This Email of the Month posting examines an interesting interaction that took place entirely by email. The patron obviously had a difficult time connecting to a librarian on the live service (for any number of possible reasons not spelled out in their initial question). The question was asked at 10:52 AM on a Saturday. Later that day, one of our Kent State University School of Library and Information Science (KSU SLIS) interns responded with an authoritative answer along with citation information! The patron asked a follow-up question that Sunday morning to which a reply was sent by another of our interns later that same day. A couple days later, the patron had yet another follow-up to which Emma at Rocky River Public Library emailed an encyclopedia article to answer the question. The ability of various librarians to seamlessly respond to patron questions via email is demonstrated beautifully with this series of interactions in March.
-- Original Question from Guest --
I guess nobody is on right now and I need an answer to my question soon. What is the first sing of spring.
-- Reply from Kris Steel (KSU SLIS Intern) --
Hello,
This email is in response to your recent question to KnowItNow24x7, Ohio's statewide online reference service.
This World Book Encyclopedia article may help you answer your question:
Spring is the season after winter and before summer. The Northern Hemisphere has spring weather from late March through May. In the Southern Hemisphere, spring weather begins in September and lasts through November. Throughout much of the middle latitudes, spring begins with the melting of winter snow. People living in the tropics rarely consider spring a distinct season because the temperatures there change little from month to month.
The number of daylight hours increases during spring, particularly in the polar regions, and the temperature rises. Nature awakens in spring. Flowers bloom, and hibernating animals leave their winter sleeping places. Many cultures have festivals that celebrate the arrival of spring.
Historically, the year began with spring in many cultures. Evidence of this practice in ancient Rome remains part of the modern calendar. Counting March instead of January as the first month of the year, we find that September, October, November, and December are the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth months. The prefixes sept-, oct-, nov-, and dec- come from the Latin words for 7, 8, 9, and 10.
Contributor: Jon E. Ahlquist, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Meteorology, Florida State University.
How to cite this article: To cite this article, World Book recommends the following format:
Ahlquist, Jon E. "Spring." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2010. Web. 6 March 2010.
To access the World Book Online, start here: http://www.ohioweblibrary.org/. Enter your zip code to continue. Click on "Resources." On the next page, look under the heading "Reference and Research." You'll find World Book Online under that heading.
I hope this information helps answer your question. Thank you for using KnowItNow24x7.
-- E-mail Follow-up from Guest --
I need more of a specific answer like an animal that comes out perticularly a bird that comes out in the spring.
-- Reply to Follow-up from Layla Arnold (KSU SLIS Intern) --
Hello,
This email is in response to your recent question to KnowItNow24x7, Ohio's statewide online reference service.
In regards to looking for specific "signs of spring," you can check out a few interesting websites. The first is one from a Bird Watcher's Digest which notes specific birds that come out at the beginning of spring:
http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/backyard_birds/top_ten/signsofspring.aspx
Here's an article from Cleveland, last year:
http://blog.cleveland.com/neobirding/2009/03/_nothing_puts_the_change.html
You can also look at news articles that note different signs of spring in their areas:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/21/AR2010022103672.html
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/162136/
And interestingly, if you're on Facebook, the Missouri Department of Conservation has a note posted that deals with signs of spring in their area:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=293906360628
I hope this information helps answer your question. Thank you for using KnowItNow24x7.
-- Second E-mail Follow-up from Guest --
Thank you for this information But I still have a couple more questions. What does a wood cock look like and where can I see one?
-- Reply to Second Follow-up from Emma Dittmar (Rocky River Public Library) --
Hello,
This email is in response to your recent question to KnowItNow24x7, Ohio's statewide online reference service.
I emailed you an article from World Book Online.
I hope this information helps answer your question. Thank you for using KnowItNow24x7.