The fifth database available thru the South Dakota State Library at the Lake Andes Public Library that we will explore this week is “Gale E-Books”. This database can be logged in to from home as well as the library. If you are a history buff this is a database for you! “Overland Journeys: Travels in the West, 1800-1880” is described as thousands of stories of early settlers. The following is a paragraph from the overview of the database.

For settlers or 'emigrants,' the ways of reaching a destination in the frontier country were either wretched ordeals or wondrous adventures. Fortunately, many of these men and women recorded daily events and their thoughts with such picturesque zest that some accounts of westward journeys have elements of great literature within them. At first they travelled in covered wagons, then by steamboats and stagecoaches. The coming of railroads increased the speed of the journeys, but for the emigrant travelers there was little in the way of amenities.

I will take this opportunity to thank all of you who sent emails or postcards, or made phone calls or sent letters to the District 21 legislators. HB 1239 which would have criminalized public and school librarians if a youth checked out material deemed obscene. This bill was defeated in both the Senate and House. HB1041 which would have reduced the State Library, was amended to cutting 3.5 employees down from 12.5 employees and the funding cut was reduced to $200,000. Legislators were impressed with the number of people who reached out to them on this issue. Thank you for your help.

Now libraries across the nation are in danger of cuts from an Executive order from the White House, which was announced on March 14. The Institute of Museum and Library Services the only federal agency for America’s libraries can be eliminated. Please reach out to Senators Rounds and Thune and Representative Johnson. Libraries and more importantly people need the services of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.