Greetings,
My name is Jack Montgomery, Coordinator, Collection Development at Western
Kentucky University Libraries. I have been involved with the professional,
peer-reviewed library magazine Against the Grain for many years as a column
editor and author. Recently I have taken over a regular column called "Group
Therapy" which solicits problems and issues in the form of questions from
librarians and then provides answers to their questions or problems from their
peers. I'd love to have my colleagues on COLLDV-L answer one of these with me
and you'll be credited for your answers in the final product.
Here's one I recently received:
"In the September 2009 issue of Against the Grain was an article by Steve
McKinzie of Catawba College entitled “The case for getting rid of a celebrated
book.” It his article, McKinzie discussed the discredited title Arming America:
The Origins of a National Gun Culture by Michael Belles which was first given
the Bancroft literary Prize in 2001. Later in 2002, the prize was withdrawn and
the author discredited due to scholarly misconduct with regard to the research
and its presentation. McKenzie made the case for removing such a book from the
library’s collection. Although I understand McKenzie’s argument, I am
personally confused as to what our responsibility is in such matters. I would
like to hear from other librarians but would also like to remain anonymous. Can
you help me?"
If you'd like to express your thoughts on this issue, just send me a short
answer and I'll compile them and submit the column. Also, if you'd like to be a
regular contributor to this column or even have a question answered just contact
me at jack.montgomery_at_wku.edu. This could be fun and a learning experience as well!
All the best, Jack
PS: I'm going to weigh in on this one.
Received on Thu Nov 12 2009 - 03:01:03 EST