ASK!

THE Librarian: Spot them at your library!

ASK! Editor Yasmin Asslan delves deeper into the minds of your friendly neighbourhood librarian…

Yasmin: I set out on a brief mission to find out how some of our dear colleagues; fellow librarians ‘tick’. Surely they’d have a lot to say about the ASK service and the weird, insane and not-so-insane questions received. So during a meeting at the Central Lending Library, I decided to hound someone down and torture them with questions about their work.

And so my victim, er, interviewee for the day is Mr. Roy Won, a Librarian from Woodlands Regional Library. And as I materialised in front of him, he knew that there was no escape. [In addition, I did e-mail the questions to Roy so there was no tabloid style editing.] Muahaha.

Read on to find out what transpired between Roy and Yasmin!

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ASK! about Anything & Everything

Teens always tell us, “We need to do a project on Racial Harmony, do you have any books on this topic?”
We can explore what countries are doing to promote better understanding of different religions and faiths.

The librarian found a website which you can refer to:
Inter-Religious Organisation, Singapore
An organisation which aims to promote understanding, friendship and cooperation between the different faiths in Singapore. (Last accessed: 23 January 2007)

Oxford dictionary of English (2003) defines religion as “the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods or a particular system of faith and worship”.

What are world religions?
World religions are religions with many followers that have crossed national borders. Examples of world religions are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. These are the top four major religions in the world as ranked by the number of adherents. Christianity leads with 2.1 billion followers, followed by Islam (1.3 billion), Hinduism (900 million) & Buddhism (376 million). These religions have spread to most parts of the world.
Source: Religions of the World, last accessed 24 January 2007

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ASK! about Fiction

The suggested books are based on the following selection criteria:
reads with themes that appeal to the tweens
simple, yet fast-paced plots
titles that cater to avid readers

Some of the evergreen themes that appeal to children and teens are: horror, fantasy and mystery. After “Mr Midnight” series, you might like to introduce other available horror novels. This could help to break away the mindset of horror stories which are all about “Mr Midnight” and “Singapore Ghost Stories”.

The Watch House by Robert Westall
Call No.: Y English WES

“Ghosts in this book do not just spook you out. They have a history and reason for doing so. A girl’s unhappiness draws them to her and she discovers their world and secrets. Serious as the theme may sound, the characters are funny and theme interesting.”

Ghosts I have Been by Richard Peck
Call No.: Y English PEC
“Girl with special sight goes through a series of adventures, such as helping a child-ghost in trouble. The story is meaningful for children and filled with humourous moments.”

The Scarecrows by Robert Westall
Call No.: Y English WES
“This story combines family drama with th supernatural. A boy hetests his stepfather and his wrath brings out the ghosts of evil. In the end, he realises that he will be the one to banish them and protect his family from harm.”

For those who fall head over heels for Harry Potter, try
The Oracle by Catherine Fisher

Call No.: Y English FIS
“Female heroine in search of a new god in a Graeco-Egyptian world. Her quest is secret and fraught with danger. Within her soul she is torn by conflict for her faith is weak, yet she must seek the new god to save her world.”
The trilogy continues with Book 2 – The Archon and Book 3 - The Scarab

Eragon by Christopher Paolin
Call No.: Y English PAO

“A farm boy discovers a dragon’s egg and his life is changed forever.”

The Owl Service by Alan Garner
Call No.: Y English GAR
“A tragedy from the past replays itself when a strange pattern of owls is discovered. While the atmosphere is errie, the writing is witty and engaging.”

The New Policeman by Kate Thompson
Call No.: Y English THO
“An Irish teenager attempts to save his the things he love – family, music- from leaking into the fairies’ land. He also uncovers a crime his grandfather may or may not have commited.”

The Amulet of Komondor by Adam Osterweil

Call No.: J English OST
“Joe and Katie become actual characters in a computer game. They fight dragons and the FBI in the relams of magic and Earth.”

Knights of the Kitchen Table by Jon Scieszka ; illustrated by Lane Smit
Call No.: JS English SCI
“Three boys travel through time and adventure with King Arthur and his knights.”

Here are some suggested titles on Mystery & Thrillers:

Midnight Magic by Avi
Call No.: J English AVI
“In Italy in 1491, Mangus the magician and his apprentice are summoned to the castle of uke Claudio to determine if his daughter is indeed being haunted by a ghost.”

Spider Kane and the Mystery at Jumbo Nightcrawler’s by Mary Pope Osborne ; illustrated by Victoria Chess
Call No.: J English OSB
“Lieutenant Leon Leafwing and Detective Spider Kane investigate the mysterious disappearance of Leon’s mother and members of the Order of the Moth.”

