If nothing else, I learned a lot today: that there is an animal called a
"coot"; that there is such a thing as Wild Celery; and that it is bad to
feed bread to ducks.
\Good Day!
Lisa
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
> [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of B.G. Sloan
> Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 3:02 PM
> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Another Google adventure
>
> As I noted in another post to the list, Martha Yee's REAL
> question was very specific: "is bread bad for coots?" But
> then she proceeds to query Google with the very generic "what
> do coots eat?" I think you'd be hard pressed to find the
> answer to the "is bread bad" question in the results to a
> "what do coots eat" question. Most results dealing with what
> coots eat discuss the coot's natural diet, of which bread
> doesn't seem a part. :-)
>
> Yee also says: "When I got home, I typed in to Google's
> famous search box 'what do coots eat?' The reply that came
> back was a web site entitled 'What do eagles eat?''"
>
> That made me think that there was only one match to Yee's
> search ("the" reply) titled "What do eagles eat?" When I
> tried the search repeatedly I couldn't find a similar example
> until the fourth page of results. It was titled "What do bald
> eagles eat?" I think it's kinda odd to use an example that
> doesn't even show up until the fourth page of results.
>
> Bernie Sloan
>
> Geoff Sinclair <geoffs_at_NIPISSINGU.CA> wrote:
> Wikipedia tells us that coots "are omnivorous, eating plant
> material, insects, fish, and other aquatic animals". [The
> 10-second answer]
>
> From _Ducks, Geese, & Swans of North America_, I see that
> coots are "mainly vegetable feeders, and are particularly
> fond of wild celery".
> [The 10-minute answer]
>
> Which one is the better answer? I have no idea. In WorldCat,
> various editions had the LCSH subjects: Waterfowl -- North
> America, Birds -- North America, and Anatidae.
>
> Advantage: Wikipedia
> -- it doesn't require its users to imagine the sort of work
> that would likely contain the information that will meet their needs
> -- it's faster
> -- I didn't even need to know that coots were waterfowl, let
> alone that they are in the family Anatidae (more probably,
> Rallidae, as both Wikipedia and _Ducks, Geese, & Swans of
> North America_ assert)
>
> Advantage: WorldCat
> -- wild celery is probably a better answer. Mmmm, wild celery.
>
> Geoff
>
> --
> Geoff Sinclair
> Manager of Technical Services
> Education Centre Library, Nipissing University / Canadore College
> Tel: 705-474-3450 x4439
> E-mail: geoffs_at_nipissingu.ca
> Web: http://www.eclibrary.ca
>
> _____________________________________________________________________
> Nipissing University Ranks #1 in Maclean's University Graduate Survey
>
>
>
> Martha Yee wrote:
> > I know this is asking for trouble, but I can't resist sharing my
> > latest Google adventure with you all. My husband and I were feeding
> > stale bread to some coots on Echo Park Lake (in a neighborhood park
> > near our house), when I was suddenly conscience-stricken at the
> > realization that I didn't actually know if stale bread was good for
> > coots. When I got home, I typed in to Google's famous
> search box "what
> > do coots eat?" The reply that came back was a web site
> entitled "What
> > do eagles eat?" In the list of eagle edibles was coots.
> >
> > In LCSH, the heading Coots--Food would give you perfect recall and
> > precision for monographs wholly about what coots eat, if there were
> > any. If this society placed a high value on universal employment
> > (which it clearly doesn't), the heading Coots-Food would
> also bring up
> > journal articles and papers that were wholly about what
> coots eat. We
> > could even imagine a future in which correct RDF coding
> might allow a
> > computer to translate the heading for a user who couldn't
> understand
> > LCSH-ese into "food that coots eat."
> >
> > Just saying...
> >
> > Martha
> >
> > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
> >
> > Martha M. Yee
> > Cataloging Supervisor
> > UCLA Film & Television Archive
> > 1015 N. Cahuenga Blvd.
> > Los Angeles, CA 90038-2616
> > 323-462-4921 x27
> > 323-469-9055 (fax)
> > myee_at_ucla.edu (Email at work)
> >
> > Campus mail:
> > 302 E. Melnitz
> > 132306
> >
> > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
> >
> >
> > "You have a dollar. I have a dollar. We swap. Now you have
> my dollar
> > and I have your dollar. We are not better off. You have an
> idea. I have an idea.
> > We swap. Now you have two ideas and I have two ideas. Both
> are richer.
> > When you gave, you have. What I got, you did not lose. That's
> > cooperation"-Jimmy Durante quoted in Schnozzola, by Gene
> Fowler, 1951, p. 207-208.
> >
> >
>
>
>
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Received on Tue Jan 29 2008 - 15:09:28 EST