Rebecca Feind

An Immodest Proposal

2011-11-20T19:13:00.001-08:00

Does anyone remember what happened to summer? Or September for that matter? Your Bookcharmer zoomed through Fall Semester with few spare moments. It is true that whatever spare moments that happened were snapped up with a new bit of digital wizardry. Yes, I joined Twitter. If you'd like to see what I say in 140 words or less, I'm @Bookcharmer on that service. I caution you, it is an addictive little website, one that constantly updates, presenting your computer or phone screen with tidbits of info, links to larger sites, photos from all over the world.

Meanwhile, whilst my personal libraries, home and work, are in disarray from the usual daily discombobulations, I have no trouble listing the books I'd like to add to my personal haul! I am motivated to be immodest in listing my desires, because a very good cause might benefit! One of my favorite publishers, San Francisco's own Chronicle Books, if offering a generous giveaway:

http://www.chroniclebooks.com/happyhaulidays

So, if I'm reading the page correctly, I list 500 dollars worth of Chronicle titles I would like to have; I entice people to read my blog and comment on this post, enabling said lucky reader to also get the haul from Chronicle, AND a charity I designate gets the loot as well!

So, let's make ourselves winners! The charity I would support is the much deserving Partners In Reading at the San Jose Public Library, a fine organization that is in fact holding a book drive for its learners.

One of the hallmarks of my childhood memories is that books were like air in my home, they were everywhere. Parents who unstintingly read to me and my sister and gave us that intangible and miraculous gift: a love of reading. We had books at home, at school, at the library. We talked about books and went to places we had read about. I don't like to imagine a home without books, or try to imagine a life where books are an unaffordable luxury, but that is the reality for many.

Have a look at the Partners in Reading website to learn more about this organization: http://www.sjpl.org/par

Now, let's get serious about winning me, you, and PAR a fine load of books!

1. PANTONE: The 20th Century in Color. Leatrice Eiseman and Keith Recker. 2011
ISBN 9780811877565. $40 I'm certainly more aware of the powers of color lately, and even more interested in how people have used and perceived color at different points in time. Will this tome pantone for Harvest Gold?

2. The Art of Instruction: Vintage Educational Charts from the 19th and 20th Centuries. Katrien Van der Schueren. 2011. ISBN 9781452101118 35.00
Doesn't this sound interesting? Reproductions of 100 vintage posters? Yes, please!

3. Practice Makes Perfect: Sketching and Drawing. Matt Pagett. 2011. ISBN 9780811877527 25.95. Oh, how I would love to be able to draw. I never got past learning more than the few scribbly figures I was able to master. Even casual doodlers, I envy. Could this be the text that teaches me how to capture shapes and scenes?

4. The Book as Art: Artists' Books from the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Krystyna Wasserman. 2011. ISBN 9781568989921 $34.95
This is not simply recreational, this would count as professional reading, as my very next conference is the College Book Arts Association in January. How could I present myself there without being well acquainted with this title?

5. 1000 Designs for the Garden And Where to Find Them. Geraldine and Ian Rudge. 2011. ISBN 9781856697033 30.00 Now that I have a proper space for gardening, garden information is most welcome. And 1000 designs! At 30 dollars, how much is that for 1000? Let's see, divide by 30, carry the one...yup, a bargain!

6. American Trademarks: A Compendium. Eric Baker,and Tyler Blik. 2010.ISBN 9780811872201 29.95
A combination of whimsy and history, all those trademarks pulled together. Which business will be next to each other? Is it organized chronologically or alphabetically?

7. The Mythic City: Photographs of New York by Samuel H. Gottscho, 1925-1940. Donald Albrecht. 2011. ISBN 9781616890155 29.95
Now, this, this book I would really like to see. 1925-1940 are the years when my research subject, Clara Laughlin, was often in New York, and I always eager for glimpses of her world.

8. New York Changing: Revisiting Berenice Abbott's New York. Douglas Levere. 2004. ISBN 9781568984735 40.00 A perfect companion piece to Gottscho's photos.

9. Denyse Schmidt Quilts. Denyse Schmidt. 2005. ISBN 9780811844420 24.95
My beloved heirloom Singer sewing machine is in fine form these days, so new patterns are always welcome!

10. Amy Butler's In Stitches. Amy Butler. 2006. ISBN 9780811851596 24.95
25 charming projects, could I make them all?

11. Lettering: A Reference Manual of Techniques. Andrew Haslam. 2011. ISBN 9781856696869 50.00
This looks luscious.

12. Bibliographic: 100 Classic Graphic Design Books. Jason Godfrey. 2011. ISBN 9781856697651 29.95
Desirable simply for the title alone! And definitely a title that an Art and Design librarian should know.

13. Mysteries of the Rectangle: Essays on Painting. Siri Hustvedt. 2005. ISBN 9781568985183 24.95
This is the author of the bestselling novel What I Loved, which is currently on the top of my pile of 'to read' books.

14. My final selection: The Ocean at Home: An Illustrated History of the Aquarium. Bernd Brunner. 2005. ISBN 9781568985022 24.95 Now, the online site says the title is not available, so this one is my "bonus" title if I win and I a. didn't do the math right and I was already over the 500 limit or b. someone has to scratch me up a copy. With any luck, I will be the winner and this tome on aquariums will also discuss terrariums.

So, that's my entry! Comment away, readers, so that you might be a lucky winner too! Or perhaps you'd enjoy making your own list!

Reference Renaissance, more than just a summer fling

2011-06-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

Summer greetings, reader(s)!

This summer, my SJSU library colleagues and I are involved in reviewing our reference collection areas. A look over the reference collection is always a good idea, more so now that the tendency to sit at a computer terminal is becoming a chronic condition rather than a novel alternative. As I headed to my "N's", freshly sharpened number two pencil in hand (yes, my hair IS in nicely twisted updo), I noted several old friends on my list of titles: The Dictionary of Art, World Painting Index, and my frequently consulted Guide to the Literature of Art History. Getting hands on with the interfiled collection, books owned by SJSU as well as San Jose Public Library, I rediscovered some old friends and made some new ones as well.

The value of reference books needs to be actively promoted, lest we all spend our time and our patrons' time needlessly digging through fragments of digitized information and piecing together patterns ourselves when experts have gone to much effort to identify patterns for us. While I'm all for constructivist learning, there is a point at which having information compiled for you in a useful way is extremely beneficial. So I have chosen one old friend and one new friend to illustrate this point.

The old friend is The Wilson Chronology of the Arts. (George Ochoa and Melinda Corey. New York : H.W. Wilson Co., 1998.)
Say for example you are researching an American writer who traveled to Europe in 1911. How could you easily and rapidly find out what was happening worldwide in 1911 in the arts? This book will provide that information. Turn to page 221 and you will quickly learn that is the year George Braque painted The Portugese, Matisse painted The Red Studio, and Joseph Conrad published Under Western Eyes. What, you knew all of that already? Fine, well, what about on page 222, which says that in 1912 film attendance in the United States reaches five million patrons daily and Harriet Monroe founded Poetry?

The new friend is the multi-volume Greenwood Encyclopedia of Homes Through American History. (Thomas W. Paradis, general editor. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2008.)
My fingers could hardly wait to grasp a volume of this handsome set. For anyone with a question about American vernacular architecture, this set should be kept in mind. Besides discussions of home layouts and designs, information is also provided on furnishings. The discussion in volume one on page 208-9 on placement of beds in homes in Federal Era is fascinating. There is a very useful piece of information on parlors on page 204.

Volume 4 will take you from 1946 to the present. The discussions presented in this volume would be of use to any student wishing a good preparation for understanding the voluminous amount of literature on topics such as Frank Lloyd Wright, suburbs, and American yards and landscaping. A reference on page 308 to Peter Blake's 1964 God's Own Junkyard: The Planned Deterioration of America's Landscape will have me seeking that title to read.

The bibliographies in this set are fantastic. A resource guide is provided for specific sections, as well as a general bibliography. I will use this set when assisting students in choosing and narrowing a topic.

Choosing a topic is one of the most challenging parts of writing a paper. Knowing how much information available on a topic is also a challenge. I will be thinking over the summer about ways to promote specific reference tools to students, researchers, and patrons. Your suggestions for doing that are welcome!

Design for Librarian, or, the delights of the used books store

2011-04-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

Greetings, patient readers! I hope to recommit to a more frequent blog schedule, a promise all of us once fervent bloggers have made at some point. But I do hope to embark on a more rigorous path of reading now that the summer has reached the point where the idea of summer is more than an idea, it is just a page turn in the planner away. June beckons.

