kmhess writes “OCLC Research has compiled a list of the top 1000 titles owned by member libraries—the intellectual works that have been judged to be worth owning by the “purchase vote” of libraries around the globe.
I’m trying to imagine Casey Kasem long distance dedication for the Census…”
For further discussion, the top 10
In light of heat we take from “traditonal values” groups, I find it interesting that the second most widely held book by US Libraries is the Bible, and that the fourth most widely held book tells about the terrors of Hell. Also, that 8 of the 10 most widely held books are recognized literary classics:
———————————-
#1 Census [various] United States Library holdings: 403,252 Bibliographic records: 10,164
#2 Bible Library holdings: 271,534 Bibliographic records: 36,738
#3 Mother Goose Library holdings: 66,543 Bibliographic records: 1,997
#4 Divine Comedy Dante Alighieri Library holdings: 59,034 Bibliographic records: 2,714
#5 Odyssey Homer Library holdings: 43,871 Bibliographic records: 2,009
#6 Iliad Homer Library holdings: 42,756 Bibliographic records: 2,388
#7 Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain Library holdings: 39,310 Bibliographic records: 1,093
#8 Hamlet William Shakespeare Library holdings: 37,683 Bibliographic records: 1,917
#9 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll Library holdings: 37,614 Bibliographic records: 1,865
#10 Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tolkien Library holdings: 37,461 Bibliographic records: 643
——————–
It would be interesting for OCLC or someone else (paging Tomeboy?) to sift through all 1000 titles for ideological bias.
10 in 10,000 Re:For further discussion, the top 10
Even a small library has thousands of books. Every library should have *a* Bible but what causes calamities is stocking YA sections with dozens if not hundreds of pro-sex, pro-gay, pro-anything-goes books regardless of the communities make-up.
I haven’t looked at the whole list yet but I’m curious about the holdings vs bib records. Could it be that these titles are high listed because of the variety of editions available? I’m pretty sure we have more copies of John Grisham’s latest then we do Dante’s Inferno.
Re:For further discussion, the top 10
Daniel, your comments give conservatives an unfair and unrepresentative exclusive on religion. The Bible is a religious text used by people of all political persuasions, including liberal. Don’t buy the conservative clap-trap line that they have a hammerlock on faith and spirituality.
Re:10 in 10,000 Re:For further discussion, the top
“Could it be that these titles are high listed because of the variety of editions available?”
It looks as though they compiled the wide variety of editions for the Bible and the Census into one result, see:
http://www.oclc.org/research/top1000/census.htm
http://www.oclc.org/research/top1000/bible.htm
(note that if each edition of the Bible and the Census is considered seperately, the Bible takes positions 1, 3, and 4 on that list).
Take a look at the full list – some odd results. The top 100 are all canonical works of literature, religious texts, and the odd philosophical work (Montaigne, Adam Smith). Except for Garfield and Doonesbury. The rest of the list looks similar – though John Grisham does start turning up around #500.
Seems strange to me.
Re:10 in 10,000 Re:For further discussion, the top
Looks like Greg is right:
“The records in WorldCat were machine-consolidated to bring together individual bibliographic records for different versions and editions.”
“we consolidated a few of the works manually, to make the list more appealing. For example, we consolidated all the Bible entries (New Testament, Old Testament, Pentateuch, etc.), and we brought together all the Census entries.”
From http://www.oclc.org/research/top1000/about.htm
Neat Power Toys Demonstration
We must not overlook a demonstration occuring within the presentation cited. Granted, I am trained as a cataloger. One of the neat features is that you can dump into OpenWorldCat through the xISBN software to seek out the materials on the list. From there you can try to see if your local library (presuming it is an OCLC member) actually holds the item or not…all without ever having to fight with FirstSearch.
The things coming out of the labs at OCLC show me how much on the line the continuance of having catalogers at individual libraries is…
Re:For further discussion, the top 10
I didn’t mean to give the impression that conservatives have an exclusive on religion. I read my own Bible fairly often and while I don’t think I can be safely pigeonedholed politically, I DON’T fit into the “Traditional Values Coalition” type of conservatism. I was trying to get at “Yeah, we’re such godless libertines we keep Bibles hanging around. Give us a break.”
Your comment “The Bible is a religious text used by people of all political persuasions, including liberal. Don’t buy the conservative clap-trap line that they have a hammerlock on faith and spirituality.” is very well taken, if you browse the back issues of my journal I think you’ll see I don’t buy that line.
Thanks for being another person stating what should be obvious – God is of no political party.
Re:For further discussion, the top 10
Although I was thinking along the same lines, I might have said it differently. Faith and spirituality certainly cross political lines. Daniel himself is evidence of that.
wacky
That’s a wild list, you never know what’s coming up next. Do you think they should have filtered out journals and music pieces though? They don’t take many spaces but still…