A Library CD-ROM Collection for Educators

Training in information access and evaluation was the fundamental purpose of a LSTA-supported grant at Blackburn College in 1998. In the course of providing learning opportunities for educators, including public librarians in west central Illinois, Blackburn College hosted Internet training sessions and developed a collection of books and CD-ROM databases aimed at library and classroom technology.

The results of training showed that many participants in grant activities were unfamiliar with basic library technologies, including the installation, application and evaluation of CD-ROMs, despite the familiarity and apparent ubiquitousness of these devices. Addressing such needs became a feature of grant activities and the focus of a special workshop for librarians and K-12 teachers. The collection also was featured on the college's home page (http://www.blackburn.edu). and is publicized through the Wed conference developed during the grant, (http://info.blackburn.edu). Available to k-12 and college faculty through interlibrary loan, these material are adapted to a range of subjects and levels, from general to college. The intent is to allow teachers or librarians to explore the feasibility of creating library, classroom or collaborative units incorporating the software or technology.

Since several CD-ROMs in the collection produced by Zane Publishers follow the same format, regardless of content and topic, their layout serves as an example of the role these databases can play in the library or classroom. Each CD-ROM begins with a presentation of about 30 to 50 minutes. With professional narrators and beautiful illustrations, presentations voice over each screen with two or three sentences. The user may interrupt, replay, skip or stop, and pictorial illustrations may by viewed without voice-overs. Each CD-ROM contains tests on the materials, plus a glossary, encyclopedia and a number of additional databases on unrelated topics, such as grammar or demographic data. All Zane CD-ROMs are addressed to the general audience rather than experts and could be used as presentation tools in the high school or college classrooms (depending on the course level).

Highlights from part of LSTA collection show how librarians and educators might use these resources. Borrowers may get additional information from the Web sites above, or they can contact Blackburn's Lumpkin Library through interlibrary loan at their school, public or academic library.

Arts and Music

The History of Folk Music (Zane) would be a boon for a class or unit in American music. Presentation begins with Native American music and progresses through other background musics, such as tunes from the British Isles and other major sources of immigrants. The second section features country music (in its pristine form, not the modern commercialized version), followed by black folk music. Perhaps the most interesting section of the CD-ROM deals with music's role in American history. The 317 photos and reproductions of paintings make history and its music come alive to the eye as well as ear.

The only disappointment in the Zane products is the lack of documentation. For example, the 16th century psalm tune sung to illustrate the Mayflower is never identified. Was the tune from the Ainsworth Psalter or the Bay Psalm Book, suggested by the narration? The sparse bibliography keeps its secret to itself.

Zane's History through Art is similar to the preceding music database. A series of CD-ROMs on the arts in different historical epochs assists teaching or individual study. Volume one features Native American painting and art of the Colonial period. Additional CD-ROMs are available from the publisher on different eras in art history.

Queue's Apple Pie Music deals with American music history by category and rough chronology. There are two category "pie" slices - folk, popular and religious music - and colonial, expansion and industrial eras.

* Marilyn E. Barnes, Ph.D., LSTA Grant Coordinator, Blackburn College, Carlinville.

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Figure 1. A screen from Apple Pie Music. Courtesy, Zane Publishing, Inc.

The Resources segment dishes up a large bibliograhpy of American music reference materials and a subdivided discography for users who wish to pursue recorded materials. "Music Alley" provides an alphabetic list of all categories, with headings, such as abolition, broadsides, reform, swing. Tin Pan Ally and Moravian.

Many of the selections in wave or analog files are short selections from an array of sound recordings used in this CD-ROM. An especially creative and interesting utility is the use of most selections in MIDI format (i.e., digital files with synthesized sounds frequently "recorded" via a MIDI keyboard, or other electronic instrument. The amount of user control over MIDI files also is very impressive. The user may adjust the volume, tempo or even the instrument playing the selection, look at the lyrics, like to information about the character in the song (who was "Stacker Lee"?), or may look at an essay on the song's category, such as this excerpt from "Steamboat Roustabouts."

The steamboat has been described as "an engine on a raft surrounded by a fortune in jigsaw work." Steamboat, invented by such men as John Fitch, John Stevens, and Robert Fulton, provided a way for passengers and goods to be transported upstream in the great interior rivers. The "water-chuming, bell-clanging, steam-snoring, smoke-belching, floating palaces" that Mark Twain described in Life on the Mississippi, can be compared with the luxurious cruise shops of our time.

