ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


482 /  C & R L N ew s

Letter

Humor and creativity: Chemists

To th e  E ditor:
N orm an D . Stevens asks in  his article, “H u m o r 

an d  C reativity: M usic,” C & R L  N ew s, April 1989, 
p p .274-76: “W hoever h e ard  of a funny chem ist or 
ch em istry  lib r a r ia n ? ” F u lly  re a liz in g  t h a t  M r. 
Stevens is unconsciously (?) needling us to  praise by 
first him self debunking th e species (does he h ave a 
g ran t from  th e  A m erican C hem ical Society for free 
publicity?), I fall victim  to his lure. H aving been 
m arried  to a funny chem ist for m ore th a n  33 years, 
an d  closely associated w ith  his d e p artm en tal col­
leagues for alm ost as long, I can u n equivocally 
state th a t chemists have as good an d  as b a d  a sense 
of hu m o r as any other group and are p ro b ab ly  far 
guiltier of p u n n in g  th a n  most. My experience w ith  
chem istry lib rarian s is nil, b u t science lib rarian s— 
tem p ered  perhaps by th e  lightheartedness of phys­
ics, biology an d  geology—have vied successfully 
w ith  th e ir fellow O berlin lib rarian s in puckishness, 
friv o lity  a n d  sly h u m o r .— D in a  S c h o o n m a ke r, 
H e a d , S p e c ia l C o lle c tio n s  a n d  P r e s e r v a tio n , 
O berlin College, Ohio.

N o rm a n  Stevens responds:
Anecdotal evidence, such as th a t cited by Mrs.

Schoonm aker, fails to  disprove m y original conten­
tion about th e unfunniness of chemists an d  chemis­
try  librarians. As associate editor for inform ational 
science of th e Journal o f Irreproducible Results, 
an d  a regular reader of th a t infam ous jo u rn al, I am 
w ell a w are  of w h a t passes for h u m o r am ong chem ­
ists even as I note th a t m y fellow associate editors 
include those w ith  specific responsibility for bio­
chem istry (1) and chem istry (2). Some of it I enjoy 
b u t m uch of it, like m uch of chem istry, is over m y 
head. As for chem istry librarians I suspect th a t they 
are so busy keeping th e  chemists h ap p y , especially 
by protecting th eir d e p artm en tal libraries from  th e 
th re a t of centralization, th a t they have little tim e 
for creativity and hum or. So far, a t least, no chem ­
istry lib rarian , and indeed no science lib rarian  of 
any kind, has responded to  m y challenge to subm it 
examples th a t dem onstrate th a t they too are h u ­
m an. Perhaps Mrs. Schoonm aker, an d  others, will 
send along ap p ro p riate examples of “puckishness, 
frivolity and sly h u m o r. ” If th ey  do, I ’ll be h ap p y  to 
apologize in a fu tu re com m entary and com pilation 
o f w h a t does e x ist.—N o rm a n  D . S teven s, 143 
H anks Road, Storrs, C T  06268. ■ ■

INNOVATIONS

Using Innovacq to create a subject guide 
to periodical indexes

B y M argaret S. F er g u so n

Reference Librarian 
San Jose State University

a n d  C hristina A . B r u n d a g e

Reference Librarian 
San Jose State University

T he San Jose State U niversity (SJSU) reference 
desk is very busy and students often w a it in line to 
get service. SJSU has one m ain  lib rary  w hich serves 
all students an d  faculty, an d  librarians m ust assist 
w ith  all types of questions, from  business to  music. 
W hy n o t provide students w ith  a tool such as a sub­
ject guide to periodical indexes, w ith  w hich they

could help themselves? T h e guide w ould b e of as­
sistance also to librarians w ho m ig h t n o t be fam il­
ia r w ith  all available indexes an d  to patrons w ho 
w a n t to do an exhaustive search of th e  periodical 
lite ra tu re  in a field. In  order to  m eet these needs, 
w e created th e Subject G uide to Periodical Indexes 
(SGPI).



