ACADEMIC ART LIBRARIES COLUMNAuthor(s): Herbert Scherer and Elizabeth C. BoothSource: ARLIS/NA Newsletter, Vol. 5, No. 3 (APRIL 1977), p. 93Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Art Libraries Society of NorthAmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27945821 .

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ACADEMIC ART LIBRARIES COLUMN

The One Hour Library Talk:One librarian's approach

This morning a visting art historian asked whether I gave li

brary tours-explaining reference works and the arrangement of our library. That is the standard request that we receive from teaching faculty, old and new. I have learned to restrain

my hackles, but my reaction to that kind of thinking is the same as that when I see librarians shown as stereotypes in ad vertisements or comic strips. I am firmly against the "Here is the card catalog, here is the Art Index" kind of library tour. For one thing it is terribly inefficient. Watch any group on this sort of tour and you will see bored faces and sense

aching feet. Secondly, this kind of tour mixes the everyday aspects of library use with more serious elements. It degrades the librarian and profession alike. When asked to give a library talk I respond with either or

both of two hour-long alternatives-both given in the class room. One is a discussion of basic art reference tools, ar

ranged according to format and use. If possible, an exercise is given the class. This is usually a comparison of major periodi cal indexes, which should include a brief discussion of the way that the entries are listed, notice of alphabetical indexes, organization of internal arrangements, scope and number of periodicals covered, subject scope, and miscellaneous com ments. The last is really important, since it reveals how well the student understands the particular use of each index. Given a one hour stand in any formal class-this is the pre ferred talk. Some instructors feel that they handle basic art bibliogra

phy satisfactorily themselves. I wonder. In the quarter just ending I discovered that the art history instructor teaching undergraduate methodology had not yet heard of RILA. Typically the instructor teaching methodology mentions the tools of his/her particular specialty. The overall view taken by librarians is omitted, much to the disadvantage of stu dents.

Given the recent reluctance to include the librarian in the discussion of bibliography, an alternative is a talk on the use of the card catalog as a bibliographic tool. This includes a lecture on the arrangement of the card catalog, an analysis of the catalog card, an overview of subject headings, and an introduction to the varieties of author entry likely to be encountered by library users. The tradition "Here is the card catalog" show and tell tour

is in a sense necessary as an orientation for new users. Every

library has its physical vagaries. For maximum reader satis faction an understanding of library arrangement and basic rules is necessary. It is handled by us in a special way. We sugar coat the walking tour by offering a coffee and dough nut open house for new students at the beginning of the school year. We serve coffee in the library and talk with all the new students so that neither they nor we consider each other as mere numbers. That is the time that nitty gritty library details are explained-not in the classroom talks des cribed above.

-Herbert Scherer

University of Minnesota

The One Hour Library Talk: A second librarian's approach

I agree heartily with the first librarian in emphasis, if not in all the particulars, in connection with the "one hour" library talk. Due to our physical setup, the introductory session for two courses can be held in the reference room of our library the advantage being that we are with all the material dis cussed. Since there is a revolving-professor arrangement in

teaching our two methodology courses, the librarian soon learns when his "sales pitch" is necessary in persuading the

lecturer-of-the-year that students need to hear from the librarian (and sometimes so does the professor, whom we

encourage to come along and learn about the latest things). The undergraduate hour (given in the junior year when

students enter the field as majors) is, here, still a combina tion of directional tour and serious discussion of the re ference collection. For the undergraduate considerable em

phasis is placed on the kinds of material he can expect to find in the various art dictionaries, encyclopedias, and bibli

ographical tools. And, in extension, how he must go about

finding similar facts in the card catalog-which we stress as more than a simple book-location tool.

It is possible to be more thorough with the course given for entering graduate students. Each has his own separate copy of rules for the library-so we don't have to go into that very much. After a very brief glimpse of the several areas, the whole seminar period, up to 2 hours, is spent with the class going over the reference tools. There is a good deal of emphasis on the iconographical collection, heavily used. There is discussion and comparison of the periodical indexes. We endeavor to point out the value of the catalogs of other collections, such as the Fogg Museum catalog. (These are often overlooked by students). As Herb Scherer notes, the "glassy-eyed" look is something to avoid like the

plague. Actual examination of indexes, interpretation and

comparison of arrangements can be quite lively. Coffee and doughnuts? With the emphasis on no food in the library we'll have to think about this, but there might be a way!

-Elizabeth C. Booth Frick Fine Arts Library, University of Pittsburgh

ARLIS/NY ARCHIVES CHECKLIST: A BIBLIOGRAPHY is being offered for sale by the New York Chapter of the

Society. This first volume is a checklist of the newly formed ARLIS/NY Archives located in the Library of New York's Fashion Institute of Technology and open to the public.

Compiled by a team of 10 volunteers, edited by Raissa Fomerand, Librarian, Sleepy Hollow Restorations and subject indexed by David Patten, the ARLIS/NY ARCHIVES CHECKLIST provides valuable information in a unique for mat. Available for $3.50 per copy prepaid only from Mar jorie Miller, Librarian, ARLIS/NY Archives, Fashion Institute of Technology, 227 West 27th St., New York NY 10001.

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