Are Reference
Collections DOA in the
21st Century?
EBSS Current Topics Discussion
Angela Boyd
Psychology & Web Services Librarian; UCSB
Who’s Who…
 Angela Boyd is the facilitator… so talk to me! Let me
know what you’re thinking.
 Cheryl Goldenstein is hosting the meeting. So if you
have any questions about Adobe Connect Pro or the
volume etc please let her know.
 Dana Peterman will be taking notes.
…and What’s What
 What’s Your Story?
 What Do You Want To Know?
 Defining a Reference Material.
 Organization, utilization, and marketing of print and
digital reference collections.
What’s your story?
The librarians began to wonder if this collection
of ”frequently used" materials, which occupies such a
visible place in the library, was going to disappear
altogether. (College of William and Mary Law Library)
The reality is, print reference is dead, nearly dead, or
never existed for many of our users, yet we still have
patrons who need and prefer print. (Sue Polanka)
Define a Reference Material
 reference book, n. A book containing comprehensive
information about a subject or range of subjects, esp. one
intended for research or consultation on specific matters
rather than continuous reading. (Oxford English Dictionary.)
 ref·er·ence book • n. a book intended to be consulted for
information on specific matters rather than read from
beginning to end: a beat-up old grade-school dictionary was the
only reference book we ever had in our house.
 "reference book." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current
English. 2009. Retrieved October 26, 2010 from
Encyclopedia.com:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-referencebook.html
Does format matter?
 What about usage stats? Usage stats of our libguides are
pretty astounding – does anyone want to go back to print
guides?
 Top 10 Research Guides
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Chemistry & Biochemistry Departments - United States 68522
Chemistry & Biochemistry Departments - Worldwide 17886
East Asian Studies 10077
Music 9820
Communication 7241
Citation Styles 6434
Chemistry & Biochemistry 6259
Sociology 4788
Political Science 4756
Psychology 4295
eBook Usage Stats
 2009, January - August
 Behavioral Science -- 177 titles -- viewed 222x
 Business and Economics -- 1,029 titles -- viewed 10,290x
 Math and Statistics – 1,497 titles – viewed 58,277x
 2008, January - August
 Behavioral Science – 288 titles – viewed 9x
 Business and Economics – 2,660 titles – viewed 15x
 Math & Statistics – 3,688 titles – 78x
Online - advantages
 Don’t have to worry about volumes being currently used
or misplaced
 Don’t need to know specific titles. Keywords can find
titles for you.
 Librarians create online reference shelf suggesting best
titles for specific subjects.
 (2 examples on next slide)
Online Reference Shelf
Further Reading

Hellyer, P. (2009). Reference 2.0: The Future of Shrinking Print Reference
Collections Seems Destined for the Web. Library Staff Publications. Paper 7.
http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/libpubs/7

Lee, M. (2009). Weeding Is Not Just for Gardeners: A Case Study on Weeding
A Reference Collection. Community & Junior College Libraries, 15(3), 129 — 135

Ford, L., O'Hara, L. H. and Whiklo, J. (2009). Shelflessness as a Virtue:
Preserving Serendipity in an Electronic Reference Collection. Journal of
Electronic Resources Librarianship, 21(3), 251 — 262

Polanka, S. (2008). Is print reference dead? Booklist, 104(9), 127.
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Ramaswamy, M., Baillargeon, T., and Simser, C. N. (2008). Making E-Reference
Books Findable. Library Philosophy and Practice