Short notes and thoughts on Congress.gov webinar

I watched this live webinar from the Law Library of Congress on June 11, 2026. Topic was the congress.gov website. Here are some of my notes from the event, mainly for me to look back later, and some small random thoughts. 

Webinar notes: 

• Overview of the website. 
• The search allows for quotation marks on phrases. 
• For things like keeping track of a committee, email alerts are an option, for example, to get a committee's schedule. 
• You can also search for CRS (Congressional Research Service) reports on the website. Before, you had to use FAS (Federation of American Scientists), where they kept a list (apparently no longer there) or Open CRS, which is no longer there either. Those were the days. Now they are in one place in congress.gov. I've often encouraged students where they can to use CRS reports in their research assignments if they find a relevant one. 
• U.S. Constitution Annotated. This includes the Constitution with legal analysis. Note additional features offered.
• Use the Support button (upper right on top) then click on Browse Help Center, then scroll a bit down to Collections. This allows you to see what a specific resource collection may cover and contain. 
• Also under Support, there is a Glossary for federal terms, in case you need them. 
• Under Support you can also find Ask a Law Librarian, if you need help search help, or finding a resource, or an answer from a librarian. 
• In addition to finding members of Congress from the main website, you can find them under Support. Just browse Help Center then Collections.  
• See also and use the Advanced Search for precise and/or specific searches. Use the Query Builder when you have few but specific details of your search. 
• See also Search Tools (on top of main page, next to the Support link). This tells you what tools, wildcards, so on you can use on the search. This is a detail I also encourage my students to do, though I am sure a lot of them ignore it anyhow. When it comes to a database, especially one you may be using often, take a moment to check the Help/Tools (or whatever similar name) section to see what wildcards and other search tips it offers. Knowing things like wildcards (also known as truncation of terms) can save you some time and make your searching better, but you got to put in a little time to learn the tricks. 
• See also More Options under the main search bar for some quick search options. It is a small pull down menu that opens filters and other limiters you may find useful. 
• If you make a congress.gov account, you can save searches and do email alerts. When they are available. There is a note today saying "accounts are temporarily unavailable" as of this post, and I do hope it is a temporary thing. 
• Using filters in searches as much as possible is helpful to narrow a search and make it more specific.  

 

Side notes: 

This is the the kind of thing that regular people need to know and use to see what the federal government does. Librarians certainly need to know this in order to help their patrons wanting information on the federal government, especially Congress and legislation. 

We don't get many U.S. government questions here often, but we do get one now and then. At times I do wonder what they teach in political science when it comes to the federal government. 

At times I also wonder how many librarians show interest in this kind of stuff. I do, and I try my best to keep up my reference skills and knowledge base, but some colleagues could not care less. I've been told that if they get that kind of question, they can always send it to me. And while I do not mind, I think other reference librarians in general need to nurture this kind of knowledge too. 

As I wrap up this post, the thought occurs to me I am sure a few researchers, and more than a few librarians who should know better, would be happy to ask an AI Slop machine to look up the kind of information a site like congress.gov would offer. It is a sad reality, but that is a thought for another time. 

 

  

Being a librarian who reads books helps me help students better

As I am preparing for a research consultation, I had a random thought that it pays off as a librarian to be a reader as well. Especially so if you read books from your own library on various topics. I can then recall book options for students that may come in for a consultation. 

For example, for the student writing on George Orwell, fascism, and the United States, Antifa (link to my review) comes to mind right away. 

For the student writing on Black history and suppression of Black history in schools, Our history has always been contraband comes to mind (link to review). 

I went to the library stacks, found them, and added them to the materials I would offer those students when they came in to meet with me. 

By the way, this can also include articles I may have seen and read on a student topic that I can then share with a student. At times, I have sent a student a link to an article on their topic after a research consult in the hopes they will find it helpful. 

I will note further that I have met librarians who, for whatever reason, declare that they do not read, or read as minimally as possible. For me, reading broadly helps me in my work. Even if it is just being aware and reading reviews as part of collection development can be helpful in helping students. But when I can put a book in their hands I have read and tell them that I have read it I think it has a bit more power. Now whether the student reads it or not, or at least skims it, is their choice. I am under no delusions they will read a whole book for a research assignment. All I can do is offer. Up to them to then use the resource or not. 

As I am typing this, I am thinking of making the occasional list of books I have read from our library that I can recommend for certain topics. It could be an occasional blog post here in part for my own reference. 

 

 

Book Review: Verified

 (Crossposted from The Itinerant Librarian)

Mike Caulfield and Samuel S. Wineburg, Verified: How to think straight, get duped less, and make better decisions about what to believe online. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2023. ISBN: 9780226822068.

Genre: reference

Subgenre: information literacy, internet, research

Format: trade paperback

Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College

 

This book is an essential guide everyone using the internet needs to have handy. This book teaches how to be skeptical of what you see online and how to evaluate it. In these Hard Times where the internet and social media are full of scams, click bait, rage bait, and all sorts of assorted bullshit, this book gives you the tools to separate the crap from the few good things that remain. This guide can help you navigate the enshittified internet. 

The book is arranged as follows: 

• Introduction.
• Chapter 1: Get quick context.
• Chapter 2: Cheap signals. 
• Chapter 3: Google.
• Chapter 4: Lateral reading. 
• Chapter 5: Reading the room.
• Chapter 6: Show me the evidence. 
• Chapter 7: Wikipedia.
• Chapter 8: Video games. No, it is not about games. This is more about how videos are used to deceive. 
• Chapter 9: Stealth advertising. 
• Chapter 10: Once more with feeling. 
• Chapter 11: Conclusion. 
• Postscript, which briefly covers large language models, so-called AI, and verification.
• Notes and bibliography. 

Caulfield, one of the two coauthors, created the SIFT method (Stop, Investigate, Find other coverage, Trace the claim). Along with Wineburg, they basically give you a full course on how to evaluate what you see online so you can be empowered and act accordingly. The authors take you through the process step by step. These are skill you can learn with relative ease, and you develop the critical habits taught in the book you'll be able to better navigate the internet. A strength of their lessons is that often they do not take a lot of time. That is because you learn to assess quickly. If you decide to pursue a topic further, the authors show you how to do so. If you assess and decide something is not valid, relevant, or just not worth your energy, you can swiftly move on. Being efficient is a key element here. 

The book is relatively easy to read. Each chapter gives you practical examples and then they explain how to best handle each situation. You then learn the overall lesson so you can apply it when you go online. Chapters also include various tips and pieces of advice. Every chapter ends with a list of takeaways summarizing what you are learning. 

By now I am sure many academic librarians apply the lessons from the book in library instruction. We've done some some of it, but we will be working on adding more formal elements from the book in our instruction sessions. However, you do not have to be in an academic setting. This accessible book works for anyone wanting to learn how to find reliable information, evaluate it, and avoid the rest of the crap out there. In a time when Google largely has gone to shit, this book gives you steps and advice for making some good from Google. You learn how to do lateral reading like fact checkers do, and Wikipedia can be your ally, contrary to what some old time educators may claim. Learn that and more reading this book, then keep it handy for when you need a reminder now and again. 

This book is essential for all libraries. Librarians who have not ready it need to read it and then promote it to their patrons. The book can be beneficial for students in composition classes that require research. It may also be of interest to journalism students, journalists, and other writers who do or should be doing research. I recommend it fully, and I would buy a copy for my personal shelf. 

5 out of 5 stars. 

