Yay! Bless Rockport Public Library and their helpful staff. 

Week 9 LearningExpress

Posted November 25, 2012 by marvelousmaineSunday November 25, 2012 - Learning Express

1. and 2. I set up an account in Learning Express and sampled the Reading Comprehension test in the GED Prep section. I only answered a few questions, but the test seemed very straightforward, and the scoring was very specific iwith Analysis, Application, Comprehension, and Synthesis all scored. I used to be the Adult. Ed. librarian, and having this tool would have saved many of our students countless hours...although there is no substitute for having a person right there when you are taking practice tests. 

3.  Job searching and resume writing are among the self-paced courses in LearningExpress.  Click on the “Job Search and Workplace Skills” learning center and add one of the courses to your center.  Take a few minutes to explore the course and note your observations.

Today a parent of a former student stopped by. She was rather upset that her son who had just graduated in June from a good college with a degree in molecular biology could not find a job in his field. Perhaps the Job Search center will offer him some tips! 

I signed up for the course and explored Maine's Job Bank Career Plus. When I searched molecular biology, I came up with several possibilities, many of them at Jackson Lab in Bar Harbor. I'm calling his mom tonight! 

4. I naturally search librarian and then library, but there weren't many hits! Next I tried Information Technology, and there were tons of hits. I downloaded an eBook called Write Your Way Into College SAT Essay. Great!  163 page book downloaded and opened in a flash. Nice! Lots of good information. Will be a useful tool for my students. 

Week 8 Genealogy Resources—Ancestry Library

Posted November 18, 2012 by marvelousmaine 

Great connection here at Rockport Public Library!

Discovery Exercise:

1.I found myself in the Ancestry Library. It lists my correct birthdate and my mailing addresses from past years from the U.S. Public Records Index.  The latest address is from 1993. (This shows how often the Post Office and town of Rockport change our street address! We've had 4 addresses in 22 years and have never moved!

2. I searched for my maternal grandmother and found here in the 1940 U.S. Federal Census. My grandfather was listed as well as my uncle and my mom who was 10 at the time! Cool!

I looked up my paternal grandfather and found him with his name misspelled as well as my grandmother, aunt, their border, and my dad...all with the name Peace instead of Pease. Guess the census worker wasn't very sharp. 

 

3.  In Ancestry Library, perform a search under the “Photos and Maps” tab for “Maine” as the keyword.  Report your findings.

There are lots of images of professional baseball players from Maine! Who'da thunk it! 

Yearbook images, too. I found my grandfather was the Vice-President of his Univ. of Maine Law School class when he was 20! I was able to send the image from the yearbook to my dad, too. Very easy to use. Amazing. 

My husband is a dedicated follower of dead people in our families, and he is going to want to move right into the public library. Watch out Rockport Public!