Problems of Selection in Science

Budington, William S.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/1493 Copy

Description

Title

Problems of Selection in Science

Author(s)

Budington, William S.

Issue Date

1960

Keyword(s)

Libraries --Special collections --Science

Abstract

Identifying the problems of selection in science has something in common with trying to decide how to vote for the next president. You can go just by the picture on your television screen, or you can review his existence back to the time when his father first smiled at his mother. Book selection can be considered a simple, daisy-picking game of love-you, loveyou- not, or you can bring into the picture the entire world of publishing, selling and readingand the lives of humankind, our readers. In this discussion, a selection will be made from the general as well as the particular, from aspects of library administration as well as the peculiarities of science literature. Problems there are many, of solutions there are some. Many of the problems attributed to the selection of science materials are common to selecting in any field. Indeed, one may say that there is no special problem with the science books; the real problem is with the librarian who is trying to do the selection. When dealing with fiction or family life or politics or history, the librarian wades right in (sometimes with his useful aids, of course), winnowing the harvest. Science, however, carries the stigma of a mysterious and impenetrable region, which only the initiated dare enter. The barrier is primarily one of terminology; the words are esoteric and meaningless, by themselves or together in a sentence. In the social sciences, we hear no complaints of trouble, even where words, perhaps meaningful when alone, are strung together in incomprehensible titles. There, we cope; with science, we give up. The basic fear, then, is that because we do not understand science, we cannot even begin to select materials on it. None of us is an expert in all the other fields of knowledge, yet we do select in them. There is no overwhelming reason to get fluttery or hysterical about science.

Publisher

Graduate School of Library Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Series/Report Name or Number

Allerton Park Institute (7th : 1960)

ISSN

0536-4604

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1493

Copyright and License Information

Copyright owned by Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1959.

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