Reference books slowly being phased out of libraries
Businessman Jacques Kamin still uses reference books in a library, despite being internet-savvy. He uses printed company directories to find clients and make contacts for his overseas agricultural business in the Ivory Coast. (July 27, 2010)
JASMEET SIDHU/TORONTO STARIt’s a familiar undertaking for academics, bookworms and the occasionally curious: furiously scanning the library shelves, lugging out a thick, dusty volume, and thumbing your way through the pages until you’ve found your much sought after entry.
However, the act of reaching for that almanac, encyclopedia or dictionary in a local library may soon become a thing of the past, as several Toronto libraries move to reduce their print reference collections.
Susan Caron, manager of collection development for the Toronto Public Library says that the library’s physical collection of reference books has been getting smaller, as many reference titles discontinue their print editions for online editions.
“It’s a whole industry trend, it reflects the whole trend of people looking for more of their information online,” she says.
“We’re moving to more online, more electronic resources, as the titles shift from print to electronic.”
Dana Zboch, a librarian at the Locke branch library on Yonge St. near Lawrence Ave. says that city libraries are clearing out many of the under-used reference titles it used to hold.
“We’ve gotten rid of a lot of reference books at the community libraries. In the northern district, we’ve reduced our collection behind the desk because it’s so expensive, and a lot of it is online,” she says, adding that the most heavily used reference books are high school textbooks and prescription drug indexes.
“We don’t have the Encyclopedia Americana anymore, but the directories and dictionaries are still heavily used.”
Not all library patrons are happy about the move, and wish to see the library continue to maintain their print reference collection.
Carol Wagland, a retired librarian, was disappointed to find that some shelves of the reference section at Deer Park branch library on St. Clair Ave. E. near Yonge St. had been cleared out to make room for ESL books.
“I don’t want the internet, I want a book,” she says, adding that she often comes down to the library to look things up when she finds topics she’s interested in.
“The internet is a wonderful tool for many people, but many other people also need hands-on-books.”
Jacques Kamin says that although he is an internet-savvy businessman, he still prefers to come into the library to look up potential clients and contacts in the Ontario Business Volume for his crop development business.
“This is pretty much where I get all my information, and it’s pretty accurate,” he says.
“You can sometimes get stuck online getting certain details. Then I usually come here, and get things like the name of the president of a company and their details,” he says.
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