List Ranking Research Articles

Guide to Reference Books. Compiled by EUGENE P. SHEEHY with the assistance of RITA G. KECKEISSEN and EILEEN MCILVAINE. 9th ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 1976. Pp. xviii+1015. $30.00. ISBN 0-8389-0205-7. An eagerly awaited revision of this old friend from Columbia-fatter and more expensive than ever-needs no kind word from a reviewer to send to bestseller rank in the ALA list. new edition lives up to the Kroeger-Mudge-Winchell tradition, and Sheehy will take its rightful place in the lexicon of librarians and booksellers. There can be no difference of opinion on the need for the new edition. By quoting Miss Winchell's preface to the eighth edition of the Guide (1967), the compilers proclaim their hope of maintaining the book as a reference manual . . . ; (2) a selection aid for the librarian; and (3) a textbook for the student, who . . . is pursuing a systematic study of reference books (p. xi). fairness the new edition must be examined and judged from three distinct points of view. selectivity, the didactic organization, and the sort of annotation desirable in a textbook for beginners might be gladly sacrificed by a veteran reference worker for greater coverage, an organization designed primarily for quick reference, and minimal annotations. An academic reference librarian serving advanced students and specialists has requirements and resources different from those of the publiclibrary reference librarian who-with no claim on the help of specialists-works with the general public. All users of the book can be expected to look for (1) comprehensive, up-to-date coverage, (2) effective organization and presentation, (3) accurate descriptions, and (4) informative annotations; but they cannot be expected to agree on standards and priorities. Probably the greatest difficulty is the one expressed in the advice quoted from Winchell: Try not to let get as big as the Manhattan telephone directory (p. ix). In compiling a list of references, remarked Professor Donald F. Bond in his revision of a well-established manual, it is fatally easy to add item upon item until the bibliography defeats its own purpose (prefatory note, A Reference Guide to English Studies [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Phoenix Books, 1962], p. viii). Georg Schneider's words: The master's touch is shown by restriction of bulk. A selection tool is itself an expression of an earlier screening. Even exhaustive reference works go out of date and must be supplemented inevitably from other sources; hence, no reference book is required, for completeness alone, to give space

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