My desire to have an organized office, to subscribe and implement the idea of Office Beautiful, is circumvented by my need to have books about me at all times. I have seen this phenomenon come full circle just recently. In building the collection for San Jose State University Library, I have purchased several titles by author and designer Ellen Lupton. A title unowned by the library caught my eye, and I decided to request it via the amazing and essential consortial borrowing/lending entity, Link+ in order to review it for myself. That title is Design Your Life: The Pleasures and Perils of Everyday Things by Ellen and Julia Lupton. St. Martin's, New York: 2009. I had access to this delightful manifesto for the usual three weeks, then it was summoned for return. Oh, of course I could have renewed it, requested it again, but I placed the book in the book drop on the appointed date, vowing to take in the advice of the authors and be more mindful, while remaining cheerful and whimsical, about the objects in my life. (Aside, books are definitely more than mere objects, but they do have mass.)

A lazy Thursday evening in downtown Mountain View brought the book back into my hands. There are few things more enjoyable in Mountain View than following up your big dinner on Castro street at any number of pleasurable establishments by wandering into BookBuyers. Yes, BookBuyers, which lures you in with the 50% off colorful calendars and the dog-friendly overtures, such as the waterbowl by the front door, if you are lucky enough to a have a dog with you that likes to go to bookstores. Wander further in, and you are treated to everything from childrens' books to graphic novels, art books (good ones!) to music, maps to magazines...it is a browser's heaven.

I was feeling stalwart in my Just Looking outlook, a brief rifle through my usual favorite sections, some mental notes about reading, and then, finishing up my tour of the shop with the section of new arrivals. Waiting for me, yes, the Luptons' 2009 Design Your Life. Obviously, I was meant to own a copy, and having trifled with Fate before and lost, am more mindful of following clues placed in my path.

I hope you'll find a copy in your own favorite bookstore, be it new or used, or perhaps from your favorite library or consortium. Here's the ISBN if you need to go the book-addiction route of amazon dot com: 0312532733

Bibliographic Voyages

2011-01-04T17:02:00.000-08:00

Greetings Gentle Readers,

I hasten to brush the virtual dust of this blog and resume my forthright promotion of all things LCSH. Without further ado, the first subject heading of the year that has caught my eye:

Voyages around the world

If you go to http://authorities.loc.gov/ and choose Search Authorities you can type in this heading for yourself and see that the subject heading Voyages around the world is

Used For/See From:
Circumnavigation
Journeys
Tours around the world
Travel books
Travels
Trips around the world
Voyages around the world 1951-1980
Voyages around the world 1981-

and that you will find more information if you
Search Also Under:
International travel
Voyages and travels

You can continue explorations of this concept in your favorite online catalog, or consortial catalog, at your leisure to ponder the subdivided headings. I also recommend typing in this subject heading:

Voyages And Travels

to see where it will take you!

Happy New Year, and may there be many charming books in your path for 2011.

How to Read an Encyclopedia Entry

2010-10-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings! The semester is well under way and at last I can resume my own pace of reading and writing, such as it is, instead of racing around trying to keep up with the always chaotic pace of September.

I have recently resumed work on one of my long term interests, travel writing, having my interest renewed at the always enjoyable conference of the International Society for Travel Writing, held this year in South Carolina. It was my pleasure to be on a panel about 20th Century American women travel writers and an even greater pleasure to hear the presentations during the conference that introduced me to many more writers to explore.

This entry is titled "How to Read an Encyclopedia Entry" because I will in the next few paragraphs show you a delightful technique for uncovering possible scenes for movie scripts. Bear with me.

One of the conference attendees shared with me her interest in translating books by Americans about Germany into German. Of course, my personal research interest, Clara Laughlin, wrote So you're going to Germany and Austria! in 1930, so I shared this information. Curious to see what other titles share the subject heading Germany -- Guidebooks I hopped into Link+. If you're playing along at home in the library catalog of your choice, you might be mildly disappointed in the results. 246 is not enough! So, I tried another similar subject heading: Germany--Description and Travel, which generates 420 results. You might be expecting at this point I am going to launch into a discussion about the difference of these two subject headings, but instead I direct your attention to the works of an author revealed by these searches:

Observations and reflections made in the course of a journey through France, Italy, and Germany

Piozzi, Hester Lynch, 1741-1821.
London : Printed for A. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1789.
2 v. ;

This bibliographic record also nicely lends itself as an example of what sets off my Bookcharmer Alert System. 1789, always of interest. But the combination of "Hester" with "Piozzi" is what sends me quickly, quickly to biographical sources!

Happily, our Hester Lynch Piozzi is well represented in the Dictionary of National Biography, or as it is known in its online incarnation: The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. You should read this entry for yourself, whether your library has print or online access, as it is worth the effort to locate this essay to read about this remarkable woman and wonder, as I did, why her name is not mentioned as frequently as Samuel Johnson's. Here's the citation: Michael J. Franklin, ‘Piozzi , Hester Lynch (1741–1821)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22309, accessed 6 Oct 2010]

As I say to students in library instruction opportunities, encyclopedia authors use neutral language as encyclopedia publishers do not wish to be sued. Encyclopedia entries are intended to give the upshot of a topic and provide useful citations to further reading. DNB does this very well. However, sometimes the language is SO neutral that a bookcharmer must raise her eyebrows and provide an alternative version sotte voce.

For example, DNB writes of Hester Lynch's marriage to one Henry Thrale, "When not actively seeking a male heir, Thrale was distant, somewhat severe, and prone to womanizing if his wife was not available; a man about town, he valued his wife primarily as a woman who did not object to his town house in Deadman's Place, Southwark, and ultimately as a vivacious and ornamental hostess at his Streatham Park estate."

Loosely translated: he was a pig.

Grieve not dear reader, for Hester had her day, once Thrale departed this life and she was also relieved of having Samuel Johnson as a house-guest for sixteen years. The DNB goes on to tell us, as neutrally as possible:

"three years after the death of Thrale, she made a love match of her own. Against the advice of her forceful eldest daughter, Hester Maria [see Elphinstone, Hester Maria]—aptly nicknamed Queeney—and the violent opposition of Johnson, whose ill health increased his self-absorption, and to the dismay of almost all her fashionable and bluestocking friends, she married the Italian musician Gabriel Mario Piozzi (1740–1809)."

Reader response: "What! Where, when did she meet Piozzi?!? She married him even though Johnson was hateful about it and so was her eldest daughter ("forceful" is loosely translated as "bitchy")!

Are there not several scenes ripe for cinema in this entry? This has costume drama written all over it! Who would you cast as a bloated, selfish Johnson? As the long suffering and finally happy Hester? (Meryl Streep of course). And as the apparently imperious daughter? (Scarlett Johannson).

I now exit stage left to determine if I will begin reading about her with the early editions of Hester's Letters, the re-edited writings, or the attempts at biography that have been published about her.

A Back to School Blog entry about the Library Catalog and Journals, with extra huffiness.

2010-08-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

Greetings! Summer is Over, the Fall Semester has begun! I know I'm a sucker for pageantry and ceremony, especially those involving long black robes on sunny days, but I can't help it. In what other job do you get to officially welcome the semester?

But I digress. Today's post is about the tricky relationship between the Library Catalog and those messy, out of control, name changing, renumbering, format jumping things known as Periodicals.

Journals, Newspapers, Magazines...whatever the particular item, they are the challenge of catalogers everywhere. I have fond memories of the Serials Catalog that was once part of the landscape of Ellis Library at University of Missouri. So orderly, each journal had a card, and each card had a little box where a check mark could be placed to indicate an issue had been RECEIVED.

In today's frenetic world, the Library Catalog will indicate if the library SUBSCRIBES to a journal. One must look closely at the record to determine if the issue you want is OWNED, in hard copy or via electronic subscription, by the library.

What makes this complicated is that there is not a rhyme or reason or rule of thumb that can be applied. One might be likely to think, "New journals are online, old journals are not." Not so. While some recent journals may be online, publishers have found a new use for an old word, "Embargoed," in order to keep the very newest information offline, available online in print, so that libraries are forced to maintain subscriptions to both formats.

And many past issues have been successfully scanned in to digital format, such as the titles that are archived by our once best friends at JSTOR.