Computer and Other Technology Resources

Intranet Resource Kit, produced by Frontier Technologies, features four of its own products, including Intranet Genie Lite, Super TCP Suite 96, Cyber Junction and CyberSearch. The user can install over views of each from the enclose CD-ROM. The largest section in the book, dealing with web-centric intranets, contains a well written set of instructions for installation and management. The book furnishes good introductions to such Web programming languages as Perl, C++, and VisualBasic as well as information on HTML. Best of all, it answers a lot of questions in plain English instead of technobabble.

Marketing Online for Dummies, like all the other "For Dummies" books, lives up to its easy-to-read reputation. The attached CD-ROM offers Windows 95 (not NT) installation for such software as Listserv for electronic group mailings; WebTurbo, a site overview program; mainspring Internet Access, and Internet service provider product; and several other freebies.

But the CD-ROM is only the dessert. The main course includes how to set up a domain, create a Web-page and use all the tools of the Internet, like news groups, mailing lists and other online mechanism. It should go without saying that this book could benefit not-for-profits as well as other businesses. A useful resource for undergraduate marketing courses, the book as a place in the college, small businesses or public library for the general reader as well as the educator or student.

English and Foreign Language Studies

British Literature: a Literary History (by Zane Publishing) traces British literature from Beowulf to Brave New World in four CD-ROM volumes. Volume One (Beowulf- Hamlet) is formatted similarly to those mentioned in the Arts section above, but some additional features make it special. Two lengthy presentations on Old and Middle English pronunciation allow the user to follow the texts as they are pronounced(a feature that alone is worth the cost of the CD-ROM).

Additionally, there are footnotes to some of the pages, not a standard Zane treatments. The dictionary is the standard on supplied by the publisher. The glossary is aimed at British literature, and cross-linked indexes provide a spider web of paths to understand concepts and allusions. Barren's Book Notes add yet another outstanding element to the volume, with subsets on Shakespeare plays, Marlowe's Faustus, and other masterpieces; these notes are so extensive that they can lead to a discussion on the work.

With British Literature, Zane Publishing has improved on its already very worthwhile productions.

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The set would be valuable in the highs school or college classroom or library.

A combination of electronic text and accompanying sound files is the organizational scheme of Voyager's 4-volume set of American Poetry. The set contains a large number of works by poets major and minor. And especially useful feature is the capability of searching the entire set or texts by any works the user selects. Although too detailed for secondary school use, this set would provide excellent reference tools for college students and scholars.

Mythology, by Thomas S. Kliese Company has a beautifully illustrated narrated slide show with interactive possibilites. Although hypertext explanations often overlay the pictures, it is possible to turn off the text and just enjoy the graphics or vice versa. Four main topics - myth, Greek myths, Greek myth sources and Roman myths - are further subdivided. Accompanying the standard glossary is a more unusual sidebar index with somewhat longer, illustrated articles on such topics as the Greek wars, Eugene O'Neill, the Odyssey, and the Caesars, which can be accessed throughout the presentation.

Teaching is aided by two other sections. "Fun and games" includes eight activities, one of which permits the player to be gobbled by a monster if the Roman poet Ovid is not correctly identified (it's easy). The more serious final section consists of Review and Testing. Scores are retained by student name and number. This product can be effective as early as middle school for supplementing materials on myths or on the Ancient World.

Paragraph Power (from Gamco) is a writing program that can be used in middle school, high school or even college (remedial level) classes. It poses a set of problematic scenarios from which the student may choose, such as a natural disaster. A carefully structured approach to writing is then adopted. The student is asked to describe the event, its causes examples of its specifics or the sequence of its details. There are sections on the topic, prewriting, the topic sentence, writing the paragraph body, conclusions and editing. Additional sections on style and mechanics help students evaluate their writing.

For the teacher, this program permits students to be organized into classes and to print class records. The teacher can choose one of five types of paragraphs to be written, with a teacher password for these administrative privileges.

Promoting higher level thinking is a stated goal of many school improvement programs. As a tool that takes careful aim at that goal. Paragraph Power can provide activities for the classroom, computer lab or school library.

Write On! Plus: Responding to Great Literature is a part of a series of products released by Sunburst to guide student writing endeavors. The setup program permits the user to identify the word processor already in use on the computer. Once installation is complete, the user open that word processor, goes to the Write On! Plus directory and open the appropriate files for the work of literature being studied.

