人文学报告
第三组
组员
图资二
方凯鸿496100238
郑乔比496100367
许芳瑄496100381
黄楚余496100525
许妤莹496100616
主题:哲学资源(三)
Reference Referral:
Public Library Humanities Questions in
California's Reference Network
加州公共图书馆的参考网路 _所遭遇的有关人文学科方面的问题
Author:Kay Roberts
SUMMARY
Public libraries receive a wide variety of reference questions in the humanities. ranging from requests requiting scholaraly literary or historical research to requests for vaguely remembered poetry and quotations.
The clientele of public libraries varies widely in levels of expertise and expectations of the library.
Major barriers to reference service are the lack of time and resources at the local level.
problems typical of second-level humanities research, representative questions and sources are described.
Discussion centers on questions answered at the Bay Area Library and Information System, a second-level reference center in Oakland.
SUMMARY
CLIENTELE, THEIR QUESTIONS,THE REFERRAL PROCESS
顾客的问题与参考过程
Patrons come to the public library with an impressive range of questions in the humanities.
They want to know wampum exchan gerates, the contents of Lincoln's pockets when he was assassinated,how to write Nefertiti in hieroglyphics, or who killed Omar Mojaddadi in the 1879 battle at Maiwand.
wampum:贝壳念珠
wampum exchan gerates:金钱汇率
Nefertiti:奈费提蒂
读者对於很多事物感到好奇,如康斯坦次,Tom Coffin,没有
对话的小说,Scritti Politti的意思,limbo(地边)对於历史及宗
教的重要性,骑士雕像蹄的部位代表的意思,古老的城镇Eugoa及
Eugia的位置;他们想知道为什麼梵谷伤害自己后,医师却不帮他
执行手术;他们想要得到"Z Otchlani"的英文翻译,"俄罗斯人
权宣言",马丁路德的演说—"我有一个梦想"中文版;他们需
要一些诗的副本;他们有一行的诗文,并希望可以找到其完整的诗
文背景.这些典型的公共图书馆参考问题都是来自於美国加州的参
考中心—BALIS的地方公共图书馆的人文学参考问题抽样.
BALIS
= Bay Area Library and Information System
海湾地区图书交流服务机构
Referral:转介
源自於社会服务领域,其目的在「指引个人到所需要的资源或服务」.
关於BALIS
Reference referral began in California with the Bay Area Refer-ence Center, funded by a Library Services and Construction Act grant to the San Francisco Public Library from the Califomia State Library in 1967.
Since then, libraries have participated in an ever-changing network for reference referral.
Local libraries refer questions to second-level regional centers, which can, in mm, refer unanswered questions to the state-wide third-level center, the State of California Answering Network (SCAN).
Special and academic libraries interact with the network invarious ways. Services, poli-cies and procedures vary from center to center, but a major act~wty is answering public library reference questionson all subjects.
I'll focus on aspects of second-level humanities research, describing resources and strategies used at BALLS, which may differsome-what from other centers.
Librarians at SCAN specialize by broad subject areas, to become more proficient in resources in those areas.
Reference centers try various strategies to better serve their widely varied clientele.
BALLS sponsored a Spanish language project toidentify Spanish language resources, purchase materials, and provide second-level reference in Spanish.
A children's specialist at BALLS provides expertise on questions on children's literature and extends second-level reference services to children.
BALIS
Libraries fax or send forms through system delivery to BALLS. We also encourage questions by telephone to facilitate referral and insure that the form does not create a barrier to service. Personal contacts between librarians are an excellent way to facilitate the referral process; to develop those contacts BALLS staff attends library staff meetings, supports work- shop activities, and conducts BALIS orientations.
We keep communication open while working on questions using memos or phone calls to clarify questions. At times, partial information is sent asa reality check to make sure we are on the right track before pursuing a complete answer. This back and forth process often involves questions in the humanities,which frequently need interpretation and clarification.
Just finding information in the humanities can be challenging.
在人文学中寻找资讯是具有挑战性的
Finding the best resource may require time to look through both reference and circulating collections, check bibliographies, search online catalogs, and wait for interlibrary loan deliveries.
要找到最好的来源可能需要花时间在找寻参考与流通的馆藏,核对书目,搜寻线上目录,以及等待馆际互借
At times, our patron's expectations exceed what information is available
有时候顾客的期望会超出我们可用的资讯.
When I exhausted my resources, I turned to SCAN.
This kind of work (Second-level research) is time-consuming because we provide patrons with answers, not sources.
当我用尽我的资料来源,我转向SCAN(State of California Answering Network加州答询系统).像这样的次等调查是很耗时间的,因为我们提供给顾客的是答案不是来源.
SCAN
SCAN:Focuses on California library reference news and information. Includes updates on public officials, lists of prestigious awards, a who's-who obituary, facts and figures, and movie tie-ins.
聚焦在加州图书馆相关新闻跟资讯,包括政府官员的最新消息,有关名望的奖项,名人录,讣告,事实与数据,以及电影相关连结
Imprecise knowledge of what we are looking for can complicate reference in the humanities, as can a lack of indexing. The patron requesting the rest of "Coward, take this coward's hand" many years ago was not sure if it was a line from a film or poetry.
The librarian working on this question has wonderful instincts for poetry, and searched through books of collected poetry after fa'st checking all indexed poems on cowardice. Her virtue was rewarded when she found Eve Merriam's "The Coward" in a collection edited by Scott Bates: Poems of War Resistance. Today this question would be simple, since the line is the last in the poem, and is now indexed in Facts on File's wonderful reference book Last Lines; an Index to the Last Lines of Poetry. It is still difficult to identify lines when we are not sure if they are poetry, prose or song,particularly if they are embedded in the middle of the work.
