Mapping the Reference Maze

摘要

Roland Barthes once said, "Literature is without proofs. By which it must be understood that it cannot prove not only what it says, but even that it is worth the trouble of saying it." Many frustrated students mired in T.S. Eliot's Waste Land or trying to understand why Dante sentenced Brutus to the worst level in Hell might agree. Overwhelmed collection development librarians trying to select from the seemingly endless and similar series of literature reference sources would concur. The field of literature is vast and complex, encompassing the entire body of writings (poetry, drama, novels, short stories, essays) of a particular people, language, culture, and time. Owing to this enormous complexity, public and college librarians need to determine carefully the focus and scope of their reference collections. Supporting a specialized comparative literature program requires a wide array of research materials; supporting high school and community college students writing term papers on The Scarlet Letter can limit the need to several accessible resources.