Transcript 人文學報告 第三組

人文學報告
第三組
組員
圖資二
方凱鴻496100238
鄭喬比496100367
許芳瑄496100381
黃楚余496100525
許妤瑩496100616
主題：哲學資源（三）

Reference Referral：
Public Library Humanities Questions in
California's Reference Network
加州公共圖書館的參考網路 所遭遇的有關人文學科方面的問題
Author：Kay Roberts
SUMMARY

Public libraries receive
a wide variety of
reference questions in the humanities. ranging
from requests requiting scholaraly literary or historical
research to requests for vaguely remembered poetry
and quotations.

The clientele of public libraries varies widely in levels
of expertise and expectations of the library.
SUMMARY

Major barriers to reference service are the lack of
time and resources at the local level.

problems typical of second-level humanities research,
representative questions and sources are described.

Discussion centers on questions answered at the Bay
Area Library and Information System, a second-level
reference center in Oakland.
CLIENTELE, THEIR QUESTIONS,THE REFERRAL PROCESS
顧客的問題與參考過程

Patrons come to the public library with an
impressive range of questions in the
humanities.

They want to know wampum exchan gerates, the contents of
Lincoln's pockets when he was assassinated,how to write Nefertiti in
hieroglyphics, or who killed Omar Mojaddadi in the 1879 battle at
Maiwand.

wampum：貝殼念珠

wampum exchan gerates：金錢匯率
Nefertiti：奈費提蒂

讀者對於很多事物感到好奇，如康斯坦次、Tom Coffin、沒有
對話的小說、Scritti Politti的意思、limbo(地邊)對於歷史及宗
教的重要性、騎士雕像蹄的部位代表的意思、古老的城鎮Eugoa及
Eugia的位置；他們想知道為什麼梵谷傷害自己後，醫師卻不幫他
執行手術；他們想要得到“Z Otchlani”的英文翻譯、“俄羅斯人
權宣言”、馬丁路德的演說—“我有一個夢想”中文版；他們需
要一些詩的副本；他們有一行的詩文，並希望可以找到其完整的詩
文背景。這些典型的公共圖書館參考問題都是來自於美國加州的參
考中心—BALIS的地方公共圖書館的人文學參考問題抽樣。

BALIS
= Bay Area Library and Information System
海灣地區圖書交流服務機構
Referral：轉介
源自於社會服務領域，其目的在「指引個人到所需要的資源或服務」。
關於BALIS

Reference referral began in California with the Bay Area Refer-ence
Center, funded by a Library Services and Construction Act grant to the
San Francisco Public Library from the Califomia State Library in 1967.

Since then, libraries have participated in an ever-changing network for
reference referral.

Local libraries refer questions to second-level regional centers, which
can, in mm, refer unanswered questions to the state-wide third-level
center, the State of California Answering Network (SCAN).

Special and academic libraries interact with the network invarious ways.
Services, poli-cies and procedures vary from center to center, but a
major act~wty is answering public library reference questionson all
subjects.
I'll focus on aspects of second-level humanities research, describing
resources and strategies used at BALLS, which may differsome-what
from other centers.

BALIS

Librarians at SCAN specialize by broad subject areas, to
become more proficient in resources in those areas.

Reference centers try various strategies to better serve
their widely varied clientele.

BALLS sponsored a Spanish language project toidentify
Spanish language resources, purchase materials, and
provide second-level reference in Spanish.

A children's specialist at BALLS provides expertise on
questions on children's literature and extends secondlevel reference services to children.

Libraries fax or send forms through system delivery to BALLS.
We also encourage questions by telephone to facilitate referral
and insure that the form does not create a barrier to service.
Personal contacts between librarians are an excellent way to
facilitate the referral process; to develop those contacts BALLS
staff attends library staff meetings, supports work- shop activities,
and conducts BALIS orientations.

We keep communication open while working on questions using
memos or phone calls to clarify questions. At times, partial
information is sent asa reality check to make sure we are on the
right track before pursuing a complete answer. This back and
forth process often involves questions in the humanities,which
frequently need interpretation and clarification.
 Just
finding information in the
humanities can be challenging.

在人文學中尋找資訊是具有挑戰性的


Finding the best resource may require time to
look through both reference and circulating
collections, check bibliographies, search
online catalogs, and wait for interlibrary loan
deliveries.
要找到最好的來源可能需要花時間在找尋參考
與流通的館藏，核對書目，搜尋線上目錄，以
及等待館際互借

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At times, our patron's expectations exceed what
information is available
有時候顧客的期望會超出我們可用的資訊。
When I exhausted my resources, I turned to SCAN.
This kind of work (Second-level research) is timeconsuming because we provide patrons with answers,
not sources.
當我用盡我的資料來源，我轉向SCAN(State of
California Answering Network加州答詢系統)。像這樣
的次等調查是很耗時間的，因為我們提供給顧客的是答
案不是來源。
SCAN

SCAN:Focuses on California library reference
news and information. Includes updates on
public officials, lists of prestigious awards, a
who's-who obituary, facts and figures, and
movie tie-ins.

聚焦在加州圖書館相關新聞跟資訊，包括政府
官員的最新消息、有關名望的獎項、名人錄、
訃告、事實與數據，以及電影相關連結

Imprecise knowledge of what we are looking for can complicate
reference in the humanities, as can a lack of indexing. The
patron requesting the rest of "Coward, take this coward's hand"
many years ago was not sure if it was a line from a film or poetry.

The librarian working on this question has wonderful instincts for
poetry, and searched through books of collected poetry after fa'st
checking all indexed poems on cowardice. Her virtue was
rewarded when she found Eve Merriam's "The Coward" in a
collection edited by Scott Bates: Poems of War Resistance.
Today this question would be simple, since the line is the last in
the poem, and is now indexed in Facts on File's wonderful
reference book Last Lines; an Index to the Last Lines of Poetry. It
is still difficult to identify lines when we are not sure if they are
poetry, prose or song,particularly if they are embedded in the
middle of the work.

