In the 25 years since the last edition of Thornton and Tully’s Scientific Books, Libraries and Collectors was published, scientific publishing has mushroomed, developed new forms, and the academic discipline and popular appreciation of the history of science have grown apace. This fourth edition discusses these changes and ponders the implications of developments in publishing at the end of the twentieth century, while concentrating its gaze upon the dissemination of scientific ideas and knowledge from Antiquity to the industrial age. In this shift of focus it departs from previous editions, and for the first time a chapter on Islamic science is included. Recurrent themes in several of the ten essays in the present volume are the definition of ’science’ itself, and its transmutation by publishing media and the social context. Two essays on the collecting of scientific books provide a counterpoint, and the book is grounded on a rigorous chapter on bibliographies. The timely publication of Scientific Books, Libraries and Collectors comes at the coincidence of the advent of electronic publishing and the millennium, a dramatic moment at which to take stock.
An invaluable how-to for librarians and archivists--inside insights from leading collectors! This essential guide to the acquisition process covers every aspect of the search for hard-to-find materials. Out-of-Print and Special Collection Materials: Acquisition and Purchasing Options is a handbook of traditional and not-so-traditional methods for identifying, locating, and acquiring rare items from a variety of sources. The book serves as a comprehensive reference for professionals and students alike, drawing on the experiences of the foremost archivists in their fields. The book offers a unique assortment of specialized essays, informative and instructive. The assembled collectors are your guides on a journey in search of rare items--through specialty catalogs and special circumstances, libraries and bookshops, collections and book stocks--through the print underground of the acquisitions world. Topics range from the basics of acquisitions, to setting (and sticking to) a budget, building a collection, determining the market value of out-of-print materials, and more detailed looks at individual areas of research. Experienced archivists and budding collectors will find indispensable information on a variety of vital topics in this book, including: out-of-print music underground poetry acquisitions outside the United States planning a collection hard-to-find materials on science, technology, and medicine out-of-print literature
In Wonder Shows, Fred Nadis offers a colorful history of these traveling magicians, inventors, popular science lecturers, and other presenters of “miracle science” who revealed science and technology to the public in awe-inspiring fashion. The book provides an innovative synthesis of the history of performance with a wider study of culture, science, and religion from the antebellum period to the present.
Unravel the mystery of fostering a vibrant mystery collection for your library patrons! Whodunnit? Managing the Mystery Collection: From Creation to Consumption reveals just who is responsible—for providing high-quality library mystery collections to fans. This resource takes you through the complicated process, from creating a mystery story to getting it to the library bookshelf and your patrons—all with clear explanations and no plot twists. Authors, readers, critics, scholars, and librarians give you an interdisciplinary inside look at the production and collection of one of the most popular genres in literature, the mystery. This unique book comprehensively explains how a mystery story journeys a surprisingly winding way to reach an avid reading public. No red herrings here though. Acquisitions and collection development resources are provided along with effective strategies that will help librarians to sift through the clues on how to bring life to their mystery collections. Examinations of various subgenres of the mystery are provided, such as romance and Native American mysteries, as well as an enlightening discussion of the links between mysteries, libraries, and interest groups. Managing the Mystery Collection brings you: mystery writer Barbara Fister describing the creative process insights about Sisters in Crime—an organization that promotes mysteries authored by women—and its special relationship with libraries and librarians a detailed introduction to buying and selling books online Web and print resources guidance for the acquisition of mysteries for the younger mystery reader development of a collection of ethnic mysteries the creation of special collections of Sherlock Holmes and author Conan Doyle extensive listings of subgenre titles and details of popular series an organization that networks creators, fans, and scholars of detective and mystery fiction and more! Managing the Mystery Collection: From Creation to Consumption solves the mystery behind the step-by-step process it takes to provide readers with what they want—access to a collection of perplexing, well-written mysteries. This is perfect for public and academic librarians with an interest in building quality collections of mysteries; library school faculty teaching courses in collection building, popular culture and libraries, genre literature, and special collections; and students of those fields.
Twisted bodies, deformed faces, aberrant behavior, and abnormal desires characterized the hideous creatures of classic Hollywood horror, which thrilled audiences with their sheer grotesqueness. Most critics have interpreted these traits as symptoms of sexual repression or as metaphors for other kinds of marginalized identities, yet Angela M. Smith conducts a richer investigation into the period's social and cultural preoccupations. She finds instead a fascination with eugenics and physical and cognitive debility in the narrative and spectacle of classic 1930s horror, heightened by the viewer's desire for visions of vulnerability and transformation. Reading such films as Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Freaks (1932), and Mad Love (1935) against early-twentieth-century disability discourse and propaganda on racial and biological purity, Smith showcases classic horror's dependence on the narratives of eugenics and physiognomics. She also notes the genre's conflicted and often contradictory visualizations. Smith ultimately locates an indictment of biological determinism in filmmakers' visceral treatments, which take the impossibility of racial improvement and bodily perfection to sensationalistic heights. Playing up the artifice and conventions of disabled monsters, filmmakers exploited the fears and yearnings of their audience, accentuating both the perversity of the medical and scientific gaze and the debilitating experience of watching horror. Classic horror films therefore encourage empathy with the disabled monster, offering captive viewers an unsettling encounter with their own impairment. Smith's work profoundly advances cinema and disability studies, in addition to general histories concerning the construction of social and political attitudes toward the Other.