General Bibliographies National Bibliographies Trade Bibliographies

1. General Bibliographies • National Bibliographies • Trade Bibliographies

2. GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES • You’ve already been using one with Balay’s Guide to Reference Books • Any bibliography will typically provide--in some sort of arrangement--a listing of books or articles on a specific topic • Some selective in nature--others will list anything and everything

3. BIBLIOGRAPHIES FOR THE LIBRARIAN • Books for College Libraries an excellent guide published by the people who bring us Choice--Association of College and Research Libraries • Now third edition (1988)--prev. eds. publ. in 1967 and 1975 • A “recommended core collection for undergraduate libraries” with 1000 students, 100 faculty, 10 fields of study • Covers about 50,000 titles

4. BOOKS FOR COLLEGE LIBRARIES • Six-volume set arranged by LC classification number--sort of • Each volume devoted to broad discipline (Humanities, History, Social Sciences, etc.), then broken out by LC number • No annotations; just basic cataloging info. No price or in-print status, either

5. SAMPLE ENTRY: BOOKS FOR COLLEGE LIBRARIES • NA210-340 ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE • Badawy, Alexander. ?1.5215 • A history of Egyptian architecture.--Giza: Studio Misr, 1954-. v. : ilus. (part col.), map, plans. Vols. 2-3 have imprint: Berkeley, University of California Press. 1. Architecture--Egypt--History. I. T. • NA215.B3 LC a 55-4746

6. READER’S ADVISER • Increasingly pricey work; now at some $500 for six volumes • First published in 1921 as The Bookman’s Manual • Good brief biographies and generally reliable listing of books with annotations • Works listed should be in “modestly sized libraries”

7. READER’S ADVISER • Thirteenth edition brought major revision: expanded to six volumes from previous three • Volumes divided by discipline • Only in print titles are listed • CD-ROM version in Crown Lab; but only one user at a time

9. PUBLIC LIBRARY CATALOG • One of H. W. Wilson’s many similar collections, including Fiction Catalog, Children’s Catalog, etc. • Lists nonfiction books published or distributed in U. S. that are in print • Arranged by Dewey number • Latest compilation has some 7500 titles and 4000 analytical entries (such as short stories or plays within collections)

10. PUBLIC LIBRARY CATALOG • Katz generally criticizes these “committee” sort of works, and somewhat justifiably • Rather conservative in selection • Quotes from reviews provide most of the annotations, though there are some other notes • Update cycle makes it more useful than most; a large, bound volume followed by four annual supplements

12. REFERENCE SOURCES FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED LIBRARIES • Pretty much what title implies • If Balay’s price tag too large to swallow ($275), try this source ($40) • Balay covers some 16,000 titles; this source, about 1900 • Introductory material within each discipline rather helpful • Annotations a bit more opinionated than Balay

13. AMERICAN REFERENCE BOOKS ANNUAL • Attempts to review all reference books published in English within a given year; sole exception is encyclopedias or highly specialized works • Probably the best first place to go for a quick review of a recently published reference work--taking into account its publication schedule

14. AMERICAN REFERENCE BOOKS ANNUAL • ARBA will occasionally list other reviews of the work with date of review--though inconsistent with this • In a given year, reviews the largest number of reference books by far when compared to journals like Choice or Library Journal

15. BIBLIOGRAPHIES OF BIBLIOGRAPHIES • Difficult concept for average patron to grasp • A listing of other bibliographies; a bibliography that will tell you where other bibliographies exist • Result: the source is “twice removed” from the original publication • Really a good research practice: finding one good bibliography

16. BIBLIOGRAPHIC INDEX • Typical H. W. Wilson-style index, but with a twist, in that it indexes bibliographies • Covers both books as well as bibliographies that appear at the end of articles • Article bibliographies must have at least fifty citations

18. NATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES • There is no “universal bibliography”; a listing of everything published anywhere throughout time • As Katz points out, we’re at least getting closer to a universal bibliography of things published today • National bibliographies at least try to cover material within a country