The patron who asked for Lindbergh's "I Want to be a
Spanish Dancer“ provided a challenge to the librarian who
persisted in looking through much of Lindbergh's poetry,
and located those lines in the light-hearted poem "Caprice"
in a March 9, 1929 Literary Digest.If patrons remember
lines from 1929, it's little wonder they don't always get the
titles right.

At times we identify scholars who can provide definitive answers. I was unable to locate an English translation of Z
Otchlani, a World War II underground publication, but I
though there was a rare possibility one might exist.

The patron had provided a good source: a footnote,
indicating the anthology first published the poem "Cam-po
die Fiori" by Czeslaw Milosz.

Mr. Milosz answered my letter,providing the final word.
There is no English translation, but the original is in his
archive at Yale. Sometimes we contact experts to verify
information.

The entry in The Faber Companion to 20th-Century
Popular Music on the band Scritti Politti indicates the name
means "political writing" in Italian, but a professor of Italian
disagreed, and the band's recording company said the
name meant nothing at all!

In addition to library collections and experts BALIS accesses
information through online databases. Many questions require
an online search at some point in the research, a service
which is not offered in many local libraries.

Some searches provide leads, but others provide answers.
For the patron curious about the contents of Lincoln's pockets,
an online search through full-text newspapers brought up a
thoughtful article from the April 12, 1988 Chicago Tribune, in
which the writer speculates on what the homely itemsspectacles, handkerchief, news clippings, pocketknife, and a
Con-federate bill-tell us about the man.

These, then are the resources we use in second-level
humanities research: databases, reference
files,librarycollections,
organizations, special collections and experts.
SEARCH FOR A LETTER
BY ALEX HALEY
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Some questions require the use of many resources; a request for a
letter by Alex Haley was one.
The patron knew of an exchange of letters in the New York Times in
which a reader attacked Roots and debunked black genealogy.
作品「根」和揭發黑人家譜
目的：Haley responded with an eloquent defense. The patron
wanted Haley's letter to use in Kwanza celebrations. (安哥拉的慶典
頌揚)
文章作者的檢索過程

1 check of the Times index 從時代雜誌的索引開始查起

there are entries under black history,television and books.
the whole Haley's story is not laid out in one tidy page
Online indexes are superior tools, but don't answer all our questions.
Access here probably would not have helped, since I didn't have any
unusual terms, or money or time enough to bring up and read
everything related to Alex Haley.
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流通在這裡大概不能有所幫助，我們既沒有任何特殊關係或金
錢，和足夠的時間去找出和閱讀所有關於Alex Haley的東西。

2 digging around in a printed index


He find that letters were indexed, but not to find any by Haley.
a problem not unusual in humanities questions: not knowing the time
frame.

Humanities=人文學科
挖掘書面索引
思考的方向

1. Time
Assuming it must have been around 1976 or 1977, the book and
television program dates, he concentrated on those years.

2.資料型式
I did not assume Haley's response was necessarily a letter;he might
have responded on the op-ed page or elsewhere.


3. tried the paper of record 文本記錄
The New York Times, however, obviously overwhelmed by calls for
everything from the weather to pictures of somebody's Aunt Tillie from
the 1940s, has taken refuge behind an answering recording which
refers you to information sources such as their index.
然而,紐約時報很明顯的勝過1940年代某人的Aunt Tillie ：號稱為從天氣
到圖片的資料都有,紐約時報保留的回答記錄會指引我們找到資料來源就
像是資料的索引。
找到的資源：


A Guide to Magazine Articles, Newspaper Articles and Books ....
The Kaiser Index to Black Resources, 1948-1986.
思考的方向

4. probably problems 思考哪裡出了問題

Is the patron sure it was the Times? Why?
Can they tell us any more, such as the kinds of issues Haley addressed?
Other hints? Might it be one of the citations I have suggested?
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新線索：
The library replied that the patron saw the letter in Haley's effects the
week before the auction of Haley's estate; maybe it was an exchange
published in another paper.
之前會找不到的原因：
Getting misinformation the first time around is not unusual. Patrons,
reluctant to alarm us with specific information, often hide behind
generalities.

5. ask librarian

He decided to try Nashville, where a librarian at the Tennessean
newspaper checked her files for Haley references.
收穫及過程

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A. The name of the auctioneer.
B. He was surprised that the telephone number provided by
directory assistance was his home phone.
C. He had a nice chat with the auctioneer, who saw all the items
auctioned and did not recognize what our patron described.
D. The auctioneer had suggestions. Some items had gone to the
New York Public Library's Schomburg collection and special
collections at the University of Tennessee.
註：
The Schomburg Collection is a remarkable aggregation of knowledge on all
aspects of black history, civilization, arts, and culture.
Schomburg彙集是指黑人在歷史、文明、藝術和文化的所有方面的卓越知識。


E. He also suggested a reporter at the Village Voice who is writing
a book on Haley.
他也提示有位記者在Village Voice 又寫過關於Haley的書
思考的方向

6. 結果
Sadly enough, despite all my good leads, I still don't have the Haley
letter.

7. 過程中的心得與收穫
It is always interesting and sometimes frustrating to contact experts and
special collections.
He is convinced the rules of networking include screwing up your
courage and trying anybody, at almost anytime.
Try as we do, we don't find everything, but serendipity or old inquiries
might turn this up eventually.
There's always next year's Kwanza celebration.

REFERENCE
Roberts, Kay "BARC: A Brief History of California's First Statewide Reference
Center," Wilson Library Bulletin, January, 1990, pp. 3
END
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