June 1989 /  483

Goals
SGPI lists our 350-plus indexes an d  abstracts by 

b ro ad  subject an d  serves several purposes. As al­
ready stated, it allows lib rary  patrons to w ork self- 
sufficiently w hen th e  reference desk is extremely 
busy. Patrons use th e guide to determ ine one or tw o 
m ain indexes, or to identify several sources in order 
to  com plete a thorough search on th e ir topic. Stu­
dents w ho m ig h t have experience w ith  only a few 
periodical indexes m ight otherw ise find our index 
collection overw helm ingly large. T he guide is also 
h elp fu l to te m p o ra ry  lib rarian s, sab b a tic al re ­
p lacem ent librarians w ho are new  to th e  library, 
an d  librarians from  other departm ents w ho serve 
on th e  reference desk only a couple of hours a week. 
D u rin g  certain  late n ight hours th e reference desk 
is staffed w ith  only a stu d en t assistant w ho can use 
th e  SGPI in helping patrons.

Decisions and procedure
1. D a ta b a se c o n stru ctio n . F irst, w e  d ecid ed  

w h a t kind of d a ta  w ould be needed in th e final 
form : subject heading, index title, call n um ber, 
fo rm at of index (print, online, C D -R O M , etc.), 
an d  shelf location. W e th en  explored softw are th a t 
w ould allow us to create an  ap p ro p ria te  d atab ase 
an d  corresponding p rin ted  lists b y  subject. After 
exam ining dBase III + and sim ilar packages, w e 
com pared th e  advantages and disadvantages of us­
ing th e lib rary ’s au to m ated  serials control system, 
Innovacq. Innovacq provided an  existing database 
w ith  authority-controlled entries of alm ost all of 
th e  SJSU L ib r a r y  indexes a n d  a b s tr a c ts . T h is 
m e an t less tim e for th e d a ta  entry person to key in, 
verify, and proofread d a ta. T he datab ase is a u to ­
m atically kept u p  to d ate by th e  Serials D e p a rt­
m en t, and is readily accessible by any lib rary  staff 
w ith o u t having to learn  a new  d atabase system. If 
th e  creators of SGPI w ere no longer av ailable, 
other staff could easily m an ip u late an d  u p d a te  th e 
database.

H ow ever, w ith  th e use of Innovacq, several as­
pects of th e project could n o t be realized as origi­
nally planned. W e w ere only able to create one 
new  field for each index entry: th e  subject field. 
T here w as no place to e n ter th e carefully gathered 
d a ta  reg ard in g  index fo rm at or shelf location. Also, 
th e  final p rin t p ro d u ct d id  not ap p ear exactly as we 
h ad  envisioned. H ow ever, th e advantages of using 
a n  ex istin g  a u th o r ita tiv e  lo c a l d a ta b a s e  w e re  
judged to outw eigh th e disadvantages.

2. C om pilation o f subject headings. T he index 
database w as m odeled on an  existing, o u td ated  
d ra w er of catalog cards w hich listed indexes by 
subject. This catalog was unbalanced, w ith  some 
subjects having m any m ore indexes listed th a n  oth ­
ers an d  w ith  varying degrees of subject specificity. 
A few  subjects, such as “d e w a te rin g ,” w ere no 
longer of interest to SJSU patrons. In  order to  cre­
ate a subject listing w hich reflects most topics c u r­

rently requested a t th e reference desk, new  h e ad ­
ings w ere added. W e referred to th e  university’s 
catalog for a listing of m ajors, an d  also used se­
lected D IA LIN D E X  categories. All of these subject 
headings, o u td ated  o r not, w ere com bined in  a 
m aster list. An alternative w ould have been to ask 
individual reference librarians (who a t SJSU all 
have collection developm ent subject specialties) to 
create th e ir ow n categories.

