This is a big area, and I am discarding more than I'm keeping. The cart behind the desk is what I am recommending we keep. The two carts in my office I am recommending for discard. Since there are too many discards, I will not list them here, but only mention the notable items.*
Cities of the United States (4 vols) - based on 1990 census data, it is too old. This information is readily available in other sources and on the internet.
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The political dictionaries are all from the early 1990's so they are being discarded. I am purchasing a 2nd ed (2001) of the Oxford Companion to Politics of the World for $17, and also Safire's Political Dictionary 2nd ed (2008) for $9, so that will update that section cheaply.
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Who's Who in American Politics - we have 95-96. 97-98, 99-00, and 01-02. We discontinued the standing order in 2002, so I don't think we need these older volumes. I am considering resubscribing to Marquis Who's Who online. That would take care of this stuff anyway.
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The Congressional Staff Directory, and the Congressional Directory, are not that old, but are not of much value since they are for previous congresses. We discontinued these standing orders since this information is all on the web.
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I can update America's Top Rated Smaller Cities to 2006-07 for $3.50. Statistics Sources can be updated to 2005 (29th ed) for $32 or 2007 (31st ed) for $88.
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Now take a look at what is being kept. We keep Statistical Abstract, not because this information is unavailable on the web, but because it is very handy in its arrangement and extremely user friendly. The same goes for such titles as County and City Data Book and Places, Towns and Townships (which can be updated to 2007 for $16).
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Don't forget the wonderful 5 volume Historical Statistics of the US. Also Congress and the Nation, (back to 1945) which is a historical record of each numbered Congress, and CQ Almanac, (back to 1973) which is a complete record of congressional action for each year. Since the main value of these two titles is historical, I am adding these as I find used copies cheaply in Amazon.
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There are a couple of small, older New Jersey titles that I am recommending for circ. They are on the middle shelf of the cart, on the right.
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I am open to any recommendations and disagreements. If there are items you want to keep or if there are things you think should be discarded, let me know. But, most important, familiarize yourself with what is here.
2 comments:
GS says: I have managed to work my way through the cart of 300s and I approve of Jane’s choices. Getting rid of the older census material and directories will make the newer, more useful reference material stand out. I found two books I didn’t know about, How Government Works and The Blue Pages, which were a lot of fun to page through. The only suggestion I have is to move the Cities Ranked and Rated directory from 917.1046 Spe to the 307s so it can be near America’s Top Rated Smaller Cities. I also think we should get the Places Rated Almanac, which we used to have in Reference many moons ago.
CH says: I agree with everyone else that the books on the cart should be kept in reference or moved to circ as you have tagged them.
As for the items marked for discard, I have just one request--that we keep the 1980 and 1990 census volumes for New Jersey that contain Princeton statistics. As far as I can determine, this data is not available in Historical Statistics of the U.S. or in any its online equivalents.
Just a couple of days ago, a patron asked Terri for detailed Princeton data from the 1970 and 1980 censuses. So I pulled those books from the cart and put them behind the desk temporarily, along with the photocopies of tables from the 1950, 1960, and 1970 New Jersey census volumes that the University sent us a while back.
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