Animals are the Issue: Library Resources on Animal Issues

Citation

McCallon, M. (2008), "Animals are the Issue: Library Resources on Animal Issues", Collection Building, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 126-126. https://doi.org/10.1108/01604950810886068

John Kistler has previously authored two books on the subject of animal rights, Animal Rights: A Subject Guide, Bibliography, and Internet Companion and People Promoting and People Opposing Animal Rights in Their Own Words. This edited work provides diverse perspectives on how animals are viewed and utilized by humans. Each article contains an introduction to the topic followed by annotated subject‐specific resources.

Topics in the volume are: the utilization of animals for sports, industry, science and education, and views on animals in relation to religion, law, biodiversity and human‐animal interaction. While the topics selected for the volume are very timely and helpful, the breadth and quality of the articles vary widely. Some articles include references to books, periodicals and web sites, while other articles only include references to books. More uniformity in the structure of the articles would have been helpful for the reader. The article on animals and biodiversity was made especially helpful by including Library of Congress Subject Headings related to the topic. A helpful index is in the back, but there are no illustrations.

Some of the topics in this book have been highlighted in other works. However, most of the works are out‐of‐date. Karen Miller Allen's Human‐Animal Bond: An Annotated Bibliography (Scarecrow Press, 1985) and Charles R. Magel's Keyguide to Information Sources in Animal Rights (McFarland, 1989) are examples. Overall, though, this compilation is unique for librarians doing collection development pertaining to social issues and animal science.