These librarians are behaving unprofessionally, and we're hunting them
down to make sure it doesn't happen again.
I'd suggest that the proper answer to such a comment is, "Can you
explain how the library's collection development policies address this?"
As a downside, however, the librarian might explain how the collection
development policies address this, which most non-librarians simply
don't want to know.
I'd add that the difficulties aren't simply those of prejudice and
money. Collections typically buy in particular areas and favor large
publishers that can advertise, send books to LIBRARY JOURNAL and CHOICE,
and be picked up by the major distributors. Occult material doesn't
always fit a particular area and happens to be small press, so often
books just don't get picked up.
Dan Harms
Coordinator of Instruction Librarian
SUNY Cortland Memorial Library
(607) 753-4042
-----Original Message-----
From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ty Falk
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 3:54 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Machen, et alia
I Think that the disdain is a little more universal. I know I've gone
to my libraray to obtain even vaguely occult related books and have
been met with similar reactions. Granted I do live in an area that has
among the largest church per person ration in the world, but still.
On Nov 14, 2007 3:33 PM, Thomas K. Johnson <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Hello, all.
>
> At one point in my researches, I was seeking out novels that were
specifically from the late nineteenth century and that had occult
themes. Specifically, I was looking for the author J. W. Brodie-Innes.
When I asked the librarian here at UW why there was nothing in the
cardcatalogue, she stated that *those* kinds of books wouldn't be
something the library would be interested in acquiring.
>
> Granted, there are limited budgets for book acquisition, and I
understand this. But the disdain this librarian showed for either the
topic or the author was, I thought, odd. Is this a common phenomenon in
academic institutions, or is it more localized?
>
> Tom Johnson
> UW, Seattle
>
--
Ty Falk
~~~~~~~
Erisian
Anthropologist
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
|