If you walked into the Reading Room in the Musselman Library and wandered over to the language and literature section, you would find shelves crammed with volumes covering many different facets of these topics.
For example, you might see the Cyclopedia of World Authors, or the Dictionary of Midwestern Literature, or the more interestingly titled Dimwit’s Dictionary: 5,000 Overused Words and Phrases and Alternatives to Them. You would not, however, find the Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature in five volumes, in spite of the fact that it was selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2006, and honored as an Outstanding Reference Source for small and medium-sized libraries. Bluffton University’s academic catalog lists several courses on English literature as well as a Shakespeare class. So why the absence of what would seem like a logical choice for our reference collection?
The answer of course is not an unexpected one. Simply visit the library website and look for the OhioLINK E-Book Center (listed under the Bluffton Library Catalog). On the Electronic Book Center (EBC) main page, scroll to the bottom and you will find links to specific e-reference collections. Select Oxford Reference Online, and you can browse or search around 200 online reference titles. The array of subjects covered is broad, and includes both a dictionary of art and a dictionary of zoology and a multitude of choices in between. This is a growing collection from Oxford University Press . . . a couple of the newer titles include the Grove Encyclopedia of Classical Art & Architecture, and the Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History.
Another major online reference collection can also be found linked from the EBC. This second group is entitled simply Electronic Reference Books, and offers reference titles published by ABC-CLIO. It currently numbers just over 500 titles. Examples include Genetic Engineering: a Reference Handbook, and World Fascism: a Historical Encyclopedia.
And so the case of the missing British literature title provides a perfect example of a burgeoning trend in reference books. More and more, libraries have the option of offering their patrons access to the electronic version of a title in addition to, or instead of, the print version. Here at Musselman Library, we increasingly choose not to purchase the print version if we have access to it online. (Note: much of the time our online access is possible through purchases as members of the OhioLINK consortium).
And so the challenge is this . . . getting the student, staff, or faculty member from the reference shelf, where they are, say, browsing the art section, to the online version of the Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts. Or connecting someone who’s researching an author from the lit shelves to the Literature Resource Center, or the Literary Reference Center, both wonderful places to find information on authors, titles and other literary topics. Short of having a reference wizard pop out from behind the shelf and handing you directions to online titles, other solutions need to be considered. This will be an ongoing subject for consideration in the library as we attempt to balance print and electronic sources in a way that provides the needed reference sources at the right time for all of our
users. —Paul Weaver
