Elements of Bibliography (3rd edition)

Citation

Day, A. (1999), "Elements of Bibliography (3rd edition)", Library Review, Vol. 48 No. 8, pp. 413-424. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.1999.48.8.413.4

“Bibliography can hardly be recommended as an occupation for completely sane persons”, Harmon perceptively remarks, but then persuades us that it is an essential discipline for all library and information personnel if they are to cope with computerised and digitalised information storage and retrieval. There is surely no need to underline that, since the first edition of the Guide was published nearly 20 years ago, “the introduction and development of on‐line search services along with CD‐ROM technology has added greater depth to the bibliographical spectrum”, and that “the Internet offers further enhancements”. Harmon is on safe ground when he forecasts that “during the twenty‐first century, the importance of bibliographical methods and applications will take on increased relevance in information management and transfer, and library and information professionals will assume a greater involvement in this process”. That being so, this present updated work provides a timely introduction to the study of all aspects of bibliography and to the basic standards for bibliographical compilation.

First Harmon surveys the various definitions of the word “bibliography” as it evolved over the centuries, its organisation and structure, its uses and functions, and also the different professional groups with an interest in bibliographical pursuits. No matter what their diverse interests are, the science or art of bibliography allows all these groups ordered access to the mass of documentation in whatever format mankind has inexorably produced. Next, he conducts a comprehensive review, from ancient times to the present, illustrating how bibliography itself has diversified into two broad areas, the examination of books as physical objects (analytical bibliography and critical bibliography, closely allied to historical bibliography), and as receptacles for ideas and subject knowledge, and their listing in a logical and required order (enumerative bibliography or systematic bibliography). The third of what we might regard as the elucidatory or interpretative preliminary chapters identifies the objects and artefacts of bibliography; a brief historical survey of the book and printing; bookmaking materials (paper, type, printing ink, bookbinding); manuscripts; and nonprint materials.

The reader now is prepared for a more detailed study of the various branches and forms of bibliography and Harmon can therefore devote a chapter each to enumerative or systematic bibliography and to analytical or critical bibliography. In the former he discourses on the nature and uses of enumerative bibliography, bibliographical organisation and control, and on the types and functions of enumerative bibliography (general or universal, national, trade, subject, author, selective and bibliophilic bibliographies, specialised catalogues, bibliographies of bibliographies, and literature guides). As for analytical bibliography, he examines its structure (descriptive, textual and historical bibliography) and its current status. He then turns to the fundamentals of practical bibliography making, namely, planning its compilation, deciding on its boundaries, collecting and recording entries, and providing guidelines for compiling descriptive bibliographies (quasi‐facsimile methods, the collation and statement of contents, exterior description). He then considers annotated bibliographies, bibliographical essays (a combination of checklists and briefly annotated bibliographies), and bibliographical software.

At this point he comes to the question of citation, in the reviewer’s experience always a vexing problem for fledglings and experienced bibliographers alike. Harmon writes with commendable common sense, pointing out potential problem areas, not forgetting the bibliographical description of electronic material, and ending with a serious look at some representative general and thematic style manuals. He continues with a valuable chapter on evaluating bibliographical resources before coming to grips with electronic information sources and bibliographical searching. A chapter on careers related to the field of bibliography is confined to the North American experience. Abstract services, bibliographies, dictionaries and thesauri, directories, encyclopaedias, literature guides, indexes, and yearbooks, all feature in a chapter on reference sources and there is a similar chapter covering periodicals (general periodicals, bibliographical society, book collecting, information science, library, and online searching and resources journals, and periodical directories). Finally, there is a chapter on bibliography in the information age featuring the Internet, digital technology, the paperless society, ending with some perspectives on bibliography as a field of study.

It must not be imagined that this relentless recital of topics covered exhausts the merits of Harmon’s updated Guide. In addition to a list of abbreviations used in bibliographical practice, a glossary of terms, and a list of the major bibliographical organisations, extensive bibliographical essays are appended to each chapter, lending authority and reassurance in equal measure. Newcomers to bibliography should not attempt to digest this splendid work too quickly, but in it they will find answers to all their questions, solutions to all their problems. The only thing Harmon omits is the * and joy in tracking down obscure and elusive items for whatever type of bibliography you may find yourself engaged upon. The excitement of the chase you must discover for yourself.