Oh, JSTOR, how you have let me and many of my library brethren down. (See Meredith Farkas' excellent editorial here: http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/2010/08/24/whats-the-deal-jstor/

When journals first burst onto the full text scene, libraries were then forced to keep up by creating mechanisms for identifying which journals were available in specific digital archives. Bring in the proxy servers, cue the patron passwords, and voila, you've got a whole new set of questions to answer, just to get your patron to a resource. Sure, once everyone has got the pattern down, the research can commerce across campus, across town, across the country.

And then, the interface changes. Many times this is for the good, enhanced search options, improved displays, and so forth.

But the latest change to JSTOR is going to have a big impact on individual researchers, students in particular, who are being lured towards paying for pieces of information that the library has probably already paid for. By opening up the entire JSTOR collections, and not providing a method for linking to holdings, JSTOR is setting up my students to see purchasing information as the most expedient way to access it.

Dirty pool, JSTOR. Students are already hooked on you because of your delectable full-text nature. Your decent full-text searching makes it easy to find things in your journal collection. But not allowing libraries to embed a local hook to holdings (here we call it GetText) makes it that much harder for our patrons to know where to actually find the journal being cited.

So the fur is flying in library land just now and Interlibrary Loan requests for items we own are probably going to skyrocket, but most maddening of all, is that the earnest undergraduate, tempted by a delicious abstract, might not know that a quick journal title search in the library catalog may turn up that desired article in a competitor's database and will instead feel obliged, in our consumer culture, to pay for access to that article.

If Wilson, Proquest, and EBSCO can handle embedding a link to local holdings, so can you JSTOR.

In the meanwhile, readers, remember:

Search for the name of the journal (not the article title) in the Library Catalog! And if we don't have it, put in your Interlibrary Loan request so the library can borrow it for you.

And now, back to celebrating the beginning of Fall Semester!

Titles vs. Subject Headings

2010-06-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

Greetings, gentle reader(s)! Today's puzzle is about charming titles vs. broad subject headings, and how both of them lend difficulty to researching.

Part of my journey towards locating correspondence between Clara E. Laughlin and Little, Brown and Company has been spent in looking at general works about American publishing houses. Our good friends at the Dictionary of Literary Biography have some very nice titles, such as:

Dictionary of Literary Biography Documentary Series — The House of Scribner,1846-1904. Volume 13.
Dictionary of Literary Biography Documentary Series — The House of Scribner,1905-1930. Volume 16.
Dictionary of Literary Biography Documentary Series — The House of Scribner, 1931-1984. Volume 17.

Volume 49 of the DLB (as librarians are wont to refer to this set) is titled: American literary publishing houses, 1638-1899.

So, what LCSH do these titles have in common? They should all have in common:

Publishers and publishing -- United States

at a minimum, hopefully also subdivided:

--History

If you have read a few other posts, you are probably anticipating my next comments: that any book that is about more than three subjects gets a broader heading, such as the Publishers and publishing heading, vs. a book like Volume 13 of the DLB, which focuses more specifically on the House of Scribner.

Now, let's talk a little about titles. I am deliberately avoiding a rant about the House of Bruccoli Clark Layman being obscured by the ridiculous name of "Gale Cengage", the current dealer of all things DLB. (Pausing to fondly reflect on when the biggest argument used to be about whether to shelve the DLB volumes in volume order in Reference or subject classification, which chopped up the set unattractively.)

If one is browsing on the general subject heading:

Publishers and publishing -- United States

in your library catalog of choice, you have likely noticed the subdivision of

--biography

I did, and upon selecting that subdivided subheading, was rewarded with this title:

Author Cerf, Bennett, 1898-1971
Title At Random : the reminiscences of Bennett Cerf / [with a new introduction by Christopher Cerf]
Imprint New York : Random House Trade Paperbacks, c2002

Well played, Mr. Cerf, well played. Just this once, I will nod in approval at a pun. If you were a co-founder of Random House, you are indeed entitled to title your autobiography "At Random."

But what of other titles that share the subject heading:

Publishers and publishing -- United States -- Biography

After all, the Link+ catalog lists 168 items that share this LCSH!

Give this subject heading a try in your catalog!

Roger Livingston Scaife needs a biography and I need a sabbatical

2010-05-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

Greetings, charmed readers! My librarian aura has recently been polished up by a visit to a most enticing archive, an archive of publishing history! In reading letters back and forth between the subject of my research, Clara E. Laughlin, and her major publisher, Houghton Mifflin, I was greatly interested in the words of one of her frequent correspondents, Roger Livingston Scaife.

In the letters Laughlin's personality, her drive and skills as a business woman, are evident. She is enthusiastic about publishing with HM, but having worked in the publishing industry for many years, she is not at all naive. She is insistent on the marketing of her Travel Service in her books, definite on her desire to have updated editions printed, and clear in her disappointment when her desires are not met.

While most of the letters are between Clara and RN Linscott and Ferris Greenslet, Roger Scaife is involved when her feathers need serious soothing. Scaife is a fantastic letter writer, I venture to say superior to Clara when a situation needs to be sorted out.

The letters are delightful and I am still in awe of having been allowed the pleasure of reading her letters and the carbon replies sent to her. History in my hands.

But, why, why I ask, is there no biography of Roger Livingston Scaife? His 1951 obituary in the New York Times is certainly juicy enough: an executive with HM as well as Little, Brown, as well as a director of Harvard University Press? The obit also notes he is of colonial ancestry, and perhaps there are Mayflower codes about publishing family history of which this midwestern raised librarian has no knowledge.

How do I know there is not a published biography on Scaife? I churned through my usual tools, which today included Biography and Genealogy Master Index, an old favorite in my reference repertoire. The purpose of this database is to indicate where one may find biographical entries in reference books. I expected scads of entries, but instead, I got this:

1 Scaife, Roger Livingston (1875-)
3 Scaife, Roger Livingston (1875-1951)
1 Scaife, Roger Livingston (d1951)

One of the particular features of BGMI it provides the name entry exactly as listed as the source being cited. So, even though there are three entries, all three are referring to the same Roger Livingston Scaife. Someday I would like to sit down with the editors of BGMI and have a big conversation about name authority files over a big bottle of bourbon.

Of course, a rummage through WorldCAT is also required when biography hunting, and again, no dice.

My hope for more tales of RL Scaife now rest on histories of the Houghton Mifflin company, such as

Title The building of the house; Houghton Mifflin's formative years [by] Ellen B. Ballou. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1970.

or perhaps

Two Park Street : a publishing memoir / Paul Brooks.
Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1986.

Should the Bookcharmer have concern, or simply take notice, both of these histories are published by HM?

So, just one example of the tangents I need to get under control to focus on the content of those wonderful letters! If the Bookcharmer seems more distracted than usual, it is because I am more distracted than usual.

Spring salutations!

P.S.:
Might the Bookcharmer request of her audience that if your institution has letters by Clara E. Laughlin, you would be good enough to go and read them for me and let me know if a visit to your institution is in order? I have a feeling that the materials at the Houghton Library repository could keep me busy another few years, as would a trip to Smith where her personal papers are kept, but her correspondence with other publishers would naturally interest me. Those with the riches of Scribner, Macmillan, Putnam, Doran, Doubleday, Appleton, Lippincott, or Revell in their institutions' archives are at the top of the list.

Bon Anniversaire, Charles Baudelaire

2010-04-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

A furlough day greeting from the Bookcharmer, who finds herself in a rather particular fit of pique at not being in her bibliographic habitat today.

Today, as Garrison Keillor reminded me on Writer's Almanac, is the birthday of one Charles Baudelaire, a poet of singular gifts. I should like to be in my office in King Library today, where I have in my personal collection of books, a very handsome edition of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal. I wish to be consulting this particular monograph, my copy in particular.

So readers, since I am keeping holy the furlough today (reference borrowed from a fellow CSU faculty member with a blog, Dr. Free-Ride) I will instead confine myself to a brief comment about subject headings in relationship to locating a biography on Charles Baudelaire.

Should one want to find a biography of Baudelaire, in your library catalog you should set the search option to SUBJECT and type

Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Biography

Ideally, your online public access catalog, once set to search the subject heading field, would provide you with subject browse of subject headings if you simply typed

Baudelaire Charles

My Innovative catalog does this, presenting this fine list:

Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Aesthetics 3
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Bibliography c1968 1
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Biography 6
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Contemporaries 1980 1
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Correspondence 3
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Criticism And Interpretation 34
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Criticism And Interpretation Congresses 1995 1
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Criticism And Interpretation Handbooks Manuals Etc 1
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Ethics 1977 1
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Fleurs Du Mal 11
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Fleurs Du Mal Concordances 1975 1
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Humor c1988 1
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 In Literature 1979 1
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Influence 4
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Knowledge Art c1989 1
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Knowledge Literature 1981 1
Baudelaire Charles 1821 1867 Knowledge Psychology

The numbers that appear to the right of the headings indicate the number of items in that category--for example, the library owns six titles that are classified as biographies of Baudelaire.

