Summary

Widely held to be the most authoritative source for reference librarianship, the Guide to Reference Books has been treasured by library science students and librarians since its inception over one hundred years ago. Organized hierarchically, it lists the most valuable and relevant reference sources available in a range of subject areas. Incredibly, its legacy has remained untarnished despite notable changes in format and entry inclusion over the past two decades.

History

The Guide has been sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) since its beginnings. The original editor was Alice Bertha Kroeger, who produced the first two editions. After her death, Isadore Gilbert Mudge of Columbia University became the editor for the third edition in 1917 through the sixth edition in 1936. Mudge's leadership in the 1920s and 1930s made her "the undisputed authority on reference books, and the Columbia reference department served as a model for reference departments at other institutions" (Wedgewood, 1993, p.588). Constance Winchell and Eugene Sheehy, both highly esteemed editors, followed Mudge. They each produced two editions.

Recent Changes

A print source covering books, the Guide nevertheless recognized the necessity for change in the information era. The tenth edition (1986) began to denote when some online access was available in addition to the print edition of entries. A limited selection of major databases were included as well (Sheehy, 1986). The vast technical resources of Choice magazine (and the ALA, which published both) prompted a move from Columbia to Choice, under the guidance of Robert Balay, the new editor (Balay, 1992). At the turn of the century, the twelfth edition editor Kieft announced a tentative title change to Guide to Reference Sources (Kieft, 2002). This was an attempt to reflect and embrace a diversity of formats. The Guide, however, has maintained its traditional values and requirements for selection and inclusion of entries, balancing the old and new models. View updates about the twelfth edition here

Criticism

Despite its revered status, the Guide has also received valid criticism. Its foundation in an academic setting oriented it toward larger research facilities. Thus, many entries are unsuitable for small or public libraries. It often includes books no longer in print. The long time it takes to compile and publish means it is quickly out of date (Nolan, 1999). The Guide should be applauded for its ability to change with modern times; however, many problems exist with computerization. The online version of the twelfth edition, already two years behind schedule, will not be searchable other than by title. Furthermore, the borrowing of MARC records for the database results in much editing, indexing, and the addition of supplementary fields (Balay, 1992). However, these difficulties are normal results of digitization in general and are only minor grievances against the Guide.

Conclusion

This comprehensive collection remains the gold standard of reference to this day, despite some limitations. The eleventh edition contained more that 16,000 entries on a variety of subjects such as history, science, behavioral sciences, technology, and medicine, as well as general reference works (Harris, 1991). As Kieft explained: “So pervasive has been its influence, so assured its status, that the landscape of librarianship would not be the same without its looming bulk.” (Kieft, 2002, p. 330).

See also

• Alice Kroeger

• Isadore Mudge

Reference List

Balay, R. (Ed.). (1992). Guide to Reference Books. Supplement to the tenth edition, covering materials from 1985-1990. Chicago: American Library Association.

Harris, S. (Ed.). (1991). The New York Public Library book of how and where to look it up (1st ed.). New York: Prentice Hall.

Kieft, R. H. (2002). When Reference Works Are Not Books: The New Edition of the Guide to Reference Books. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 41(4), 330-334.

Nolan, C. W. (1999). Managing the Reference Collection. Chicago: American Library Association.

Sheehy, E. (Ed.). (1986). Guide to Reference Books (10th ed.). Chicago: American Library Association.

Wedgeworth, R. (Ed.). (1993). World encyclopedia of library and information services (3rd ed.). Chicago: American Library Association.

Works Consulted

Chad, B. (1992, June 15). Sheehy's Updated Supplement (Review of Guide to Reference Books: Covering Materials from 1985-1990). Library Journal, 117(11).

Kan, M., & Klavans, J. (2002). Using Librarian Techniques in Automatic Text Summarization for Information Retrieval. Proceedings of the Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL 2002). Portland, OR: ACM Press.

Richardson, J. (2006). Guide to Reference Books, 1902-1996. Retrieved November 21, 2006, from http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/jrichardson/dis245/GRB.htm

Kelley P. Talevich