804 Summers Annotated Bibliography

7/31/2019 804 Summers Annotated Bibliography

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Running Head: Organizing Materials for Special, Small or One-Person Libraries

Annotated Bibliography:

Organizing Materials for Special, Small or One-Person Libraries

Emporia State University

Betsy Summers

LI 804 OX - Organization of Information


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Introduction

This collection of books is meant to be a useful resource for librarians who work in small

libraries. It offers some of the best methods, systems, and approaches to organizingmaterials in the small library setting. Included here are eight special libraries, which

may also encompasses the One-Person Library (OPL). Librarians who work at small/OPL

libraries are sometimes referred to as solo librarians. Solo librarians typically wear

many different hats, including manager, technical services, reference, circulation,

promotion, and outreach. Discussed in this bibliography are the following small/OPL

libraries, and how best to organize them: Bookmobile, Medical/Hospital, Law/

Government, Prison, Art/Historical Museum, Private/Public Schools, Church/

Synagogue, and Business/Corporate. Each type of library has their own association,

with a rich array of information and resources for the solo librarian. The corresponding

acronyms are included in the library's description above the annotation.

Bookmobile [ABOS]

Dilger-Hill, J. (2009). Mobile Library Collections. In Dilger-Hill, J., & MacCreaigh, E.

(Eds.), On the road with outreach: Mobile library services (pp. 45-52). Santa Barbara,

CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Editors Jeannie Dilger-Hill, current library director of La Grange Public Library and pastpresident of the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services, along with Erica

MacCreaigh, a senior consultant for Colorado State Libraries who oversees the

operations of nine state prison libraries, have updated the manual for libraries

interested in starting or simply maintaining their mobile outreach services. The editors

have found contributing authors with first hand knowledge in public library outreach.

Chapter essays include details on everything from planning and managing, to marketing

and staff training, to vehicle specifications and maintenance. Chapter 3 gives specific

details on how best to organize your bookmobile materials. Since most bookmobiles

are a small part of a larger whole, books are already cataloged and should be arranged

based on the main library's classification system. The type and order of materials on thebookmobile shelves should reflect the users' profile, with clearly divided sections for

children and adults. It is somewhat disappointing that Dilger-Hill fails to include how

a librarian might start and organize a collection from scratch; she assumes the

bookmobile is indeed a part of the larger whole.


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Medical/Hospital [MLA]

Ennis, L. A., & Mitchell, N. (2010). Putting the medical in healthsciences librarianship.

In The accidental health sciences librarian (pp. 27-46). Medford, NJ: Information Today.

Seeing a need for a comprehensive guide for the small medical library, Ennis and Hill

have created a resource book for the librarian who may find themselves in charge of

running a medical library. With plenty of websites mentioned throughout, the book is

an exceptional tool for the solo librarian in a health science library. Chapter 2 goes into

a fairly detailed definition of the two broadly used medical classification systems,

National Library of Medicine (NLM), and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). NLM is used

in association with the LC schedule. The Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is used to

index most of the biomedical journals, including the online PubMed and NEDLINE

databases. Lisa Ennis is a systems librarian at Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences at

the University of Alabama - Birmingham, where Nicole Mitchell is a reference librarian

and liaison to the School of Optometry. They have written an excellent book for both

the green, as well as seasoned, medical librarian.

Law/Government [AALL]

Hoffman, H. H. (1986). Files, shelf arrangement, and classification. In Small library

cataloging (pp. 11-24). Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press.

Herbert Hoffman, formerly a reference librarian and cataloger at Santa Ana College,

attempts to simplify the organization of materials for the small law office librarian.

Written especially for those without prior cataloging experience, Hoffman's book

enables the librarian to organize and classify a complete library's holdings. Chapter 2

explains how by using Sears, Dewey, LC, or perhaps a hybrid of all three, anyone can

manage their holdings. Hoffman speaks about the overall need to organize, however

the book is somewhat dated and fails to address how a small law library can benefit

from computer databases. It is recommended to supplement Hoffman by reading Karen

Nuckolls', "Change in a Small Law Library" (Information Outlook9 (4) April 2005: 24-35).Nuckolls, the associate university librarian at West Virginia University George R. Farmer,

Jr. Law Library, details how she and her staff successfully reclassified the entire

collection from the singular JX (law relations) to a far more encompassing JZ

(international relations) and KZ (international law), added an OPAC, and brought the

library into the 21st century by embracing database usage.


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Prison [ASCLA]

Vogel, B. (1995). Making the prison library function. In Down for the count: A prison

library handbook(pp. 31-43). Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press.

Covering all aspects of establishing, developing, or providing a prison library service,

Brenda Vogel describes procedures and models to help any librarian overcome the

often-negative reactions of outreach to the incarcerated. Coordinator of Maryland's

Correctional Education Libraries and Library Journal's Librarian of the Year in 1989,

Vogel provides detailed examples of prison regulations and standards, and discusses

collection management, programs, space limitations, technology, working with

corrections officers, and staff training criteria. The organization of materials is

highlighted in chapter 2, and Vogel suggests using Dewey because it is the most "widely

learned" classification system, therefore most relevant to her users. Interestingly, the

book addresses a prison librarian's dilemma of freedom of information while adhering

to rules that restrict certain types of knowledge, such as describing how a lock works.

