PLA Blog

Let’s say you had the Sophie’s Choice of reference books: in all the world, you could only keep your top 5 favorite print resources. What would they be?

This question is inspired by a message I read in the April 25 (Vol 25, Issue 26) digest of the WebJunction Publib listserv:

Hello,
I am a library student with a question for reference librarians. My reference class is evaluating different resources, and I am wondering what your “Top 5″ are - which general reference books you consider invaluable and are most used by your reference staff. Also, are there any that your library purchases regularly but which are very rarely used?
Thank you so much in advance for your responses!

The message is from Kathy (Brown) Gregory, a library school student in her second semester at Southern Connecticut State University who works at Hartford Public Library. The original assignment, for her Reference Materials and Service class, is really quite interesting and nifty: subscribe to a library listserv, post a question, and record your responses. It’s an excellent opportunity for students to realize that listservs are a resource for reaching out to the library community, and an interesting way to examine how responsive and active some lists actually are.

There were several responses from the listserv, published in the very same digest, that also proved interesting. Favorite print resources included: almanacs, ValueLine, Morningstar, town histories/reports/stuff, state laws, atlases and maps (especially local), dictionaries, guides to grants, and self-help law, to name a few.

Two things happened: 1) I wanted to help Kathy obtain more data, and 2) I got really, really curious. In a day and age of electronic resources, what print resources are considered “favorite children,” near and dear to the hearts of public librarians who can’t live without them?

We want to know! Tell us what your fave 5 print resources are by replying to this post. We’ll send the information on to Kathy, who can use it in her report.

We recently received an email from Marsha Goldberg, a Technical Support Services representative with the Missouri Research & Education Network (MOREnet, an organization that provides internet and other technology resources to libraries), wrote to us about about her experience at the PLA conference in Boston.

Not only do conferences on the whole provide a positive professional development impact on librarians everywhere, but, especially in this case, the conference changed Marsha’s perspective on the profession entirely, and led her to a new career path. Here’s what she had to say:

Currently, I provide technical support for libraries in Missouri. I went to the conference in place of our program manager, who was unable to attend this year herself.

I never could have imagined how this experience could entirely change my life.

The programming was fantastic, and shows me how much farther we can go to help libraries.

The real impact on me was the community. I felt really “at home.” Everywhere I turned, there was a friendly face. Everything was interesting to me (I was like a kid in a candy story in the Exhibit Hall!), and slowly I realized that this could provide me with a career which really can change lives. I happened to meet a librarian from one of our supported libraries in one of the programs, and we spent quite a long time talking. She convinced me that I could really plow ahead, continue my education, and get my MLS. I had the additional good fortune to meet another librarian from Queens at the Conference Reception, who told me her story of getting her MLS later in life, and again, reinforced that this was something that I could do.

The program, Is the MLS Degree Needed for a Career in Public Librarianship further reinforced the necessity of my chosen goal. Thank you to both the presenters and the
audience for giving me a new view on entering the culture of librarianship.

I never expected to be offered such mentoring and friendship on my trip. I hold very deep gratitude to all of the wonderful people who went out of their way to encourage
me. It shows much about the culture of this profession.

I’m happy to say that I came right home, arranged entrance back into the University of Missouri. I have a long row to hoe, as I have to complete my undergraduate degree, and the MLS. I now know I can do it, and will eventually make this community my home permanently.

Thank you, Marsha, for your positive feedback, and your permission to post the email to the PLA Blog.