THE Librarian: Spot them at your library!

You may have noticed some life-sized standees at your… opps sorry, we’ve covered the standee Librarians already! Well, these folks are not digitally shrunk/stretched into cardboard flimsy beings, but rather folks that are made of flesh and blood; like you and me. Erm. I guess.

These are the people who serve you at the reference and advisory desks at the Regional Libraries, answer your queries to the ASK! service and are also spotted at various Community Libraries. Because librarians are people too, not partially embalmed mummies. Here they’ll share something about themselves and the work they do.

Name: Felicia Chan
Common habitat: Pasir Ris Community Library
Can also be found at: Tampines Regional Library

Read on to find out more about Felicia!

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Kids ASK! about Pets & Animals

We managed to locate an answer on the Internet at one of our favourite sites, The MadSci Network. This site allows people to ask science related questions, which will then be answered by qualified scientists. From the MadSci site’s post, an expert on wool, Ms Helen Daily was consulted and according to Ms Daily (University of Adelaide) sheep’s wool does not shrink, it felts, which is to mat or press together such that it becomes compact. As a result of being pressed together, it gives the appearance of shrinking. Basically, the wool felts when it is removed from the sheep and not whilst it is still on the sheep.

Sheep’s wool felts because of the raised scales on the cuticle layer of the wool catching on to one another. To put it simply, if you look under a microscope, you would see little scales like hooks on a strand of wool. It is these “hooks” that help keeps the wool together when it is spun into yarn. However, under heat, water and agitation, the contact between the fibers and yarn actually tightens and hence shrinking occurs.

Wool on the sheep does not “shrink” because when wool is on the sheep because the “hooks” are all growing in the same direction and does not get entangled. When wool is removed from the sheep, it no longer has a “top” and bottom” and hence the scales are all in different directions which results in it catching on to one another. Therefore, the wool coat on sheep does not shrink but your own wool coat does.

Reference: MadSci Network

If you are interested to read more about sheep and wool, you can try these books:

Sheep and wool farming by Angela Crocombe
Call Number: J 636 CRO

How we use wool by Chris Oxlade
Call Number: J 677 OXL

From sheep to sweater by Robin Nelson
Call Number: JP 746.43 NEL

Please use our online catalogue to find out where you can get these books.
Image taken from Stock.Xchng, a free stock photo site.
All websites last accessed on 27 Feb 2007.

Answered by Ms Felicia Chan, 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

Questions asked:
What were the enemies of the Dodo?
How did the Dodo bird become extinct?
What did the Dodo bird eat?

The enemies of the dodo birds were animals introduced by humans, like pigs, rats and dogs which attacked the dodo’s nests.They became extinct due to massive human consumption, since they were easy to catch. Dutch colonialists, sailors and visitors to the islands where these dodos lived (e.g. Mauritius, Reunion and Rodriguez in the Indian Ocean) could easily capture them. Also, the present of predators like the dogs and pigs also affected their population. Similarly, the people who captured these dodos also did not attempt to successfully mate the birds to ensure that young dodos were around.Massive deforestation also caused these birds to lose their habitats and food supply.

Scientists’ thought on the dodo’s diet is based on speculation. Some sailors had described as seeing the dodo birds eat fish from water-pools. Visitors to Mauritius had described seeing the dodo birds eat stones and iron with no trouble. It is concluded that perhaps the rocks eased digestion.

Sources:
http://www.uom.ac.mu/Campuslife/
clubs/ASME/dodo.html
http://www.mauritius.org.uk/DODO.htm
http://www.birds.mu/Extinct/Dodo.htm

Recommended books on the Dodo :

The Dodo by Tamara Green
Publisher : Milwaukee : Gareth Stevens Pub., 1996.
Call No. : Y English 598.65 GRE
Click here for item availability.

I wonder why the dodo is dead : and other questions about extinct and endangered animals by Andrew Charman
Publisher : Boston, Mass. : Kingfisher, c1996.
Call No. : J English 591.52 CHA3
Click here for item availability.

The almost last Dodo by Geoffrey Patterson
Publisher : Aylesbury, Bucks : Ginn, c1989.
Call No. : JP English PAT
Click here for item availability.

Answered by Ms Siti Nadiah Sahul Hameed, 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.

ASK! about Anything & Everything

Our dear librarian received the following enquiry from Lee Chu Keong, a Lecturer from the Division of Information Studies, Nanyang Technological University.

“I’d like to find out the death date of Eva Curie, the second daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie. The first daughter, Irene Curie, is easily found (September 12, 1897 ? March 17, 1956). But I could not find the same information for Eva Curie (December 6, 1904 ? ???). Please also give me the reference source from which the information is found. I have already used Google to look with little success. Thank you very much for your effort.”

This was what our dear librarian found :

“Eva Curie is very much still alive. She is currently 103 years old this year and living in New York City. She contributes to the Democrats, and is still an Honorary Member of the Board of Director with UNICEF.

Archive :: In the Spotlight :: Volunteers :: Who We Are :: U.S. Fund for UNICEF

Leadership :: Who We Are :: U.S. Fund for UNICEF

All website are last accessed on 21st February, 2007.

