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Essentials Webinar
Essentials Webinar
Preliminaries
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Who we areMelissa WoodSales and Marketing Director, ALA Digital Reference
James HennellyManaging Editor, ALA Digital Reference
Denise Beaubien BennettGeneral Editor of the Guide to Reference
Special GuestsJohn Meier
Annie Zeidman-Karpinski
Editors, Mathematics Section of the Guide to Reference
Guide to ReferenceEssentials Webinar
The Guide to Reference is…
“(1) a reference manual . . . ; (2) a selection aid for the librarian; (3) a textbook for the student who . . . is pursuing a systematic study of reference books.”
Constance Winchell
Preface to the 8th edition, 1967
The premier evaluative bibliography
» Reflects the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of the reference community over many years
» Continues to serve as a center for learning about and practicing reference librarianship
» Some call it “the Bible” of reference sources
How does the Guide do it?
» It’s selective and broad in coverage» It gives you nearly 17,000 of the
best and most authoritative reference sources in 56 disciplines arranged under 6 major subject divisions, with in-depth annotations
» It’s kept up-to-date by an Editorial Board and 70+ contributing editors—your colleagues and peers in the reference community
Library Journal’s 2012 Best Database
Library Journal named Guide to Reference as the Best Database in the Professional Resource Category in 2012.
This award was based on votes from librarians, readers of LJ, and reviewers.
Our outline today
1. How to leverage Guide to Reference to support your work in:» Reference» Collection development» Teaching and training
2. Case study of the Mathematics section
Reference» Direct library users to best and most
authoritative sources for answers
» Train and orient new reference staff and students/paraprofessional staff
» Create subject bibliographies, finding aids, and instructional materials
Reference: Current Challenges» Reference questions are fewer but
“harder”
» More questions require subject or content knowledge
» Print and online reference sources not housed together for easy scanning
Reference: How the Guide can help
» Find best sources quickly by drilling down into taxonomy and by refining searches
» Use Editor’s Guides for orientation» Use annotations for guidance» Create lists of resources for
bibliographies and finding aids» Save your best searches for regular
use
Collection development» Evaluate your collection:
» What’s missing» What needs to be updated» What can be withdrawn or sent to
circulating stacks
» Build collections for new programs and for special libraries (law, medicine, corporate)
Collection Development Current Challenges
» Budget cuts: fewer sources bought
» Dilemma of buying print vs. online
» Convenience of format for staff vs. patrons
» Fewer collection experts; limited staff time
Collection Development How the Guide can help
» Use Editor’s Guides to understand shape and direction of reference literature
» Use annotations to compare resources
» Create lists of titles for possible purchase and share with colleagues
» Add notes/comments to titles that should be updated or retired
» Customize and save searches to run at regular intervals
Teaching and Training» Introduce next generation of
reference librarians to reference sources and reference practices
» On-the-job training» Differentiate among types of
reference sources and their value and use
» Communicate nature of information-seeking and reference process
Teaching and Training How the Guide can help
» Orient students to the taxonomy» Ask students to read Editor’s Guides» Ask students to evaluate different
resources based on their annotations
» Ask students to find best resources for answering questions
» Ask students to create subject guides
» Create lists of resources for class projects
Case study: MathematicsMeet the Math editors
How the discipline affects their selection of entries in the Guide
How they work as a team
John Meier Science Librarian
Penn State University
Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library
Subjects: Math, Statistics, Patents and Trademarks
The Guide to Reference Mathematics SectionLearn mathematics reference resources
rapidly
For electronic resources you can be sure of quality and currency of information
History and longevity important in mathematics
The Accidental Math Librarian ™
In lean budget times, it is more likely that you may gain new subject responsibilities (or additional duties as assigned) in your job
As branch libraries close, collections and services for those subjects will move to main libraries and service points.
The laboratory of Math is the library
Problems in mathematics can remain unsolved for centuries before a proof is discovered.
Fermat’s Last Theorem, Poincaré conjecture
Looking ForwardMath is interdisciplinary, a foundational
science
Mathematicians are very open about their work and often strong Open Access supporters
You don’t have to be a mathematician to be a math librarian
Annie Zeidman-Karpinski
Science & Technology Services Librarian
University of OregonScience and (separate)
Math Libraries
Subjects: Math, Computer Science and Human Physiology
Working Together
Workflow
Co-authoring (Zentralblatt MATH)
Free version:It will display only three results, but can see the entire entry for those
three results – this includes the citation, summary, and the links. They seem to be in chronological order and you can’t change it. You get everything you’d expect for full access, but for only three results.
Full, paid version:With the full version, you’ll get more results for your search criteria, but
the first three results are in an entirely different order. It’s not immediately obvious how the results are displayed, and it doesn’t allow you to re-sort them without changing your search terms. Although that’s easy enough to do.
When we want to confirm a citation, it’s really helpful, even the free version, as we only need one – two results. The reviews seem to be more of a summary and abstract of the article written in easy to understand English. Compared to entries in MathSciNet which tend to be more of a discussion of the arguments in the article.
Thanks to John and Annie!
Let’s view more features of the Guide
Getting involved
» Incorporate into LIS assignments
» Create public notes
» Become an editor – watch for calls
» Want to do what John and Annie do?
Wrapping up
» Sign up for a trial» Subscribe at your library» Special offer for LIS programs
» We’ll archive the slides and a video of this webinar sometime next week
Guide to Reference Essentials Webinars
» Recurring series of webinars every other month
» Please tell your colleagues about the webinars
» Join us again» We welcome any feedback» Contact us at: [email protected]
