My IPL Practice Question

So, I bit the bullet and did it. I completed a practice question to become a librarian at the Internet Public Library. Here's the transcript for my practice question. I should hear back within 4 days to see how I did. I'm excited to hear back because I think I did a decent job, but am also trying not to think of it, because I don't want to be too disappointed in case I botched it. We'll see!

Question:

Dear Internet Public Librarian,

My students have been researching Duke Ellington. They have been
unable to find information on his marital status.  Was he
married? I teach in Burlington, IA.  Thank you for your
assistance to this question. We have no dead-line for this
response.

Answer:

Hello from the Internet Public Library!

Thank you for your question about Duke Ellington's marital
status.  I'm happy to help you and your students.

Duke Ellington married Edna Thompson, his high school sweetheart,
in 1918, when he was 19 years old.  However, their marriage was
marked by Duke's adulterous affairs, and in 1929, they separated.
They never divorced.

One biography of Ellington that confirms this is unfortunately
not available at your local library, but has much of its text
available on Google Books. Google Books is a part of the Google
search engine that allows you to search the text of published
books, including biographies, to get information.  To get there,
click on the following link:

http://books.google.com/

and type “Duke Ellington David Bradbury” in the search field,
because we’re looking for a book entitled "Duke Ellington," by
David Bradbury.  From there, this book should be the first
response on your list.  Click on this book, and use the blue
navigation arrows at the top of the screen to get to page 27.
There, in the second paragraph, it gives you more details on the
falling out Ellington and Edna Thompson had over their marriage.

An exact link to this page 27 of this book is as follows:

http://books.google.com/books?id=YIwz2nivT0sC&pg=PP1&dq=duke+ellington+david+bradbury&ei=fzAKR8KAKIyKpwKygp3BDg&sig=MYp-GaVEMzGYcg4ytvRW6BuAUak#PPA27,M1

I will also provide a shortened link to the book, or TinyURL, to
this website as well, since this link is so long. Some email
clients break long URLs or web addresses up into separate lines,
breaking the link.  The TinyURL is as follows:

http://tinyurl.com/32he3q

Another resource I consulted to confirm Duke Ellington’s marital
status was The Internet Movie Database.  This database is listed
on IPL’s website as a trusted resource.  You can access the
database by clicking on the following link:

http://imdb.com/

and then typing “Duke Ellington” in the search field.  From the
selections that will then appear, click on the “Duke Ellington”
entry that appears under “Names (Exact Match)”.  From there,
click on the “more” button next to Trivia.  Here, you will get
lots of biographical information on Ellington, including a
section entitled “Spouse,” which states that Ellington and Edna
Thompson were in fact married in 1918 and later separated.

To get to this information directly, you can also click the
following link:

http://imdb.com/name/nm0254153/bio

Just to make sure my information on Ellington was correct, I also
checked his official website, DukeEllington.com, which is run by
the company that manages Ellington’s estate.  That website is as
follows:

http://www.dukeellington.com/

From there, use the navigation bar at the far left to click on
“Fast Facts.”  On the Fast Facts page, it does confirm (in the
sixth paragraph under “Did you Know?”) that Duke and Edna
separated in the late ‘20s but never divorced.

You can get to the Fast Facts page directly by clicking on the
following link:

http://www.dukeellington.com/about/fastfacts.htm

I checked your local library in Burlington to see if you had any
biographies of Duke Ellington, in case you wanted do to further
research into his life, and you do!

The website for your local library is as follows:

http://www.burlington.lib.ia.us/

From there, click on “catalog,” and in the search field, type
"Duke Ellington Reader," which is the title of one of the
biographies that your library holds.  The library’s record for
this book should appear on your screen.  A direct link to this
book record should be also available at this URL:

http://207.28.140.26/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1191K51Q3W443.203&menu=search&aspect=basic&npp=10&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=bpl&ri=&term=duke+ellington+reader&index=.GW&x=0&y=0&aspect=basic

I will also provide a shortened link to your library’s record of
this book, or TinyURL, to this website as well, since this link
is so long. Some email clients break long URLs or web addresses
up into separate lines, breaking the link.  The TinyURL is as
follows:

http://tinyurl.com/ytre2o

At the time I write this, the book is available, so feel free to
go check it out!

If you still have more questions, please write back.  I'm happy
to help.

Thanks for visiting the IPL!