Guide to Reference
Guide to Reference, published in 2008 as the online successor to Guide to Reference Books, was a selective guide to the best print and online reference sources. An editorial team of reference librarians and subject experts selected and annotated some 16,000 entries, which were organized by subject. It was a subscription database, published by the American Library Association, and was updated on an ongoing basis. It was intended as a resource for libraries when answering reference questions, planning library instruction, identifying items to purchase, and training staff.
The print edition was published regularly since 1902 by the American Library Association, and had been a staple of academic reference libraries throughout the United States. However, its popularity of use had dropped in recent years with the continued rise of electronic databases.
The online product was closed down on March 31, 2016.[1]
History
The Guide was written in the first decade of the twentieth century by
After Kroeger's death in 1909 the American Library Association asked Isadore Gilbert Mudge, head of the reference department for the library at Columbia University, to take over the project. Mudge started a trend at Columbia that would last for several decades, pushing their reference staff to essentially “lead four lives-as editors, administrators, collection builders, and front-line reference specialists” (Plotnik, 130). Much of the work for the Guide was accomplished alongside the normal reference work duties of collection development and assisting students and professors with their research requests. During this time the indexes on reference materials expanded and the book went through two title changes: New Guide to Reference Books in 1923 and Guide to Reference Books in 1929.
After taking the volume through three decades and four new editions, Mudge retired and passed the responsibility on to her successor at Columbia University, Constance Mabel Winchell. Winchell reorganized the book, classifying the indexes into different disciplines similar to the academic departments of a university. The indexes were greatly expanded under Winchell; when the eighth edition was published in 1967 it was quite a tome, including entries on some 7500 individual publications.
When Eugene P. Sheehy took over as head of reference at Columbia in 1967 he took on the Guide. Having worked as Winchell's assistant for several years Sheehy adopted her style, process of selection and organization as his own. He began issuing supplements to the Guide, with versions in 1968, 1970, and 1972. The supplements expanded on the entries of Winchell's eighth edition, adding indexes of material newly published or newly discovered. A new ninth edition, which required Sheehy and his two assistants to update and correct entries from Winchell's edition and add in material from their three supplements, was finally published in 1976. This ninth edition was the first version to include listings of early electronic databases. Sheehy continued editing and publishing supplements until he retired in 1986.
The editorship passed for the 10th edition supplement and the 11th edition to Robert Balay of the Association of College and Research Libraries' Choice magazine. No longer the vision of a lone individual, the Guide became an increasingly cooperative project as reference literature grew and as contributors were drawn from libraries around the country.
Current developments
Use of the Guide became less and less frequent as research had turned more towards electronic databases such as
ALA Publishing, in collaboration with the Guide to Reference Editorial Review Board, announced that, due to the "current business climate", the Guide to Reference online product had ceased taking further subscriptions and would be closed down on March 31, 2016.[1]
References
- ^ a b "Farewell, and Thanks". Guide to Reference. Archived from the original on March 23, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
- ^ "Editorial Review Board". Guide to Reference. Archived from the original on February 23, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
- Cheatham, Bertha M. “Reviews the Book “Guide to Reference Books” edited by Eugene P. Sheehy.” School Library Journal. 33.7. (March, 1987): 88.
- Galvin, Tom. “Review of The Guide to Reference Books by Eugene P. Sheehy.” Library Journal. (September 15, 1968): 89.
- Harris, Robert R. “Guide to Reference Books (Book Review).” Library Journal. 101.22. (December 15, 1976): 2560.
- Plotnik, Art. “From Winchell’s 8th to Sheehy’s 9th.” American Libraries. 8.3. (March, 1977): 129-133.
- Kieft, Robert. “When Reference Works Are Not Books: The New Edition of the Guide to Reference Books.” Reference and User Services Quarterly. 41.4. (July, 2002): 330-335.
- Rubin, Richard E. Foundations of Library and Information Science. 2nd ed. New York City: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc, 2004.
- Sheehy, Eugene P. “Preface.“ Guide to Reference Books. 10th ed. Ed. Eugene P. Sheehy. Chicago: American Library Association, 1986. ix-xi.
- Washburn, Anne. “Guide to Reference Books (Book Review).” Library Journal. 105.13. (July 1, 1980): 1502.
External links
- "Guide to Reference Home". Archived from the original on February 15, 2015.