3. D ata collection. Should th e  project coordina­
tors create th e  index lists by subject themselves or 
should they rely upon th e expertise of th e subject 
specialists? W e saw  no advantage to th e  form er a p ­
p roach as o u r colleagues w ere quite w illing to  co­
operate w ith  us on this project. W e circulated the 
new  subject heading list, and asked subject special­
ists to choose th e  headings w hich fell w ith in  th eir 
area. T hey com piled lists of indexes an d  abstracts 
for each subject, indicating th e tw o or th ree m ost 
im p o rtan t titles. T hey w ere free to add new  subject 
headings o r to delete no longer useful ones. In  order 
to  m a in tain  uniform ity of response and stan d a rd ­
ize d a ta, w e created a  p a p er form  w hich asked for 
th e subject heading, titles of indexes, call num bers, 
and fo rm at. As explained in  a la tte r section, this 
d a ta  en try  form  becam e one of th e m ost crucial as­
pects of our project.

4. L ist o f subject headings. W e com piled a  listing 
of all th e  subject headings used w ith  several cross 
references from  related headings. This was placed 
in th e fro n t of each copy of SGPI, an d  acts as a tab le 
of contents to  help users determ ine relevant h ead ­
ings. T h ere w as a to tal of approxim ately 120 sub­
ject headings plus a large n u m b er of cross refer­
ences.

5. D ata entry. W e obtained a university grant 
th a t allow ed us to  hire a student assistant to  enter 
subject headings into th e Innovacq database, and 
to p rin t a n d  correct th e final lists. This took ap ­
proxim ately 70 hours. A nother stu d en t assistant 
designed a cover for us. T he cam pus duplicating 
center th e n  d uplicated and spiral-bound th e  178- 
page guide.

Problems and future im plications
Lack of cataloging and indexing expertise h a m ­

p ered th e  sm ooth flow  of this project. Several p ro b ­
lems w ith  d a ta  stan d ard izatio n  m ight have been 
avoided if w e h ad  consulted w ith  m em bers of our 
C ataloging o r Serials D epartm ents as w e w ro te the 
d a ta  en try  form . Most subject specialists used po p ­
u lar nam es for indexes ra th e r th a n  th e  au th o rity  list 
of nam es found in th e SJSU list of periodicals (for 
exam ple, “PAIS” instead of “Public Affairs In fo r­
m ation Service. Bulletin”). W e h ad  to correct all 
p o p u lar titles, because th e index title h ad  to  m atch 
th e  Innovacq au th o rity  list exactly for our d a ta  en­
try  person to choose the correct Innovacq record. 
Also, to find th e  proper index by call n u m b er I n ­
novacq d em anded p ro p er spacing. Most d a ta  entry 
forms h a d  been retu rn ed  by subject specialists w ith



484 /  C & RL N ew s

no spacing a t all in call num bers. C atalo g  lib ra ri­
ans w ould have been able to w a rn  us of these a u ­
th o rity  an d  datab ase problem s, and w e w ould th en  
have w ritte n  th e  d a ta  e n try  form  to ask for infor­
m a tio n  d irectly  usable by o u r s tu d e n t assistant 
w ith o u t th e added step of our having to m ake cor­
rections.

C atalo g ers w o u ld  also h av e advised th a t w e 
w rite our lists by index ra th e r th a n  by subject h e ad ­
ing (i.e., list subjects for indexes ra th e r th a n  in ­
dexes for subjects), so th e  stu d en t assistant w ould 
have to  m odify each In n o v acq  record only once. 
This w ould have cu t dow n on th e  hours req u ired  
for d a ta  entry. T h e C ataloging D e p artm en t could 
have been of great help in d eterm ining specificity 
levels for subject headings. Some subject specialists 
(the “lum pers”) created only a few  long lists w ith  
quite general subject headings, w hile others (the 
“splitters”) broke th eir topics into several short lists 
of m ore specific subjects. This created th e  p o ten tial 
for confusion on th e  p a r t of lib rarian s an d  p atrons 
w ho w ould not know  w h e th er to look u n d er m ore 
general or specific subject headings for th e ir topic.

