got to my research for a bit, but researched SIRS today.  I went ahead and researched armadillos as suggested and found many articles.  More than I thought there would be for an armadillo.  There was a nice close-up picture of an armadillo which I have always thought was a strange looking animal.  The article I read was "Amazing Armadillos."  I like the option of being able to e-mail an article to yourself.  Very convenient!  I also liked how the difficulty levels of the articles were color coded so readers don't waste time going into an article only to discover it was too hard.  Nice feature.  I then researched the country of Fiji.  I liked the graphic organizers offered in different levels.  I would use this feature as I am also a teacher.  The site offered many different facts about the country including population, economy, government, history, etc.  I learned enough about the country to know I want to go there!  The map feature is also very nice for studying geography.  I liked the feature on science fair exploration.  How nice for when that time of year rolls around for studetns.
I then went in and researched SIRS researcher for older students.  I chose the topic of adoption and then discovered how it will narrow research topics for you.  Very nice.  I continued with interracial adoption.  I really liked the timeline feature as well as statistics.  It is nice being able to copy and paste the citation.  I remember having to write those out when I was in high school and hated it.
I then went into curriculum pathfinders and picked Language Arts.  There were many reasearch ideas to pick from.  I chose the book "Lord of the Flies" because I had read that book in high school and liked it.  I discovered a game online where you had to match quotes by the different characters to who spoke it.  I guess it has been awhile since I have read the book because I didn't do very well.  But neat teaching feature for anyone reading it now.

I have been exposed to Learning Express before and think it is a wonderful tool.  I just took a test on 4th grade math skills.  It has good questions and I like how it gives immediate feedback when you are done with the test.  That is just what kids need so they can see what skills they need to work on.  I also downloaded an e-book on fourth grade testing.  It was easy to do and offered a lot of helpful information.  This would be very beneficial for parents preparing their child for school testing or even teachers looking for resources to use with their students to practice for the "real thing."

In exploring World Book Foreign Language, I thought it was really neat.  The visual dictionary can help you learn many Spanish words and how to pronunce them.  When listening to an article, I thought this would help the many Spanish patrons who come in to the library.  There seems to be more and more as time goes on.  To have a resource available to them specifically in their language would help them to feel more welcome.  Listening to foreign languages is really fun.

In exploring World Book Kids, I found it to be very inviting and colorful.  It was easy to use, also.  I researched about guinea pigs and learned some interesting information.  I like how it lists many different facts about the animal.  It would be helpful in helping students with reports.  Then going to World book Info finder, it was much more in depth and provided more information.  Not quite as colorful and fun, but offered much more information on my animal I was researching.  Then with the World Book reference I looked up the country of Spain.  I liked how you could click on images and get all kinds of images about Spain.  How great for kids working on reports.  It also offered different types of sources to look for info.  Such as books, web sites, magazine articles, etc.  Maps listed on the left would also be very helpful for students/patrons.