The 000s, 100s, and 200s were easy, but now we come to the massive 300 area. What we are covering here is the 300-304 area, and boyoboy is there some obscure stuff here.*
The discards and those that I am transferring to circ are clearly marked on the cart. Just some notes:
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The International Library of Afro-American Life and History, although dated in appearence and language, is still very interesting, so Terri and I thought it should go into circ, along with three NJ titles on various aspects of the people of New Jersey.
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Those books I recognized when I saw them, but the International Encyclopedia of Communications from 1989 I must confess I have never used or even seen. Given that, is this something that we should discard? I haven't decided. Let me know what you think.
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Go back to the shelves and see what I have left--all the symbols books, the 5 volume set Encyclopedia of Sociology (2000), the 3 volume set Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace & Conflict (1999), Encyclopedia of Terrorism (2003), and more.
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Remember, the point of this inventory is not only to discard unused items, but also to remind ourselves of what is there. Let me know what you think--I'm open to any suggestions.
8 comments:
LA says: I agree with you that the International Library of African American Life and the New Jersey Ethnic Experience, Ladies at the Crossroads and People of New Jersey should all go into the circulating collection. Discard the Encyclopedia of Communication.
GS says: I looked over the books on the cart but have not yet gone to look at the books left on the shelves. I agree with most of Jane’s comments about the books on the cart. I was amazed at the wide variety of information in the International Encyclopedia of Communications but don’t think I have ever used it and probably never would. Did anyone take a look at Ladies at the Crossroads? It is a wonderful little book. I think it should stay a reference book and get recataloged to Ref 920.72 which would put it in the women’s collective biography section next to Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women. If we do put it in the circulating collection, it should still get the new call number 920.72 because then it would be in the same section as More Than Petticoats: Remarkable New Jersey Women (920.72 Wen). If you take a look at what is in the collection for 301.412, Ladies at the Crossroads does not fit.
I think more people could find the other New Jersey books more easily if they were recataloged also. A number of New Jersey libraries have The People of New Jersey at 974.9 which is a better fit for our collection if you look and see what is there. The 301.32… part of our collection isn’t very New Jerseyish. The New Jersey Ethnic Experience should also be reclassified. It would go better in the section that includes Ellis Island (which is in the immigration section in a higher 300 number) or with the history of New Jersey (in the 974ish range). However, both books should get the same number so they can be found together.
CH says: Agree with all. Discard the Encyclopedia of Communications.
I agree with all as well. I am amazed at some of the stuff here and clearly need to spend some time in Reference & the Stacks. I am ashamed of how little I know about them--far to electronic based in my reference work.
I don't think it makes sense to put a multi-volume, encyclopedic set such as the 'International Library of Afro-American Life and History' in the circulating collection. Especially since we allow most of our reference collection to circulate anyway.
Also, what Gayle says about moving the NJ related books to the 900s makes sense to me, but I'm no cataloger.
I agree with Jane and JiHae!
Your comments have been extremely helpful. First of all, the further I go into this project, the more I realize that one of the big secrets of a useful print reference collection is making it visible in a way that makes more sense to the user, and with good signage. I had thought that transferring titles to circ might help with that problem, but I'm now beginning to question this. First of all, it is making a lot of work for Access services for a minimal boost in browser visibility. Second, we are letting most ref titles go out anyway. I would like, instead, to concentrate on making the reference collection more user friendly.
Therefore, I agree with Ji Hae that the International Library of Afro-American History and Life should stay in reference.
I also agree with Gayle that the NJ titles would be better off in the 900's. I also think the International Library of Afro-American History and Life would be better there as well (near the Africana Encyclopedia--I know that TN disagrees with me on this). But I'm not going to go into a massive recataloging project. I'm leaning more in favor of creating areas, such as the Health area, and also the business and legal area--both of which are used much, much more than any other area of the ref collection (just observing the disarray in these areas is a good indicator). As we go along with this whole ref inventory project, keep in mind possible specialized ref areas that can be color coded (like business and legal, and also like what YA is doing) instead of recataloged.
I am discarding the International Encyclopedia of Communications.
Cynthia's comment about being amazed at some of the stuff that we have gave me an idea for how to continue with this project. Instead of putting on the cart the stuff I am discarding or changing to circ, I'm going to just list this stuff in the blog entry, and have on the cart the stuff I am recommending on keeping. Then we will all be able to see what is there without going off to the stacks.
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