Hello air,
USB cards and extensions are an old trouble spot for beige G3s. I suspect your iBook installer disc is not installing the proper USB and support extensions - which if I recall correctly are 1.5.6 (for OS 9.2.2).
The easy way to get the correct extensions is to install the OS from a retail, full install (OS 9.1 or 9.2.1) CD and update in proper sequence from the free downloads. (The USB card must be installed in place for the extensions to install - a point sometimes overlooked).
The workaround is to use the Tome Viewer utility, which requires that you download the extensions and that you know exactly what the extensions are that you want to install and exactly where to put them. Niel had a good list, and Don must have that knowledge somewhere.
My OS 9 Mac hasn't been fired up for a year or two, but if you need me to be more specific let me know and I'll dig it out and try to remember which slot to put the quarter in.
Good luck... Jon