LIS 521 – Spring 2001

Name:Emily Cook

Final Quiz

Respond with appropriate answers from items included in the nine categories of resources we have considered this quarter, or otherwise as appropriate. Do not forget to include your name. I will broadcast a copy of the quiz via e-mail to facilitate an electronic response if that is your preference, and reference interview questions may be submitted to your “customer” via e-mail as well. Your instructor would like to have the quiz by Wednesday, June 6. If you can’t get it in by then, please let the instructor know about your situation [thanks!] Each problem is worth nine points. The essay question is worth 10 points. The reference questions have been suggested by queries drawn from the Stumpers listserv (with the exception of # 8, which I recently answered for one of my kids) . As such, the answers sometimes may be more challenging than what you have experienced in earlier quizzes. My advice: don’t spend a great deal of time searching for part b) answers.

1.A cultural studies student is writing a paper about the text of the song “Driving Through Mythical America”. One of the lyrics is “Bogart said even the dead can talk”. She is trying to determine if Bogart actually did say that, and if so, what movie it is from. An enterprising researcher, she has contacted one of the composers, but now she’s stuck. This is the way she describes her dilemma.

“OK. Now I've asked Clive about Bogart and "even the dead can talk". He said it was from a 1960 movie called 'Murder, Incorporated' directed by the amazingly named Bretaigne Windust. Now that would be fine except that, according to Halliwell's Film Guide at any rate, Bogart wasn't in it.There's another inconsistency: the movie wasn't directed by Mr. Windust, at least not according to Halliwell.”

1a.What would you suggest your information seeker do to verify the Halliwell information? [7 points]

Internet Movie Database

1.b.What is the explanation of the conflicting information? [2 points]

I think the Halliwell’s information refers to the 1995 film Murder Incorporated, in which neither Windust nor Bogart had any part. I suspect Clive was referring to the 1951 film The Enforcer, directed by Windust and starring Bogart. The confusion arises from the fact that The Enforcer is also known as Murder Inc.

2.One of your customers is trying to find the title of a book she read long ago with her daughter. This is what she has told you.

“The book was about a young boy who lived in the trees in a fantasy world. The people were unaware of another group living underground in tunnels below the trees. I think the title had something to do with ‘green

sky’. There was a computer game modeled on the story which my daughter and I used to play on an Apple IIe computer. I don't remember much more, but my nostalgic daughter (after being away at college for her first year) has been thinking of special things we shared together when she was young, and would love to find a copy of the book.”

2.a.What source would you suggest she use to pursue her search? [7 points]

Amazon.com (I selected Amazon above other large book bibliographies like OCLC and BIP because unlike its counterparts Amazon often provides a content/plot synopsis and book reviews, which in this case can indicate which “green sky” book is the correct one.)

2.b.What is the title of the book? [2 points]

I think the customer is seeking a book by Zelpha Snyder Snyder called Until the Celebration. It is the third book in the Green-Sky series. A book review on Amazon describes it as a sci-fi book about people who make there home in big trees. That sounds pretty close to the customers description ”…who lived in trees in a fantasy world.” The book is currently out of print, so it probably cannot be purchased. However, many libraries have a copy (about 50 according to OCLC), so it should be easy to interlibrary loan.

3.A Korean-American family has been engaged in an off/on discussion over the years about the United Nations cemetery in Pusan, Korea. One of the family members, now deceased, has apparently told conflicting stories about the event, which he had attended. Your customer has decided to try and clarify some of the issues. To accomplish that, she needs to know the date of the dedication of the cemetery. She also would like to find out whether General MacArthur was present at the ceremony.

3.a.What resource would you suggest she consult first? [7 points]

New York Times Index (focusing around 1951, the approximate year ascertained through the reference interview)

3.b What are the answers to her questions? [2 points]

Looking through indexes for 10 years surrounding the date supplied in the reference interview, and working from the terms Cemeteries, Korea, Pusan, United Nations, and MacArthur, I did not locate anything exactly matching the details provided in the reference interview. However, I did find something that something that sounds similar. In the 1950 index, a citation under Cemeteries mentions the dedication of the UN military cemetery in Wansan, which occurred October 18th 1950. The brief article in the New York Times did mention dignitaries present, but MacArthur was not among them. Coincidence?

4.A customer who is doing sets for a school production of a play by Congreve is trying to identify a color described as ‘goaling green’ in some notes referring to an early presentation of the play. She hasn’t been able to uncover any references to such a color and she wonders if a typographical error may have been made in a transcription of the 18th century notes.