Additional reading notes: 

What this book can help you with: 

"Instead of being driven by emotion and outrage, you'll come to see your gut reactions as precious gifts that signal you to pause, take a breath, and ask a basic question: Is what I am looking at even what I think it is?" (3) 

 

Google is a search engine, not a truth engine:

"Google is not a dispassionate partner in information seeking who diligently corrects you when you've taken a wrong turn. Google is out to please, trying to determine what you want-- even if doing so means giving you a dubious answer but one you want to hear" (78). 

 And with its high commercialization, predominant advertising model, and now integrating LLM and AI features, it's gotten worse in terms of finding what you actually need. 

Need to beware expertise cynicism: 

"In authoritarian regimes, creating a broad cynicism about all sources of expertise-- the press, academics, professionals-- serves to make sure political power, not truth-seeking, is the ultimate arbiter of what is true" (109). 

This book qualifies for the following 2024 Reading Challenges: 

Book Review: The College Student's Research Companion

(Crossposted from The Itinerant Librarian)

Arlene Rodda Quaratiello, The College Student's Research Companion: Finding, Evaluating, and Citing the Resources You Need to Succeed. Chicago: ALA Neal-Schuman, 2024. ISBN: 9780838938386.

Genre: academic writing and research

Subgenre: reference, guides

Format: paperback

Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College 

 

This is basically a research guide to academic research for undergraduate students. In the preface, the author argues what many of us librarians argue: "to write better research papers, you must go beyond the basics of googling your topic and learn how to use the wealth of other resources available to you" (ix). That argument sounds great in theory, but in my many years as a librarian and teacher, I am concerned many students still do the superficial path of googling and hoping to find something just good enough. They also hope they can get it past their professors. The issue of students finding materials just "good enough" to pass and the faculty who may let them pass is a question I ponder here or there, but it is not something to consider now. I will just say I am not too optimistic. 

The book takes students through the research process from selecting a topic, finding and evaluating resources, and then how to use the sources ethically. Each chapter includes review questions to reinforce learning. The book also includes appendices with extra information like classification lists and citation style. 

The book is relatively an easy read, and the author keeps a light humor at times to keep things accessible. Comparisons and analogies to illustrate ideas are plentiful. Explanations are clear and straightforward. This can be a good resource for undergraduates to learn about research. It is not a substitute for library instruction, but it can supplement it. I can see some undergraduate writing class adding this to their textbook list. It's a pretty good guide with some good advice. 

However, the book suffers the issue of so many LIS texts: it falls out of currency as it is published. This edition has a 2024 publishing date, but the material was likely  written in 2023, maybe 2022. That is just the academic publishing cycle. The point here is the book has no mention of AI (artificial intelligence) and/or LLMs (Language Learning Models) that are becoming the latest issue in information literacy and academia at the time I am writing this. I have a 7th edition is already in the works. Still, the book covers the basics well, but you may want to consider whether to get this edition and add supplementary material as needed or wait for a later edition. At this moment I am good with this edition. 

This book is a good option for academic libraries to have a copy on hand, maybe on their ready reference shelf (if they still have a ready reference shelf). We bought a copy at my library, and it is a circulating copy. We'll see over time if it circulates or not. I'll make a small promotional post on the library blog later on. For now, I like this book overall. It has a good presentation of academic research skills for undergraduates. 

4 out of 5 stars. 

Article Note: On using library chat reference to answer campus questions

This article caught my eye initially because I do not recall people using our library chat reference much to answer campus specific questions. I would have to dig into our local statistics to be more certain, but at least from what I have observed in our chat reference service questions related to the campus are minimal. A good question for us to explore down the road may be where are people going then to get campus-specific answers, but that is another story for now. 

This article's goal is to investigate how academic libraries not only provide academic assistance but whether they are seen as an option to provide information on their campuses. In their opening, the authors remind us how chat reference services in libraries picked up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our virtual services certainly picked up during the pandemic's prime time days. 

Authors establish topic relevance for the article by connecting the growth of chat services to the need of libraries to prove their value to stakeholders, in this case campus administrators. That is certainly one of the reason we and other libraries are always collecting a variety of service statistics; we have to justify our existence to the bean counters. For example, we collect data on things such as number of research consults and library instruction sessions. One of the places that data ends up is on the campus fact book, which is available online on the campus website. So in a way an ulterior motive for this article is to show a library's value to its campus community.

The significance of this study is that, unlike previous studies of reference chat services in libraries, none up to now has focused on whether a reference chat service answers campus related questions that are not related to the library. 

Some highlights from the article: 

• Method: Analysis of chat transcripts from 5 large four-year public universities during the 2-year period of 2019 to 2021. The choice of campuses "were selected based on only the affiliations of the collaborating authors and do not necessarily reflect a representative sample" (15). To be honest, that is a small sample, but that is somewhat consistent with this type of LIS article.
• What they found: "This study found that non-library campus questions, on average, accounted for 2.44% of library chat questions, a relatively small proportion of all library chats" (12). At this low percent, I would not call this "filling a gap." Again, I do wonder where are patrons and others going for that information. 
• A curious to me finding is that this kind of information from reference chat may be "a more significant resources for less privileged student populations" (12). Not sure at this point what to make of that. 
• They did notice that reference chat often gets IT-related questions. A possible reason could be "their I.T. department may have insufficient hours of staffing" (13). I can testify to this a bit since our I.T. department is fairly notorious for their insufficient hours of staffing. I'd call them bankers' hours except bankers these days actually open late and on weekends. 
• Call for further research: "Further research building on this study could examine the prevalence of campus-related questions at physical service points in the library and compare this to chat" (15). They also suggest doing some comparisons with private institutions. 
• One good thing of analyzing chat reference transcripts: "...these transcripts provide a unique opportunity to identify areas where students are in need of additional information and support. The data can help identify offices and services on campus with which library chat operators should be most familiar and prepared to address in chat inquiries" (16). 

Article citation: Erin Owens, et.al., "Beyond the Library: the Role of Academic Libraries' Chat Reference in Answering Campus Questions." The Reference Librarian (April 2024): 1-24. 

I got this one via Interlibrary Loan.

Book Review: Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know

Serhy Yekelchyk, Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780197532119.

 

Genre: nonfiction, reference

Subgenre: Ukraine, history, politics

Format: hardcover

Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College

 

This book is part of Oxford's series "What Everyone Needs To Know" (by the way, they do have the trademark on that phrase). Our library recently bought this title for our collection, in part given the timely topic at this moment. I decided to go ahead and read it to learn more as well as to write this brief review. This is a second edition of the book. The author is a professor of History and Slavic Studies at the University of Victoria and writes on modern Ukraine and Russian-Ukraine relations. 

The book follows the typical format of the "What Everyone Needs to Know" series, which is a question and answer format. The book is arranged into seven chapters: 

• Why Ukraine?
• The Land and the People.
• The Making of Modern Ukraine.
• Ukraine After Communism.
• The Orange Revolution and the EuroMaidan.
• Russia's Annexation of the Crimea and the War in the Donbas.
• The War in Ukraine as an International Issue. 

Each chapter then has a series of basic questions with answers. Some sample questions the book answers are: 

• Why did Ukraine become a key reference point of American political struggles?
• Was Ukraine always part of Russia?
• When and why did Ukraine give up its nuclear arsenal? 
• What assistance has the United States provided Ukraine since 2014?

In addition, the book also includes a chronology, a map, a set of notes documenting facts, and a list for further reading. The book covers the country from its early days up until the first year or so of Zelensky's presidency.  As the author writes, he focuses mainly on "Ukraine's complex national and civic identity" (xv). He does address that and a bit more as he also looks at Ukraine's relations with Russia as well as Ukraine's interactions with the United States and the international community. 