Each work of literature is housed in a separate subdirectory and begins with a document teaching students how to use the word processor. Written materials include a teacher's manual, a set of lesson plans for each of the cover works and several.

The meat of this particular program is in the files relating to the literary works (e.g., The Great Gatsby, Romeo and Juliet). Students write in predesigned templates, which are highly structured documents that deal with specific topics or chapters, cite passages from the work and as short-answer and essay questions. For example, Hawthorn's description of Hester Prawn, how he identifies the historical period and five characteristics of the townspeople are the background for questions regarding Chapter One of the Scarlet Letter. Students enter answers into the template, save the file as their own and submit the results to the teacher. Students may also take advantage of a graphics folder form which to clip pictures into their writing.

One of the best uses of this product would be transmittal of student files to the teacher over the network. The CD-ROM is aimed at the high school (or perhaps advanced junior high school) English class or lab but could also be placed effectively in the school media center for individual work.

General and Life Experience Topics

Expert Diet and Fitness, By Projected Learning Programs, allows the user to identify weight, build, age and weight-loss goals. The program then calculates a daily caloric allowance to meet those goals. From that point, the user may input frequent or preferred types of exercise from cooking to tennis to walking. These are then listed by calories expended hourly.

Another especially helpful option is menu planning, which can be done automatically by the program or

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with manual intervention by the user. Several menu options, such as vegan or low fat, are offered before menus are created. This feature is especially valuable, as calories, fat, fiber, vitamin content and other nutritional factors are calculated both by menu item and by total daily intake. Recipes constitute another helpful feature of the CD-ROM. This CD-ROM holds a great deal of interest for patrons at almost any level, from middle school on up, and could benefit the school or public library as well as the high school health classroom.

Ferguson's Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance purveys the same sort of information as any similar print source. Jobs categories, military careers, industries, government jobs, career resources and internship opportunities are available via a click of the mouse. Job titles are listed alphabetically, with a large number of subheading for each. The user has the option of enlarging or reducing fonts, creating bookmarks and making annotations. The CD-ROM offers a significant advantage over a print version in its fielded search facility. The user may enter interests in salary, personal likes, school subjects, work environment and other career desires so the database can locate a suitable career choice.

Driver's Education '98, by Sierra online, is a driving simulation program with fast-paced video images and music. Defensive driving techniques, basic safety tips and a virtual 3D driving experience will keep students interested. Driver's Education '98 is a tough teacher - you can't move on to the next topic without a 100% score on the section test. Virtual driving, moreover, takes more skill than this veteran of many years can muster, although kids may rise to the challenge and figure out whether you should put your finger on "b" for break at the same time as you left-arrow. (The reviewer loved the program - but couldn't get the car to move forward.)

Health Today is a DOS-based CD-ROM produced by Queue. Beginning with a teacher's manual, it is primarily a set of multiple choice questions, with instant feedback on answers on a large number of health topics, including nursing, chemistry, drugs and other topics. There also is a section on career choices with an attaches personality test. Because of its date, this products contains no multimedia and, therefor, is limited to directed classroom activity.

Mathematics and Sciences

The Chemistry Set by New Media (distributed by Facts on File) is more than a database of the Periodic Tale. Its assets are significant: 500 photos, 300 video clips and 500 three-dimensional models of molecular structures give depth to textual information on the elements.

Figure 2. Midway through the video of an experiment with boron, shown in The Chemistry Set. Icons at left show interactive user options. Courtesy, New Media Co.

When one clicks on any element in the periodic table, a screen appears with a number of choices. Textual data, molecular structure, name origin information, photos, video experiments and graphic information are available.

Other information provided by this CD-ROM includes comparative data on planets, elements, countries and scientist. This outstanding products would be effective in the high school or college science lab or library.

The Way Plants Grow, by Queue, is geared toward a lower level than most of the other CD-ROM products in the collection. Seven common plants (e.g., rice, sweet potato, sunflower) are featured in attractive videos that discuss planting, germination and harvesting. There are diagrams of the seed, the leaf and other plant parts, plus and index that leads back to sections of video illustrating specific insects, plants or related concepts. There also is a "matching" game in which players find pairs of plant photos.

Audio feedback plays an important part of the CD-ROM format. This CD-ROM has greater application in the classroom than the library, can be used for teaching and for reinforcement of science concepts, and can serve as an optional activity tool.