19. NATIONAL UNION CATALOG • Currently published on microfiche; which makes what was previously cumbersome to use in book form now downright ridiculously insane • Contains holdings of Library of Congress plus some 1500 other libraries--hence title of UNION list • Has author, title, subject indexes with a register number for full cataloging information

20. NATIONAL UNION CATALOG • To find out where book actually is, must use Register of Additional Locations, which is arranged by LC number! • To further confuse matters, the date a work winds up in NUC depends on when book was acquired by Library of Congress or another library--not its date of publication

21. NATIONAL UNION CATALOG--WHY USE IT • ? • Maybe useful for non-Roman alphabets that you’ve given up trying to search for on a computer or for titles that contain too many diacritical marks • Useful for when you want to use insanity defense at a trial • Basic Lesson: Use OCLC, FirstSearch, or other online utilities!

22. RETROSPECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHIES • These are not on syllabus and you don’t have to know them! • Sabin’s Bibliotheca Americana started publication in 1868 and included books pertaining to and published in the United States; completed in 1936 • Problem: he included books up to the date of publication of the volume he was working on; uneven coverage resulted; generally 1500 - 1892

23. RETROSPECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHIES • Evan’s American Bibliography is chronologically arranged from 1639 imprints until 1800; publ. 1903-59 • Relied on many secondary sources; resulted in ghost entries; critics say one entry in ten never existed or had serious errors • Later picked up by Shaw & Shoemaker’s American Bibliography

24. CUMULATIVE BOOK INDEX • One of the more reliable bibliographies; published since 1898 • Covers books published in English regardless of country of origin; in reality, non-U. S. books are more of a selection than anything else • Remains somewhat useful for its subject access to older books and what they originally cost; though FirstSearch all but replaces former use

25. NATIONAL UNION CATALOG, PRE-1956 IMPRINTS • Date reflects when National Union Catalog (print version) started incorporating other libraries’ holdings • Popularly called Mansell, after the British publisher who undertook the task in 1967; they had earlier practice with British Museum General Catalog of Printed Books • Not simply photocopying the entries of the LC’s catalog--many duplicate entries weeded out

26. NATIONAL UNION CATALOG, PRE-1956 IMPRINTS • Biggest problem was weeding out works with slightly different collation or imprint • Main sequence editing ended in June 1979 at volume 685; editors came across 3.25 million more cards in process • Wound up publishing 69-volume Supplement • As a whole, 12.5 million entries in 700 libraries

27. NATIONAL UNION CATALOG, PRE-1956 IMPRINTS • Arrangement is by main entry; generally, this means author’s last name • Now available on microfiche moderately priced---at $11,500

29. OCLC • Started in 1966 as Ohio College Library Center, with the hiring of medical librarian Frederick G. Kilgour • Objective: making resources of participating libraries available to others, as well as reducing cataloging costs on a per-unit basis

30. FIRST OFFLINE • Initially an offline system up August 1970 with libraries sending IBM cards to a central processor and getting catalog cards back in 2 weeks; first included on Library of Congress records • October 18, 1971 marked beginning of member library input when LC records not present • Total system: 54 Ohio libraries

31. OCLC GROWS • In 1973, OCLC decided to let non-Ohio libraries in, and also asked that libraries cluster into groups so that OCLC could deal with libraries on an organizational level rather than an individual level • Result: organizations such as ILLINET

32. GROWTH BY THE MILLIONS • Service hit the million record mark in 1974 and has kept growing since • In December 1977, name changed to OCLC, Inc. (Online Computer Library Center), and non-Ohio libraries granted a say in governance • In 1979, Interlibrary Loan (ILL) subsystem up and running

33. NOT JUST LIBRARY OF CONGRESS • National Library of Medicine records tapeloaded in 1979; British Library in 1985; National Library of Canada in 1987 • Library of Congress name authority files added in 1983; subject authority files in 1987

34. BUT, LC IMPORTANT • Primary source of cataloging material remains the MARC tapes from Library of Congress • Library of Congress initiated Machine Readable Cataloging in mid-1960s and began MARC Distribution Services in 1969 • Anyone can take a MARC tape and load it--just requires some programming of a “front end”!

