HOW TO STUDY REFERENCE BOOKS

(Source: Eugene P. Sheehy, Guide to Reference Books, p. xiv-xv).

"Only constant and practical use of a reference book will make a student thoroughly familiar with its character and use, but the following suggestions will help him [or her] in his [or her] preliminary examination of the book.

1. Examine title page carefully for information as to:

a) scope of work as indicated in title

b) author's name

c) author's previous record (often indicated by list of degrees, positions, titles of earlier works, etc.)

d) publisher

e) date of publication. Check date or publication by reference to copyright date and date of preface while these dates offer no absolute guarantee of the date of information in the book, they sometimes help in determining this, especially in cases where they are considerably earlier than the imprint date.

2. Read Preface or Introduction for

a) further information as to scope of work

b) special features claimed

c) limitations, if any

d) comparison with other books on same subject.

3. Examine book itself for

a) arrangement

b) kind of entry

c) Cross references, i.e., extent to which included, whether given in main work or in separate list, etc.

d) supplementary lists, noting number and kind and bow connected with main work

e) indexes, noting fullness and exactness of reference

f) quality and kind of articles, noting whether they are popular or scientific, signed or unsigned impartial or biased and especially whether they are equipped with satisfactory bibliographical references in the form or either appended bibliographies, references throughout the text or bibliographical footnotes. Several articles should be read carefully. compared with similar articles in other books‑ The student should, if possible, look up some subjects upon which he [or she] has either some special knowledge or means of securing accurate information. However important the form and convenience of arrangement of a reference book may be, the trustworthiness of its information is of still greater importance‑ and a knowledge of its comparative accuracy or inaccuracy is fundamental to any real knowledge of the book‑

4. In examining both Preface and articles, note any evidence of lack of impartiality; e.g., if the book deals with a controversial subject, religious, political, etc., does it represent only one side; or, in the case of a biographical work, are the selection of names, kind and length of article, etc., determined in any way by the desire to secure subscribers.

5. In studying the arrangement of a book, note the possibility of variation in books which follow the same general arrangement; e.g., in a work arranged alphabetically, note what rules for alphabetizing have been followed. Among encyclopedias, for example, the Britannica and the Americana follow different rules, and the student who does not observe that fact may miss the article for which he is looking. The alphabetizing of words containing an umlauted vowel is a possible source of confusion in many books, and in foreign reference books, in general, one should always remember points in which the foreign alphabetizing differs from the English. A fuller discussion of some or these points will be found on page [102] of this Guide.

6. If the work in question purports care to be a new edition, note carefully the extent of revision claimed for it and check this by comparison with earlier editions. New or revised editions often present very special difficulties, and the examination should be extended enough to determine whether the revision is

a) so complete and thorough that it supersedes the earlier work

b) thorough, but with the omission of some of some material included in the earlier work which is still useful, in which case the two editions may have to be used together, or

c) so insufficient and superficial that the earlier edition is still to be preferred.

A reference worker needs such information about a book for two purposes:

a) to decide whether or not the book should be purchased

b) to be able to explain to readers who ask for a so-called new edition why its purchase was considered advisable."