The patron who asked for Lindbergh's "I Want to be a Spanish Dancer" provided a challenge to the librarian who persisted in looking through much of Lindbergh's poetry, and located those lines in the light-hearted poem "Caprice" in a March 9, 1929 Literary Digest.If patrons remember lines from 1929, it's little wonder they don't always get the titles right.
At times we identify scholars who can provide definitive an-swers. I was unable to locate an English translation of Z Otchlani, a World War II underground publication, but I though there was a rare possibility one might exist.
The patron had provided a good source: a footnote, indicating the anthology first published the poem "Cam-po die Fiori" by Czeslaw Milosz.
Mr. Milosz answered my letter,providing the final word. There is no English translation, but the original is in his archive at Yale. Sometimes we contact experts to verify information.
The entry in The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music on the band Scritti Politti indicates the name means "political writing" in Italian, but a professor of Italian disagreed, and the band's recording company said the name meant nothing at all!
In addition to library collections and experts BALIS accesses information through online databases. Many questions require an online search at some point in the research, a service which is not offered in many local libraries.
Some searches provide leads, but others provide answers. For the patron curious about the contents of Lincoln's pockets, an online search through full-text newspapers brought up a thoughtful article from the April 12, 1988 Chicago Tribune, in which the writer speculates on what the homely items-spectacles, handkerchief, news clippings, pocketknife, and a Con-federate bill-tell us about the man.
These, then are the resources we use in second-level humanities research: databases, reference files,librarycollections,
organizations, special collections and experts.
SEARCH FOR A LETTER
BY ALEX HALEY
Some questions require the use of many resources; a request for a letter by Alex Haley was one.
The patron knew of an exchange of letters in the New York Times in which a reader attacked Roots and debunked black genealogy.
作品「根」和揭发黑人家谱
目的:Haley responded with an eloquent defense. The patron wanted Haley's letter to use in Kwanza celebrations. (安哥拉的庆典颂扬)
文章作者的检索过程
1 check of the Times index 从时代杂志的索引开始查起
there are entries under black history,television and books.
the whole Haley's story is not laid out in one tidy page
Online indexes are superior tools, but don't answer all our questions.
Access here probably would not have helped, since I didn't have any unusual terms, or money or time enough to bring up and read everything related to Alex Haley.
流通在这里大概不能有所帮助,我们既没有任何特殊关系或金钱,和足够的时间去找出和阅读所有关於Alex Haley的东西.
2 digging around in a printed index 挖掘书面索引
He find that letters were indexed, but not to find any by Haley.
a problem not unusual in humanities questions: not knowing the time frame.
Humanities=人文学科
思考的方向
1. Time
Assuming it must have been around 1976 or 1977, the book and television program dates, he concentrated on those years.
2.资料型式
I did not assume Haley's response was necessarily a letter;he might have responded on the op-ed page or elsewhere.
3. tried the paper of record 文本记录
The New York Times, however, obviously overwhelmed by calls for everything from the weather to pictures of somebody's Aunt Tillie from the 1940s, has taken refuge behind an answering recording which refers you to information sources such as their index.
然而,纽约时报很明显的胜过1940年代某人的Aunt Tillie :号称为从天气到图片的资料都有,纽约时报保留的回答记录会指引我们找到资料来源就像是资料的索引.
找到的资源:
A Guide to Magazine Articles, Newspaper Articles and Books ....
The Kaiser Index to Black Resources, 1948-1986.
思考的方向
4. probably problems 思考哪里出了问题
Is the patron sure it was the Times Why
Can they tell us any more, such as the kinds of issues Haley addressed
Other hints Might it be one of the citations I have suggested
新线索:
The library replied that the patron saw the letter in Haley's effects the week before the auction of Haley's estate; maybe it was an exchange published in another paper.
之前会找不到的原因:
Getting misinformation the first time around is not unusual. Patrons, reluctant to alarm us with specific information, often hide behind generalities.
5. ask librarian
He decided to try Nashville, where a librarian at the Tennessean newspaper checked her files for Haley references.
收获及过程
A. The name of the auctioneer.
B. He was surprised that the telephone number provided by directory assistance was his home phone.
C. He had a nice chat with the auctioneer, who saw all the items auctioned and did not recognize what our patron described.
D. The auctioneer had suggestions. Some items had gone to the New York Public Library's Schomburg collection and special collections at the University of Tennessee.
E. He also suggested a reporter at the Village Voice who is writing a book on Haley.
他也提示有位记者在Village Voice 又写过关於Haley的书
注:
The Schomburg Collection is a remarkable aggregation of knowledge on all aspects of black history, civilization, arts, and culture.
Schomburg汇集是指黑人在历史,文明,艺术和文化的所有方面的卓越知识.
思考的方向
6. 结果
Sadly enough, despite all my good leads, I still don't have the Haley letter.
7. 过程中的心得与收获
It is always interesting and sometimes frustrating to contact experts and special collections.
He is convinced the rules of networking include screwing up your courage and trying anybody, at almost anytime.
Try as we do, we don't find everything, but serendipity or old inquiries might turn this up eventually.
There's always next year's Kwanza celebration.
REFERENCE
Roberts, Kay "BARC: A Brief History of California's First Statewide Reference
Center," Wilson Library Bulletin, January, 1990, pp. 3
END
谢谢观赏