Over the past three years working as a librarian assistant, I have noticed a considerable decrease in the number of questions I get at the reference desk that require me to consult a physical reference book. This may be a sign of the times--ebook publishing and Google Books have taken over a large share of the reference librarian's sphere of influence--but whenever I am over in the reference section, I am struck by how many wonderful books we have that one would think would cover a wide range of people's information needs. Maybe people just aren't aware of them. I have to admit, I am becoming increasingly out of touch with these books myself.
At the same time, many of the books in our reference section may need updating, or they may belong in the circulating nonfiction collection, and I will try to be fair in my assessment of these as well.
So I'm going to review a different set of books each week, just pulling them at random from my library's reference collection. I will focus on books that appear to be of some practical or popular interest, and will evaluate them the way they would be likely to be used by the average person. No librarian-speak here.
I will also rate the books, borrowing from the format I love in VOYA--rating by quality and popularity. Here "popularity" will mean something more along the lines of how likely I am to encounter a reference question that would be best answered by the book.
This week, I will review books in the "000s" of the Dewey Decimal System.
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