The book is more an academic textbook, in other words I would not label it for pleasure reading (unless you are a policy wonk, history buff, or similar reader), but it should be of interest to general readers who want to learn more about the topic. While the text can be a bit dry at times, the book is still very accessible. The question and answer format is good to allow readers to read a bit at a time here or there. Some readers may want to read the book cover to cover. Other readers may want to just find topics of interest and focus on those. If you need a basic book that covers the topic well, this book will do the job. 

For academic libraries, this can be a good book to introduce the topic to students. For students who may be writing research papers on Ukraine and the war with Russia, this can be a good text to get them started. It can provide an overview of the issues, and the references from the notes and further reading can give students additional sources to read and explore. I would also say this can be a good selection for public libraries seeking to add a book on what is a topic right out of the news at this time. If a public library does not have much on Ukraine, this book can be a good start. 

Overall, at a little under 200 pages, not including notes and reading list, this is a book anyone can read and get a basic understanding of the country and the relevant issues. I really like it, and it would be one I would hand to students and other patrons wanting to learn more about the topic. Bottom line is this is a pretty good primer on the topic. 

4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: The Oxford Guide to Library Research, 4th edition

Thomas Mann, The Oxford Guide to Library Research, Fourth Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. ISBN: 978-0-19-993106-4.

 

Genre: nonfiction, guides

Subgenre: academic research, LIS

Format: trade paperback

Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College 

 

Our library recently acquired this for the reference collection as an update to the third edition that we had. I did notice this edition's publishing date is 2015, so it already may be falling behind in some details. When I investigated, I did not see a fifth edition forthcoming. Still this is a pretty good book overall.  

This book is a guide to help readers do research online and offline with an overview of various online and offline sources. Though it goes over online and offline sources, there is some bias or preference expressed in the book for print sources found in libraries, especially large research libraries. Naturally it also favors subscription based online resources, again found in libraries, especially large research libraries. The publisher describes this book as "the gold standard in the field," but it is so as long as you are using and accessing large research libraries. There is not much here about smaller academic libraries, like ours, and even less about public libraries. Though the strategies presented can apply for any researcher, the book is mainly for academic researchers at large research universities and institutions, for example, the Library of Congress, which is by the way where the author works. 

 

The book is arranged into 15 chapters. Some of the chapter topics include: specialized encyclopedias, use of subject headings in library catalogs and databases, citation searches, people sources, and hidden treasures (other not so visible at times sources like microforms and government documents). The book definitely strives to be as inclusive of various resources as possible. 

This is a guide mainly for academic researchers. The book is also commonly used as a textbook in library school programs (or "i-Schools" as they often call themselves now), and a lot of the material in the book is written more for librarians in training than actual non-librarian researchers. At times, some topics, such as cataloging and subject headings, may into more depth than most researchers may need, but that depth is necessary for librarians to understand how the systems work in order to better help their patrons. For other readers, some of the material may be way more technical than they want or need to know. 

For librarians in the field, like me, parts of this book may serve as a skills refresher. I did read it all to write this review, but for my brethren in the field I recommend you read what you need when you need. 

The book may not be too accessible for undergraduates. It does offer good research tips, but undergrads may need to dig through the more dense material first to find the good tips they can use. The book may be more geared to graduate students, research faculty, and especially librarians in training. Thus I would recommend the book for academic libraries, especially R-1 and similar institutions. For small academic libraries, I'd say this is optional. I am good with having it in our small collection, but having read it I can see it can be optional for us. 

In the end, I liked some parts better than others, and I think many academic readers can find some use in it. 

3 out of 5 stars. 

*****

Additional reading notes: 

The book is designed to answer three questions: 

 

"First, what is the extent of the significant research resources you will miss if you confine your research entirely, or even primarily, to sources available on the open Internet? Second, if you are trying to get a reasonably good overview of the literature on a particular topic, rather than just 'something quickly' on it, what are the methods of subject heading that are usually much more efficient for the purpose rather than typing keywords into a blank search box? And third-- a concern related to the first two-- how do you find the best search terms to use in the first place?" (xv).

A challenge is convincing researchers, especially students on tight schedules and deadlines who DO want it quickly and just good enough to do the assignment. Then again, a lot of what those students do is not "real" research. It's rather synthesis and compiling of sources on a decided topic, but that is a whole other conversation. 

This is a good point that many folks often miss or conveniently refuse to understand: 

"In the overall universe of information records, three considerations are inextricably tied together: (1) copyright protection; (2) free 'fair use' of the records by everyone; and (3) access limitations of what, who, and where. 

It is not possible to combine (1) and (2) without restricting at least one element of (3)" (xvii). 

Now things like copyright and access to research are debatable, but at the moment the above is the reality, unless you do as some faculty, researchers, and increasingly students do and find your sources in some shady parts of the Internet (and no further comment from me on that). 

A bad habit many librarians, especially the cool and hip ones like the "doers and stirrers," tend to have, which irks me a bit to be honest: 

"(The library field, unfortunately, has a habit of simply following Google rather than focusing on alternatives to it that work much better in the niche areas libraries must fill)" (115). 

That is also why so many libraries go to big default search boxes on their websites to "search everything" or do one "big search" without regard to trade offs of such decision in terms of focus, relevance, and useful results. It's a jump on the Google bandwagon of big search box and hoping the algorithm is on your side, except the algorithm is usually not on your side. Librarians jump on this for convenience, to make it "easier" for themselves and for impatient patrons instead of putting in the work and teaching students and/or patrons properly. Again, this can be a whole other conversation for another time. 

A growing problem in open Internet searching. I often mention this in library instruction, but few students seem to really appreciate it. Less savvy faculty often gloss over it: 

"(The growing proliferation of echo chambers and filter bubbles-- i.e. producing search results weighted and skewed by individuals' own idiosyncratic past search histories-- further diminishes the Web's capacity to provide inclusive overview perspectives)" (133). 

The author gives a nod to Reader's Advisory: 

"Bibliographies are also frequently more useful than databases when questions of 'reader's advisory' nature arise-- that is, when people just want recommendations of good books to read, in any subject area" (184). 

Booknote: Bestseller: a Century of America's Favorite Books

(Cross-posted from The Itinerant Librarian)

Robert McParland, Bestseller: a Century of America's Favorite Books. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2019. ISBN: 978-1-5381-0999-1.

Genre: nonfiction
Subgenre: books, reading, reference, pop culture
Format: hardcover
Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College 

This book does a few things. One, it looks at bestseller books year by year from the 1890s to the 2010s. Two, it looks at reading habits of people throughout the centuries, so you learn what people read then and now, reflecting the context of their times. Three, you also get historical context. The author tells use what else is going on in history, literature pop culture, and other areas in society to better appreciate why people read what they read at a given time. The book is way more than a list of bestsellers.

The book is arranged in nine chapters after the book's introduction. Each chapter has a small introduction to the decade it covers, then a section for each year in a decade looking at specific bestsellers, patterns, reading habits, historical context, and even interviews with sample readers to illustrate specific points. For example a brief interview with a World War II veteran about his reading habits back then while at war. After the chapters, you get a section of notes. There is also a bibliography. Note this bibliography covers the works the author consulted and not the bestsellers listed. It could have been helpful to have an additional list of the bestsellers, say by decade or such.

A strength of the book is that it covers so many elements about readers and reading along with the bestseller listings. You get to trace how reading habits in the United States changed and evolved over time. We do see that at times people in the United States did read more, and they did read more "serious" things, but they did so also reflecting their times.

