Elements of Bibliography: : A Guide to Information Sources and Practical Applications (3rd ed.)

Citation

Cullen, R. (1999), "Elements of Bibliography: : A Guide to Information Sources and Practical Applications (3rd ed.)", Asian Libraries, Vol. 8 No. 11, pp. 439-440. https://doi.org/10.1108/al.1999.8.11.439.5

Bibliographies are believed by some in our profession to have outlived their usefulness in the age of online information storage and retrieval. But this is far from the truth. In many areas of the world major collections are still being catalogued, and it will be years before there is universal electronic access to printed materials. Bibliographies will have their uses for many years to come, and bibliographic skills are still an important tool for information professionals. The third edition of Harmon’s Elements of Bibliography has a useful part to play here.

The earlier editions of this work have been praised for the clear way in which the author outlines the basic principles of bibliography making. This is still the major value of the work, despite an attempt to bring the contents up to date with descriptions of the basics of online searching and the Internet ‐ in fact these add little to the volume. What bibliographers need to know about the Internet is less how to search it (if they did need this knowledge, something far more detailed would be desirable), but whether to include, and how to evaluate and cite information documents on the World Wide Web. Citation of electronic sources is briefly covered in the chapter entitled Bibliographical Citation Basics.

The volume begins with an overview of the entire field of bibliography, and definitions of the two major types of bibliography, enumerative (or the listing of information sources) and analytical (descriptive and historical bibliography, related to the study of the history of the book). This is followed by an historical survey in Chapter 2. Unfortunately, like many texts in this field Harmon ignores the ancient histories of printing, publishing and bibliography in many Asian cultures and focuses exclusively on the Western tradition of printing and publishing and its major bibliographers. These introductory chapters are followed by more detailed individual chapters on enumerative or systematic bibliography, analytical or critical bibliography, the fundamentals of practical bibliography making, and bibliographical citation basics. These are the most useful chapters, giving succinct and practical advice to the novice bibliographer. The later chapters, on electronic sources and bibliographical searching, reference sources on bibliography, and careers related to bibliography, etc. provide useful supporting information.

This is not the best manual on bibliography, but it is a popular, readable and inexpensive volume that forms a useful introduction to a subject that still has great relevance in the Information Age.