Solving reference questions in the Caribbean: the university of the West Indies (Trinidad) experience

Int. Libr. Rev. (1986) 18, 327-335

Solving Reference Questions in the Caribbean: the University of the West Indies (Trinidad) Experience* M A R G A R E T D. R O U S E - J O N E S I "

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Librarians in the Caribbean region are undoubtedly familiar with the problems encountered in the handling of enquiries for information on Caribbean topics. These problems are particularly acute when, as tends to be the case, the information is to be found in sources generated from within the region itself. The fragmentary nature of the publishing industry in the region and its general lack of sound establishment, the disorganized character of the book trade and the inadequacy of bibliographic services 1 are all factors which affect the process whereby the librarian is able to bring together the user and the material he requires.

This analysis is based on my experience as librarian in charge of the West Indian Collection at the University of West Indies Library, St Augustine, Trinidad 2 (hereafter U W I Library). This collection includes all forms of material written by West Indians and about the West Indies as well as material published in the region. It tends to concentrate on the English-speaking Caribbean. 3 Priority is given to materials relevant to the teaching and research programmes of the St Augustine campus of the University. Coverage is comprehensive for materials about Trinidad and Tobago and more selective for other

* This article is based on a paper presented to a workshop session at the Thirtieth Seminar in the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM) Princeton University, 19-23 June 1985. The author wishes to express her thanks to Hannah Francis and Annette Knight for useful suggestions in the preparation of this paper.

Librarian, West Indiana Division, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies.

I For further discussions of these issues see A. Alleyne and P. Mordecai (1978). Educational publishing and book production in the English-speaking Caribbean. Libr. Trends 26, 575-589; M. Cox and O. King (1977). The problems in the acquisition of Caribbean materials in the English- speaking Caribbean. Guyana Libr. Ass. Bull. 6, 1-16; K. Avafia (1976) Legal deposit libraries in the West Indies. UNESCO Bull. Libr. 30, 147-151, 161.

2 The University of the West Indies has three campuses: Mona,Jamaica; St Augustine, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago; and Cave Hill, Barbados.

3 The following territories compose this area: Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Mont- serrat, St Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent, Turks & Caicos Islands, Trinidad and Tobago.

0020-7837/86/040327 + 09 $03.00/0 �9 1986 Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited

328 M.

Reference enquiries received in

D . ROUSE-JONES

TABLE I

the West Indian collection, Augustine

UWI library, St

1982/83 1983/84 1984/85

Quick reference - - 37 81 Short subject enquiry 223 141 228 Long subject enquiry 23 18 85

territories on subjects which fall outside the teaching programmes. It consists of 26 216 monographs and 2746 serial titles. 1 In addition to the main body of material, namely monographs and serials, the collection also includes separate holdings of rare books, manuscripts, newspapers, undergraduate final year Caribbean Studies projects, microforms, maps, newspaper clippings, reproductions of original works of art and a special U W I collection of archival materials.

The collection is considered to be primarily for researchers and use by undergraduates is restricted, so that the majority of reference enquiries come from postgraduates and faculty. A small percentage also comes to us from the general public and from overseas, primarily because the existing public library services in Trinidad and Tobago are unable to deal with them.

The analysis will show that the librarian in the Caribbean context has to be more versatile and imaginative in her approach to the solving of reference questions. This is due to the fact that the traditional tools for handling reference enquiries are not always available, the sources are sometimes unconventional and the information is not always found in the expected places.

STATISTICS AND RETRIEVAL TOOLS

Statistics for the number of reference enquiries received in the division for the past three years are given in Table I. For the present analysis however, no statistical evaluation is attempted. The major factors related to the handling of reference enquiries in the Caribbean context are considered, and examples are cited.

Any examination of the solving of reference questions must include an analysis of retrieval tools. The major ones used for handling reference enquiries in the division are as follows:

1 These are the 1983 figures.

R E F E R E N C E Q U E S T I O N S IN T H E C A R I B B E A N 329

(a) Subject Index and classified catalogue to the library which includes the West Indian Collection.