Vogel's handbook is a guide of inspiration for anyone interested in advancing

correctional education; sadly though, with all the state budget cuts, it appears prison

libraries will most likely be left to the inmates to run.

Art/Historical Museum [ARLIS]

Baker, S. S. (1985). Organizing the collection. In Larsen, J. C. (Ed.), MuseumLibrarianship (pp. 35-49). Hamden, CT: Library Professional Publications.

John Larsen has over 35 years of academic library experience and has served as ALA's

Council Chairman for the Arts. Larsen enlisted specialists in the field to write each

chapter and to discuss topics such as staffing, preserving, categorizing non-book items,

basic reference tools, and the role of the librarian in supporting the museum. Chapter 4

covers the organization of the museum collection. Written by Sylva Baker, the Head

Librarian of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, the chapter speaks

specifically to the cataloging benefits of both LC and Dewey, although neither is

recommended outright. The chapter will also help the librarian to classify periodicals aswell as non-print materials, but does not mention how to digitalize the collection. The

reader is encouraged to find a copy of Linda McRae and Lynda White's (Eds.),ArtMARC

Sourcebook: Cataloging Art, Architecture, and Their Visual Images (1998, Chicago, IL:

American Library Association). The sourcebook is useful in cataloging art materials and

images using the more current digital MARC format. It includes a data dictionary,

appendixes, and a bibliography for further reading.


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Public/Private Schools [AASL]

Wasman, A. (1998). How do I keep it all together? Type and organization of materials.

In New steps to service: Common-sense advice for the school library media specialist(pp.

65-75). Chicago, IL: American Library Association.

Ann Wasman has worked in the public school setting for over 30 years, and is a prolific

writer and researcher in the field of school libraries, management and organization.

This how-to book is written for first time school librarians, and is arranged in four main

sections: "Getting Started," "Handling Materials," "Dealing with Details," and "Working

with People." The organization of materials is described in Chapter 7, which falls under

"Handling Materials." Wasman spells out in great detail how to classify using Dewey,

the strengths of Dewey in a school setting, and encompasses both automated and

manual systems. She argues both sides of the print vs. database debate, settling on a

compromising best of both worlds. Although this practical guide is useful, the

information on Dewey seems overly simplistic, especially for the MLS librarian. ALA

offers a wonderful companion webpage resource and can be accessed at: www.ala.org/

ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/guidelinesandstandards.cfm (retrieved on

April 25, 2011). The webpage has numerous links to planning guides, best teaching

websites, and topical information such as Standards for the 21st Century Learner, which

would be useful to even the most seasoned school librarian.

Church/Synagogue [CSLA]

Sager, D. J. (2000). Organizing the collection & special libraries. In Small libraries:Organization and operation (pp. 20-29 & 81-82). (3rd Ed.). Fort Atkinson, WI:

Highsmith Press.

Many times, the person running the church or synagogue library is a volunteer, or

untrained in the library profession. Donald Sager, a 40-year veteran and winner of the

2005 (ALA) Lippincott Award, which recognizes distinguished service to the profession

of librarianship, has written a comprehensive manual on how to manage a small faith-

based library, even without MLS credentials. Chapter 4 goes into detailed ways a small

collection can be organized: by format, classification, alphabetical order, user group, or

by some combination of all of these. Sager describes how Dewey and LC classificationcan both be simplified, how to catalog preprocessed materials, and how spending time

converting a catalog to a computerized system may actually save you time in the long

run. Sager even delves into dealing with donated materials, organizing magazines, and

weeding. Later, in chapter 14, he continues to look specifically at organizing church and

synagogue libraries, their music, youth program literature, and sermons, concluding

with a selection of related books that provide further reading. This handbook is highly

recommended reading.


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Business/Corporate [SLA]

Ferguson, E. & Mobley, R. E. (1984). Organizing the collection. In Special libraries at

work(pp. 59-71). Hamden, CT: Library Professional Publications.

This book explains the important aspects and overall organization of small, specialty

libraries, with an emphasis on the business or corporate library. Sections include

collection development, acquisitions, reference services, management, staffing,

facilities, and systems. Section 7 describes how to organize books, periodicals, technical

reports, government documents, trade literature, industry standards and specifications,

company records and reports, as well as patents. These are the important materials for

the corporate librarian to organize in an effective manner for ease of access and

retrieval. Elizabeth Ferguson was a reference librarian at Kline Science Laboratory at

Yale University and Emily Mobley was Dean of Libraries at Purdue University, past

president of ALA, and once head librarian at General Motors. They state that the size,

format of materials, and their ultimate use, will likely determine how the library is best

organized. MARC, Dewey, Cutter, LC, and UDC, are all outlined, including the pluses and

minuses to each, but interestingly, Ferguson and Mobley left out the usefulness of

Sears, whether intentional or accidental. They do go on to discuss the value of the

online bibliographic utility OCLC.

Documents

804 Summers Annotated Bibliography