To alleviate this problem  p artially , w e included a 
n u m b er of cross references in our ta b le  of contents 
list of subject headings.

F u tu r e  im p licatio n s in clu d e th e  possibility of 
tran sferrin g  SGPI to  disk, w ith  Innovacq’s perm is­
sion, so patrons could access th e info rm atio n  either 
in p rin t or via a  com puter located in th e reference 
area. This m ig h t also allow  us to m odify its p rin ted  
fo rm at in o rd er to create a m ore a ttractiv e final 
p roduct.

Conclusion
W e have observed several students a n d  lib ra ri­

ans using th e  Subject G uide d u rin g  th e  sem ester it 
has been available in our reference area. I t is serv­
ing our original purposes of increasing p a tro n  in d e­
pendence, assisting new  lib rarian s in becom ing fa ­
m ilia r w ith  th e  index c o lle ctio n , a n d  h e lp in g  
stu d en t assistants w ork w ith  p atro n s d u rin g  late 
hours w hen librarians do not staff th e  reference 
desk.

A faculty retreat: Coping w ith challenges

B y M ary M. N o fsin g e r

Public Services Librarian 
W ashington State University

a n d  M ary G illes

Public Services Librarian 
W ashington State University

After an  unusually hectic, stressful Fall Semester 
w orking w ith  16,000 u n d erg rad u ate students, th e 
public services lib rarian s in th e  hum anities/social 
sciences lib rary  a t W ashington State University de­
cided they needed to assess priorities an d  clarify fu ­
tu re  directions. T h e u n it’s first re tre a t presented an 
o p p o rtu n ity  to discuss recent problem s an d  suc­
cesses as w ell as a  chance to consider long-range is­
sues w hich could n o t be d e alt w ith  adequately d u r­
ing busy w eekly faculty m eetings. I t also provided 
tim e to analyze an d  recoup losses, encouragem ent 
to im prove com m unication w ith  colleagues, and 
th e challenge of an ticip atin g  fu tu re developm ents 
w hich w ill affect academ ic librarianship.

W hen th e  idea of a faculty re tre a t was initially 
suggested, strong sup p o rt w as expressed by lib ra ri­
ans and u n it adm inistrators. Plans w ere m ade to 
m eet d u rin g  C hristm as Intersession w hen classes 
w ere n o t held. A n additional lib rarian  w as hired to 
staff th e  reference desk so th a t all hum anities/social 
sciences lib rarian s could a tte n d  th e  day-long re­
tre a t. To avoid distractions, it w as agreed th a t an 
off-cam pus com m unity m eeting room  w ould be 
preferable. As C hristm as approached, topics for 
discussion w ere proposed. An agenda was devel­

oped, and p a rtic ip a tin g  librarians w ere solicited to 
serve as discussion leaders for th e following topics:

1. T he fu tu re  of reference service.
2. Collection developm ent issues.
3. E xternal access to th e WSU L ibraries’ online 

catalog an d  effects on our services.
4. User instruction in th e future.
5. N ew  au to m atio n  needs.
6. Professional developm ent of librarians.
7. O rg a n iz a tio n a l, b u d g e ta ry , a n d  personnel 

constraints/opportunities.
8. D irections for th e com ing year.
Discussion of th e fu tu re  of reference service be­

gan w ith  a review  of social, dem ographic, an d  aca­
dem ic variables w hich are projected to im p act our 
profession in th e  foreseeable fu tu re. Lively and 
varied com m ents w ere p resented on c u rre n t refer­
en ce issues, in c lu d in g  discussion of th e  never- 
ending necessity for balan cin g  conflicting dem ands 
for tim e am ong reference, collection developm ent, 
user education, datab ase searching, and o th er re ­
sponsibilities. Also discussed w as th e  possibility of 
a n  I n f o rm a tio n  D esk sta ffe d  w ith  p a ra p ro fe s ­
sionals, stream lining reference duties, office hours 
for lib rarian s, im proving th e  accuracy of reference