While interesting overall, the book is more like an academic textbook, so a lot of the text can be pretty dry reading. Thus, some parts have a better reading flow; some parts you may find more interesting and may want to focus on more. Other parts may be more dry, and you're better off skimming them. In the end, this book works pretty well as a reference work where you can study the decades and see what was popular at a time and why, learn what motivated readers to pick up specific books thus making them bestsellers.

This is not a book for personal collections unless you are a scholar in pop culture or literature. It is more a book for libraries. I'd say it is mainly for academic libraries, especially if their college or university has strong interests in literacy and popular culture. It also works for trivia, say to find what books were bestsellers in 1955.

Bottom line is I liked it. I recommend it mainly for academic libraries. It may also be good for some public libraries, likely ones with larger popular collections.

3 out of 5 stars.

* * * * * 

Additional reading notes:


The author tells us what the book provides:

"This book provides a listing of bestselling books and recalls the contemporary context in which those books were situated" (vii).

A brief definition of bestseller from the book:

"A bestseller is a book that has caught the imagination of many readers. It is a book that has energy and momentum in the market and is being successfully marketed by its publisher" (ix). 

You can still find books from the 1950s with relative ease:

"Books from the 1950s can be found today in libraries, tucked away and forgotten in the corners of older homes, or stacked in rows at garage sales" (54).

Booknote: Appalachian Health and Well-Being

(Cross-posted from The Itinerant Librarian)


Robert L. Ludke and Phillip J. Obermiller, eds. with Foreword by Richard A. Couto, Appalachia Health and Well-Being. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2012.  ISBN: 978-0-8131-35861.

Genre: nonfiction, reference work
Subgenre: Appalachia, health, health care, academic essays anthology
Format: Hardcover
Source: Hutchins Library, Reference Collection

This note is a reference book review. We currently have this book in our collection at Hutchins Library; I saw it on our new reference books' shelf, and I decided to make this note both to help me better know this resource and to see if it can be helpful for our students here. In this note, I will mainly look at key features of the book, how it is organized, and why it may be useful and how. On a small side note, I will probably pull some notes or items from this review to write a small quick review for our library's blog about this book. What I am saying is this note is a bit different than my usual booknotes.

In our library, we get a lot of questions related to Appalachia and the region in general. Appalachia is also a big part of the college's curriculum, especially in the required reading second semester General Studies course, so we are always looking for resources in this area. Health in the region is often a popular topic in those classes, so this book seems relevant.

I need to note it was published in 2012. For some of our classes that may require sources within 5 years (for reasons I will not go into here), this book may already be "too old." However, for classes looking at the region more broadly and at overall conditions in the region, this book can be useful.

The book is a collection of scholarly signed essays on various health related topics in the region. The book is organized as follows:

• List of illustrations
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Three major parts, each containing a series of essays. The book has a total of 16 essays. The major part topics are: 
• Appalachian Health Determinants
• Appalachian Health Status
• Urban Appalachian Health
• Acknowledgements
• Selected bibliography
• List of contributors
• Index

In his foreword to the book, Professor Couto tells us chapters in this book "addressed all the factors that promote health and well-being, including economic, political, psychological, environmental, and social ones" (xi). Maybe "all" is a bit too ambitious, but a look at the book's contents shows work "to put health and health care in a socioeconomic and political context" (xi). For many classes here on campus, specially in that General Studies curriculum I mentioned, this book can provide a good start for student research assignments.

This book is not just a collection of essays. The book's foreword and introduction provide a good overview of the complex issues of the region in terms of health and health care. The editor writes,

"This volume takes a broad perspective by focusing on the health of all Appalachians, both residents of Appalachia and those who have migrated from the region" (1).

The introduction's overview goes over various essential topics in a brief but clear manner in order to provide background material. Some of these topics include:

• Medical services for rural areas
• Health innovations
• Definitions and concepts

What the book does not cover and why. This is the kind of statement that students and researchers need to pay attention to when considering a source for a research task or assignment as it presents the limitations of the work being considered:

"There are important Appalachian subpopulations (e.g African Americans, Hispanics, Eastern Band Cherokee) and health cohorts (e.g. those with HIV/AIDS) that are not discussed in this volume. Although women's health is reasonably well represented here, many other subgroups in Appalachia are not. This is not an intentional omission; it is caused by an unfortunate lack of reliable regional data on these populations" (16). 

The book's introduction includes a section on "organization of this book." Good scholarly essay collections often include this kind of section. Here the editors define how a book is organized and why they chose their book's arrangement as well as briefly describes each essay in the book. So for students, read the introduction, specially this part, to quickly assess how well this book may suit your assignment or not. For many topics on Appalachian health and health care, you may find this book is a good source. At the end of the introduction you will find endnotes and references used in the introduction, which can be useful for expanding your research.

In the book, each scholarly essay has its own list of references as well. Again, those references are a tool to help students and researchers expand their research. We librarians often call using references from a source "citation mining." Want to learn more about this research technique? You can ask your local friendly librarian.

Finally, the book has an index of terms you can use to locate specific contents in the book. Book also contains various tables, charts, and graphs.

I'd say for some of our classes here, especially for some in the General Studies curriculum as well as classes here and in other places in Appalachian Studies, health, and wellness, this book can be a good resource.

Note: no stars rating. This is a reference book. If you have questions about why I did not rate this book, see my book review statement. 

Article Note: On Impactful Research Appointments

Doing research consults with students is a big part of the job for the instruction librarians at my library. With COVID-19 in swing, we had to move the operation from in person to fully online, using the by now ever popular Zoom platform to do virtual consultations. The research appointment can be a source of anxiety for students as it is, and I would say it can be more so online. So I picked up this article to see what new ideas I can pick up to help students out. 

 

The author argues that the research appointment offers invaluable benefits for both the student and the librarian including better information literacy skills, nurturing trust and a sense of community. The article then argues that librarians need to develop and use their interpersonal skills as well as use empathy to help students decrease their anxiety about the library and meeting with a librarian. Make a good impression and the students will keep coming back, or so the author's argument goes. 

 

To be honest, a lot of the steps the author presents are things we do here at our library. I think the article may be really helpful to new librarians or to students in library school taking the reference services class. 

 

Notes and takeaways from the article: 

 

• The value of the research consultation: "The benefits of the scheduled consultation are plentiful, as the service not only impacts a patron's research capabilities positively, but also dissolves library stereotypes, reduces research anxiety, and builds the user's trust in the library" (1). 
• The literature confirms a belief we hold here in our library that research consults allow us to better engage students and keep their attention. As we often tell our students, when you schedule an appointment with one of us, you get the undivided attention of the librarian. Sure, you can stop at the Reference Desk and ask questions, which is fine, but that session may be shorter and can get interrupted by other students asking questions as well.
  
