OK, 4 days later than I wanted, and about 3400 items later, I'm done. The file is now exporting from the database into an XML file for Michael to do his magic on. But, as I was finishing it, a terrible thought occurred to me: What if customers don't want the catalog to have series together, but would rather have it all topical?
Now, that is a scary thought because about half of the titles are listed in series. Generally the series reflect the category, but what about series like Harvard Semitic Studies, where the books can range from Hebrew Grammar to Akkadian to history to archaeology? Or, worse yet, OBO where the topic can be Egyptian, Greek, or Levantine?
If a customer were looking for a good book on Egyptological papyrus, would they think to look in ANE series under OBO? Or, if they were looking for a good Ugaritic grammar, would they think to look under AOAT instead of just the Ugaritic section in languages? I can't list them twice; I tried that in the last ANE catalog and ran out of room.
So, it's too late for this year's catalog, but what about next year's Biblical Studies catalog? Should I abandon the series listing in the catalog and just go with a topical list? But then if someone were looking to see what was still missing in their Word Biblical Commentary, or ICC, or Anchor Bible, or NICOT series, what would they do? Hopefully go to the website, but some of our catalog recipients live in places with slow or no Internet access.
What's the best option? Your input is welcomed...
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1 comment:
This is the same problem we have in organizing our libraries too...commentaries by book of the Bible or by series...what do we do?? Real libraries do both...or try to.
Would it be possible to do both and then cross reference the catalogue?
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