Behind the Curtain : an Echo Falls Mystery by Peter Abrahams
Call No.: Y English ABR
“A girl mimics her favourite detective Sherlock Holmes and solves mysteries in her home.”

The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler
Call No.: Y English HOO
“A boy tries to solve the mystery of the stolen jewel. Story set in olden Japan when it was the dream of many young boys to become a samurai.”

Read on for more suggested reads by authors

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ASK! about Anything & Everything

To uncover the mystery of “do the blind see in their dreams”, the librarian searched the Factiva database and found these interesting articles:

The Blind Use Other Senses in Their Dreams by Dan Kincaid. Edmonton Journal. 30 January 2003.

“Ever wonder what people who are blind “see” in their dreams?
J. Allan Hobson, one of today’s leading dream-and-sleep researchers, addresses this in his new book, Dreaming: An Introduction to the Science of Sleep (Oxford). People who are born without sight, Hobson says, never experience any visual images whatever, asleep or awake. This is because their visual systems never had the contact with the “outer” world necessary to develop he neurological “code” to handle visual signals; hence, they cannot “call up” images. People without sight, though, do dream: They use other senses in their dreams, Hobson says, such as bodily sensations and the sense of body position.”

The above mentioned book is also available in our libraries:
Dreaming: an Introduction to the Science of Sleep by J. Allan Hobson.
Publisher: Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2003.
Call No.: English 153.64 HOB
Click here for item availability.

Another book by the same author also available at libraries:
Dreaming as Delirium : how the Brain Goes Out of Its Mind by J. Allan Hobson.
Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1999.
Call No.: English 612.82 HOB-[HEA]
Click here for item availability.

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ASK! about Anything & Everything

It is accepted universally that water has its cleansing properties, hence water is commonly used for bathing. Apart from water, people also use milk, oil or other liquid to bath.

Bath is the “process of soaking the body in water or some other aqueous matter such as mud, steam, or milk. The bath may have cleanliness or curative purposes, and it can have religious, mystical, or some other meaning”
Source: bath. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved January 16, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9013737

“Water cleans the body, and by extension, purifies it. These two main qualities confer a highly symbolic – even sacred – status to water. Water is therefore a key element in ceremonies and religious rites. As such, water is often used in religious rituals, as it symbolizes cleanliness and purity. Not only does water wash away external signs of dirtiness, in many cultures, it also erases spiritual difficulties. Through contact with or immersion in water, believers can cleanse themselves of wrong-doing, or simply rid themselves of signs of the secular world, and prepare themselves to enter the religious and spiritual realm.”
Source: Water and World Views: Water, religions and beliefs, last accessed 16 January 2007.

Books on water and its uses

Click here for item availability.

Water: our Precious Resource by Roy A. Gallant.
Publisher: New York: Benchmark Books, 2003.
Call No.: Y English 553.7 GAL
“An in-depth look at Earth’s waters and mankind’s uses of water throughout history which includes ideas about planning better use of this critical resource in the future.”

Click here for item availability.

World of Water: Essential to Life by Rona Arato.
New York, N.Y.: Crabtree Pub. Co., c2005.
Call No: J English 551.48 ARA
“Discusses the importance of water, water resources, and how to keep it clean for future generations.”

Answered by Marhama Mohd, Librarian, Adult & Young People’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to mailto:ask@nlb.gov.sg?subject=ASK_blog- instead of sending a comment.

Kids ASK! about Science & Technology

Let us first address the question of dimension. When you speak of dimension and travel, you are talking about the 4th dimension. The first three dimensions are space-related dimensions. To put it simply

Dimension 1: A line, for example the circumference of a circle
Dimension 2: Area, for example the space inside the circle
Dimension 3: Volume, everything inside a sphere or a ball
Dimension 4: Time

Therefore, what you are talking about when you say traveling to another dimension is a actually a movement through BOTH time and space. Let us rephrase the question – is it possible to travel through time and space?
Despite what movies suggest, no time machine has been successfully created but there are many ideas as to how one can be created and whether it is even possible at all. Some people think it is impossible because it does not make sense. For example, if a boy travels backwards in time and accidentally lends on his grandfather when the grandfather is still a boy and kills his grandfather in the process, he cannot possibly exist because his father would then never have been born. From this you can see that the idea of time travel is a very complicated one. The only way around it is to imagine multiple universes running parallel (in other words running side by side) to the one we are in and in each would be the same world with the different possibilities happening.

