Reference Sources for Canadian Literary Studies (review)

In this reference work, Joseph Jones, former reference librarian, now Librarian emeritus at the University of British Columbia, has attempted to 'map the terrain' of the 'bibliographical wilderness' that is Canadian literature. While he does not define 'Canadian,' 'literature' is 'any kind of writing that may have interest as writing.' As well as drama, poetry, and fiction, an examination of the text suggests that this also includes theatre and film, first-person Indian narratives, diaries, and comic books. Canadian literature in English is the prime focus; however, a small selection of sources for Quebec, French literature in Canada, and writing in other languages than English and French is also discussed. Coverage includes titles to 2002, with a few entries dated 2003, and since Jones has included this title as item a-001, one, dated incorrectly as 2004. The arrangement of this work would indicate that it is meant primarily for the reference librarian. Rather than by subject or genre, the titles are classified by format or type of material into nineteen chapters: 'Reference Guides'; 'Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Handbooks'; 'Serial Bibliographies'; 'Single Bibliographies, Literature'; 'Single Bibliographies, General Canadian'; 'Catalogues'; 'Special Collections and Archives'; 'Indexes'; 'Periodicals'; 'Dissertations and Theses'; 'Anthologies'; 'Histories and Surveys'; 'Biography'; 'Directories'; 'Children's Literature'; 'Translation'; 'Language'; 'Selected Topics'; 'Other Sources.' Within these headings arrangement is chronological, with the most recent dates first. There is an appendix of subject headings and classifications and four indexes: name, title, subject, and chronological.

Jones has spread his net widely, from a seven-page brief bibliography of 'available titles in Canadian fiction, poetry and related background material,' published in 1970, to a reference to the subscription-based Research Libraries Group's union catalogue of more than 126 million records. Subjects range from authors and poets of Grey and Bruce counties in 1973 to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index. It is precisely this wide array of both types of material and subjects that is most frustrating about this work. There is a truly useful reference tool on Canadian literature buried here among many general reference titles better suited to a work such as the American Library Association's Guide to Reference Books, or Mary Bond's Canadian Reference Sources, both of which are actually included in this work. Jones refers in his introduction to the migration of reference sources from printed to electronic form, and has included some databases and websites, solving the problem of unstable URLS by, except in a few instances, listing web sites without giving specific addresses. This was a sensible decision, as several of the URLS mentioned have changed since the text was published.

Useful comments on the genre of publication, and an overview of the literature, context, and relationships to other sections of the work preface most chapters. Within each chapter the individual titles are annotated, usually by a précis of the work's introduction. There is no critical evaluation of the titles, and in many cases, no indication of the literary content, as in, for example, Canada in the Making, a digitized file of Canadian government documents. The decision to arrange the titles by form, rather than by subject, has meant an unfortunate dispersal of texts on the same topic throughout various chapters, only partially ameliorated by the subject index. It is here one discovers that reference sources in Aboriginal literature are spread throughout ten chapters. The purpose of the chronological index is hard to determine.

While the work is flawed, both in its lack of definition, and its inclusion of too many general titles not directly related to the subject at hand, Reference Sources for Canadian Literary Studies is nevertheless a useful tool. Students of Canadian studies need subject guides to the literature; here they will find many helpful suggestions, provided they are willing to persevere through the profusion of general titles and the complex format classification.