At two levels, for grades 4-8 or 7-12, How the West Was One + Three x Four, a Sunburst publication, will

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delight students needing a painless way to learn addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and order of operations. Students can play the animated game in pairs or groups or against the computer, who has two personae depending on the difficulty level. The accompanying workbook contains classroom lessons and drills as well as transparency templates. This is a win-win situation for the teacher or the school media center.

Crash Course: Easy Statistics, by HighText interactive, is an excellent introduction to the most often used statistical tests in many fields. Each term is explained in simple language, with an example that clarifies whether it is a good measure of the data. There are interactive problems on averages, probability, data distributions, regression and sampling, with a humorous illustration of two statistical abusers. For continued practice, the user has access to the HighText Web sites, (see http://www.crashcourse.com/ and http://www.hightext-publications.com/). and there is an accompanying book. Easy Statistics would benefit the high school or college library or either context as a presentation medium for the instructor.

The Ecosystem of a Pond targets middle level students with three types of activities. An interactive video features a "mom" and two boys visiting a nearby pond, from which they collect a variety of specimens of insects, larva, plants and other life forms.

Another activity is the test or quiz. When the student answers incorrectly, the reinforcement cleverly goes back to the video rather than a text explanation of the topic. The third resource provided is text in the form of either general information or glossary terms. Additionally, there is a password protected teacher segment on the CD-ROM. The product is useful for the classroom as a presentation tool or as a backup for other work in biology, either in the library or computer lab.

Ecology I, a Zane product released under the SVE label, has four main sections: communities of organisms, community food energy flow, hardwood forests and grassland communities. Because of its general appeal, it would be most useful in the middle school classroom or the public library.

Mathville VIP, for grades 6-9, teaches a variety of basic math skills through a trip to the hardware, toy store or clothing boutique. To gain credit to purchase items, the player must go to the work center and sigh up for a job. There are about eight categories, such as quality control assessor and stockbroker assistant, and any of these jobs require math skills. The program requires the ability to formulate the problem, not merely to calculate the numbers.

Figure 3. Illustration from The Home Botanist. Courtesy, Micro-Intel.

The program provides practice in topics such as angles, estimation, congruence, mental math and poly-hedrons. Since the program is easy to control and learn, it could fulfill a number of functions. In the classroom, the teacher could direct the entire class in an active learning activity, either by teaming or individual responses. In the computer lab, the CD-ROM could direct small group work. In either the library, study hall, or classroom, students could have access to the program for challenge or extra credit work.

The Home Botanist by Micro-Intel features the Montreal Botanic Garden as the backdrop for its presentation of botanic information. This extensive piece of work discussed herbaria, research, the creation of a herbarium, detailed information on 20 specific plant families, and a biographical essay on Marie-Victorin (founder of the Montreal Botanic Garden), with encyclopedia, timeline of botanic research in Quebec and glossary as addenda. Each section begins with a video introduction and there are many photos of plants and collected, dried specimens. Excellent diagrams and hyperlinked definitions of terms, names and events provide clear historical and systematic information to the user. The encyclopedia is divided by category into evolution, genetics, plant structure, the nanatak theory, the five kingdoms of biology and the plant kingdom. Despite the Canadian slant, this CD-ROM would be valuable in college botany courses, in an academic science

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library and in the collection of the amateur botanist.

Volcanoes: Life on the Edge features photography by Roger Ressmeyer, plus narration and numerous audio quotes from other vulcanologists. Ressmeyer, sent on assignment by National Geographic to photograph major volcanoes around the world, presents the results of his travels and many volcanic tragedies. From Mt. St. Helens to Pompeii, Colima, and Pele, Ressmeyer, and colleagues were indefatigable. Each story is presented as a narrative with color photos or, in the case of historic events, other pictorial representations. There are numerous maps and a reference section with a large number of places, term and persons about whom one can summon further information. This is an exciting CD-ROM, although it has no main menu to permit easy access to the reference section. Classroom applications of Volcanoes, at least for presentation, would be effective for middle and high school. School, public and academic libraries could impress a wide range of users with this product.

Figure 4. One of many photographs in Volcanoes: Life on the Edge.

Bill Nye, the Science Guy: Stop the Rock! is a riddle-based science game exhibiting the zany humor for which Nye is famous. The player visits Nye Labs in virtual 3-D, explores the Ocean Communications Center, the Fossil Lab, the Main Lab and other areas using the virtual elevator, the virtual spiral staircase and a set of arrows and pointers. This CD-ROM would have little functionality in the classroom, although a clever teacher might actually play the game with a class, either as a reward or as a sneaky introduction to a specific curriculum topic.

