人文學報告第三組

組員圖資二

方凱鴻 496100238

鄭喬比 496100367

許芳瑄 496100381

黃楚余 496100525

許妤瑩 496100616

主題：哲學資源（三） Reference Referral ：

Public Library Humanities Questions in

California's Reference Network

加州公共圖書館的參考網路 所遭遇的有關人文學科方面的問題

Author ： Kay Roberts

SUMMARY Public libraries receive a wide variety of referen

ce questions in the humanities. ranging from requests requiting scholaraly literary or historical research to requests for vaguely remembered poetry and quotation

s.

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

顧客的問題與參考過程

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 ：貝殼念珠 wampum exchan gerates ：金錢匯率 Nefertiti ：奈費提蒂

讀者對於很多事物感到好奇，如康斯坦次、 Tom Coffin 、沒有對話的小說、 Scritti Politti 的意思、 limbo( 地邊 ) 對於歷史及宗教的重要性、騎士雕像蹄的部位代表的意思、古老的城鎮 Eugoa 及Eugia 的位置；他們想知道為什麼梵谷傷害自己後，醫師卻不幫他執行手術；他們想要得到“ Z Otchlani” 的英文翻譯、“俄羅斯人權宣言”、馬丁路德的演說—“我有一個夢想”中文版；他們需要一些詩的副本；他們有一行的詩文，並希望可以找到其完整的詩文背景。這些典型的公共圖書館參考問題都是來自於美國加州的參考中心— BALIS 的地方公共圖書館的人文學參考問題抽樣。

BALIS= Bay Area Library and Information System海灣地區圖書交流服務機構

Referral ：轉介源自於社會服務領域，其目的在「指引個人到所需要的資源或服務」。

關於 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.

在人文學中尋找資訊是具有挑戰性的

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.

要找到最好的來源可能需要花時間在找尋參考與流通的館藏，核對書目，搜尋線上目錄，以及等待館際互借

At times, our patron's expectations exceed what information is available

有時候顧客的期望會超出我們可用的資訊。

When I exhausted my resources, I turned to SCAN. This kind of work (Second-level research) is time-cons

uming because we provide patrons with answers, not sources.

當我用盡我的資料來源，我轉向 SCAN(State of California Answering Network 加州答詢系統 ) 。像這樣的次等調查是很耗時間的，因為我們提供給顧客的是答案不是來源。

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.

聚焦在加州圖書館相關新聞跟資訊，包括政府官員的最新消息、有關名望的獎項、名人錄、訃告、事實與數據，以及電影相關連結

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」和揭發黑人家譜 目的： Haley responded with an eloquent defense. The patron want

ed Haley's letter to use in Kwanza celebrations. ( 安哥拉的慶典頌揚 )

文章作者的檢索過程 1 check of the Times index 從時代雜誌的索引開始查起 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 un

usual terms, or money or time enough to bring up and read everything related to Alex Haley.

流通在這裡大概不能有所幫助，我們既沒有任何特殊關係或金錢，和足夠的時間去找出和閱讀所有關於 Alex Haley 的東西。

2 digging around in a printed index 挖掘書面索引 He find that letters were indexed, but not to find any by Haley. a problem not unusual in humanities questions: not knowing the time fra

me.

Humanities= 人文學科

思考的方向 1. Time Assuming it must have been around 1976 or 1977, the book and televis

ion program dates, he concentrated on those years. 2. 資料型式 I did not assume Haley's response was necessarily a letter;he might ha

ve responded on the op-ed page or elsewhere. 3. tried the paper of record 文本記錄 The New York Times, however, obviously overwhelmed by calls for ever

ything 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 ,紐約時報很明顯的勝過 1940年代某人的 Aunt Tillie ：號稱為從天氣到圖片的資料都有 ,紐約時報保留的回答記錄會指引我們找到資料來源就像是資料的索引。

找到的資源： 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 思考哪裡出了問題 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?

新線索： The library replied that the patron saw the letter in Haley's effects the we

ek before the auction of Haley's estate; maybe it was an exchange published in another paper.

之前會找不到的原因： Getting misinformation the first time around is not unusual. Patrons, relu

ctant to alarm us with specific information, often hide behind generalities.

5. ask librarian He decided to try Nashville, where a librarian at the Tennessean newsp

aper checked her files for Haley references.

收穫及過程 A. The name of the auctioneer. B. He was surprised that the telephone number provided by direct

ory 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.

他也提示有位記者在 Village Voice 又寫過關於 Haley 的書

註： The Schomburg Collection is a remarkable aggregation of knowledge on all aspects of black history, civilization, arts, and culture.

Schomburg彙集是指黑人在歷史、文明、藝術和文化的所有方面的卓越知識。

思考的方向 6. 結果 Sadly enough, despite all my good leads, I still don't have the Haley lett

er.

7. 過程中的心得與收穫 It is always interesting and sometimes frustrating to contact experts and

special collections. He is convinced the rules of networking include screwing up your coura

ge and trying anybody, at almost anytime. Try as we do, we don't find everything, but serendipity or old inquiries mi

ght 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謝謝觀賞