[Publib] Revising the reference room...or was that "revisiting"...

[John]

We are not through re-thinking the reference collection, but we have done a good bit of weeding already.  We know, at least at this point, that we will keep books with legal forms in them--though we also may provide a circulating copy.  Lit crit we still keep in paper form, including Something About the Author, which teachers will use.  Also Mitchell Manuals; with Chilton car repair books, we have some on ref, some in the circulating collection.  (In the great debate about auto repair books vs. online auto repair databases, the local mechanical types definitely want paper.) Certain items, because of cost, we will keep on ref, e.g., the recent Encyclopedia of Chicago (but we're also buying a circulating copy, because people do want to check it out--I mean, as much as any Downstate resident of IL *wants* to read about Chicago).  We have school classes--middle school, no primary or high school groups--who make regular trips to the library.  One class general works on science/nature projects, so we keep a certain amount of science and nature titles on ref; the other class does a combined art-literature paper, relating artists and schools of painting to the times and lives of particular authors.  Mostly what they want from us is the art info.  So we have some encyclopedic materials on art...and, yes, quite a large number of books that circulate.  And there are some local interest titles that we keep at ref, especially if they're older and copies are rare.

On the other hand, info on government we get almost exclusively off the Internet; of our ready ref collection, probably the Peoria city directory, Value Line, a duplicate copy of Consumer Reports (ref only for the duplicate copy), and car/truck value/appraisal books are the ones that *really* get used.  We buy hardly any reference books anymore.

That's not a very cogent or coherent policy, per se, but certain legal titles, esp. with forms...literary criticism...automobile repair... materials required for school classes assigned to work together *in* the library, as a group...and local interest titles, with a smattering of ready reference, will remain on ref.  And perhaps always (?) an up-to-date, or almost so, World Book set, and maybe one other encyclopedia.  Parents who--sigh--come in to do their children's homework seem to like World Book.

Occasionally I ponder how ref work has changed since I escaped library school in 1979, and if I think about it hard enough, I am left in a state of  Shock & Awe.  Or something like it.

John D. Richmond, Director
Alpha Park Public Library District
3527 So. Airport Road
Bartonville, IL 61607
Ph: 309-697-3822, x. 12
Fax: 309-697-9681
Email: jrichmond at alphapark.org
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When I open my eyes I must sigh, for what I see is contrary to my religion, and I must despise the world which does not know that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.  -- Ludwig van Beethoven