The AIMS Multimedia Interactive Science Essentials Series offers CD-ROMs in biology, chemistry, physics and earth science. There are several offerings for each discipline. Force and Work: Energy in Action is one of six for teaching physics concepts. The main topics of this disk are gravity, mechanical force, electromagnetic force, nuclear strong force, acceleration, pressure and work. The user may look at the videos by general topic but may also see instead the entire video script, containing hypertext links explaining important terms, or play the videos from and index of topics like "strong force" or "potential energy." There are quizzes and tests for students. These products would be useful at the high school level in either classroom, library, or lab, or for college courses in physics for nonmajors.

Ideas that Changes the World: The Greatest Discoveries and Inventions of Human History addresses multiple needs in libraries and schools. With its interdisciplinary approach, it provides biographical information, a timeline of inventions and technological progress, overviews of eras that interweave technology with history, and an impetus to explore career opportunities in science and engineering. Sample topics include Mesopotamian pottery, Francis Crick, polymerization, McAdam roads and antiseptic surgery.

The accompanying manual provides lesson plans, diagrams, questions, projects, handouts, and additional references that simplify adopting this CD-ROM in the middle or high school classroom.

Social Science

Facts On File's The American Indian is an elaborate and well-done multimedia encyclopedia. Searching may be done by tribe, location or topic. Historical information or presented by topic rather than chronologically. Most major headings, such as religion or biography, can be searched either by tribal name or by topic. The folklore section provides a wide

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assortment of stories and legends listed by tribe. Documents, mostly letters and treaties, are listed by tribe and date, along with timelines, maps, glossary and organizational information in the reference section. The user may search multiple terms. The only disappointment for this reviewer was that fuller bibliographic information was not provided for the many delightful folk tales. The America Indian has a place in the school, college, or public library as an easy-to-use and highly informative reference work.

For Credit: High School Economics covers seven chapters on basic economic concepts, the market, enterprise and consumers, fiscal and monetary policy, and international economics. The text is simply written, with easily grasped examples. Multiple choice questions in each chapter feed back the answers and additional explanations. Credit by examination from the School for Educational Enrichment is another option.

The videos are disappointing, providing little more than titles painted on the screen with effects such as downward sweep over a backdrop of canned music. Nonetheless, the CD-ROM could be effective in a high school classroom, as it highlights ideas with helpful graphics, encompasses economic topics of interest to students, such as a car purchase or bank accounts and provides fast reinforcement for test questions.

Patrons whose knowledge of "women rulers" extends only to Elizabeth II, Cleopatra or Indira Gandhi are in for a big surprise with this ABC-Clio production. Women Leaders: Rulers Throughout History. The CD-ROM displays a wonderfully wide tapestry of biographical material, hung with names like Irene, the first female emperor of Byzantium, wicked Biblical queen Athaliah, empress Liang of the ancient Han Dynasty in China, West African queen Afuh Kota, and queen Ulrica Eleanor, who ushered in Sweden's 18th century Age of Freedom. Students will also be surprised by the number of "Cleopatras" in history.

Each biography is accompanied by a portrait or photograph and a short scholarly bibliography. In addition to timelines and overviews by geographic area, the user can access hot links to glossary terms and maps. Unfortunately, this otherwise-beautifully written database does not permit multitasking, possibly and advantage in classroom management but not for writing this short review. Women Leaders is an outstanding addition to the school, college or public library.

Engraving by Frenzeny. Library of Congress. Ghost Towns (Late 19th Century) Figure 5. From American Multimedia Archive. Courtesy of Facts on File, with credit to the Library of Congress.

Two Resource Link productions by ABC-Clio are identical in format and intended use. American Government and 20^th Century American History are part of a set of similar compact disk volumes. The CDs provide a helpful set of resources to students who wish to incorporate major historical documents into their own presentations, such as the Iroquois Constitution or the Magna Carta, or speeches and writings of leaders, such as Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" speech. Three types of files - test, picture or video—can be identified in a user's resource list. Additionally, long documents are accessible through Adobe Acrobat Reader, provided by the CD-ROM. All files can be edited with the usual word-processing or graphic tools. The list of resources, can be saved, printed or exported to other applications. The flexibility and number of ways in which such electronic resources can be utilized within the classroom for research/writing/essay context make these CD-ROM databases worthwhile acquisitions for high school, college or general implementations.

