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Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound

Spotting a First Edition of Peterson’s A Field Guide to the Birds

Should you happen to spot—say, in a yard sale, thrift store or grandparent’s house—an old copy of that classic of ornithological literature, A Field Guide to the Birds, have a close look. The first printing of the first edition of 1934 is calling for prices well over $10,000 in the antiquarian book trade. One was recently spied by keen-eyed staff in an office at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park. This volume has been transferred to a more suitable habitat, the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History, for cataloging, preservation, research access, and education. Curator Leslie Overstreet has gathered from branch libraries three others of this title to include in the rare book library’s holdings.

 

Smithsonian Scholars Named 2018 Highly Cited Researchers

Nine Smithsonian scholars are included in Clarivate Analytic’s 2018 Highly Cited Researchers list, an annual list of influential researchers across 21 fields. These Smithsonian scholars join some 4000 researchers from other institutions who appear in the top 1% of scholars in their respective disciplines, based on citations to their publications dating between 2006 and 2016. The Smithsonian Libraries tracks the research output of the Smithsonian Institution and makes it publicly available through Smithsonian Research Online and the newly launched Smithsonian Profiles.

Known Item v Subject Access: or SRO v. Profiles

Reiko Yoshimura in the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Library.

When I was in library school, one concept I remember being covered was the subject-based query versus the known-item query. These were used to represent two basic but very different types of library usage and required of librarians different search and related skills.