Confused? Let me draw it out…

Universe 1: Grandfather lives –> Father is born –> Boy is born
Universe 2: Grandfather lives –> Father dies young –> Boy does not exist
Universe 3: Grandfather dies young –> Father does not exist –> Boy does not exist

In other words, when you speak of dimension, you could be speaking of multiple universes BUT we do not know for sure if there really are multiple universes. Some people think that the key to understanding the universe is to understand time. To find out more, try reading:

Time by Robert Snedden.
Publisher: London: Belitha Press, 1994.
Call No.: Y English 529 SNE
Click here for item availability.

Time and the Universe by Mary and John Gribbin; illustrated by Nick Dewar.
Publisher: London: Hodder Children’s Books, 1997.
Call No.: Y English 523.1 GRI
Click here for item availability.

Cosmic journeys: A Beginner’s Guide to Space and Time Travel by Sarah Angliss.
Publisher: Brookfield, Conn.: Copper Beech Books, 1998.
Call No.: Y English 629.41 ANG
Click here for item availability.

Reference:
Curious About Astronomy
Last accessed: 16 January 2007

However, do remember that these “answers” are only guesses. Scientists do not even know for sure how big the universe is so as to whether there are really multiple universes remains something that still needs to be discovered.

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Kids ASK! about Anything & Everything

According to the definition of The World Book: “Tower is an architectural structure whose height is much greater than its width or its thickness. Towers are generally taller than their surrounding structures. They may stand alone, or be attached to walls or buildings. The first towers were for military or religious purposes, but over the centuries towers have assumed other uses.”

Source :
The World Book encyclopedia.
Publisher : London ; Chicago : World Book International, c1997.
Call No. : R vol.19, pg. 348b English q031 WOR
Click here for item availability.

World’s Tallest Towers
Note :
Height is from top to bottom, antennas included. A tower differs from a building in that the latter has floors, and is designed for residential, business, or manufacturing use. The structures listed here are principally telecommunications towers, and while they may have observation decks or restaurants, they do not have floors all the way up. Towers and buildings are freestanding structures; this list does not include masts supported by guy wires. The tallest mast currently standing is the KVLY-TV Mast in North Dakota, built in 1963; it is 629 m (2,063 ft) tall. The tallest mast of all time was the Warszawa Radio Mast near Konstantynów, Poland, built in 1974; it was 646 m (2,120 ft) tall before collapsing during renovation work in 1991. (Note that the name of a building or mast may include the word “tower,” but that does not affect its status.) This list also does not include the Petronius Platform, built in 2000 in the Gulf of Mexico, which is 610 m (2,001 ft) tall without its spire, or 640 m (2,100 ft) with it. While it is the world’s tallest freestanding structure, 535 m (1,754 ft) of it is underwater and it is partly supported by buoyancy.

Source: World’s Tallest Towers : Infoplease.com
Website last accessed 11th January, 2007.

Recommended books on “towers” :

The Eiffel Tower by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen.
Publisher : Detroit, Mich. : KidHaven Press, c2006.
Call No. : J English 725 BAR
Click here for item availability.

The incredible story of skyscrapers by Greg Roza.
Publisher : New York : Rosen Pub. Group’s PowerKids Press, 2004.
Call No. : J English 720 ROZ
Click here for item availability.

The World Trade Center by Debbie Levy.
Publisher : Detroit, Mich. : KidHaven Press, c2005.
Call No. : J English 720 LEV
Click here for item availability.

The tallest building by Janet Halfmann.
Publisher : San Diego, Calif. : KidHaven Press, c2004.
Call No. : J English 720 HAL
Click here for item availability.

Skyscrapers and towers by Chris Oxlade.
Publisher : London : Belitha, 1996.
Call No. : J English 720 OXL
Click here for item availability.

Answered by Ms Hiew Pek Een, Librarian, Children’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to mailto:ask@nlb.gov.sg?subject=ASK_blog- instead of sending a comment.

Kids ASK! about Anything & Everything

Yes, kings and queens still live in castles. Below is an example of a Queen who still lives in a castle.

Buckingham Palace in London is the Queen Elizabeth’s official residence. Windsor Castle, outside London, serves as the royal family’s weekend residence. Vacations are spent at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and Sandringham House in eastern England.

Source : Packard, J. M. (2006). Elizabeth II. The New Book of Knowledge®. Retrieved December 9, 2006, from Grolier Online http://nbk.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=a2009100-h

You may access the above document via our Grolier On line database available at all multimedia stations at the libraries.

