Colleagues:
1) not every work or even every author is in OCLC "by a long shot," to
quote our cataloguer;
2) we're cataloguing rare books;
3) I've found Mansell much better than FirstSearch in easily looking for
citations of, and information about, such things as the first published
Hebrew Bibles in the decade prior to 1525;
4) for certain uniform titles, Mansell may be more convenient for
various people;
5) for retrospective examination (e.g., of collected works or diverse
translations for someone like Luther), Mansell may be much more
convenient, owing to mode of display.
Here are reasons some libraries keep Pre-1956 NUC aka Mansell. We rented
a truck and got ours for free from Missouri Southern University (in
Joplin) over ten years ago, which had gotten Truman State U's set,
apparently (at least the name stamp indicated that). My reasons appear
last (below), following some by Wayne State University and others.
NOTE: We are a (graduate-level) theological seminary library and my
policy is not to have Reference books on the bottom shelves, so we use
that unused space for the NUC.BTW, we don't have (or need) any post-1956
sets.We seldom consult Mansell, but when we do it's gratifying, and
Reference looks better with it.Our patrons heavily use Reference books
because they live on campus or engage in a lot of study while here, and
many titles either aren't available as e-books or can be handy to use in
bound-volume format for certain purposes.
Faculty and students prefer our "both/and...and" policies to
"either/or"!That also goes for types of library space, types of use,
etc. as well as types of resources and services.
James C. Pakalajim.pakala_at_covenantseminary.edu
Library DirectorPhone: 314-434-4044 x4101; Fax 314-434-4819
Covenant Theological Seminary
12330 Conway Road; St. Louis, MO 63141-8697
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We've kept it here at Wayne State University. I think that it remains
useful for those cases where you need to scan pages for an uncertain
spelling of an author's name. Computers and WorldCat are wonderful for
exact matches but not so good for fuzzy information.
To give a specific example, as a professor in library and information
science, I wanted to track down the author that Marion the Librarian
in the Music Man cites in her conversation with the mayor's wife. The
verbal cues from the movie weren't good enough for me to get the exact
spelling so that I wasn't successful in WorldCat or our local online
catalog, but I found the author in about ten minutes by scanning
Mansell. Plus, I was able to use the additional information from
having the full record before me instead of just a summary screen of
authors' names.
On the other hand, these infrequent uses may not be enough to justify
keeping the set if you need the space. I would also add, however, that
the set may have absolutely no value on the used book market because I
tried several years ago, with no success, to give away a relatively
complete set.
Robert P. Holley
Professor, Library & Information Science Program
106 Kresge Library
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI48202
313-577-4021 (voice) 313-577-7563 (fax)
AA3805_at_WAYNE.EDU (Internet)
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We've had some prior discussion about the continuing value of "Mansell"
on the German specialists list. To what extent does the NUC pre-'56
offer material not found in WorldCat?
I had an assistant do 10 searches from the NUC against WorldCat.Two
items of ten were NOT in WorldCat. One of them was German (1921), one
was Spanish (1912).
Our head of cataloging speculates that more than 10% of the entries in
the NUC pre-'56 will not be found in WorldCat.Cataloging still considers
it an invaluable tool.
So the continuing importance of the NUC pre-'56 seems to be validated,
no? Obviously we are not going to discard any time soon.
John Rutledge
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
jbr_at_email.unc.edu <mailto:jbr_at_email.unc.edu>>
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From: Ahmad Taleb [mailto:ahmad.taleb_at_lau.edu.lb]
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 6:26 AM
Subject: Re: National Union Catalog question
I would keep them at any cost! They worth a fortune and they are very
useful in many ways which you will not find anywhere. Searching also is
sometimes very useful. Look under Shakespeare or Bible or Koran, etc.
and you will know its value. In addition, many rare or old books are not
available in any other place... I had to make this decision at one time
and I was glad I was able to convince the University Librarian to keep
the collection in spite of the dire need for space too!
ahmad.taleb_at_lau.edu.lb
Ahmad Taleb
Technical Services Librarian
Lebanese American University
P.O. Box 36, Byblos, LebanonTel: 09-547254/62 Ext. 2272
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From:
Dave Tyckoson <davety_at_csufresno.edu>
Good question, Laval.
We have kept the NUC in a publicly accessible space on the lower level
of the library. It makes nice wallpaper if nothing else. We have a new
building with enough growth space for the next 50 years, so space is not
a problem at present, so there is no pressure to discard the NUC.
Over the past 2.5 years, it has been used 8 times (all books are
recorded before shelving, so I believe that this is an accurate count).
No, that it is not a lot -- but it is being used a little bit, which
makes me think it is worth hanging on to.
Dave Tyckoson
Henry Madden Library
California State University, Fresno
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From:
"Skib, Bryan" <bskib_at_umich.edu>
We have had 2 print sets, and have withdrawn one. The other remains publicly accessible -- on principle, i.e. without counting use.
Bryan Skib
Associate University Librarian for Collections
818 Hatcher Library
University of Michigan
(734) 936-2366
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From:
Cynthia Dottin <dottinc_at_fiu.edu>
At Florida International University's Green Library, Miami, Florida, we
have kept the set. We kept it in our General Reference Collection for
years and then moved it to the 3rd floor where we have housed it with
our printed periodicals collection. It is still very much available to
the public, but I think few people use it any more. I am, personally,
partial to the thing because as a History student, many moons ago, it
was my "saviour and salvation." Cindy Dottin
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From:
"Leiding, Reba - leidinrm" <leidinrm_at_jmu.edu>
Hi:
We actually keep our NUC Mansell set in a prominent place in our learning commons. It is used by in the English department's required introductory graduate course on bibliography and research methods, which covers research in early publishing and antiquarian books. I don't know that we keep shelving statistics but personally I know the books are often used when that course is in session--the set is right outside my office.
Reba Leiding
Received on Thu Oct 13 2011 - 03:07:28 EDT