• This is also why for our information literacy workshops, which we were doing for incoming freshmen prior to COVID-19, were capped at 5 to 6 students. That is the number where the librarian can engage with students effectively, keep them engaged and get them to be active participants. 
• How the librarian performs in the consult is crucial: "The core weight of the research appointment depends on the librarian's performance, namely, whether or not they employ interpersonal skills, practice empathy, and build trust. In conjunction with providing adept information literacy guidance, these qualities lay the foundation for a successful research appointment, resulting in the diminishing of a student's library anxiety and the establishing of community" (2). 
• This seems a bit wordy for saying the librarian needs to be a human being and more than just an information and skills teacher. You are building relationships with students, and if you show empathy and those soft skills management gurus talk about, the students will remember you, come back when they have other needs, and they may even tell their friends. 
• The author writes that "the librarian's level of approachability directly relates to the success or failure of the research appointment" (4). This seems basic enough. Author further writes, "consequently, a successful research appointment is one that the student perceives as effective" (4). One of the questions I always ask the student as we wrap up a consult is if the consult is helpful for them, did they get what they needed at this time? 
• Things the librarian needs to do during the reference interview (kind of thing librarians should have learned in library school to be honest): ". . .listen to the student's needs, pose open-ended and follow-up questions, and then verify that they understand the user's research focus" (4). Also, the librarian needs to be a positive enabler for the student encouraging the student's curiosity and interest in the research topic. This helps build up the student's confidence. Providing the student some emotional support is part of the task for librarians as well. For me, this goes along with my theory of librarians as confessors. 
• More on open-ended questions: "By asking the user open-ended questions in the approach of Socratic teaching, and by inspiring a safe setting, the user will understand that their participation is welcomed and necessary" (8). Or so we hope. Once in a while you do get that student in consult where it feels like you are pulling teeth to get answers from the student. 
• This is a lesson I learned way back when I was a school teacher, admitting some degree of vulnerability so to speak. It was a way to humanize the teacher a bit as well as build student confidence if they saw themselves as sources of information and learning as well. We all learn together in the classroom. This is also applicable in research consults. The author writes, "To further establish the partnership, the librarian may admit that they are not an all-knowing expert. Specifically, while the librarian has research expertise, they do not have the same familiarity with the student's chosen academic discipline. As such, the librarian would appreciate guidance and brief subject overviews from the student at times" (8).
• As I often tell the students, I am not all knowing, but I am very good at knowing where and how to find what you need. So if the student gives me a little subject guidance on their topic, I can help them find the way. And in case of doubt, I do send them back to their professor, who is the subject expert to get clarification. Once they get clarification, they are welcome to come back and work with me. Once or twice I've even written to professors asking for some clarification on behalf of a student from a consult. 
• This is something we do here: as we help the student we go through the process so they can learn how we did it. We are not magicians (even if they think we are); there is no need to keep secrets of how we do things. "Similarly, the librarian should demonstrate exactly how they reach specific conclusions. For instance, the librarian could point to the clues that helped identify the source as relevant" (9). In this instance, this would be teaching students how to evaluate sources, an important information literacy skill.
  

 

 

 

Citation for the article: 

 

Meika E. Matook (2020): The Impactful Research Appointment: Combating Research Anxiety and Library Stereotypes, The Reference Librarian. 

Items from this article's bibliography I may want to read later: 

• Bennett, J. L. (2017). Virtual research consultations study. Internet Reference Services Quarterly,
  22(4), 193–200.
• Campbell, L., Matthews, D., & Lempinen-Leedy, N. (2015). Wake up information literacy
  instruction: Ideas for student engagement. Journal of Library Administration, 55(7),
  577–586.
• Grallo, J., Chalmers, M., & Baker, P. (2012). How do I get a campus ID? The other role of the
  academic library in student retention and success. Reference Librarian, 53(2), 182–193.
• McAfee, E. L. (2018). Shame: The emotional basis of library anxiety. College and Research
  Libraries, 79(2), 237–256.
• Rogers, E., & Carrier, H. S. (2017). A qualitative investigation of patrons’ experiences with
  academic library research consultations. Reference Services Review, 45(1), 18–37.

 

 

Article Note: On Library Consultations and the Pandemic

With the pandemic and the shutdown of on campus instruction in March 2020, we soon knew that we would have to make changes to our library services to emphasize more virtual services. At the time, students and faculty moved to teaching online, and the library moved along with them. We already offered reference services via e-mail, phone, and text messaging, but our main emphasis was on in person research consultations. That was no longer an option in the COVID, so we moved to implement virtual chat as another option as well as doing research consultations via ZOOM online meetings. This has worked pretty well for us so far. Naturally, now that I am seeing people writing articles on this topic I am interested in seeing what they have to say and see what I may be able to learn. 

 

This article looks at the relationship between how librarians perceive difficulty in an academic consultation and how those perceptions may change due to COVID-19 and campus closures. The key here is that we are looking at librarian perceptions. This article may be of interest to library managers seeking to learn more on the topic in order to assist in librarian workload management, scheduling, and providing other support to the librarians including additional training as needed. In addition, keep in mind this article looks more at larger campuses and campuses that may have multiple campus locations. I will note here that our small residential campus would be a contrast, but there are still some lessons for places like us. 

 

Some highlights from the article and my comments and/or thoughts: 

 

•  "The effects on librarians of providing these services and the use of reference statistics in predicting or assessing librarian workload and effort are comparatively little studies" (2).
  
• The focus is usually on the patrons, their needs and satisfaction levels, information we often use to justify our work. We do not look at ourselves very much unless it is to say "we did good" based on how the patrons did or more often their satisfaction with our services. 
• "This virtual service is particularly important for libraries serving institutions with multiple campuses or extensive distance-learning programs" (3).
  
• Indeed it is. For us, our challenge was the we are a residential campus. At the time, we did not have a full distance learning structure in place. That our faculty and our IT along with our students and us to support where we could shifted as well as we all did is commendable. We had just hired a new position: a Digital Initiatives Librarian. I can say that she soon had plenty of work to keep her very busy. 
•  "Transitioning to fully online modes of patron interaction during the recent disruption has enabled librarians to provide community service, emphasize their ongoing availability to student and faculty researchers, and develop and test new skills and strategies" (3).
  
• For us, challenging as well was our student demographic, which when distant come from various locations, many with poor Internet access. If anything, this also highlighted equity and access issues. As best they could, the college did step up to address these issues. 
• "Currently, though, there is little known about how difficulty of interactions compare between special collections units and other specialized teams or institutions' overall reference services, especially during a disruptive event like COVID-19 that limits the team's and researchers' access to collections" (4).
• "First, and most timely, the results show that the average difficulty of patron interactions has increased since the [Institution] campuses closed due to COVID-19" (7).
  
• This would seem obvious. 
• "These results may also mean that librarians need to be able to allocate larger portions of their time toward individual patron interactions at the expense of time spent on other duties in order to maintain a healthy work schedule" (7).
  
• As often the case, you need to be asking what needs to be dropped in order to keep providing the most essential services. 
•  "On an individual level, librarians can use these findings to potentially identify sources of strain and opportunities for growth with respect to how they engage with patrons. Library administrators and supervisors can use these findings to inform deeper assessments of service operations, develop effective training programs, and better ensure that librarians receive the support they need to prevent burnout, particularly during periods of disruption or when providing increased remote services" (8).
  
• For training and programs, something more than being told "take time off" and breath deeply. 
  

 Citation for the article:

Anderson, Raeda, Katherine Fisher, and Jeremy Walker, "Library Consultations and a Global Pandemic: An Analysis of Consultation Difficulty during COVID-19 across Multiple Factors." Journal of Academic Librarianship 47.1 (2021). 