4a.What source would you suggest she consult in her ongoing quest for an answer to her problem? [7 points]

Oxford English Dictionary (because the customer wants to understand a word in its historical context)

4b.Can you provide a hypothesis about what the color may be? [2 points]

I did not find goaling green, or goaling whatsoever, in the OED. But when I searched green I noticed that the dictionary does have entries under different types of green, like sea-green. So I entered the truncated search g*-green. The results list included the likes of glass-green, gold-green, and gosling-green. Since the customer thinks there may be a typographical error in her notes and since the OED shows that gosling green was in use in the 18th and 19th centuries, I think gosling might be the word from the play notes. In any event OED defines gosling-green, under gosling, as “a pale yellowish green.” Examples of usage from the OED include: 1766 GOLDSM. Vic. W. xii, His waistcoat was of a gosling green. 1807 P. GASS Jrnl. 146 We found the southwest branch..of a goslin-green colour. 1835 LONGFELLOW Outre-Mer (1851) 285 The nice little man in gosling-green.

5.One of your colleagues in the corporation for whom you are the special librarian is seeking information about a database called NAPRALERT. She would like a description of what it does and is particularly interested in knowing how she can get access to it.

5.a.What resource would you check first in pursuit of this request? [7 points]

Gale Directory of Databases

5.b.How can your colleague gain access to the database? [2 points]

2001 edition – entry 4195 contains a description for NAPARALERT

It is available online via dialup through (3 options):

  1. U. of Illinois Chicago, College of Pharmacy -- contact Mary Lou Quinn, Managing Director at
  2. STN International
  3. Compuserve Interactive Services

6.Your customer is trying to retrieve information about a poem that is about lying to children. He thinks it is Russian and probably dates from around 1960.

6.a.To what source would you refer this customer? [7 points]

Columbia Granger’s Index to Poetry

6.b.Can you identify any promising titles in response to his request? [2 points]

I did not locate anything promising in the poetry index or anywhere else.

7.A customer thinks that Colin Dexter (author of the Morse mysteries that have appeared on TV) may have a pseudonym. He thinks it may start with P. He wonders if you can help him explore this question.

7a.Where would you suggest he look first? [7 points]

Contemporary Authors

7.b.Has Dexter used a pseudonym? (If not, do you have any idea how to explain what the “P” may represent?) [2 points]

Dexter has no pseudonyms per se. However, his name is actually Norman Colin Dexter. Furthermore, a cross-reference from N.C. Dexter indicates that he’s probably published under that name as well. On my own I did not find anything that connected ‘P’ to Dexter. So when curiosity got the best of me I did a keyword search on Stumpers and found that one librarian hypothesized that the ‘P’ connection refers to Michael Pennington, a narrator for several Morse mysteries. Following that same vein I found that Patrick Tull also has narrated a number of Morse mysteries, so that may be another option.

8. Your instructor’s daughter sent this e-mail last week. “When you get a chance, can you look for a publication by Reva Polatnik? She wrote an article about reproductive rights among black women, but I don't have any other information.”

8.a. Where should he look first? [7 points]

Expanded Academic Index

8.b.Can you identify any articles that seem likely candidates in response to the question? [2 points]

After searching for Reva Polatnik in a variety of sources to no avail I checked the spelling of her name, entering Polatnik into Google. I figured that it would probably work because her name is rather unique. Based on this search I found a M. Rivka Polatnik who is associated with the Berkeley Center for Working Families and who has written in the area of Women’s Studies. Given the similarities, I’m pretty sure Reva and Rivka is the same person. Unfortunately, the articles retrieved on the web are about the parental involvement of fathers. Using the correct spelling of Polatnik’s name I searched Expanded Academic, Lexis, Research Library as well as several Women’s Studies databases, but found nothing. Although I have not been able to locate the type of article required, there is the option of tracking it down by contacting Polatnik directly, using her email address () that is provided on one of the websites found through Google

9.You have a customer who comes to you with the following request.

“Charles Todd uses the term "pele tower" in his novel Legacy of the Dead (c. 2000). It refers to a pile of stones, the ruins of a tower in a pasture in England. Can anyone tell me where he got this odd phrase?”

9.a.What source would you suggest he consult first? [7 points]

Oxford English Dictionary

9.b.Can you provide any information about the term “pele”? [2 points]

Pele (or pele tower) along with pile and peal are obsolete forms of the word peel. According the OED definition, peel is the general name used by modern writers for the small towers or fortified dwellings built in the 16th century in the border countries of England and Scotland for defense against hostile forays. The OED also provides detail about the architectural design of peels and notes that currently the term is often applied in cases in which it has no historical support, simply as a synonym for small castle or tower.

