Online reference; the Monthly Grind

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, April 2009; written by Lisa Pearson.

I get many phone calls from publishers trying to sell books to our library, especially reference books. These salespeople are always taken aback when my first question to them is not “How much money?”, but “How many inches wide?”. They are surprised that my main reason for refusing to purchase a 6-volume encyclopedia of American history is not that it’s too expensive, but that we don’t have enough room on the shelves to house such a reference. Unfortunately, we have reached carrying capacity at the public library.

This is where technology steps in and has the potential to make things a little better. To wit, we have recently added a small selection of electronic reference books to our library’s collection. These e-reference books have convenient modern features such as full-text searching, instant access any time of the day or night, the ability to download, print or email information from the book, and they take up no space on the shelf. They also have one major advantage over your typical online resource: they were originally written as books.

When using the Internet, I have been frequently frustrated by the quality and depth of information available online. However, our new e-reference books have a narrative flow that make them enjoyable to read. They’re illustrated, there are references and sources for more information provided, and they have a very thorough cross-reference system that allows readers to find related articles quickly.

We’ve started out with a small collection – 11 titles – but they range from important health information (“Gale Encyclopedia of Surgery and Medical Tests”) to useful historical information (“American Indian Food”) to pure fun (“The Story Behind the Song: 150 songs that chronicle the 20th Century”). You can use these e-reference books for answering a specific question, or you can browse through them when you’re looking for something interesting to read. There are no due dates, no overdue fines, and you don’t even have to come to the library. These titles can be accessed at any time by going to our website and clicking on the E-reference button on the left side of the screen. Once you’ve had a chance to look through a few of the titles we offer, please let us know what you think, and whether this is a collection we should expand in the future.

If you’re looking for another entertaining way to spend some time, you should come to the Monthly Grind on Saturday, April 18th. At 6:30 pm at the Saxman Tribal House, your local librarians will be hosting an evening of music, dance and laughter. Some of the laughter might be involved with our dance performance, but don’t worry – we have no plans to quit our day jobs. (I will say that after our last rehearsal, I am starting to question my ability to both count to 8 and tell the difference between right and left at the same time.) Besides the lovely library ladies, you can expect performances from the Windjammers, the Bhadria dance group, Little Jo and the Yo band, and the Remainders as well as frequent library humor and a mellow storytime from Charlotte Glover to wrap up the evening. Tickets may still be available at McPherson’s music, Soho Coho, and TongassBusiness Center. Hope to see you there!