Some items from the article's bibliography I may want to look at down the road: 

• Bennett, J.L. (2017). Virtual research consultations study. Internet Reference Services Quarterly 22(4), 193-200.
• Need to ILL this one. 
• Betancourt, N (2020, April 220. Student experiences during COVID-19: Actionable insights driving institutional support for students. Ithaka S + R.  https://sr.ithaka.org/blog/student-experiences-during-covid-19/. (Available online, plus Ithaka has a COVID-19 page of additional resources to look over).
• Maddox, Jennifer and Stanfield, Leigh, "Did It Work?: The Effects Of Research Consultations On The Quality Of Sources Used In An Undergraduate Class." (2020). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 13.
  https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2020/2020/13. 
• MAGI, Trina J.; MARDEUSZ, Patricia E.. What students need from reference librarians: Exploring the complexity of the individual consultation. College & Research Libraries News, [S.l.], v. 74, n. 6, p. 288-291, june 2013. ISSN 2150-6698. Available at: <https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/article/view/8959/9706>
• Lauren Newton & Daniel E. Feinberg (2020) Assisting, Instructing, Assessing: 21st Century Student Centered Librarianship, The Reference Librarian, 61:1, 25-41 
• Need to ILL this one. 
• Reiter, L., & Cole, C. (2019). Beyond Face Value: Evaluating Research Consultations from the Student Perspective. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 59(1), 23-30. Available online at RUSA: https://www.journals.ala.org/index.php/rusq/article/view/7222.  

 

 

 

Booknote: Television Series of the 1960s

(Post crossposted from The Itinerant Librarian)

Vincent Terrace, Television Series of the 1960s: Essential Facts and Quirky Details. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-4422-6834-0.

Genre: nonfiction
Subgenre: reference, television, trivia, pop culture
Format: hardback
Source: Berea branch of the Madison County (KY) Public Library

This is a reference book about trivia of 1960s television shows. If you watched TV during this decade, or like me caught the reruns in syndication later, you'll remember these were some of the most loved and popular shows of American television. They were so popular that they keep providing fodder for remakes and movie adaptations, often with  bad results. There is something to be said for not messing with classics.

The book is arranged as follows:

• Short introduction where the author describes how the book was put together. 
• 82 individual entries arranged alphabetically. 
• An index that is basically actor's names. There is also an additional thematic index, which may be more valuable. 

As the author states, this book does not have essays or opinions. It is just a collection of facts and trivia about the shows. The book covers programs that premiered from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969. The author notes that shows that premiered in the 1950s and were still running in first run in the 1960s are not included. Some examples of shows not included are Bonanza, The Donna Reed Show, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, and Zorro. The author focuses on really trivial facts, not so much things you could find in places like imdb.com. You get things like street addresses, names of pets, and other details that other sources often miss. A fascinating thing for me is show producers, intentionally or not, could be very inconsistent. Street addresses and car license plates often change without reason, sometimes even in midseason.

So how did the author compile all this? He acquired and watched every available episode of each show. And not every show is featured in the book; it depends on what information is available. A show like Dr. Kildare, very popular in its time, is not included in the book because there  is not enough available material to make an entry. In the end, the book is a selective compilation that often documents details not found elsewhere.

This is a book to browse at your leisure. For shows I knew, it was nice to go down memory lane and recall details. I also learned about some shows I did not know before. Entries are pretty basic, just the facts. There are a few black and white photos, but overall the book is minimally illustrated. For television buffs, this may be a good option. I'd say public libraries may wish to consider it. Academic libraries with strong pop culture programs may see it as an optional selection.

In the end, I liked it.

3 out of 5 stars

This  book qualifies for the following 2017 Reading Challenges:

Booknote: Puerto Rico Past and Present: an Encyclopedia

(Crossposted from The Itinerant Librarian)

Serafin Mendez Mendez, with Ronald Fernandez, Puerto Rico Past and Present: an Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2015. ISBN: 978-1-4408-2831-7.

Genre: nonfiction
Subgenre: reference, Latino Studies, Puerto Rico, country studies
Format: hardback
Source: Borrowed from Hutchins Library, Berea College 

This was a recent acquisition for my library. My library does not have much on Puerto Rico. Before this volume, our copy of War Against All Puerto Ricans (link to my review) was about the only current thing we had, and I ordered that book. Now, we are a small liberal arts college in Kentucky, so I get Puerto Rico as topic is not a high priority. However, when the "latest" books are ones that still spell the island's name as "Porto Rico" that is a problem in my humble opinion. So this reference book provides a start to to alleviating the issue. With Puerto Rico in the news recently in light of the island's economic and humanitarian crisis (here is a small account explaining it a bit), some timely and  basic sources are needed. This reference book at least provides some of the basics.

This is the second edition of this reference work. I have not seen the first edition, so I cannot do a comparison. According to the current author, the first edition won an ALA Denali Award; the previous edition was published in 1998, so an update was long overdue, and I am glad it got done.

The one-volume encyclopedia is arranged as follows:

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chronology of important events. It goes from 1493 to 2015
• 189 entries arranged alphabetically
• Two appendices
• Representative leaders of the first stage of the feminist movement in Puerto Rico
• Representative writers by generation
• A selected bibliography

On the entries, the author writes,

"It provides longer and extended entries with a deep sense of context as well as reliable historic background. There are new, revised, and extended essays on language, education, religion, geography, the environment, social media, and many other subjects" (xviii). 

Entries range from historical subjects and topics to politics and pop culture. The book's focus is on more contemporary topics, but it still provides plenty of material for folks interested in history.

For students, this is a solid resource to learn more about Puerto Rico. The book features entries on major topics that may be of timely interest such as the recently implemented IVU (a sales and use tax, think an "added value tax"), the LGBT movement on the island, and political representation of the island in the United States. Such entries will give a newcomer a broad overview. Readers wanting to dig deeper will find additional entries on more specific topics.

Each entry includes the essay, cross-references, and a short list of references for those wanting to learn more on a topic. The book also features some good black and white photography on certain topics.

In addition, I'd say for Puerto Rican readers, this book can be a bit of a nostalgia trip, especially for those like me who have been living in the U.S. mainland for many years. Browsing through the entries brought back many memories.

This is a good selection for libraries. For students seeking information on Puerto Rico, say for a paper, this is a good start. It can be a very good start for libraries with little or no materials on  Puerto Rico. If you want to say  you have at least something, you can't go wrong with this basic, solid, well-written, and reliable reference book. I'd recommend it for both public and academic libraries.

Though I think the author tries to be too cheery at times (the island is currently experiencing some seriously hard times), it is a balanced work overall. There are not many books I'd add to my personal collection; I'd add this one.

(Reference Book, no rating given)

Booknote: Library and Information Science: A Guide to Key Literature and Sources

(Crossposted from my personal blog, The Itinerant Librarian)

Bemis, Michael F., Library and Information Science: A Guide to Key Literature and Sources. Chicago: ALA, 2014. ISBN: 978-0-8389-1185-3. 

This is basically a very big annotated bibliography of sources in library science. Though there are some web sources and databases listed, the focus appears to be on books, followed by periodicals. If you have kept up in your area(s) of librarianship, then you have seen much of what is listed here. The value of the book then is in seeing lists in other areas. The book is valuable, for instance, to see what are the basics of cataloging if cataloging is not your area. Also, the book can serve as a double-checking collection development tool for LIS school libraries. I would anticipate that LIS schools and their libraries would be the primary places wanting this book. It's the kind of book they would want their students accessing.

From the author's introduction:

"I wrote this book for a simple reason: I needed a current annotated bibliography of library science but couldn't find one. My goals were twofold: to collect as much of the available information sources regarding various aspects of the profession as reasonably possible and to then organize them in a logical fashion" (xi). 

The book is organized by chapters; it has 39 topics from administration and management to writing and publishing. Some of the topics have more sources than others, but most of the chapters provide a basic core list to give you a sense of what you have to read, or at least be aware of, on a given topic. If you need to read more deeply on a topic, some of the selections should help with that. 

