P 53/07: Hva leser bibliotekarene?

LibraryThing gir deler av svaret.

Den 28. februar 2007 var nitti nordmenn med i LibraryThing, forteller søkesiden. Av disse har omtrent tjue oppgitt at de er bibliotekarer – eller bibliotek.

De tre bibliotekene som har begynt å prøve ut LT, er

• American Women’s Club of Oslo library – 201 titler
• Sjøkrigsskolen – 17
• Luftkrigsskolen – 4

Jeg tipper det står en engasjert bibliotekar fra Bergen bak de to siste. De norske forsvarsbibliotekene har jo sitt eget lille nettverk.

Mange bibliotekarer i LibraryThing

Det kunne vært spennende å se på hvilke bøker de norske bibliotekarene har registrert fra sine personlige samlinger. Men jeg har ikke tid til å foreta den nødvendige empiriske analysen. Det kunne kanskje vært en morsom hovedoppgave?

Internasjonalt er det lettere. Medlemmene i LibraryThing kan melde seg på – og selv opprette – interessegrupper. Den største gruppen, med over 1700 medlemmer (februar 2007), er nettopp bibliotekarenes gruppe. Her har LibraryThing gjort analysejobben.

Bibliotekfag – og bøker

Bibliotekarene på LibraryThing har selvsagt en del fagbøker felles. Innenfor selve bibliotekfaget finner vi Ambient findability by Peter Morville – eller er den for digital til å regnes som bibliotekbok (?) – og gode gamle Katz (Introduction to reference work). Også Bopps Reference and information services : an introduction må vel regnes som et standardverk.

Siden LibraryThing startet i USA, er de aller fleste medlemmene fortsatt amerikanske, eller i hvert fall engelskspråklige. Men når jeg ser på utviklingen over tid, foregår det klart en langsom spredning til andre land og språk.

Det samme har vi jo sett med OCLCs WorldCat, med Wikipedia og – for den saks skyld – på nettet som helhet. Start locally, grow globally …

Flere lære- og håndbøker:

• The organization of information by Arlene G. Taylor
• Wynar’s introduction to cataloging and classification by Arlene G. Taylor
• Foundations of library and information science by Richard Rubin
• Cataloging and classification : an introduction by Lois Mai Chan
• Developing library and information center collections by G. Edward Evans

Bredere perspektiver – men fortsatt i bokas verden finner vi i:

• Book lust : recommended reading for every mood, moment, and … by Nancy Pearl
• Library : an unquiet history by Matthew Battles
• The elements of style by William Strunk
• America (the book) : a citizen’s guide to democracy inaction… by Jon Stewart
• Eats, shoots & leaves : the zero tolerance approach to punct… by Lynne Truss
• The professor and the madman : a tale of murder, insanity, a… by Simon Winchester [Om Oxford Dictionary]
• The book on the bookshelf by Henry Petroski

Dessuten rangerer Zinns A people’s history of the United States : 1492-present høyt. Den ligger faktisk oppe i stua også …

Science fiction og fantasy

Med bare fire titler er science fiction-listen liten og eksklusiv: Fahrenheit 451, Dune, Ender’s game – og The handmaid’s tale. Som ihuga SF fan siden Lyn Gordons glansdager har jeg selvsagt lest de tre første. Atwoods bok har jeg bare hørt om.

Men det er på fantasy-siden bibliotekarene virkelig slår til. Potter topper listen:

• 1. Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone by J.K. Rowling (378)
• 2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (368)
• 3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (345)
• 4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (335)
• 5. Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (333)
• 6. Harry Potter and the goblet of fire by J.K. Rowling (327)

Deretter kommer en blanding av det internasjonalt kjente (Tolkien, Pullman, Kostova) og noen mer lokale favoritter (Niffenegger, L’Engle, Hodgson Burnett):

