Little Big Horn College & UM - Library Reference Collection Recommendations

Method of Assessment

Current Collection Trends

Recommendation Methods and Term Coding

Recommended Additions

Method of Assessment

In May 2000, as part of the Crow Agency workshop of University of Michigan School of Information students led by Dr. Maurita Holland and Shary Balius, the Little Big Horn College reference collection went under evaluation and assessment. The results and recommendations for improvement are found here. The reference shelves were read and checked against a list provided by the college. Notations were made of any items which were on the shelf but not in the official list or on the list but missing from the shelves. In addition and when possible, the record information on a given item was checked for actual publication date and latest edition held.

The final recommendations were made based on three tools: William Katz’ Introduction to Reference Work, Dority’s A Guide to Reference Books for Small- and Medium-Sized Libraries, and the 1998-1999 edition of Books in Print. The Library's holdings were compared against the recommended references materials found in these resources. Suggested appropriate replacements and updates for those items whose contents were out of date were then made.

General trends in the collection

In assessing the collection, the particular titles and selections were most often in line with general reference practice. However, the collection was severely hampered by the datedness of many of those same well-chosen materials. Many of the volumes were more than a decade old. While many reference resources do not change dramatically over the years and older materials are as useful as current editions, this is not the case in several areas:

General knowledge. General knowledge, including significant events in history and development of technology, has advanced greatly even in the ten years or more since many of the encyclopedias in the LBHC were first obtained. While much of the information in these volumes is accurate, they are still missing significant developments since 1990.
Geography. In the political world we live in, boundaries and names of nations change with alarming frequency, making maps from even a decade ago dramatically out of date. Consider the case of the former Soviet Union or Bosnia-Herzegovina, for example, which have undergone extensive changes in political definitions since the time period covered in the atlases and encyclopedias held by LBHC.
Science and technology. While many sciences change slowly on the level at which a junior college student learns about them, this is not the case with the rapidly developing information technologies. In this case, information 4 or 5 years old is as out of date as 25-year-old information might be in other disciplines.
Current directories. Directories of people, programs, and particularly funding sources are only as useful to users as they are current. While some information in these volumes remains the same from year to year, most of the directories at LBHC date from nearly a decade ago or more, which makes it unlikely that most of the information is current.

How recommendations were made

In making recommendations for the current holdings, the first priority was the level of usefulness to the user, who were identified as the students of Little Big Horn College and members of the surrounding Crow community. Was the information in a given volume reasonably up to date in the state of that discipline, regardless of the date of publication? Was the information so out of date as to be misleading if a user attempted to use it? Would the user be able to contact the person or organization they were trying to reach if they used that directory?

Recommendations were assigned on the basis of this evaluation. In the process, several specific terms were developed, not only to make concrete suggestions about a given item but also to indicate the relative state of usefulness of the item based on currency. These terms, which are used in the Recommendations column of the chart that follows, are defined as follows:

OK – This indicates that an item is considered current and useful. This does not mean that the title was necessarily published recently. Rather this indicates that the volume held is the most current one available according to the 1998-1999 Books in Print, that the information contained in it is likely to be as up to date as possible, and that it is therefore still useful.
Update – This indicates that a volume is out of date for its subject area and should be updated with a more current edition. The most current date available of a new edition should be selected when possible.
Keep – This indicates that while a volume is very old and much of the information in the volume is out of date, it may still have some usefulness. This is particularly true of older bibliographies in Native American studies, many of which date from the 1970s and 1980s. While they by no means contain current information, they do retain research value. Similarly, some titles have since gone out of print and there are no appropriate recommendations for their replacement.
Replace with <title> -- This indicates that the original title is out of date and needs updating but that title is out of print or of poor quality, and should be replaced with the more contemporary or suitable title suggested.
Consider <title> -- This indicates that there is more than a single recommended option for a given title replacement.

Online resources
In several situations, I have recommended that LBHC consider using an online or CD version of a title that needs annual replacement or updating, as many thigns are now available for free online, or are less expensive in the CD format. This method of acquiring materials saves the library not only expensive annual updates but also any concern about the currency of the information.

Recommended Additions

In the process of assessing the collection, I also noted where a particularly significant or potentially useful title was missing. The list appears in the approximate shelf list order of the items, rather than alphabetical.

Murphy - Guide to US Foundations, Their Trustees, Officers and Donors, Foundation Center

Bullfinch’s Mythology

Bell – Dictionary of Classical Mythology: Symbols, Attributes and Associations
Willis – World Mythology
Probish – Historical Dictionary of Buddhism, 1993, Scarecrow Press
Glasse – The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, 1991, San Francisco HarperCollins
Facts on File – New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, 1992

Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches

Mead – Handbook of Denominations in the United States, 1990
Bataille – Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, 1993

Oxford Companion to Politics of the World

Shafritz – Dictionary of 20^th Century World Politics
Fustaw – Native American Information Directory: A Guide to Organizations, Agencies, Institutions, Programs, Publications, Services and Other Resources, Gale Group
Hirschfelder – Guide to Research on North American Indians, American Library Association, 1983
Federal and Indian Oil and Gas Royalty Valuation and Management, v. 1-3, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, 1992-1998
Directory of Indian Publishers and Distributors, 1990, University Books Ltd.
Narweker – Directory of Indian Film-makers and Films¸ 1994, Greenwood Press
Kane – Facts about the Presidents, H.W. Wilson
The Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates, HarperCollins
Historical Atlas of the United States, 1994, National Geographic Society

Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations

Arden – The Work-At-Home Sourcebook, Publisher’s Group West, 1992
Blum – Free Money from the Federal Government for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs
Starer – Who Knows What: The Essential Business Resource Book, 1994
Facts on File – Encyclopedia of Drug Abuse, 1992
Bosoni – Legal Resource Directory: A Guide for Free or Inexpensive Assistance for Low Income Families, with Special Sections for Prisoners, McFarland, 1992
Deckerd – Home Schooling Laws in All 50 States

Norton/Grove Concise Encyclopedia of Music

Oxford Dictionary of Art

Raymond – The New Hacker’s Dictionary, 1994
Oxford Dictionary of Natural History, 1985
HarperCollins Dictionary of Environmental Sciences, 1992
Bailey – Hortus Third: A Concise Dictionary of Plants Cultivated in the United States and Canada, 1976
Margules – Five Kingdoms: An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth, 1988

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV)

The New Our Bodies, Ourselves

Stein – Construction Glossary: An Encyclopedic Reference and Manual, 1993

Jane’s Aerospace Dictionary

Goodman – A Guide to Food Additives, 1990
Dority – A Guide to Reference Books for Small and Medium-Sized Libraries, 1984-1994, 1995
March – Recommended Reference Books in Paperback