An issue I found comes in the listing of information technology materials. For books in this area, a common issue surfaces: information tech books tend to get dated pretty quickly. Some items in that chapter are already out-of-date. If you still mention MySpace as something part of "all the rage," you are woefully behind at this point.

I did take a closer look at Chapter 15: Information Literacy and Bibliographic Instruction, which represents my main specialty. It did have items I expected to see. A new librarian wanting to go into this area will find enough to get started.

As a research starter on a topic in librarianship, I'd say this will be useful for many, especially beginners and librarian in the field who may not have extensive access to LIS sources. For me, I'd keep it on my shelf to check on things now and then as part of keeping up or for my areas of interest. This is one I am suggesting for librarians to at least look over.

I really liked this one, in spite of some small issues, some I am giving it 4 out of 5 stars.

* * * 

I did jot down some titles from the book's listings for later reading (the number included is the entry number in the book. Links, as usual unless otherwise noted, go to WorldCat.):

• 544: Solomon, Laura: Doing Social Media So It Matters: A Librarian's Guide. ISBN: 978-0-83891-067-2.
• 793: Battles, Matthew, Library: An Unquiet History. ISBN: 978-0-39332-564-5. (I have had this on my TBR for a while now. I can't pass up a book-related history book).
• 804: McCabe, Ronald B., Civic Librarianship: Renewing the Social Mission of the Public Library. ISBN: 978-0-81083-905-2. (Just because I am an academic librarian does not mean that I do not read about my brethren in the public library). 
• 805: Murray, Stuart A.P., The Library: An Illustrated History. ISBN: 978-1-60239-706-4. (My library has it, so I may get to it a bit sooner.)
• 855: Alman, Susan Webreck, Crash Course in Marketing for Libraries. ISBN: 978-1-59158-430-8.
• 856: Barber, Peggy, and Linda Wallace, Building a Buzz: Libraries and Word-of-mouth Marketing. ISBN: 978-0-83891-011-5.
• 1018: Greenblatt, Ellen, ed., Serving LGBTIQ Library and Archives Users: Essays on Outreach, Service, Collections, and Access. ISBN: 978-0-78644-894-4. 
• 1020: Alire, Camila, and Jacqueline Ayala, Serving Latino Communities: a How-to-do-it Manual for Librarians. ISBN: 978-1-55570-606-7. 
• 1164: Eckstrand, Tatyana, comp., The Librarian's Book of Quotes. ISBN: 978-0-83890-988-1 (added because I tend to like books of quotes). 
• 1170: Alpert, Abby, and Barry Trott, Read On. . . Graphic Novels: Reading Lists for Every Taste. ISBN: 978-1-59158-825-2. (actually, I am fairly knowledgeable on this, but I always check out what is out there). 
• 1364: Forte, Eric., et.al., Fundamentals of Government Information: Mining, Finding, Evaluating, and Using Government Resources. ISBN: 978-1-55570-737-8. (I took GovDocs coursework in library school, and I do keep up on this area when I can, so adding this in to get a refresher. I do admit that if I had not pursued library instruction and information literacy, I would have loved to be a GovDocs librarian. To me, GovDocs are a great very underutilized research source for students and the public). 

(Update note 10/5/15): For some reason, this post attracts spammers like flies to shit (especially stupid accountants for some reason). So, I am closing comments on it. 

Booknote: The Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror (2nd Edition)

(Crossposted from my personal blog, The Itinerant Librarian)

Becky Siegel Spratford, The Reader's Advisory Guide to Horror (2nd edition). Chicago: ALA, 2012. ISBN: 9780838911129. 

Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Library science, readers' advisory, horror

This book was a serendipity find for me at the public library. I picked it up to get a refresher on the genre and help keep up my RA (readers' advisory for my non-librarian friends) skill set. I did take the coursework for RA in library school, but I am also an avid reader and strive to keep up with various genres. After all, if this academic librarian gig does not pan out, I think I can still get employed at a public library. Plus, for me, reading is fun. As for the horror genre, I would not consider myself a "horror reader," but I do read in the genre, which I enjoy now and then. This book is part of ALA's RA series, and it was pretty good in providing an overview of the genre. It is a good aide for librarians who may not know much about horror.

The book focuses on horror; it does address what could be labeled as "related" genres such as dark fantasy or paranormal, but the bottom line here is true horror. However, in this day and age where paranormal fiction (often romance with paranormal elements) is such a big hit with readers, it needs to be acknowledged in any discussion of horror, and the book does that, providing some small guidance on those given the crossover appeal. This is to address, for instance, the nice lady who reads, for example, Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series and wants to read more "horror." What that reader probably wants is more paranormal fiction, possibly with romance elements, but it has vampires and werewolves, so it has to be horror, right? The librarian does not have to "correct" the lady. Just know the distinctions so you can provide the best advice possible and help your reader get to their next great read. Yet at the end of the day, the core of the book is horror.

For the purposes of the book, the author defines horror as:

 "a story in which the author manipulates the reader's emotions by introducing situations in which unexplainable phenomena and unearthly creatures threaten the protagonist and provoke terror in the reader" (13). 

That definition is the starting point.

The book's first three chapters provide a history and genre overview. The next set of chapters provide annotated lists with some readalike suggestions in these horror topics:

• classics, 
• ghosts and haunted houses
• vampires
• zombies
• shape-shifters
• monsters and ancient evil
• witches and occult
• Satan and demonic possession
• comic horror.

The last two chapters deal with using your collection and marketing. The chapter on whole collection RA was good as it reassures librarians they may already have many horror titles in the collection they can start promoting right away. This chapter also looks at other genres such as supernatural, paranormal, nonfiction, and graphic novels that horror readers may like as well.

The book is mainly designed for librarians, especially public librarians. However, I think the chapters with book lists could help some advanced horror readers as well as readers new to the genre. As I mentioned, I do read some horror; I have read some of the basics, including some mentioned in the book, but I also found some new reading suggestions that I jotted down.

Overall, this is an accessible, concise book that provides a lot of reading ideas and suggestions. As a reader and librarian, I really liked this one. It does make me willing to go look for other books in the RA series too.

I am giving it 4 out of 5 stars.

* * * 

This is the list of titles I jotted down from the book to add to my TBR list. In parenthesis, I am putting the label the book used and any comments I may have. I am also including WorldCat links to help my four readers and me find them later.


Books I jotted down from the opening chapters (i.e. caught my eye right away):

• Joe Hill, Heart-Shaped Box (I have been told this is pretty much classic. Only Joe Hill I have read, which I enjoyed, is his Locke & Key graphic novel series.) 
• Brian Keene, Castaways (the author mentioned this book a few times, deals with one of those "Survivor" type of reality shows.)
• Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes (I have read Bradbury, and I can't believe I have not read this. We need to fix that gap.)
• Arthur Conan Doyle, Tales of Terror and Mystery. (1906)
• H.P. Lovecraft (I have actually read some of his works, but would love to read more)

Other books I jotted down as I read the book:

• Ray Garton, Live Girls (vampires)
• Otto Penzler, ed., The Vampire Archives: The Most Complete Volume of Vampire Tales Ever Published. 
• Brian M. Stableford, The Werewolves of London (shapeshifters. I have read his The Empire of Fear, which is a vampire novel.)
• Bentley Little, The Return (Monsters and ancient evil)
• Bryan Smith, Depraved (Monsters and ancient evil)
• Martin H. Greenberg, et.al., eds., 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories (Witches and occult)
• Clive Barker, The Hellbound Heart (Satan and demonic possession. This is the basis for the film Hellraiser. I have seen the film. As for his books, only one I have read is the graphic novel adaptation of Great and Secret Show- link to my review.)
• Joe Hill, Horns (Satan and demonic possession.)
• Tim Pratt, ed., Sympathy for the devil (Satan and demonic possession.)