The American Multimedia Archive is a collection of images, videos and documents produced by Facts On File. It can be browsed through an outline of chapters and subheadings called the "Library Browser" or searched by topic, article or text. All graphics, audio and video sources are documented, enlargeable (photos), and searchable in lists by historical era.

Most articles are short, though extensively hyperlinked, by historical documents such as Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address may be quoted in full. There are bookmark tools and utility to save the user's

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comments in a note file. Images may be saved and text fonts may be enlarged or decreased. Windows may be titled, and the program keeps a history of the user's search. For presentations, research or casual interest, this CD-ROM has a place in public and education libraries from middle school to college.

Zane Publishing's French Revolution begins with a quotations from Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 as the musical backdrop for events leading to the cataclysm of 1789. Two such presentations front the encyclopedia, one on estates and assemblies and on the two political parties, Girondist and Jacobins. Richly colored illustrations and classical music excerpts glorify every paragraph of the presentations.

Within the encyclopedia are 144 references that access a general database. This database enables the publisher to create a dictionary plus a large number in indexes on not only the French Revolution but also American and world history, literary and musical terms, rules of English language, technology, geography, the U.S. Constitution, legal concepts, art, nutrition and economics. Teaching devices on the CD-ROM are a set of 101 questions. The only disappointment about this CD-ROM is that the paintings and other graphic illustrations are not identified.

Zane's Music and Culture is primarily a tool for teaching an introductory ethnomusicology course or for amplifying an anthropology course. It could be used in high school, though probably of limited usefulness because it does not fit into the typical curriculum. The format follows the same patter of presentations, quizzes and interlinked databases as in other CD-ROMs. Though limited to Polynesian, African and Native American, presentations are beautifully illustrated, easy-to-follow and interactive, with 274 photos and uncounted musical illustrations.

Religions of the World presents highlights of tenets and practices in Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism. With both musical and pictorial illustrations from ancient and modern times, if follows the same pattern of presentation and questions as other Zane publications.

GeoHistory is a product in the LSTA grant collection with dual forms of access. There is a CD-ROM as well as an online subscription to this database. The online service at http://www.geohistory.com provides somewhat different resources form the CD-ROM, including a "floating" page, maps, photos of specific geographic hot spots and links to a variety of news databases for current events.

Figure 7. Sample screen from GeoHistory's web site. Courtesy, GeoHistory, Inc.

Features include political articles, a Balkan timeline that goes from the ancient world to the present, and a special map, photo and event of the week. The user can search the database by topic or by time frame. A sample search of 1685 to 1750 (the years of J.S. Bach's life) produced numerous hyperlinked subtopics such as the Decline of the Ottoman Empire, Maria Theresa, Prince Ferenc Rackoczi II, Johann Gottfried Herder, Suleiman II and Joseph Haydn. Each topic is covered in at least a short article, and a click on "Decline of Ottoman Empire" brings both and article and further links to extensive articles on the Ottoman Empire and Yugoslavia. Each reference points to additional textual information and photographs from GeoHistory's archives. These databases, whether accessed through CD-ROM or the Internet, make interesting additions to the information tools of the high school or college library.

Marshal McLuhan once commented that anyone who thinks there is a difference between education and entertainment knows nothing about either. Profitania illustrates his point in an imaginative and humorous game for one to six players that teaches the complexities of making a profit in an enterprise. The producers (LavaMind) explain the game's background in the accompanying online manual:

The fantasy-like characters in the game have specific talents. Meld is a good researcher, Tugger is efficient and Zazzel is a hustler. Various departments and facilities are available to players, such as Accounting, Commodity Exchange, auctions, a Crinkle Construction company, Fiasco Insurance company and a loan office. For players with time on their hands, there are many interesting places to explore, such as Alumpoius Mhan, Igneous Hot Springs, Nacra's

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Cavity, Nupre Mati Temple and the Palace of Lost Pride.

Graphs provide each company's financial history, profit/loss, present financial status, factory size, storage, and warehouse space. The CD-ROM also contains a shareware version of Gazillionaire, described as "a cross between Monopoly set in outer space and Wall Street in Wonderland."

Should this product be used in a school library? Depending on the context, this product could serve a number of education or entertainment purposes.

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