Dabbling with Dabble

This week we experimented with Dabble, a free database. It was frustrating, as the directions were confusing. I had a difficult time getting into the program, as it kicked me out a couple of times. After investigating the features of Dabble, we were allowed to create our own database, and I found the program much easier to understand and use by creating one of my own. I started a database of family names, email addresses, addresses, and birth dates. I have a lot of family members, nieces and nephews, so I could sort by birth date, and get the current ones. I use a database in the library all the time, sorting books by their call numbers to pull from the shelves; creating lists of overdue books by students; using the call number option to see which subject areas are used the most, for ordering purposes, etc. One thing I do is create a database of categories of books for students to visually search. These categories are sometimes requested by the teacher, usually book genres students are required to check out. Others are there because students always look for various types of animal information. I put these categories in the visual search area, along with a picture, as it's easy for the younger students to search by images, rather than keying in words. Dabble was interesting to use.