If you want to find out more information on “castles”, you may refer to the following books: :

100 facts on knights & castles by Jane Walker.
Publisher : London : Bardfield Press, 2006.
Call No. : J 940.1 WAL
Click here for item availability.

The world of castles by Philip Steele.
Publisher : Boston, Mass. : Kingfisher, 2005.
Call No. : J 940.1 STE
Click here for item availability.

Life in a castle by Kay Eastwood.
Publisher : New York, N.Y. : Crabtree Pub. Co., c2004.
Call No. : J 728.8 EAS
Click here for item availability.

Answered by Ms Azizah Osman, Librarian, Children’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to mailto:ask@nlb.gov.sg?subject=ASK_blog- instead of sending a comment.

Kids ASK! about Pets & Animals

Slugs and snails are very similar because they are molluscs (mollusks) – a creature with a soft and slimy body.

The difference lies in their shells. For a snail, the shell is external and spiral-shaped. Most slugs do not have an obvious shell. The shell has become greatly reduced and in most species, it is completely internal. However, in a few species, part of the flat shell is visible.

When a snail encounters danger, it pulls its whole body inside the shell. Some snails have an operculum, which covers the opening when the animal has withdrawn itself.

A slug’s body is covered on top by a mantle, which is a layer of soft tissue. When threatened, it shrinks under the mantle, but is does not gives much protection.

Recommended books on “snails and slugs” :

Snails, shellfish & other mollusks by Daniel Gilpin.
Publisher : Minneapolis, Minn. : Compass Point Books, 2006.
Call No. : J English 594 GIL
Click here for item availability.

Slugs and snails by Claire Llewellyn.
Publisher : London : Franklin Watts, 2001.
Call No. : J English 594 LLE
Click here for item availability.

Slugs and snails by Sally Morgan.
Publisher : London : Belitha, 2000.
Call No. : JP English 594 MOR
Click here for item availability.

Snails and slugs by Elaine Pascoe.
Publisher : Woodbridge, Ct: Blackbirch Press, c1999.
Call No. : J English 594 PAS
Click here for item availability.

Slugs and snails by Theresa Greenaway.
Publisher : Hove : Wayland, 1999.
Call No. : J English 594.3 GRE
Click here for item availability.

Answered by Ms Chew Siew San, Librarian, Children’s Services

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If you have a different question, please email to mailto:ask@nlb.gov.sg?subject=ASK_blog- instead of sending a comment.

ASK! about Anything & Everything

The Garden of Eden is referred to in the Bible.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Online:
The Garden of Eden refers to:
“in the Old Testament Book of Genesis, biblical earthly paradise inhabited by the first created man and woman, Adam and Eve, prior to their expulsion for disobeying the commandments of God.”
Eden, Garden of. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 29, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9031977

[image from http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/
auth/bassano/garden-eden/]

The Encyclopaedia Britannica is a edatabase available via NLB’s digital library, and a login is necessary to read the full article. More details here. There are several hypotheses (rather than a definite identification) on the location of the Garden as well as whether it actually existed or was merely a myth used for theological purposes.

Please refer to the following for some of these locations, hypotheses:

Archaeological encyclopedia of the Holy Land / edited by Avraham Negev and Shimon Gibson
New York : Continuum, 2001
Call No.: 220.93 ARC

The Oxford guide to people & places of the Bible / edited by Bruce M. Metzger, Michael D. Coogan
New York : Oxford University Press, c2001
Call No.: 220.903 OXF

Nelson’s illustrated Bible dictionary : an authoritative one-volume reference work on the Bible, with full-color illustrations / general editor, Herbert Lockyer, Sr. ; consulting editors, F.F. Bruce … [et al.]
Nashville : T. Nelson, c1986
Call No.: R 220.3 NEL

The HarperCollins Bible dictionary / general editor, Paul J. Achtemeier ; associate editors, Roger S. Boraas … [et al.] with the Society of Biblical Literature
San Francisco, CA : HarperSanFrancisco, 1996
Call No.: R 220.3 HAR

Smithsonian article

The First Post article

Searching for Eden (from the book: Time Detectives)

Time detectives : how archaeologists use technology to recapture the past / by Brian Fagan
New York : Simon & Schuster, c1995
Call No.: 930.1 FAG
[This is the book from which the above excerpt was taken]

Wikipedia (do note that Wikipedia can be edited by anyone)

All websites last accessed on 28 Dec 2006.

Answered by Jillian Lim, Librarian

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If you have a different question, please email to mailto:ask@nlb.gov.sg?subject=ASK_blog- instead of sending a comment.