(b) Subject bibliographies where they exist. In this regard the recently published "Bibliography of Bibliographies of the English- speaking Caribbean ''~ is a welcome addition to the retrieval tools. The librarian also maintains a file of lists of references to specific subjects of material held in the library which have been compiled in response to obvious needs or repeated requests.

(c) An "in-house" index to West Indian articles. This is a subject index of articles about the region which have appeared in miscellaneous journals.

(d) Author and Subject Index to Caribbean Studies projects. These final year undergraduate projects have proven to be extremely useful. For some specialized topics they represent a major source of information and the indexes have been generated within the collection to facilitate access.

(e) Indexes to the vertical file and newspaper clippings, photograph and map collections.

(f) Carindex. This is a semi-annual guide and is an important tool for retrieving information in the newspaper and periodical literature of the region. It covers the social sciences and humanities. 2

(g) Carisplan Abstracts, Cagrindex, and Caribbean Development Bank's Current Awareness Bulletin are also used.

A N A L Y S I S OF E N Q U I R I E S

(a) Religion For a small majority of reference enquiries, the information can be located easily through the classified catalogue and other indexes or through a prepared bibliography. This can be seen if we examine enquiries on the subject of religion. For example two requests for information about the Spiritual Baptists in Trinidad and Tobago yielded information at several levels: general studies about Afro-Caribbean religions; early histories which gave contemporary first-hand accounts. These were further supplemented by Caribbean Studies projects which deal with specific groups of Spiritual Baptists or introduce a com- parative dimension. A request for information about the establishment

IA. T. Jordan and B. Comissiong (1984). The English-speaking Caribbean: a Bibliography of Bibliographies. Boston: G. K. Hall.

2 There are however some limitations to its usefulness. Apart from the fact that it is a fairly recent publication---it first appeared in 1977~ t is by no means up to date, with the March 1982 issue being the most recent to have appeared.

330 M.D. ROUSE-JONES

of other branches of the Christian religion met with similar success. For the older denomination~Presbyterian, Anglican, Roman Catholic-- there were two postgraduate history theses and a published monograph. For information about the Seventh Day Adventists two of the Carib- bean Studies projects were useful. The Rastafari cult is another group about whom information has been requested} There is a good deal of information about this group and in addition to the published works held in the collection two bibliographies are traceable in the classified catalogue. For recently published articles our "in-house" index and Carindex are adequate aids. For a more specific request related to Emperor Haile Selassie's visit to the campus in 1966, we were able to provide a variety of sources: a record of the visit in the Vice-Chancellor's Report; local newspaper accounts; the text of the public oration. These were strongly substantiated by photographs which answered very pre- cisely the questions about what he did and with whom he had met.

(b) Ethnic Groups The East Indians are a recognizable ethnic group within the region and requests for information about them are frequent. Research about them has accelerated over the past decade or so. An interesting enquiry for the statistics of East Indians in the Caribbean excluding Jamaica and Guyana caused us to focus on the fact that small numbers existed in most of the territories; the research has tended to concentrate on Trinidad and Guyana. In locating these statistics, the 1970 Population Census of the Commonwealth Caribbean was the most useful source, although it did not include all the territories: for example, Antigua-Barbuda was not included. The UN Demographic Yearbook was also used to supplement information.

The library has issued a bibliography about East Indians in the Caribbean and this is generally a useful starting point when answering enquiries. The boats which brought the Indians as indentured labourers to the West Indies have been the subject of enquiries. The first boat is quite well known and is mentioned in the general histories. A request for a visual representation of it involved some more searching. A few likely titles were identified from the Bibliography and these were scanned. We were successful in locating an artist's conception of the Fatel Razack as a frontispiece in the Indian Centenary Review. Requests for the names of subsequent boats necessitated more searching. When the secondary sources yielded nothing we considered possible primary sources. At this stage it was a matter of "trying one's luck". The information was

1The Rastafari is a religious cult originating in Jamaica whose members believe that Haile Selassie was the human manifestation of God (Jah).


eventually located in the Minute Books of the Committee of West India Merchants, manuscript volumes of which are held in the collection.