Answered by Ms Lim Shang Nee, Librarian, Children’s Services

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

ASK! about Singapore

Where is Maria Hertogh now?
“From NLB: Maria Hertogh: No latest info. The last newspaper report in Business Times dated 26 Aug 89, Pg 6 - Executive Life, she was in USA at age 52″

My boss fellow librarian found the above post at educatewandie.com

Wandie tried using NLB’s SMS reference service by sending her question to [start shameless plug] 91787792 [/end shameless plug]. SMS is another way in which you could ask us questions. For the other ways CLICK HERE, you could call, email, fill up a form or simply walk-in. Regardless of how and where a question is received, it could be sent to different libraries/librarians depending on the subject and the type of library collections that are involved.

Anyway, if you’re interested to read the full article mentioned in Wandie’s post, it’s only available in microfilm format. The info about Maria in the article is actually presented as part of a book review of this title: The Nadra tragedy : the Maria Hertogh controversy by Haja Maideen. This book is available at most libraries under the Call No.: SING 959.5704 MAI -[HIS]. More books can be found using the keyword [Maria Hertogh] in the “Search by subjects” option in the catalogue.

Also according to our Singapore Infopedia article on Maria Hertogh, she was last reported to be living in Dallas (Maria Hertogh: Her life at a glance. (1998, July 14). The Straits Times, Home Focus, p. 28).

Found this question interesting? What do you think?
Post your comments, or send further questions about this or any other topic to ask@nlb.gov.sg

ASK! about Anything & Everything

Different parts of the brain are used for different things. You are actually using a part of your brain when you are doing an activity. Thus, when people are disturbing you, parts of your brain linked to the activities are disturbed as well.

Books on the Human Brain

Brains by Mark Garside and Kate Lennard
London : Hutchinson, 2006.
Call No.: JP English 612.8 LEN
Click here for item availability.

You can’t use your brain if you’re a jellyfish by Fred Ehrlich
Maplewood, N.J. : Blue Apple Books, 2005.
Call No: JP English 611 EHR
Click here for item availability.

The brain - what it is, what it does by Ruth Dowling Bruun and Bertel Bruun
New York : Greenwillow Books, c1989.
Call No: J English 612 BRU
Click here for item availability.

Answered by Norasyikin Ahmad Ismail, 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.

Kids ASK! about Science & Technology

Not all items that have light have heat. It would have to be dependent on the item itself. There is though such a thing called ‘cool light’. As mentioned in the ‘Chemilumiscence’ website, “Many chemical reactions produce both light and heat. A burning candle is such a reaction. When a candle is lit, its flame both glows and becomes hot. It is much less common for a chemical reaction to produce light without heat. The light from such reactions is called cool light, because it is created without heat. Reactions that produce light without heat are called chemiluminescent reactions.

Perhaps the most familiar chemiluminescent reactions are those that occur in living organisms. Fireflies produce light without heat by a chemiluminescent reaction. Chemiluminescent reactions that occur in living organisms are called bioluminescent reactions”. (Source: http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/HOMEEXPTS/Chemilum.html, last accessed 24th January 2007)

The following website and books might also be useful for you.

http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question46494.html

The science book of energy by Neil Ardley
San Diego : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992.
Call No.: J 531 ARD
Click here for item availability.

Light by Sally M. Walker
Minneapolis, Minn. : Lerner Publications Co., c2006.
Call No.: J 535 WAL
Click here for item availability.

Using Energy by Sally and Adrian Morgan
New York : Facts on File, c1993.
Call No.:Y 531.6 MOR
Click here for item availability.

Answered by Ms Siti Mardiana binte Musa, Librarian, Children’s Services

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

Kids ASK! about Pets & Animals

David Richman from New Mexico State University states that ants do breathe. They rely on a system of tubes called tracheae and tracheoles, which carry atmospheric oxygen to the tissues and almost to the cellular level. The outside openings of the tracheae are called spiracles. Gas exchange is primarily by diffusion, although larger active insects my help this along by contracting and expanding muscles around the tracheae in a process called ventilation. Ants are small enough that they need only a few spiracles and do not use ventilation. These openings usually have valves that allow the spiracle to be open or closed. As noted earlier the blood does not transport oxygen and is not red as it is in vertebrates.

In other words, ants breathe through tiny holes all over their body! The ant’s heart is a long tube that pumps colourless blood from the head back to the abdomen and back to the head again.

Sources:
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/
jul99/931925403.Gb.r.html
http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/ants.htm

Recommended books on “Ants” :

Ants by Jason Cooper.
Publisher : Vero Beach, Fla. : Rourke Pub., c2006.
Call No. : J English 595.79 COO
Click here for item availability.

The Life Cycle of an Ant by Hadley Dyer & Bobbie Kalman
Publisher : New York, N.Y. : Crabtree Pub. Co., c2006.
Call No. : J English 595.79 DYE
Click here for item availability.

Ant by Karen Hartley.
Publisher : Oxford : Heinemann Library, 2006.
Call No. : JP English 595.79 HAR
Click here for item availability.

Answered by Ms Yasmin Muhammad Asslan, 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.