  1. One of your faculty members is trying to identify a modern name for a lake

In Italy called “Lake Gigeus” or "Gigean Lake". He has read references to this lake from the 16th century, but can find no modern reference in gazetteers, atlases, etc. He wonders if the lake still exists, or has a different name? Can anyone help with this request?

10a.What source would you suggest as a first choice? [7 points]

Columbia Gazetteer of the World (because it is the most thorough listing of place names, and it also contains former place names.)

10b.Can you provide any information that might be helpful to the professor (hint: this had not been answered in a completely satisfactory way on the stumpers list when I last checked) [2 points]

The answer is not located in the Columbia Gazetteer. Looking through various other atlases I did locate a couple other Gigean’s, one is in Bulgaria and another is a city in Southern France. Since no current geographical materials have been successful for the professor, I suggest that he consult some 16th century maps of Italy to verify the existence and identify the location of this mysterious lake. Then he can compare the older maps with its modern counterpart to see if the modern location of the lake (or where the lake used to be) can be determined.

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Note:

  • Stumpers – may include misspellings etc. provided by the customer
  • Not every problem can necessarily be answered by items on list. At least one problem invites a web response as a 1st choice
  • Some of the questions ask for specific answers. I haven’t verified all the responses yet – It is possible that there is no answer available, though that’s is not my current expectation. If I can’t find an answer, I will not expect you to be able to. If you find an answer that I haven’t been able to find – extra credit!
  • If you detect ambiguities, ask customer for clarification

Essay Question

MOTHER GOOSE in the library! Briefly discuss at least one practical lesson that can be drawn from each of the following nursery rhymes for a librarian working with general information needs. See if you can make a connection to information in electronic form in at least one problem set -- no penalty if you don't see any. (10 points)

  1. For every evil under the sun

There is a remedy or there is none.

If there be one seek till you find it;

If there be none, never mind it.

#1. This nursery rhyme demonstrates one of the reference commandments: reference librarians should strive for perfection, but keep in mind that no one is perfect. The job of the reference librarian is to know how to locate information, or at least how to go about searching for the information. Persistence is required for difficult questions, but so it the ability to know when to stop looking. In other words it is important that the reference librarian realize that some questions do not have an answer (or at least one that can be found), and that at times one will be forced to answer a question by saying “I’m sorry I cannot find what you are looking for.”

  1. March winds and April showers

Bring forth May flowers. .

#2 This is a metaphor about the combination of two different things, which results in something altogether different and spectacular. This has occurred with the migration of print resources into electronic form. Take for example the New York Times Index. The information for the index has been laboriously amassed over time. The technology for electronic information retrieval was developed separately over time. However, when the two were combined the results was the blossoming of a resource with new, spectacular capabilities, allowing reference librarians to easily conduct exhaustive searches, searches combining terms and spanning years instead of repeating the same search in volume after volume. Understanding the positive results of the combination of technology with reference resources, that have historically been difficult to wade through, is an especially important lesson for reference librarians who are apprehensive about the increased use of technology in libraries.

  1. Goosey, goosey, gander,

Whither dost thou wander?

Upstairs and downstairs

And in my lady's chamber.

#3 This nursery rhyme presents the image of someone wandering from place to place, presumable looking for something, not finding it, and then continuing to wander. As such, the nursery rhyme demonstrates another one the reference commandments: the librarian is never the patron’s first choice for satisfying an information need. Patrons seek to meet their needs in various ways before coming to the library, only approaching the reference librarian as a last resort – when they are unsuccessful locating the information they require or when they need to ensure the absolute reliability of the information they seek.

  1. Pease porridge hot,

Pease porridge cold,

Pease porridge in the pot,

Nine days old.

Some like it hot,

Some like it cold,

Some like it in the pot,

Nine days old.

#4 Information is available in different formats (hot, cold, 9 days old). For example a general overview of a topic is available in an encyclopedia article whereas information pertaining to current trends are more likely to be contained in a yearbook. Likewise, patrons have different information needs and wants (some like it hot, some like it cold…). One might want the general overview, while another might need information about trends. Furthermore patron needs might pertain to the characteristics of the resource within a category itself; a patron might need a general overview that is written for an educated adult or that has many colorful illustrations. As such, it is the job of the reference librarian to identify the different information formats available and to identify what the patron needs and to match the two together.