For other ethnic groups in the region the information is less substantial. For example for information about the Syrian Lebanese in the West Indies, there are four items located. Two are Caribbean Studies Projects and one article in the journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies which was listed in the "in-house" index. The fourth item is a small pamphlet about Trinidad and Tobago with a section about the Syrian-Lebanese community was the only item located through the main subject catalogue.

(c) Genealogical and Biographical Information The Collection also receives quite a few requests for genealogical and/or biographical information and an examination of these exemplifies the range of successes and failures which the librarian can experience. It also highlights some of the other factors which are involved and the measures which have to be taken in the handling of reference enquiries in our particular context.

At one end of the spectrum is a request for biographical information about numerous political figures throughout the English7speaking Caribbean. In this instance it was unrealistic to attempt to provide sources of information for all. We finally prepared a bibliography giving sources of information for West indian personalities in general and for Trinidad and Tobago political figures in particular. We then referred the enquiry to the libraries of the other two campuses of the University and suggested to the enquirer that he also write directly to the Public Libraries in the other territories. There are no existing biographies for many of the leaders but the Public Libraries would most likely have files which would be the most fruitful source of information on the political leaders in their respective countries.

Another request was for any information on specific families in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this case a first-hand knowledge of the older sources of this type of information is necessary. We do have in our rare books collection some issues of the Trinidad Almanack and Trinidad Reviewer and copies of some of the early histories and contemporary accounts which are useful for the period 1838-1900s. The Almanacks contain professional and commercial directories and information about property, owners of estates, holders of offices and the like. Unfortunately we do not have a complete run. Thus it was necessary to check the other West Indian collections in Trinidad and Tobago to fill gaps where possible. In this case we supplied what information we located and referred the enquirer to other libraries where other issues of these specific titles are held. In this regard the printed catalogues

332 M . D . ROUSE-JONES

of the various Latin American and West Indian collections are very helpful. 1

Another request for information about the head of a merchant family who was connected with the island and after whom one of the country towns is supposedly named was considerably less fruitful. Apart from one reference to a son of the merchant in an 1899 source, there was no other information. Similarly the only information which could be found about the colonial ancestor of another overseas enquirer was that his mulatto son had been baptized in Tobago in the early nineteenth Century.

The newspapers are an important source of biographical information for many of the regions' important figures but the absence of indexes to them for the period prior to the mid 1960s is the major stumbling block to locating such information. An example of this occurred when another library on campus referred to us a request for information about Eugene Chen, a Trinidad born Chinese lawyer who was well known at the turn of the century and who returned to China and held political office there. When we began the search we had no idea of the exact dates when he lived. We began by looking for information about Chinese and found a brief reference to him in a photocopied article and realized that he was prominent in the early twentieth century. We then consulted a 1900 source of biographical information, the Trinidad Reviewer, and some further brief biographical details were located. We passed this information on and suggested that some of the local Chinese Associations might have more information. The next day the enquirer called to inform us that a long newspaper article about the man had been located at one of the other West Indian Reference collections. The article was in the lengthy supplement to the Independence issue of the Trinidad Guardian. We in fact had this newspaper in our collection but the information was obscure due to the absence of indexing of newspapers at that time.

Similarly students preparing biographies about the lesser, but never- theless important, political figures in the last twenty-five years have been using the national and the respective political party newspapers as the major source of information. In these cases the absence of indexes has meant that long runs have had to be scanned.

(d) Geographical and Location Enquiries Repeated requests for information about individual islands tend to occur when some event of local and international significance takes place. In response to these we may prepare for distribution a list of

1 These are held in the G e n e r a l Refe rence Col lec t ion o f U W I L i b r a r y .

REFERENCE QUESTIONS IN THE CARIBBEAN 333

references to items which the library holds. For example the political crises in Grenada in 1979 and 1983 brought floods of requests and lists have been prepared. Similarly about two years ago when the Tobago House of Assembly was a major topic of discussion repeated requests prompted the production of a list.

