WEMSK41:Bibliography
WEMSK41:Bibliography
WEMSK41 -- Bibliography
[As usual, we are faced with
a problem of definition. There are
those who would maintain that
the word should mean only
`descriptive bibliography',
`the study of books as material
objects', but most of us use
it loosely to mean `subject
bibliography' or `enumerative
bibliography'. I shall use it to
mean `the study of books' quite
broadly, but mainly as an aid in
information mining, to use a
`new and ugly' term.]
[Many of the works listed below
will be available on CD-ROM (e. g.
Bibliographic Index, so you
need to get used to looking at CD-ROMs
in Print. Unfortunately,
this book is difficult to use, being
poorly indexed, and a call to
the company assures me that it is no
longer available on CD-ROM.
Bummer! Also, most larger libraries
will have bibliographies such
as the MLA online. Ours, that is,
the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, has under the
heading "Arts and Humanities
Databases": ABSEES, AMICO, Art
Abstracts, Artindex Retrospective,
ATLA, Avery, Bibliography of the
History of Art, Current Contents,
Encyclopedia Judaica, FRANCIS (=
Bulletin signaletique), Grove
Dictionary of Art, Historical
Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts,
Index of Christian Art, IMP, IBZ
(just got, great!), Iter, Middle
English Compendium, MLA,
Philosopher's Index, Project
Muse, RILM Abstracts, SCIPIO.
Some bibliographies are available
online, e.g. ARBA guide to
subject encyclopedias and dictionaries
[computer file], ed, Susan
C. Awe., 2nd ed. (Boulder, CO.:
NetLibrary, Inc., 1999). URL:
http://www.netlibrary.com/summary.asp?ID=11182
(restricted to
subscribers).]
Finding Bibliographic Information
1a. Your first port of call ought
to be: Guide to Reference Books,
ed. Robert Balay, 11th ed. (Chicago:
American Library Association,
1996). You can get almost
anywhere from your Balay. Older people
may have called it the Mudge,
the Winchell, the Sheehy, but it is
still the best. There
are occasional threats to bring it out on
CD-ROM, so you could really
use it, but so far no luck. Nor is it
available online. It is
sort of kept up to date twice a year in
College and Research Libraries,
and you ought to get into the habit
of looking at "Selected Reference
Books ...". I am looking at
Elaine McIlvaine, "Selected
Reference Books of 2000," College &
Research Libraries 62 (March,
2001), 180-195.
1b. In many ways better than
Balay is Walford's Guide to Reference
Material, A[lbert] J[ohn] Walford
et al., 7th ed., 3 vols. (London:
Library Association, 1996-99).
It is mainly vol. 2 "Social and
Historical Sciences, Philosophy
and Religion," and vol. 3
"Generalities, Language &
Literature, the Arts," which interest us.
The international coverage is
better.
2. Your second port of call ought
to be: Bibliographic Index (NY:
Wilson, 1942-). Also available
on CD-ROM. This will keep you up to
date. I used to hang around
the library and the librarians, since
they throw these out when they
get old, and you can sort of keep up
in your own library. Look also
at Bibliographische Berichte
(Frankfurt: Klostermann, 1959-),
Internaitonal Bibliographie der
Bibliographien (Munich: Saur,
1998-), Bibliographical Services
Throughout the World (Paris:
UNESCO, 1955-).
[With 1 and 2 you can get by,
but I need to mention some others in
case you run across them in
your book-buying tours.]
3. A very useful book: The Humanities.
A Selective Guide to
Information Sources, 5th ed.,
ed. Ron Blazek & Elizabeth Aversa
(Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited,
2000). Quite poor as to
foreign works and foreign languages
and literatures, but the
introductory material is good.
Good as to electronic resources.
4. You need to keep in mind the
various BIPs, such as Books in
Print, Verzeichnis lieferbarer
Buecher, Livres disponibles. You may
need these for finding publishers,
etc., and they can occasionally
be useful for gathering books
on a particular subject; they are
available electronically.