When next in my library, before settling in to my habitat with that prized personal copy of Fleurs du Mal, I will make a journey to the 7th floor to find:

Author Richardson, Joanna.
Title Baudelaire / Joanna Richardson.
Publication Information New York : St. Martin's Press, 1994.

At 602 pages, that will hopefully keep me out of trouble for a little while.

Happy Birthday, Baudelaire.

The Bookcharmer is still charmed by subject headings

2010-03-19T15:35:00.000-07:00

As with many blogs, this one has been on a bit of a hiatus. I've taken a break for many reasons, but primarily because I've been fearful that my writings about subject headings are likely to take on a particularly shrill note. I did a bit of writing for another forum about the experience of searching library catalog databases in their early forms, reflecting on my own experience of learning how to search them, and also explored what is called "The Literature" on ILS' and OPAC's. Really, it hasn't been that long since catalogs made the leap, or, rather, were flung, into digital format. There are some very nice articles in the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science about the development of Online Public Access Catalogs and Integrated Library Systems. Remember the days when having a NOTIS catalog was the creme de la creme of catalogs?

But my bookcharmer heart is heavy because I can't seem to get it together to clearly articulate my disappointment in trends like catalog overlays that feature, and here I get shrill, that dreaded piece of fluff known as a tag cloud.

NO TAG CLOUDS. I just want to say that and be done. NO TAG CLOUDS. Give me subject headings! Subdivided subject headings!! Yes, keyword searching can also be useful, but a display of subject headings that present the subdivisions of a topic and the type of source indexed are so useful! Why throw that out because tag clouds are trendy?

I have had to endure the specious argument that "library catalogs don't look as good as amazon.com." Well, of course not. Amazon.com wants to sell you something. Library catalogs were originally designed primarily with inventory control, rather than information retrieval in mind. Library catalog interfaces aren't as fancy as amazon's because our library institutions are spending more money on the sources than indexing them. Yes, we need to do a better job with information retrieval tools, but tag clouds aren't the solution.

So, please, indulge me. Do not molest or veil subject headings, and I'll get back to rhapsodizing about books.

Perhaps the shrillness of my tone is also due to the complete lack of structure in my recent reading habits. Usually, I have some sort, although unexplainable, system, to my reading process. It goes a little something like: the book I read at bedtime, the book I read while having morning coffee, the book I carry around in case there is a spare moment to read it, the book I am reading while I'm supposed to be doing other things. But right now...it is not as though I am in a dry spell, as the state of my office and cottage would attest, it is just that my ability to juggle multiple narratives is not operating at top capacity. Of course, part of this is due to Spring...the long winter of reading is being interrupted by non ignorable things such as robins, 70 degree days, and sunshine luring one outside.

Happy reading, and remember, NO TAG CLOUDS.

Saved by bibliography

2009-11-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

The bookcharmer is experiencing a moment of elation and chagrin, teeth-grinding joy. To expand my knowledge about travelers and travel writers, I have been going through Patricia Netzley's Encyclopedia of Women's Travel and Exploration (Oryx 2001). I am try to place, in my own mind, whether Clara Laughlin, owner of The Clara Laughlin Travel Agency and the author of the So You're Going guides of the the 20's and 30's can be classified as a writer of guidebooks or a travel writer. In fact, it will take more reading of her 12 guides to figure out what percentage is about her as a traveler vs. what she recommend others see on their own travels. But that aside, I am also, in my usual overly ambitious and naive way, trying to learn more about the history of "modern" travel, travel for leisure or education and social purposes, rather than, say, travel as pilgrimage for religious or penitential or missionary purposes.

So, that led to picking up Netzley's book, which, at less than 300 pages, is still titled an encyclopedia. Cited as further reading for the entry on Europe, Continental, is this nugget of pure bibliographic gold:

Withey, Lynne. Grand tours and Cooks' Tours: A History of Leisure Travel, 1750-1915. New York: W. Morrow, 1997.

I confess, this title raised my eyebrows and brought forth from my less that sotto vocce a mild swear. Why haven't I found this title before?

An immediate trip to the catalog reveals that Witheys' book, a volume of 401 pages, gets exactly this for a subject heading, just this one:

Voyages and travels--history

That's it.

It is shelved in the G96 section, which upon browsing, seems more about geography than travel.

I'm trying to put those minor cavils aside, since Withey's book is immensely promising for getting me up to speed on that great provider of tours, the Thomas Cook company.

Chagrin. Why did it take me so long to find this book? Grateful as I am for the reference that appeared in Netzley's book, I am still grouchy that my frequent trolling of library catalogs had not previously turned up this source.

Perhaps a coffee, no, make that a double latte, will cheer me up. I know that the list of sources in Withey's book will also make for some teeth grinding joy.

Free Topic: Roberts, Helen M., 1896-

2009-09-11T12:26:00.001-07:00

Greetings, readers and hopefully researchers in need of a topic. I shall write of how I came upon this author presently, but first the discovery:

Helen M. Roberts, born 1896. Author of at least 30 and possibly as many as 40 unique titles, many of them with the subject heading:

Indians of North America -- California -- Fiction.

She evidently wrote a series, Mission Tales. The bibliographic evidence reads:

[Mission tales : stories of the historic California missions / Helen M. Roberts ; illustrations by Muriel Lawrence
Imprint Stanford, Cal.] : Stanford Univ. Press, [1947-48]
Edition Preliminary ed. distributed for special educational use

Stanford UP? In the late 40's? Distributed for special educational use?

The bookcharmer offers this author up to researchers in search of a topic, because a. she is supposed to be focusing on CEL anyway, not topic shopping herself, b. because she found this author and this potentially shocking/hair raising series of titles (how were California Indians portrayed in this series for children???) while preparing a list of subject headings for a class she is co-teaching Monday and should be finishing that instead of even writing this blog post.

A few hints, if you want this topic:

Link+ does not provide evidence of a monograph, so check worldcat. Then check, oh, let's say the Proquest dissertations database, a good biography index like Biography and Geneaology Master Index, then its off to Book Review Digest.

Musings on Microform, Or, I have proof that that Internet is an incomplete archive.

2009-09-09T11:29:00.001-07:00

The Bookcharmer has, for some weeks, been away from the stacks and confined to the reels. Reels of microform, specifically the papers of photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston, a contemporary and acquaintance of my research interest, Clara Elizabeth Laughlin. It has been a particular delight to find on the microfilm (notice use of words "delight" and "microfilm" in same sentence) letters from a youthful and exuberent CEL to FBJ regarding trips to New York. My heartfelt thanks to the Library of Congress librarian who put together the finding aid to these papers, as Johnston's papers required 37 reels of microfilm to archive.

I have 3 reels of the 37 on loan and I must return them soon. Using microform is rather like putting on a pair of glasses that are no longer the correct prescription when you have misplaced your current glasses or are out of contact lenses--everything is still there, but only visible through a glare-y fog that quickly gives you a headache. But the headache is worth it, particularly if the items you are viewing are not digitized and only available a continent away.

(An aside on digitizing--must individual researchers bear the cost of digitizing archives? I will not point online fingers at specific institutions just now, but really, 50 dollars an hour for scanning and uploading???)

I share with you a delicious sentence, unrelated to CEL, written by a Mr. Henry in defense of Frances Benjamin Johnston, who had an unhappy conversation with and was unfairly treated by a Howard Marston. In a letter dated January 16, 1906, Mr. Henry wrote, "My friend, Miss Johnston, whom I unwittingly introduced into your fold, thinking I was doing you both a friendly service, has sent me copies of the rather astounding correspondence between you. I enclose you a copy of my letter to her. I shall be pleased to meet you in any backyard you may designate, and determine who is the gentleman."

Would that we all had such a champion as Mr. Henry!

In My Mitts: Magic Search: Getting the Best Results from Your Catalog and Beyond

2009-06-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

The title delivers: Magic Search! I praise Kornegary, Buchanan, and Morgan for their analysis and interpretation of Library of Congress subject heading subdivisions!

Just to get a bit meta on you, dear reader, the LC and subdivision for this title:

Subject heading subdivisions -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.