When the enquiry is for information about a specific location the approach varies according to its significance. For example, a request for information about Chaguaramas, a former US Naval base, was filled with a range of items located through the subject index/classified catalogue--a short history, a speech by the Chief Minister about Chaguaramas, documents related to the leasing of naval bases. On the other hand one would go to the subject index with little expectancy for sources of information about Paramin, a small village where the French influence on the island is still evident. The request for information about Paramin was met via the index to Caribbean Studies projects. Three such studies had been done; one on French influences, another on the village as a case study of social neglect and the third, a socio-cultural study via its folk-tales.

In handling a request for maps of specific areas related to industrial development, the maps located in our collection only partially satisfied the user's needs. A telephone call to the librarian at the Industrial Development Corporation under whose jurisdiction the planning of industrial estates falls, revealed that they have "working maps" of the areas, which the enquirer was able to go and consult.

(e) Obscure Information Another general factor which has to be borne in mind when handling reference enquiries about the region is that for some subjects the available data is so limited or obscure that it is not possible to trace it in a conventional index. We received for example a request by telephone for "information about jewelry used by East Indian indentured labourers". Using the Bibliography mentioned earlier we located several works which carried either descriptive accounts and/or photographs of bejewelled East Indian women. When the information was given to the user he indicated that what he really wanted was data about techniques used by jewellers and silversmiths in Trinidad at the turn of the century. 1 An entirely different search strategy had to be used. Yearbooks of Trinidad and Tobago for the early part of the century provided the names of jewellers. The family history of one of the well known families

t This highlights the importance of the reference interview. The user had assumed that the information would be arrived at if the question was approached from this angle.

3 3 4 M . D . R O U S E - J O N E S

in the jewelry trade ~ was brought to the reader's attention. This in fact provided some little information about the trade; and indeed East Indians were mentioned most frequently as customers.

For new subject areas the required information may not be published. In such instances the librarian's personal knowledge or direct contacts with possible sources of information may have to be resorted to. We received for example, an enquiry for any information about the status of women's studies in the Caribbean in the last five years or so. Recent bibliographies on women in the English-speaking Caribbean did not shed any light on the subject. We then contacted one of the members of a pioneering women's studies group on campus. She was able to lend us a copy of a paper on the subject.

(f) Vagaries of Publishing and Acquisitions A substantial portion of the publishing in the region is done by government ministries and departments and other related bodies. The problems related to the acquisition of these is well documented. ~ Generally an aggressive acquisitions policy is necessary. From time to time however, we do find that gaps in our holdings of government pub- lications prevent us from handling an enquiry effectively. For example, in dealing with a request for the latest statistics of the Jamaican labour force according to industry, we discovered our holdings of some pub- lications from the Jamaica Department of Statistics had ceased in the mid to late seventies for no apparent reason. 3

In another instance a specific document related to the information of the Tobago House of Assembly was requested. When this could not be located in our collection we checked at Parliament Library and found that it had been a mimeographed report which had not been widely circulated. We referred our user to them. In the course of consulting the Report, he discovered that the identical document had been in fact issued by the Government Printer in its Draft Bill form. We have now added this to the collection with the relevant cross references in the classified catalogue.

C O N C L U S I O N

In summary it is possible to say that we are generally able to satisfy our readers although in varying degrees. What is clear from the discussion however, is that there continues to be a problem of retrieval of infor-

1A. De Lima (1981). The DeLimas of Frederick Street. Port of Spain: Imprint Caribbean. 2 Cox and King. "Problems in the Acquisition of Caribbean materials. . .", pp. 1-16. aThe Yearbook of Industrial Statistics held in the UN Collection did provide some of the

relevant data.


marion in some areas. There is a need for retrospective indexing particularly of newspapers. The fact is too that information is often "scat- tered" in non-West Indian journals. This adds to the problem of bibliographic control. Our "in-house" index has been created in an attempt to deal with this problem. Carindex has partially filled the gap related to the indexing of the newspaper and periodical literature of the region, but there is still a need for regular and up-to-date indexing services. Generally one finds that a first hand knowledge of the collection can supplement shortcomings in retrieval tools. As long as the information exists, success is usually achieved if the librarian is prepared to stop short at nothing in its pursuit.

Documents

Solving reference questions in the Caribbean: the university of the West Indies (Trinidad) experience