Library Session for the Poverty Lunch Project

For this project, there are LOTS of different resources available. Part of the challenge, for some groups, will be determining which sites to concentrate on.

History:

On the Internet, I suggest you start with the Google search engine.

You can get there from the Library home page (www.hope.edu/resources/lib).

Compare these two searches Thrifty Food Plan

+“Thrifty Food Plan”

Printing: Please be careful not to print out 20-pages, when the information you want is on one page.

Here is a web site on the poverty line: I found it by doing the search

+“Poverty Line”

http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/irp/faq1.htm

If you have time . . . .

Also, search PERIODICAL ABSTRACTS (in FirstSearch): You can get there from the Library HomePage:

databases for research

A-Z Listing: scroll down to Periodical Abstracts

Enter search: thrifty food plan

What does the number of results tell you?

Look at one or more of the records.

Which category in the record is an excellent source of search terms?

(hint: begins with a “D”)

________________________________

What are some of those search terms?

__________________________________________________________

A periodical database has INDEXED articles—the Internet, as of yet, does not. One of the way articles are indexed is by subject (a category that goes by various names—Subject, Subject Headings, Descriptors—depending on the database). These terms can help you when you search other sources, including the Internet.

Data and Statistics:

There are MANY Census web sites, and “sub sites.”

Note: Although the “2000” census has been conducted, not all data is yet available. For some “topics,” the 1990 census is the only available data.

http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/threshld/00prelim.html

U.S. Department of Agriculture web site:

http://www.usda.gov/cnpp

The Holland Area Chamber of Commerce provides the following Cost of Living Index from their HomePage:

http://www.holland-chamber.org/hcccstlv.htm

Meal Planners:

The USDA site (listed above) has meal plans. You might also want to search “recipe” web sites if you have determined a set of “ingredients.” You may find that you are too constrained to allow for this kind of creativity—which tells you something about the choices people have or don’t have.

September 2001