What does this book do? It explains how to find the _type_ of source you are looking for by identifying the subdivisions that will retrieve the category of source you desire. The authors kindly identify the best subdivisions and illuminate the scope of the subheadings. Great examples of their explanations include the discussion of relevant subject headings for places and people.

Click over to my Art Librarian blog, where I rhapsodize about their explanation of subdivisions for locating images!

Summer Reading

2009-06-25T10:07:00.000-07:00

Has it really been since April that the Bookcharmer last posted? There is a good reason, of course: summer reading! The Bookcharmer's office and personal abode are a veritable tower of books, carefully stacked piles of books being read, books to read, and books that have been read.

The Bookcharmer is most anxious to get her scholarly mitts on a new title:

Kornegay, Rebecca S.
Magic search : getting the best results from your catalog and beyond / Rebecca S. Kornegay, Heidi E. Buchanan, and Hildegard B. Morgan.
Chicago : American Library Association, 2009.

I have just checked the Catalog, and voila! It is waiting for me on the hold shelf...

The role of truth in literature for children

2009-04-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

A brief search in the ERIC database today generated a citation of considerable interest:

Representations of the Moon in Children's Literature: An Analysis of Written and Visual Text.
Author(s): Trundle, Kathy Cabe; Troland, Thomas H.; Pritchard, T. Gail
Source: Journal of Elementary Science Education, v20 n1 p17-28 Win 2008. 12 pp.

Of course, the bookcharmer's whimsy is tickled by this title, but the whiff of opportunity for comparison is also noticeable. If teaching children incorrect information about the moon is problematic, what about misrepresentations about American history in literature marketed to children?

So let's briefly consider the arguments of Trundle et al:

On page 17, the whimsy is ameliorated but explanation of the significance of the topic at hand, "Does it really matter if students or adults understand the phases of the moon? Perhaps not for the purposes of everyday life; yet the familiar cycle of lunar phases,so beautiful and so evocative to the human race, is a phenomenon of nature that begs understanding. Unfortunately, misrepresentations of the moon in children’s literature do little to foster this goal."

On page 24, the issue of churlishness is addressed, "Perhaps it seems churlish to complain about drawings of lunar phases in children’s books; these books are literature, not science. It would also seem churlish to complain about Van Gogh’s exaggerated stars in Starry Night or about scenes in Star Trek that could not actually take place. Yet, education strives, among other things, to convey an accurate understanding of the natural world. The results presented in this article clearly establish that illustrations in children’s books reinforce inaccurate conceptions of lunar phases."

Trundle's argument gets at the heart of what I would like to examine in the role of books like Caddie Woodlawn which have been used to teach American history--what level of truth is presented to readers, and what consequence does it have?

Thank you, Trundle et al.

Beautiful Joe An Autobiography By Marshall Saunders, Judson Press

2009-03-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Joe An Autobiography By Marshall Saunders, Judson Press: "I could not go away from Miss Laura even to die. When my last hour comes I want to see her gentle face bending over me and then I shall not mind how much I suffer" page 341.

I just discovered this book, Beautiful Joe, through a link on goodreads.com. I quickly skimmed a digital copy on Google books, but I long to sit down with a proper copy, one with soft, aged paper, and sink into this sweetly moral story about the goodness of dogs. Of course, the title caught my eye right away as my own dear canine companion was also named Joe. The bits I read online make me believe that Margaret Marshall Saunders also knew the beautiful relationship that can happen between people and dogs.

Margaret Marshall Saunders? Yes, even though the frontispiece illustration says only Marshall Saunders. Fortunately, there is an official "beautiful Joe" website to fill us in:

"Because women authors were not popular at the time she disguised her sex, using her middle name Marshall. Margaret also relocated the story to a small town in Maine and changed the family's name to Morris to win a literary contest sponsored by the American Humane Education Society. The book was first published in 1893 and quickly became the first Canadian book to sell more than a million copies. By 1900, over 800,000 copies sold in the U.S., 40,000 in Canada and 100,000 in the United Kingdom. And by the 1930's world wide sales were over 7 million copies.

Beautiful Joe was chosen as one of the 10 best children's books in Canada, and for more than a century Margaret Marshal has been one of Canada's best known writers of children's stories."

From: http://www.beautifuljoe.org/saunders.cfm

A tribute to my own beautiful Joe is on my flickr website if you would like to see it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebeccafeind/sets/72157611862802728/

Beautiful Joe An Autobiography By Marshall Saunders, Judson Press

2009-03-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Joe An Autobiography By Marshall Saunders, Judson Press: ""

Cricket in Times Square/Harry Cat's Pet Puppy

2009-02-09T18:34:00.001-08:00

Just a little online note to myself to follow up with a longer investigation on the two titles above. Author: George Selden Thompson.

Yet another topic, but I offer it up to you, dear readers

2009-01-12T12:24:00.000-08:00

I've often toyed with posting a little list of topics that people request information, or topics I find myself, that clearly need more research, topics that have some articles, some entries in reference sources, but no definitive monograph. I toy with the idea of keeping the list, but have so far discouraged myself because of the Cassandra Syndrome. (Was Cassandra the first person to say, "I told you so"?)

But today's Topic of Discovery (TOD) is simply too good to let rest in some corner of my mind in the someday pile. Someone out there in the world of readers really must do the following:

Go directly to Columbia University Library in New York and consult the following:
1.
Papers, 1922-1969.
Creator: Gallico, Paul W., 1897-
Phys. Desc: 38 linear ft (ca.15,000 items in 90 boxes & 1 oversize folder).

These papers document the range of his literary career, beginning with his sports columns written for the DAILY NEWS in 1922 and continuing through THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE published in 1969. Included are drafts, typescripts, and proofs for all of his major writings, among them THE SNOW GOOSE, THOMASINA, MRS. 'ARRIS GOES TO PARIS, THE HURRICANE STORY, SCRUFFY, and THE SILENT MIAOW, as well as those for his hundreds of articles, essays, and stories, which have appeared in THE SATURDAY EVENING POST, COSMOPOLITAN, ESQUIRE, and other national magazines. In addition, his files contain his research notes, background material, photographs, and correspondence for each of his works.

2.
Correspondence with Paul Gallico Author: Harold Ober Associates, Inc.
1933-1977
English Archival Material Archival Material 4.5 linear ft. (ca. 7,250 items in 9 boxes).

Files of correspondence containing more than 1,000 letters from Gallico and over 4,500 letters to Gallico from Harold Ober. There is also correspondence concerning Gallico. These files discuss literary works in progress, plans for future articles and books, contracts and financial agreements, and screenplays of his novels.

Yes, readers, and would be PhD candidates who need a topic and a sensible librarian to boss them around, GO NOW. Do not pass go, do not stop at Starbucks for a latte. Get cracking before someone else gets their mitts on these juicy boxes of correspondence!

Paul Gallico you ask? I was updating my Goodreads.com profile (curse you interactive web 2.0, with your enormously addictive websites like GR!) with a whimsical entry, Gallico's Honorable Cat. I have always been amused that one of my favorite books as a young person was written by the same man who wrote The Poseidon Adventure. So, in adding PG's HC to GR, I decided I needed a bit more biographical information on this author who wrote on everything from cats to ships. Quel horreur, I too rapidly identified an error on GR's profile of PG. Of we go to the Gallico entry in American National Biography and find juicy items such as:

Gallico was married 4 times, the last two brides were European baronesses! (Baronessi?)

Gallico was born in NY, but basically became an expatriate.

He apparently kicked off the genre of "disaster movie" with his Poseidon Adventure. We can forgive him that since he also wrote Lou Gehrig, Pride of the Yankees. (Or can we? I haven't seen either movie, I confess.)

Another interesting morsel for you, his obit in the NYTimes, written by Molly Ivins, describes him as "bon vivant."

I wonder, was he a gin or whisky man? Bet those papers at Columbia would tell me. But you know that anyone who merits the label "bon vivant" from Molly Ivins and the New York Times knew how to give a toast!

LCSH on Lost and Found

2008-12-04T13:17:00.000-08:00

The bookcharmer is engaged in one of her most dearly held tasks, reviewing actual books, matching the representation of knowledge (book record) with artifact (book). Today, I have some children/ya titles to consider. One author in the collection Juanita Havill, is known for her title Jamaica's Find. In looking up this title, I find this enrapturing subject heading:

Lost And Found Possession--Fiction

Isn't that fantastic? A subject heading for Lost and Found! With subdivisions. 209 titles in the merged SJSU/SJPL catalog! There's an Italo Calvino bookshelf for you: what book could one write about 209 lost and found stories?