• 7. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• 9. The time traveler’s wife by Audrey Niffenegger
• 11. The golden compass by Philip Pullman
• 15. The fellowship of the ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
• 18. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
• 19. The two towers : being the second part of The lord of the ri… by J.R.R. Tolkien
• 23. A wrinkle in time by Madeleine L’Engle
• 25. The return of the king : being the third part of The lord of… by J.R.R. Tolkien
• 29. The Eyre affair : a novel by Jasper Fforde
• 32. The amber spyglass by Philip Pullman
• 33. The subtle knife by Philip Pullman
• 35. The historian : a novel by Elizabeth Kostova
• 36. The lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
• 41. The lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• 47. Thursday Next in Lost in a good book : a novel by Jasper Fforde
• 49. Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West … by Gregory Maguire
• 53. Thursday Next in The well of lost plots : a novel by Jasper Fforde
• 56. American gods : a novel by Neil Gaiman
• 60. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
• 74. Eragon by Christopher Paolini
• 76. The giver by Lois Lowry
• 79. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
• 80. The mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
• 90. The secret garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• 95. Watership Down by Richard Adams
• 96. The chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

Men bibliotekarer som bruker LibraryThing, er nok ikke helt som andre bibliotekarer. Data, SF og fantasy går sammen som Bergen, festspill og våte paraplyer. Nerdekulturen er grunnleggende eskapistisk. Men vi flykter helst til nye verdener – ikke til romantiserte utgaver av vår egen.

Nyere romaner

Listen over nyere romaner minner stygt om utlendingene på Bibliofils utlånstopp. Dette er den globale middelklasses felles tidtrøyte:

• 38. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (159)
• 48. Possession : a romance by A.S. Byatt (114)
• 55. Bridget Jones’s diary : a novel by Helen Fielding (123)
• 61. The kite runner by Khaled Hosseini (133)
• 73. The hours by Michael Cunningham (106)
• 77. The poisonwood Bible : a novel by Barbara Kingsolver (118)
• 93. The shadow of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (96)

Klassikerne

Grensen mellom nyere romaner (glemt om noen år) og moderne klassikere er selvsagt usikker. Men jeg tar risken på at Zafon, Hosseini og Fielding, Helen hører til de kortvarige gleder.

• 10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (220)
• 14. Pride and prejudice by Jane Austen (227)
• 17. The great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (207)
• 20. 1984 by George Orwell (214)
• 21. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (183)
• 22. To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee (202)
• 27. William Shakespeare, the complete works : illustrated by William Shakespeare (158)
• 30. The catcher in the rye by J.D. Salinger (194)
• 39. Emma by Jane Austen (146)
• 40. Brave new world by Aldous Huxley (164)
• 45. Sense and sensibility by Jane Austen (138)
• 51. One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (149)
• 52. The Odyssey by Homer (139)
• 59. The Canterbury tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (121)
• 63. Catch-22 a novel by Joseph Heller (145)
• 65. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (130)
• 66. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (127)
• 67. Great expectations by Charles Dickens (129)
• 68. The bell jar by Sylvia Plath (125)
• 70. Animal farm : a fairy story by George Orwell (145)
• 71. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (131)
• 72. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (125)
• 75. The little prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (116)
• 78. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (114)
• 82. Persuasion by Jane Austen (113)
• 83. Crime and punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (131)
• 87. Lord of the flies; a novel by William Golding (127)
• 88. The Iliad by Homer (119)
• 91. On the road by Jack Kerouac (121)
• 98. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (106)
• 100. Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut (126)

En håndfull andre bøker er også med. Alle står på den fullstendige listen i vedlegget.

Ressurser

Ti millioner er passert 

VEDLEGG

Nittini bøker på topp

Listen bygger på bibliotekarenes egne bøker. Den omfatter titler som mange medlemmer av LibraryThings bibliotekargruppe har i sine personlige boksamlinger. Det er både tatt hensyn til hvor mange som har de aktuelle bøkene – og hvor mange som har dem i hele LibraryThing.

Smale (sjeldne) bøker veies tyngre – det er derfor Library: an unquiet history rangeres høyt. En av bøkene på listen (nr. 64) er falt ut pga. en teknisk feil.

1. Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone by J.K. Rowling (378)
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (368)
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (345)
4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (335)
5. Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (333)
6. Harry Potter and the goblet of fire by J.K. Rowling (327)
7. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (272)
8. The organization of information by Arlene G. Taylor (85)
9. The time traveler’s wife by Audrey Niffenegger (212)
10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (220)
11. The golden compass by Philip Pullman (188)
12. The handmaid’s tale by Margaret Atwood (190)
13. The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon (210)
14. Pride and prejudice by Jane Austen (227)
15. The fellowship of the ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (197)
16. Library : an unquiet history by Matthew Battles (83)
17. The great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (207)
18. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (179)
19. The two towers : being the second part of The lord of the ri… by J.R.R. Tolkien (183)
20. 1984 by George Orwell (214)
21. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (183)
22. To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee (202)
23. A wrinkle in time by Madeleine L’Engle (164)
24. Eats, shoots & leaves : the zero tolerance approach to punct… by Lynne Truss (154)
25. The return of the king : being the third part of The lord of… by J.R.R. Tolkien (177)
26. The Da Vinci code by Dan Brown (217)
27. William Shakespeare, the complete works : illustrated by William Shakespeare (158)
28. Life of Pi : a novel by Yann Martel (178)
29. The Eyre affair : a novel by Jasper Fforde (137)
30. The catcher in the rye by J.D. Salinger (194)
31. The name of the rose by Umberto Eco (153)
32. The amber spyglass by Philip Pullman (145)
33. The subtle knife by Philip Pullman (144)
34. The professor and the madman : a tale of murder, insanity, a… by Simon Winchester (118)
35. The historian : a novel by Elizabeth Kostova (136)
36. The lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (145)
37. Wynar’s introduction to cataloging and classification by Arlene G. Taylor (55)
38. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (159)
39. Emma by Jane Austen (146)
40. Brave new world by Aldous Huxley (164)
41. The lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (167)
42. Developing library and information center collections by G. Edward Evans (52)
43. Reference and information services : an introduction by Richard E. Bopp (46)
44. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (150)
45. Sense and sensibility by Jane Austen (138)
46. The elements of style by William Strunk (134)
47. Thursday Next in Lost in a good book : a novel by Jasper Fforde (107)
48. Possession : a romance by A.S. Byatt (114)
49. Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West … by Gregory Maguire (139)
50. Introduction to reference work by William A. Katz (49)
51. One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (149)
52. The Odyssey by Homer (139)
53. Thursday Next in The well of lost plots : a novel by Jasper Fforde (102)
54. Book lust : recommended reading for every mood, moment, and … by Nancy Pearl (72)
55. Bridget Jones’s diary : a novel by Helen Fielding (123)
56. American gods : a novel by Neil Gaiman (151)
57. The devil in the white city : murder, magic, and madness at … by Erik Larson (110)
58. The lovely bones : a novel by Alice Sebold (135)
59. The Canterbury tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (121)
60. Coraline by Neil Gaiman (116)
61. The kite runner by Khaled Hosseini (133)
62. The book on the bookshelf by Henry Petroski (71)
63. Catch-22 a novel by Joseph Heller (145)
64. (141)
65. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (130)
66. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (127)
67. Great expectations by Charles Dickens (129)
68. The bell jar by Sylvia Plath (125)
69. Foundations of library and information science by Richard Rubin (51)
70. Animal farm : a fairy story by George Orwell (145)
71. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (131)
72. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (125)
73. The hours by Michael Cunningham (106)
74. Eragon by Christopher Paolini (111)
75. The little prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (116)
76. The giver by Lois Lowry (107)
77. The poisonwood Bible : a novel by Barbara Kingsolver (118)
78. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (114)
79. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (130)
80. The mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (110)
81. Ambient findability by Peter Morville (61)
82. Persuasion by Jane Austen (113)
83. Crime and punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (131)
84. Me talk pretty one day by David Sedaris (120)
85. America (the book) : a citizen’s guide to democracy inaction… by Jon Stewart (110)
86. The bad beginning by Lemony Snicket (101)
87. Lord of the flies; a novel by William Golding (127)
88. The Iliad by Homer (119)
89. Dune by Frank Herbert (125)
90. The secret garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (107)
91. On the road by Jack Kerouac (121)
92. A people’s history of the United States : 1492-present by Howard Zinn (97)
93. The shadow of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (96)
94. The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay : a novel by Michael Chabon (110)
95. Watership Down by Richard Adams (110)
96. The chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (128)
97. Cataloging and classification : an introduction by Lois Mai Chan (40)
98. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (106)
99. Ender’s game by Orson Scott Card (125)
100. Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut (126)