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H-ASIA November 9, 2005 More on the responsibility of publishers and libraries in the classification of books (was 1421) ************************************************************************ From: Victoria F CAPLAN <lbcaplan@ust.hk> Hi all, May I offer a librarian's perspective, although I have not cataloged for many years. Librarians tend to assign subject headings on what the material is about. For example, in the 1970s a very popular book came out about how extraterrestrials were responsible for the building of the great pyramids, Stonehenge, and other great wonders of the Ancient world. The author was Erich von Daniken, and the title in English was "Chariots of the Gods?" It was classified as "non-fiction" and given these subject headings: 1) Civilization, Ancient -- Extraterrestrial influences. 2) Life on other planets. The call number assigned, TL 788.7, is for space flight and life on other planets. So, it might sit on shelves next to biographies of actual astronauts. Similarly, works on the various alternative assassins of Lincoln or Kennedy are placed alongside more sound books on the same topic; works on homeopathy are shelved in the "R" classification of medicine, and so forth. Just because something is classified as "non-fiction" doesn't mean that it is considered TRUE, just that it is not a novel, work of poetry, or other form of literature. Plenty of bad works of history and bad scientific theories get published, but I think it would not work to try and classify them as literature. I think it is a more than Quixotic task to hope or expect libraries to banish all books that are not "true" from the shelves of history, science, geography, engineering, etc. Instead, I think it would work better to show why such books are nonsense - perhaps by writing letters to the editors of local papers, offering to speak at public libraries and high schools, as well as on your campuses. - Victoria Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library *********************************************************************** To post to H-ASIA simply send your message to: <H-ASIA@h-net.msu.edu> For holidays or short absences send post to: <listserv@h-net.msu.edu> with message: SET H-ASIA NOMAIL Upon return, send post with message SET H-ASIA MAIL H-ASIA WEB HOMEPAGE URL: http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/
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