RDA and FRBR

2008-11-19T15:34:00.001-08:00

The bookcharmer is on high alert: her current obsession with LCSH will need to be informed by RDA and FRBR.

To read:

http://www.frbr.org/

You say Carousel, LSCH says Use Merry-Go-Round

2008-10-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

The bookcharmer meandered today into new LCSH territory and would like to share her new knowledge:

Want to research Carousels? Your subject heading is Merry-go-round. It subdivides thusly:

Merry Go Round Art
Merry Go Round Art Collectors And Collecting United States
Merry Go Round Art United States 2
Merry Go Round Art United States History
Merry Go Round California Santa Cruz
Merry Go Round California Southern Pictorial Works
Merry Go Round Catalogs
Merry Go Round Conservation And Restoration Videocassettes
Merry Go Round Drama
Merry Go Round Fiction
Merry Go Round History
Merry Go Round History Juvenile Literature
Merry Go Round In Art
Merry Go Round Juvenile Drama
Merry Go Round Juvenile Fiction
Merry Go Round Maintenance And Repair
Merry Go Round Music
Merry Go Round Pictorial Works
Merry Go Round United States
Merry Go Round United States History
Merry Go Round Young Adult Literature
Merry Go Rounds Conservation And Restoration

Now, if you are wise to the bookcharmer's mental magpie habits, her love of shiny bits of information, you know what's coming next. Yes, you guessed correctly, looking up merry go round in the OED! I do not disappoint in my predictability:

First definition:
1. An amusement at a fairground or similar entertainment, consisting of a large revolving mechanism with model horses, cars, etc., on which people (esp. children) ride round and round (sometimes also up and down), often to musical accompaniment; a carousel.

First printed usage:
1729 Daily Post 23 Aug., Here's the merry-go-rounds: Come, who rides?

Of course, the word carousel must also be consulted:

2. A merry-go-round, a roundabout. Also attrib. Chiefly U.S. (where freq. written carrousel).

And it has some lovely usage examples:

1673 R. FOLYARTE Let. in D. Braithwaite Fairground Archit. (1968) iii. 34 A new and rare invencon knowne by the name of the royalle carousell or tournament being framed and contrived with such engines as will not only afford great pleasure to us and our nobility in the sight thereof, but sufficient instruction to all such ingenious young gentlemen as desire to learne the art of perfect horsemanshipp. 1899 N.Y. Times Illustr. Mag. in F. Fried Pict. Hist. Carousel (1964) iii. 82 A carousel costs from $300 to $10,000 according to the decoration and finish... A carousel that will seat 60 riders measures 40 feet in diameter and costs $2,200.

The Encyclopedia of automatic musical instruments

2008-10-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, it exists, all 1008 pages of it. I daresay it is a more concrete existence than, say, the New York Stock Exchange or the Dow, both of which require people to "believe" in them to function.

But I digress. An erudite conversation with a fellow colleague of some reknown rekindled my awareness of a very specific reference tome, The Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments. (Q. David Bowers. Published in 1972 by The Vestal Press, Vestal, NY.)

Read it again: The Encyclopedia of automatic musical instruments. Now, use your scholarly imagination to parse that title. An automatic musical instrument. Now I shall tell you the publication date is 1972, so this might assist in imagining the scope and content of such a source.

This is a source that must be consulted should you require descriptions or illustrations of items such as:

Cylinder Music Boxes
Disc Music Boxes
Player Pianos
Reproducing Pianos
Coin-Operated Pianos and Orchestrions
Organettes and Player Organs
Fairground Organs

A salute to the dedicated scholarship that can produce a work of such comprehension and specificity, and to my dear colleague who remembers these works!

Animals in fiction fun with LCSH

2008-09-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

You didn't think I'd given up my fascination with subject headings did you? Mais non! Today's focus: animals.

A side note, the event calendar for the delightful local childrens' bookstore, Hicklebees, recently (i.e. yesterday while I was at work) featured Sharon Creech, author of Love That Dog and her new book, Hate That Cat. While looking up to see who else will be speaking at Hicklebees, I was delighted to find that the store will soon be hosting Doreen Cronin & Betsy Lewin, authors of new classics such as Click Clack Moo and Giggle Giggle Quack. (Afternoon of October 2nd for interested readers.)

Already a fan of Duck in the above titles, I was also pleased to learn about a new fictionary Duck in Tim Egan's Dodsworth in New York. The blurb reads, "Dodsworth wanted adventure. He wanted to see the world. He especially wanted to visit New York City. What he didn't want was to be joined by a duck. A crazy duck. A duck that misbehaves. Young readers will laugh out loud at the duck's silly antics as Dodsworth has the unexpected adventure of his life in the Big Apple . . . and beyond."

Delightful! So, of course I check the library catalog to see if this title is available locally, and find that there is in fact an LCSH...

Ducks -- Fiction.

Love it.

And in looking up children's books by David L. Harrison, I learn that

Turtles--Fiction

is also a Library of Congress Subject Heading.

The Bookcharmer briefly searches in Business Full Text

2008-09-17T17:39:00.001-07:00

I can't help it. My shock and awe over the financial shenanigans on Wall Street have forced me, literally forced me, to do a little perusing in Business Full Text.

I can't help myself. I just had to know...

So, according to a Datamonitor report,

"The company recorded revenues of $19,257 million in the fiscal year ended November 2007, an increase of 9.5% over 2006. The operating profit of the company was $6,013 million in the fiscal year 2007, an increase of 1.8% over 2006. The net profit was $4,192 million in the fiscal year 2007, an increase of 4.6% over 2006."

Excuse me? Is this the same Lehman Brothers being discussed in the news???

What would Harry Emanuel and Mayer Lehman say about today's news?

I'd soapbox some more, but the BookCharmer is weary and wants to go home and read more of The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao. The world economy is just going to have to sort itself out without my philosophical input.

What's the BookCharmer Reading?

2008-09-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

I am presently enchanted with/amazed by Junot Diaz's novel The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao. He is speaking at SJSU on Saturday night, so any local readers should add that event to their literary calendars.

Start Date/Time: 09/20/2008 07:00 PM
End Date/Time: 09/20/2008 09:00 PM
Location: University Theater

Cost: Free, which translates to priceless.

In other reading news, I recently picked up a illustrated 1945 edition of Steinbeck's The Red Pony. This is a perfect example of how "children's literature" has changed dramatically in the 20th century. Not at all a children's story, not by 21st century standards, not for its unflinching Steinbeckian honesty about a world where beloved horses die, one per chapter.

LCSH on Memory

2008-08-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

Those familiar with the Bookcharmer's method of searching will immediately recognize one of her usual themes in the title of this post: yes, it is time to talk about Library of Congress Subject Headings again!

Today's LCSH: Memory

In particular, the subdivision --Social Memory

Which may be further subdivided geographically, or as the abbreviation reads, may subd geog.

Examples:

Memory Social Aspects United States
Memory Social Aspects United States History
Memory Social Aspects United States History 18th Century

What are some examples of titles under these headings? Let's start with

Memory Social Aspects United States History

Women and the historical enterprise in America : gender, race, and the politics of memory, 1880-1945 / Julie Des Jardins

And under

Memory Social Aspects United States

Defining memory : local museums and the construction of history in America's changing communities / edited by Amy K. Levin.

and

Harriet Tubman : myth, memory, and history / Milton C. Sernett.

I am very interested in this concept of Social Memory and it would probably do me good to hop into Oxford Reference Online Premium to see how historians define this concept. I am thinking this approach will be value to the Caddie Woodlawn project in terms of how the American national memory has been constructed, through literature among other forums, on the concept of "the frontier."

There you have it: another LCSH with subdivisions.

King Library Birthday next month!

2008-08-04T15:29:00.000-07:00

Mark your calendars, gentle readers: The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library marks its 5th anniversary on September 6th! Here's the formal invite:

5 on Fourth

The King Library will honor its fifth anniversary by having an all-day public celebration at the library. The day begins with a formal kick-off event on the Caret Plaza (campus side), featuring campus and city officials. Afterward, a variety of free activities, refreshments, and open house events for all ages will be held throughout the afternoon inside the library and on the plaza, including crafts, story time, juggling, history displays and photo exhibits.