5. It is good to keep such things
as the LOC Subject Headings, the
Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors,
Knowledge Index and the like. You
can usually find these cheap,
since people throw them out. It can
be quite difficult to think
of how knowledge may have been packaged
and labeled.
6. Theodore Besterman, A World
Bibliography of Bibliographies, 3d
ed. (Geneva: Societas Bibliographica,
1955-56). Now old and long
in tooth, but still worth looking
at.
7. The German Balay: Wilhelm
Totok & Rolf Weitzel, Handbuch der
bibliographischen Nachschlagewerke,
6th ed, 2 vols., ed. Hans-
Juergen and Dagmar Kernchen
(Frankfurt: Klostermann, 1984-85). Good
in every way.
8. My favorite, now also long
in tooth: Louise-Noelle Malcles, Les
sources du travail bibliographique,
3 vols. in 4 (Geneva: Droz,
1950-58; repr. 1965).
Still good for some topics, e.g. Slavic.
General
1. If you want to find out about
bibliography in general, it is
good to look at: Bibliography.
Current State and Future Trends, ed.
Robert B. Downs and Frances
B. Jenkins. Illinois Contributions to
Librarianship, No. 8 (Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 1967).
It is too far out of date to
be of much use, but you can learn from
it what bibliography is like.
2. Another of my old favorites:
Louise-Noelle Malcles, Manuel de
bibliographie, 4th ed., revue
et augmentee par Andree Lheritier
[sic] (Paris: PUF, 1984).
3. A collection of articles you
might find interesting:
Bibliographic Instruction. The
Second Generation, ed. Constance A.
Mellon (Littleton, CO: Libraries
Unlimited, 1987).
4. A good start might be: An
Introduction to Bibliographical and
Textual Studies, by William
Proctor Williams & Craig S. Abbott, 3d
ed. (NY: MLA, 1999). Don't spend
much time with this one.
Style Manuals
[The particular journal or publisher
for whom you are writing is
likely to have a style manual
of its or his own, and you need to
ask for it.]
1. There are literally hundreds
of style manuals. Cf. John B.
Howell, Style Manuals of the
English Speaking World: A Guide
(Phoenix: Oryx, 1983).
2. Many of the journals in our
field will use: MLA Style Manual and
Guide to Scholarly Publishing,
Joseph Gibaldi, 2d ed. (NY: MLA,
1998).
3. The standard work is: The
Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed.
(Chicago: UChicago Press, 1993).
4. Frequently used: Kate L. Turabian,
A Manual for Witers of Term
Papers, Theses, and Dissertations,
6th ed., rev. by John Grossman
and Alice Bennett. Chicago Guides
to Writing, Editing and
Publishing (Chicago: UChicago
Press, 1996). A sort of distillation
of the Chicago Manual of Style.
Descriptive Bibliography
[Most of the following are for
modern works. For the Middle Ages,
see the WEMSK on codicology.]
1. The standard, and your first
port of call: Fredson Bowers,
Principles of Bibliographical
Description (Princeton: PUP, 1949;
rept. NY: Russell, 1962).
2. An old stand-by, still worth
looking at: Ronald B. McKerrow, An
Introduction to Bibliography
for Literary Students (Oxford: OUP,
1927). Repr. with Introduction
by David McKitterick. St. Paul's
Bibliographies (New Castle,
Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 1994).
3. Intended to replace McKerrow,
but not quite up to it: Philip
Gaskell, A New Introduciton
to Bibliography (Oxford: OUP, 1972).
4. Georg Schneider, Handbuch
der Bibliographie, 4th ed. (Leipzig:
Hiersemann, 1930). For the theoretical
matter, left out in the 4th
ed., see the English translation
by R. R. Shaw, Theory and History
of Bibliography (NY: Columbia
UP, 1934). Old, but good.