35. SOME OCLC PROBLEMS • Had one of the largest bibliographic databases in the world, but no really easy way to search the system--particularly for non-catalogers • Reference librarians forced to learn cumbersome command language

37. OTHER EARLY OCLC PROBLEMS • There was absolutely, positively no subject access; as primarily a cataloging system, assumed you hand book in hand and were ready to catalog it • Was down on Sundays • So-called “dirty database” courtesy of user-contributed records

38. THOSE WONDERFUL DERIVED SEARCH KEYS • TITLE SEARCH 3,2,2,1 • Hunt for Red October hun,fo,re,o • Powershift pow,,, • AUTHOR SEARCH 4,3,1 • Gore Vidal vida,gor, • AUTHOR/TITLE SEARCH 4,4 • Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy clan,hunt • With every search followed by pressing the F 11 key!

39. REVAMPING OCLC • Talks started as early as 1983 to revamp the system • New telecommunications network, easier editing of records, etc. • One major new addition: OCLC Reference Services, with launch of EPIC service in January 1990--which finally provided subject access to OLUC (Online Union Catalog), although as a separate service

40. PRISM SERVICE • Launched after testing on November 12, 1990 at Ohio University • Improved searching/editing plus new PASSPORT software • Major enhancement: Ability to BROWSE by title with the • SCA TI command • KEYWORD searching finally introduced April 1993; subject field finally searchable!!!!

41. END-USER STILL LEFT OUT • All of the above did little to help the end-user • World’s largest database still unsearchable in 1990 without a subscription to the EPIC service; at a time other libraries had online catalogs up and running • Solution: FirstSearch

42. FIRSTSEARCH • Launched in October 1991 with six databases, including WorldCat • Designed with end-user in mind • Web version introduced two years ago • Has proven so successful that EPIC service is now dead • State of Illinois grant gives libraries free use for some databases

43. USING FIRSTSEARCH • Purchased in “pay as you go” per search or single payment (flat fee pricing) • Web version allows both user-friendly, menu-driven interface, though without ability have very complex searches

44. POWERFUL COMMAND LANGUAGE FOR END-USER SYSTEM • All three boolean operators used • W and N proximity operators used; but numbers used in opposite place from DIALOG! • information n2 science • library w2 science

45. OTHER FEATURES • Browse Index feature allows you to check a word- or phrase-indexed field, selecting a term from an alphabetically-arranged listing • History feature allows you to look at all existing sets and combine them with AND, OR, or NOT • Results listing offers a RELATED SUBJECTS option

46. TRADE BIBLIOGRAPHIES • Designed to allow the book trade (booksellers, librarians, etc.) know what is coming out or has been recently released • Usefulness greatly diminished by automation

47. AMERICAN BOOK PUBLISHING RECORD • Monthly with annual cumulation • Arranged in Dewey Decimal number order; gives cataloging record of all books issued that month/year • Also appears as Weekly Record, only arranged by main entry • Covers titles published in U. S. or distributed in U. S.

48. THE BOOKS IN PRINT FAMILY • Books in Print • Books in Print PLUS [CD-ROM version] • Publishers Trade List Annual

49. PUBLISHER’S TRADE LIST ANNUAL • Has gone “Jenny Craig” over the years--much slimmer than in previous years • Originally some four volumes; now down to one or two • Contains reproductions of catalogs from publishers • Publishers pay to be included--thanks to Web, fewer elect to

50. BOOKS IN PRINT • Gathers information submitted by publishers of what’s in print--if there’s a mistake, it’s often the publishers’ fault • Comes out once a year; usually in October • Sets of volumes arranged by author and again by title • Separate subscription for Subject Guide to Books in Print