The celebration will continue during the month of September with additional activities to commemorate the anniversary.
For more information and the complete month-long schedule of celebration activities, visit King Library.
Event Details
Start Date/Time: 09/06/2008 11:00 AM
End Date/Time: 09/06/2008 04:00 PM
Location: King Library, Caret Plaza
Contact: Public Affairs
More Info: 408-924-1166
Price: free

See you there!

Pondering illustrations

2008-05-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

One of my side projects with my interest in a critical biography of Carol Ryrie Brink and publishers' continued advertising her young adult novel as "true" is an analysis of how the illustrations of Caddie Woodlawn have evolved from the original illustrator up through today's jacket covers.

I was reminded by this in reviewing an ABEbooks newsletter that notes it is the centennial of the publication of Anne of Green Gables--a book interesting in itself in terms of analysis of its illustrations as well as a comparison with the illustrated and textual portrayal of North American girlhood.

I remind myself to begin to investigate why Clara Laughlin and her publisher chose to use illustrations rather than photographs in the 1924 SYGTP. Do her later works use photos or continue with illustrations? The much beloved 20 Centures of Paris by Mabell Shippie Clarke, published 1913, uses photographs.

A nice segueway--bibliographies vs. subject headings

2008-05-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

You might recall the bookcharmer was recently stamping her pretty little foot about the inherent problems in assigning subject headings to works of fiction. However, she is happy to write a more cheerful post about the appropriate way to collate works of fiction that share a theme: bibliography!

Here's a list of titles I think could easily while away my summer:

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byauth/rushfield/conservation-fiction/

Yes, an entire list of books about conservation of books, paper, artwork. A few that caught my eye:

Forbes, Leslie
Waking Raphael
Bantam, June 29, 2004 448 p.
Charlotte, a paintings conservator visits the Italian city of Urbino to take part in a documentary about Raphael. One of his paintings is damaged in an attack by a woman and Charlotte oversees the conservation process. Contains some great descriptions of "conservators" thinking and observations on self perception and the perception of others about the conservation process.

And in the young adult category:

Funke, Cornelia
Inkheart.
2003.
In this fantasy for older children, 12 year old Maggie and her father Mo, a book conservator, travel the countryside repairing books. One night, Dustfinger, a character from a book who Mo had brought to life some time before, shows up and the adventure begins. Maggie and her father also appear in Inkspell, a 2005 sequel to Inkheart.

Amusante, oui? Of course, regular readers know how I feel about mysteries, so of course I shall be most likely skipping them in my snobby fashion, although if you were allowed to touch the books on my bedside table (must be negotiated with specific permission as my main rule of life is Don't Touch My Books, which is second only to Don't Move My Papers) you might find a John Dunning novel or two with his book dealing Cliff Janeway character...

How Many Books Could A BookChamer Charm

2008-05-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

Come on, you know how the rest goes! Let's not mutate the Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a Bear into something about the BookCharmer not being very Charming, because that wouldn't be nice. Also, please do not have images of the Bookcharmer chucking or chewing on books. She charms them, she really does.

Or perhaps they charm her. Why, just walking by the windows of the Friends of King Library bookstore can stall me, induce loitering, longing to brush fingertips across book jackets...

But we digress.

Interesting title uncovered today, as I labor to uncover the proper LCSHs for architectural history. The title du jour is:

The hospital: a social and architectural history / John D. Thompson and Grace Goldin. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1975.

Wouldn't it be interesting to compare Foucault's Madness and Civilization with the above text? Would you mind doing that for me and giving me the executive summary? Cool, thanks.

Because I've got to get back to puzzling over LCSHeadings for architectural history.

California--Fiction

2008-05-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

Observation:

The SJSU/SJPL Library catalog has 607 items with the heading California--Fiction

This includes titles such as Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez as well as plenty of genre titles like mysteries, romances, and westerns.

So, what qualifies the assignment of California--Fiction? How much of the book must be about California, or how significant a role does California play in the life of the characters?

Does California become a fictional character, part of the literary landscape?

To add to the reading pile: Crossing vines : a novel / Rigoberto González

The Library Congress Subject Heading of Werewolves

2008-05-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

Puzzling over how to efficiently create a bibliography of new titles led me to the page on our library website where new items are listed out by month. Easy enough to generate a list by scanning to the N section then copy and paste all the N titles, but of course this isn't going to get things in photography (T) and other interdiscplinary type items.

I started exploring the pre-set categories just out of interest, and also the idle hope that there would be one for new Reference titles. I selected new fiction about California, since I just finished China Blues, a novel about San Francisco.

California as place as a setting for novels--my goodness it is popular. And of course, the application of LCSH to fiction always captivates the Bookcharmer.

The most entertaining heading discovered is:

Werewolves -- California -- Los Angeles -- Fiction.

Which of course leads me to click on it to see all of the applications of this heading and its subheadings:

Werewolves 10
Werewolves Alaska Fiction 2000 1
Werewolves Bibliography 1975 1
Werewolves California Los Angeles Drama 2005 1
Werewolves California Los Angeles Fiction c2008 1
Werewolves Canada Drama 2003 1
Werewolves Colorado Denver Fiction c2000 1
Werewolves Drama 6
Werewolves Encyclopedias c2005 1
Werewolves England London Fiction 3
Werewolves Europe History c1997 1
Werewolves Fiction 88
Werewolves Georgia Fiction c2003 1
Werewolves Juvenile Fiction 15
Werewolves Juvenile Films 3
Werewolves Juvenile Literature 5
Werewolves West U S Fiction

Did you notice there are 88 titles with the LCSH "Werewolves--Fiction"?

For my readers seeking an overview, why not have a look at:

A Lycanthropy reader: werewolves in Western culture / edited by Charlotte F. Otten.
Syracuse, N.Y. : Syracuse University Press, 1986.
Description xvi, 337 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Note "Medical cases, diagnoses, descriptions; trial records, historical accounts, sightings; philosophical and theological approaches to metamorphosis; critical essays on lycanthropy; myths and legends; allegory."
Includes index.
Bibliography Bibliography: p. 321-324.
Subject Werewolves.

Discussion topic: If there is an LCSHeading for a concept, does that make it real?

Examples for discussion include:

Werewolves
Democracy (may sub'd geographically) <--little humor for you here!
Evolution
Truth

So many organizations...

2008-05-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

The Bookcharmer loves associations and organizations. Lately, I've been in flux about my memberships, however. I admit my library memberships have lapsed in the mire of moving. I am undecided about rejoining ALA and ACRL as those organizations are just so big. And then there are CLA and CARL on the state level. I do need to join ARLIS and VRA. And then there are the purely out of interest organization, APHA and so forth.

Now I've just found a new one I'd like to join, Women's National Book Association. The San Francisco Chapter looks particularly active.

And there are all the local book arts groups and activities the San Francisco Center for the Book, Bay Area Book Artists, and of course, the much idealized Book Club of California.

Note to self: Time to get the Clara Laughlin Society off the ground and in existence outside of my imagination. After all, 2025 is not that far away and the 100th anniversary of So You're Going to Paris isn't going to celebrate itself. (2nd note, contact original publisher of SYG2P to see if they'd like to participate!)

A Bone to Pick with Random House

2008-05-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

Why, just recently the BC had hoped to contribute another positive post, putting the charm back in Bookcharmer.

However.

We have a bone to pick with RandomHouse, and we shall use it as a prime example of why controlled vocabulary and people _knowledgeable_ of the subject who ardently apply the controlled vocabulary are critical.

In a quick browse of the RandomHouse website, I chose the link to see Art titles currently available from RH. Frankly, I am not only shocked that RH would consider Carole Jackson's 1987 _Color Me Beautiful_ to be art related, but that they continue to advertise they sell it. (I'm an "autumn", fyi.) The cover photo alone is dated enough that Jackson's color theory, which has had me wearing earth tones since the late 80's, even if it still holds water, probably isn't going to move many copies.

Visual Shock A History of Art Controversies in American Culture by Michael Kammen, yes.

How to Be a Budget Fashionista: The Ultimate Guide to Looking Fabulous for Less, no.

So, how do all of these titles get lumped by RH under Art?

I'm also piqued by the dates of the backlist, academic titles having such limited runs that a book published just a few years ago might quickly be Out of Print. But RH gets points for:

Nobrow: The Culture of Marketing + The Marketing of Culture
Written by John Seabrook, 2001.

The bookcharmer wonders if nobrow is on urbandictionary.com yet.

But this momentary distraction does not smooth the irritation of each publisher having free rein to categorize at will. Have these people never heard of LCSH until they need the CIP information on the verso??? Well???

