Just clicking around...
I'm something of a modern day hippy and decided to click into "Endangered Species" under the Environment section. This particular title has three volumes. Professionally I'm not sure how I would use this, because even though libraries have been drastically reducing staff numbers over the last year or so, I'm not sure we qualify as an endangered species. However, I did read an article this morning on CNN.com about giant catfish that could face extinction if the Mekong River is dammed as a power source. It seems that its habitat has been threatened in 2003 due to slated dynamited navigation channel improvements. Other than the standard habitat and life cycle information about the giant catfish, I learned that there are villagers in Northern Thailand who believe that catfish are sacred. Now they must be crazy because catfish are the most ugly fish I have every encountered in my life. I appreciated reading more about the giant catfish and I hope that there doesn't have to be an updated entry on them because they are even more endangered.
Basically Searching...
Since I don't know what foods have zinc in them, I thought I might start with searching for answers to that question. My search resulted in one useful article that told me that the best food to find zinc in are "lamb, beef, leafy grains, root vegetables such as potatoes and carrots, shellfish, and organ meats such as liver or kidneys."*
I then looked up an article on Hindu gods because while wracking my brain for a question, I realized I could remember how to spell Shiva (random, I know). The article I found told me all about Devi, the wife of Shiva. Devi has numerous other names and incarnations including Kali, which was familiar from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I tried the Read Speaker feature for this article....when it came to the pronunciations in parentheses I had to laugh. Half of the time the reader pronounced them differently than in the main article or spelled out part of the pronunciation. So I wouldn't say that was entirely helpful, but I wasn't expecting perfection.
*Brody, Tom, and Samuel Uretsky. "Minerals." The Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health: Infancy through Adolescence. Ed. Kristine Krapp and Jeffrey Wilson. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 1186-1188. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 28 July 2010.
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Hi, Library Chick! I completely agree with you about catfish!!! However, they serve a purpose, and I'm glad you could find out more about them in the Endangered Species book. I don't know if it's still true, but a couple years ago, Endangered Species was the most used GVRL volume in SD. Interesting comments on the read-aloud re: Shiva article. Another participant recorded mispronunciation of "Pierre" as SD's capital, but then I think that SDakotans are actually the ones who mispronounce that word. In general, I like the read aloud to hear medical & scientific terms, and of course, it would be helpful for those with reading or vision difficulties. Thanks for your comments!
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