Lesson 1-b The Public Library Edition

Part 1
Living somewhat near to Wind Cave National Park I had a curiosity about the black-footed ferret. They were brought into the park with the hope of reducing the prairie dog population. I thought it would be interesting to know more about them. 
            Ferrets are animals with long, thin bodies and short legs. The black-footed ferret is native to Western North America and is somewhat smaller than the domestic ferret. Their hair is slightly yellow with black feet, black tipped ears and tail with black fur around the eyes.
     
When I first typed the name in the search area there were no results as I neglected to hyphenate the first two words. There were no suggestions available if you had forgotten this but there was if the word, ferret, was misspelled which I thought very helpful for younger students. Up popped one picture and one sentence describing the animal. There are a couple of options you can choose to find out more, either click on the photo or the article listed on the left. At least 4 paragraphs were then listed as well as the option to print, save, hear the text read aloud (which I did and would be great if you struggle to read) and email. You can also translate the text into 31 different languages, again pretty neat.
Part 2
Changing to Info Finder you can instantly tell it is for older students as the font is smaller, the wording is more concise but more of them. The number of tools has also increased. Did you know you can double click on any word and it defines it for you? Try it. Wow!
In the upper right you can choose "Related Information" such as ; World Book's Educators' Center which provides a range of resources, including correlations from World Book content to state and provincial curriculum correlations, links to lesson plans and activities, and professional education links and magazine articles (25 were listed.) You can also bring both screens up to compare by clicking Info Finder + KIDS.
There are so many ways to search. If you don't know where to begin there is even a link on how to do research designed not just for students but for educators too.
What a wonderful source for homeschoolers.

Part 3  : To infinity and beyond
Having some Finnish blood running through my veins I chose Finland as my country.
I kept "keyword" as I clicked on my search word. To the left are the "Search Results" showing you how many and what kind of articles there are, to maps, pictures, web sites, etc. The right bar lists the primary sources. Once you click on your country's link the left side bar changes to the main sections of the articles contents and the right side bar now lists "Related Information" which was on the left side as "Search Results." At any time you can switch which "World Book" you want by going to the very bottom of any page and clicking on your choice.
What I find great is any patron from travellers, to students, to adults with a curiosity about any country or those wanting to know more about where their relatives came from can pick and choose the type of information they are seeking. If you want it all or just something specific, the World Book Online Reference Center is your one stop shopping. Isn't it wonderful you can not only read but listen to the text in the language or music from that particular area. This could be a useful tool to get some older folks interested in using a computer especially if they are the least bit uncomfortable around one. 
What is being offered through our libraries with World Book is more than amazing, don't you think! You always want to leave them wanting more. I even found out why my grandfather who emigrated from Finland hated the color red.