Reviews and Reviewing
Posted by: Barbara Bibel
We all rely on reviews when choosing new resources for our collections. As a longtime reviewer with a pile of new titles on my desk, it struck me that the act of reviewing really helps me as a librarian. Examining a work and thinking about how it would fit into my collection, whether it is redundant, and whether it is easy to use sharpen my evaluation skills. As a look at it, I ask myself which questions it could answer and how long it would take me to teach a patron how to use it. It does not matter whether it is a print or an electronic resource. The quality of the content, credentials of the authors/contributors/editors, and the organization of the material are important. Is it well indexed? Does it have current, relevant bibliographic citations? Can one find what is needed quickly? Reviewing gives me the opportunity to scrutinize new works and stay current in the field. It also makes me look at what I already have in my collection and helps me weed. I would encourage everyone who has an opportunity to review to take advantage of it. In addition to being fun and a service to the profession, it makes you a better librarian.
September 23rd, 2009 at 8:45 am
Thank you for your very interesting & helpful perspective – so similar to how I feel about judging poetry or writing competitions and critiquing manuscripts. Poets & writers often find it difficult to assess their own work objectively, but studying & evaluating someone else’s can be highly instructive & also productive by providing new thoughts or “take-aways” for when we revise.