SIGNPOSTS: SOME SELECTIONS FROM The 1958 SPECIAL LIBRARY LITERATURE

Abstract

At a time when a greatly expanded volume of research is giving rise to a mounting flood of publications, and scientists are becoming increasingly aware of the difficulty of keeping informed of all the work that may possibly be of interest to them, it is only natural that the literature on the problems and techniques of information work should itself grow rapidly. Not only is there an ever‐growing number of publications of library and documentation organizations, but as more and more scientists are faced with information problems and try to find solutions to them, relevant articles appear in the scientific and technical Press. The same set of conditions causes many people engaged in industry or research, with no training or experience in library or information work, to find themselves made responsible for the organization of information services at various levels, often in localities where there is no more experienced person to whom they can turn for advice. Such people can benefit greatly from the experience of others as recorded in the literature, but they often have difficulty in finding the papers that would be most helpful among the mass of other material, some of it irrelevant to their particular conditions, much of it too advanced or theoretical, quite a lot of it pure polemics, and some just bad. It is to meet the needs of these people that this series of reviews, now in its seventh year, has been designed. It attempts to pick out each year those items likely to be of direct practical help in running a small library or information service, especially for an untrained person. Advanced research work and theoretical discussions, however important, are ignored, as also are descriptions of practice in large libraries, unless they are capable of easy application in smaller organizations. Important bibliographies and works of reference are covered, including some of the more expensive ones which the librarian of a small organization may wish to know about and consult in other libraries, although he would not add them to his own stock. Items are not confined strictly to the publications of a particular year, though most of those chosen will have been received in British libraries during 1958. Those who have followed this series over the years will not fail to have noticed that the number of references included has increased. Even so, selection has become more and more difficult, and the final decisions as to what must be rejected are inevitably personal ones. Some injustice has possibly been done, but it is hoped that all the items included will prove of value to some of those for whom they are intended.

Citation

BIRD, J. (1959), "SIGNPOSTS: SOME SELECTIONS FROM The 1958 SPECIAL LIBRARY LITERATURE", Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 11 No. 6, pp. 147-160. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb049702