Article Note: On LibGuides and Usability Testing

Citation for the article:

Sonsteby, Alec, and Jennifer DeJonghe, "Usability Testing, User-Centered Design, and LibGuides Subject Guides: A Case Study." Journal of Web Librarianship 7 (2013): 83-94.

 Read via: (my boss sent me a copy. She got it via ILL).


The article looks at work done at Metropolitan State University's work in testing usability on their library LibGuides. LibGuides have become a very popular option for libraries to do a range of things from putting up research guides to running or managing parts of their websites. As a disclosure note, we do use LibGuides here in my library. In fact, a reason I read this article is that my boss sent it over to the instruction team to spark discussion as we work to update our own LibGuides. When testing their website, the folks at MSU observed that students often struggled finding articles on a topic. They attributed the failures to LibGuides, thus their usability testing.

LibGuides are not perfect. The literature review does summarize some common issues with LibGuides such as too many pages, boxes, links, inconsistent labels, etc. However, other usability tests have been contradictory: what works well in one place turns out to be terrible in another. I think for us here we'll have to test things out and just learn as we go. MSU tested five participants. They felt that they had enough information from that early round of testing. The article then goes on to describe the testing process.

As I make notes, I will be commenting on some of the things we are doing here with our LibGuides, mostly a way for me to reflect on the process.

Some of the issues the authors identified include:

• The visibility of a search box and being confused about the search box. They found that users often want a search box, and they want it to, in essence act like a discovery tool (or, let us be blunt, to act like Google). This is where the built-in box in LibGuides comes in. It can be confusing to students who expect it to do "everything," only to find frustration when it does not. That is certainly an issue we have identified here. I understand that we can customize what the search box does somewhat, but it may never be close to perfect, and for different subjects you may want a box that does different things. We are leaning towards removing the built-in box, and instead adding other search options within our LibGuides, say a customized EBSCO widget for a specific database or other tools. 
• Language is always an issue it seems. We have discussed language, and we are working to make things a bit more consistent in that regard. This document on "Library Terms That Users Understand," which the authors cite, has proven helpful in some of our discussions as well. 
• Inconsistencies in terms of tab names. We are solving this by making our subject guides have a standard. Now, for class-specific guides, the development could be more flexible in order to tailor the guide to the class' needs. This goes to one of the lessons that the authors mention: making the guides focused on meeting user's information needs.

  Some lessons they learned (and that we may apply or expand upon here):

• Focusing on meeting the user's information needs and building on that. As I mentioned, we are making a standard template for our subject guides. However, for class-specific guides, we are leaving things a bit more open so we can tailor them to classes. On the subject guides, part of the idea is to focus on what students need, yet we also have an interest in making them into true starting points for research on a topic. For me at least, they should also be good enough and clear enough for "someone off the street"to be able to use them as well. 
• The authors suggest having table of contents pages. We went back and forth on this, and we decided to have a basic TOC that can also serve as a navigation tool on the left side of our subject guides. Basically, for us, our landing page on a guide would serve as a sort of "quick start" space to get students quickly and efficiently to what they may want, then use other tabs (or pages as LibGuides calls them) to provide additional resources. As of this writing, this is a work in progress. 
• They suggest focusing on electronic resources, since after all, LibGuides are an online tool. This was subject to some debate as some of us think that we should at least list some print sources as well. There are some reasons for that. For one, we are a residential campus, and while a lot of students do work at their residences, many will still come to the library. Two, our reference print collection does get a good amount of  use, and we wish to continue promoting that alongside our electronic reference offerings and other resources. Also, the LibGuides are as much for us and for our reference student workers as they are for the rest of the college students. Therefore, if a reference worker needs to find some basics on, say, biology, and goes to our Biology LibGuide, he or she should be able to find a few reference sources be they in print or electronic. 

The article is not the "be all, end all" when it comes to the topic of LibGuides, but it does provide material for discussions in libraries about how to best use LibGuides in libraries. The references list includes various resources, such as other usability test articles and other reports that may be of interest and that people may want to read side by side with this article as they work on their own LibGuides as well. I know I will be keeping this article handy for a while as we continue our work here.

Article Note: On Encyclopedias Growing and Shrinking, 1690 to 1840

Citation for the article:

Loveland, Jeff, "Why Encyclopedias Got Bigger...and Smaller." Information and Culture 47.2 (2012): 233-254.

Read via Project Muse.

This is a history of books and reading article. It discusses the growth and eventual shrinkage of encyclopedias during the period of 1690 to 1840. I found it interesting to learn about the encyclopedia endeavors and trade during the time period. Loveland goes over why the encyclopedias initially grew in size, then why they shrunk to a stable size. And as we all know, encyclopedias are now really shrinking with the advent of online collaboratives like Wikipedia.

Some notes from the article:

• The author argues that size can limit the value of an encyclopedia in terms of what it can provide for knowledge and information. Do note that these reference books do not always serve the function they were designed to do. This is due to social and cultural issues. 
• A small definition: "As conceived here, encyclopedias are general repositories of information designed for consultation and sometimes for study or browsing as well" (234). 
• Initially, encyclopedias were marketed to individuals seeking knowledge and self-improvement. By the early 20th century, the marketing changed. It was now to families seeking to secure a good education for their children. This was the time when you bought an encyclopedia set for the home so your child could have access to good information. I think this pretty much went on until the advent of the Internet. Personally, I do remember having at least two encyclopedias in the home: a Spanish language encyclopedic dictionary and a world book type of encyclopedia in English. 
• During the period described in the article, an argument that encyclopedias were good sources for knowledge was their size. They were smaller than a library. Competitors often criticized each other for any exclusions; our encyclopedia is certainly more comprehensive than those guys kind of thing. 
• Capital and financing were always an issue. Authors and publishers found various ways to deal with it such as  offering subscriptions and getting sponsors. Pirate copies and replications in other languages were an issue. 1774 saw changes in copyright law in Great Britain, the idea that it could not be held in perpetuity (an idea which is apparently eroding all over the place. Just ask the fine folks of the Disney company among others). That was just one nation. International copyright laws were still lacking.
• Coolest title of an encyclopedia that was never finished: the 1701-1706 Biblioteca Universale Sacro-Profana. Sounds like a cool reference work to include in some occult kind of novel or such.
• Initially, the encyclopedias got bigger and bigger. "Despite claims that the public was clamoring for additions, much of the new material that made its way into encyclopedias seems to have been inserted with little thought to readers' needs. Above all, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century encyclopedias often grew lengthier than initially advertised, a fact that led to anger on the part of subscribers" (243). Much of this issue was due to the fact that some article writers just kept on writing, and the editors were just too weak or lazy to rein them in. 
• As copyright tightened, it did limit some encyclopedia growth. Editors and publishers now had to pay if they wanted to reprint something from some other work into their own. Also, those financing encyclopedias began to demand accountability, so free ranging editors and writers could no longer just keep on writing and writing content. However, interesting they did manage to keep costs low in terms of paying the contributors and writers, often appealing to vanity and fame to get them to work for free. 
• From the conclusion: "Among the most important causes for the growth of encyclopedias from 1690 through 1840 were competition (with or without the encouragement of limited copyright), publishers' intuitions about the market for encyclopedias, and idealism and cupidity among publishers and contributors" (249-250). In the end, costs, financial conservatism, and more commercialism served to shrink them down.