What is Essential

2008-05-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

The Bookcharmer's most recent post was, shall we say, snarky, so in karmic amends I post an example of what Choice considers Essential. The BC is smug to point out this title is already accessible as an e-book through the Library Catalog!

Here's (excerpt of course) what Choice has to say:

Encyclopedia of nineteenth-century photography, ed. by John Hannavy. Taylor & Francis, 2008. 2v bibl index afp ISBN 0-415-97235-3, $440.00. Reviewed in 2008mar CHOICE.
This monumental encyclopedia is a treasure trove of information covering all aspects of 19th-century photography. The scholarly essays, ranging from 200 words for minor topics to 5,000 words for main entries, are highly informative and often contain a bibliography for further reading. Readers may access information via a detailed index, an alphabetical arrangement of topics, or a more useful thematic listing. ... These two volumes will no doubt remain the standard reference work for 19th-century photography for many years. Summing Up: Essential. All collections; all levels. -- C. Larry, Northern Illinois University

Here's another nice example of what makes a book "essential": "No comparable work exists." this phrase is applied to:

Encyclopedia of privacy, ed. by William G. Staples. Greenwood, 2007. 2v index afp ISBN 0-313-33477-3, $199.95. Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2007jun CHOICE.
This two-volume set presents information and analyses of privacy and privacy-related issues in 226 entries written by over 100 experts. It covers various historic and current aspects of the topic, including legal, political, social, and economic issues.... No comparable work exists. This excellent resource is more comprehensive and up-to-date than Privacy in the Information Age (CH, Jul'00, 37-6024). Summing Up: Essential. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers; general readers. -- M. M. Strange, University of Wisconsin--LaCrosse

Nice, aren't they? And there are 233 more Reference titles alone that earn the status "Essential" in the current database of Choice Reviews.

Not Recommended by Choice

2008-04-28T14:16:00.000-07:00

One of my bibliographic pastimes is collecting mean reviews. I delineate between the mean spirited, the cruel, the epically evil, and humorously mean, taking especial pleasure in the reviews that deliver the coup de grace with a wicked bit of humor. There are some delicious turns of phrase to be found in the reviews by Choice, mostly in the ones that conclude that the title is 'Not Recommended.'

The Bookcharmer is delighted to have online access to Choice, the advanced search feature allowing one to search only for Not Recommended titles. Let's have a look at some of the scathier reviews, shall we? For purposes of being respectful to Mr. Copyright, we shall only give the juicy sentence, not the entire review.

To begin:

Leys, Ruth. From guilt to shame: Auschwitz and after. (Published by no less an authority than Princeton University Press, I feel compelled to point out, in case I have any East Coast readers.) 2007. The juicy sentence is written by M. Uebel, University of Texas. It reads, "The value of the book resides exclusively in its exemplification of how not to conduct meaningful research into such an important subject as emotional states and their cultural significance."

Meow!!! And ouch!! How not to conduct meaningful research!

Choice reviewers are no doubt a group that is hardy in spirit and soul, willing to call out the meaningless titles that have somehow made it into print. A fellow librarian can take pride in this comment from J. Weidman, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art on 1001 paintings you must see before you die: "Its Eurocentrism and hubris of title and stated purpose, with poor to useless reproductions and quirky selections, render this book annoying and nearly worthless." Two insults delightfully round out the sentence--annoying and worthless. Well done, J. Weidman!

Sometimes it is just a fun phrase that catches the Bookcharmer's eye, for example, the way J.T. Titon of Brown refers to the monograph by Roberta Schwartz as "sprawling, plodding."

Other fun insult words that pop up in the Not Recommended section include: misleading, repackaged, excruciating, and, the worst of all faults, careless. Carelessness will relegate you and your work to the dustbin of history in the eyes of Choice reviewers, as well it should! Even more ominous: irresponsible. Three cheers for the Choice reviewers that make keeping up with titles at least possible as well as enjoyable.

More images of Twenty Centuries of Paris by MSC Smith

2008-03-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

2008-03-26T16:44:00.001-07:00

Twenty Centuries of Paris by M.S.C Smith

2008-03-26T16:34:00.000-07:00

The bookcharmer recently acquired a delicious volume: Twenty Centuries of Paris by M.S.C. Smith (Mabell Shippie Clarke Smith, 1864-1942). New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1913.

This delightful item was acquired at the recent SF Antiquarian Book and Paper Faire, which was described by a fellow fair goer as a "bibliographic petting zoo." Indeed! One might gently caress a fine binding, tenderly leaf through a modern autographed first edition, sigh over its loveliness, then move on. Only the bookcharmer's remarkably responsible sensibilities resulted in the purchase of but one item. But what an item it is, as the purchase was justified on the basis that this text was most certainly one of the sources Clara Laughlin would have consulted in studying Paris and preparing her own So You're Going to Paris text. A near certainty to be established once a generous patron supplies me with sabbatical and funding...or maybe just a week off and a ticket to the necessary archives...

But back to MSC Smith:

A full-out WorldCAT extravaganza has yet to occur, but the brief stolen moment of searching reveals MSC Smith also authored:

Book The maid of Orleans;
the story of Jeanne d'Arc for girls,
Author: Smith, Mabell S. C. 1864-1942.
Publication: New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Co. 1919
Document: English : Book
Libraries Worldwide: 20

Giving the bookcharmer more reason to suspect Clara Laughlin would have known of/known/read the works of Smith.

I will now attempt to upload a picture of the cover, which in itself would have justified the purchase of this beautiful book. I have even yet to rave about the fold out maps!

Mysteries irritate the bookcharmer

2008-03-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

All of my regular readers, i.e., me, know that I don't care for mysteries. They irritate me with their formulaic formulaity. I recently got suckered into reading a book that I didn't not immediately sniff out as a mystery and now find myself irritated with it, myself, and the author.

What is most irritating to the bookcharmer? The sudden, late entry introduction of character who it turns out to be is responsible for dang near everything, Colonel Mustard in the parlor with a candlestick and so forth.

The book in question that has so aggravated the 'charmer is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. Good beginning, good writing, interesting main character, then bam! Mysterious character springs forth from author's head without proper introduction to hijack the plot. Whatever. I skimmed to the end. If this is such a meaningful and powerful character, why is she left to lurk in the shadows of the plot? When I have attempted to read mysteries, I have always been disappointed in the author's lack of truly developing their dastardly characters, leaving the proof to suddenly appear near the end then close the book. Again, I swear off mysteries. Begone, I say!

Collage

2008-03-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

The bookcharmer is contemplating making a collage using photographs sent to her by Mom. Perhaps to combine with the Personal Compass timeline? Let's make some art, people!

The bookcharmer is nauseated by this title

2008-02-06T10:28:00.000-08:00

http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG607/

Enlisting Madison Avenue
The Marketing Approach to Earning Popular Support in Theaters of Operation
Cover: Enlisting Madison Avenue

By: Todd C. Helmus, Christopher Paul, Russell W. Glenn

Virtually every action, message, and decision of a military force shapes the opinions of an indigenous population: strategic communication, treatment of civilians at vehicle checkpoints, and the accuracy or inaccuracy of aerial bombardment. Themes of U.S. goodwill mean little if its actions convey otherwise. Consequently, a unified message in both word and deed is fundamental to success. Business marketing practices provide a useful framework for improving U.S. military efforts to shape the attitudes and behaviors of local populations in a theater of operations as well as those of a broader, international audience. Enlisting Madison Avenue extracts lessons from these business practices and adapts them to U.S. military efforts, developing a unique approach to shaping that has the potential to improve military-civilian relations, the accuracy of media coverage of operations, communication of U.S. and coalition objectives, and the reputation of U.S. forces in theater and internationally. Foremost among these lessons are the concepts of branding, customer satisfaction, and segmentation of the target audience, all of which serve to maximize the impact and improve the outcome of U.S. shaping efforts.

Why have I not read anything by Caroline Blackwood?

2008-02-01T15:16:00.000-08:00

My notice of Caroline Blackwood came from looking at the subject heading Freud Lucian-- Marriage. (Reviewing possible purchase of new monograph on Lucian Freud by Rizzoli, 135 dollars, subject search on Freud, Lucian to check existing collection coverage). The subject heading of Freud Lucian--Marriage bring up this title:

Dangerous Muse: a life of Caroline Blackwood.

Summary on amazon is of interest, will remember late to look up Blackwood in Literature Resource Center.

Why do I so love the concept of a muse, any muse, a dangerous muse, the romantic idea of being someone's muse, who is my muse?