Library of Congress reference librarian and erstwhile gumshoe Thomas Mann is not particularly concerned with being “sexy” or novel in his Oxford Guide; rather, his purpose is to convince readers in need of research methodology that libraries are superior to individual Internet access: “Libraries today routinely encompass the entire Internet…but the Internet does not, and cannot, contain more than a small fraction of everything discoverable within library walls” (p.xiii). The author arranges his material systematically, handling more general topics like “Subject Headings” and “Keyword Searches” in earlier sections, then moving on to specific concepts such as “Boolean Combinations” and “Searching by Types of Literature” in later chapters (pp. viii-xi). Mann is eminently qualified to comment on academic research, both web searching and “old school,” library-based, roll-up-your-sleeves investigation. Mann’s preface indicates an inclination toward the latter, which as already noted subsumes Internet techniques; indeed, commandingly supersedes them (especially with references to databases–comparatively few are available via “regular” services, such as in-home computer searching.
How might one evaluate the Guide with respect to a topos of Useful/obsolete? Let us begin with the latter. Published in 2005, Mann’s book should be destined to become out-of-date in fairly short shrift, given the sweeping changes and exponential growth of technology–Internet, software, databases, computers themselves. However, institutions like the Library of Congress do not advance so swiftly, and their tremendous influence upon such pivotal aspects of Internet searching as standardized keywords (a la “Red” books) and academic database standards demonstrates a certain longevity for existing constructs: the Red books, for example, are not published monthly, nor are even newer databases eager to steer too far from protocols already in place. The contents of the Guide, therefore, can hardly be called obsolete–and it appears they will retain their usefulness for at least a few more years; some concepts (such as longstanding “hard-copy” research methods) are unlikely to change much at all for time to come. Mann’s general advice on matters like how to avoid common research mistakes, furthermore, will always be “in style.” The text anticipates upcoming technological improvements as well, so it certainly qualifies as “useful”–very much so for the present, and only gradually becoming less in coming years.
