Judaica Reference Workshop
by
Daniel D. Stuhlman



[Note: This article was originally written for publication in the Summary of Proceedings, fifty-third annual conference of the American Theological Library Association that met at Loyola University, Chicago, IL June 9-12, 1999. The references to web pages and internet resources have been updated. Since the original workshop many libraries have switched from a telnet based catalogs to web based catalogs. In the past two years more collections are now on line.

The workshop and the published edition included several articles that I wrote for my monthly column, the Librarian's Lobby. They are not part of this version. I have included references and titles of the columns. You may look at the full articles on my web site : http://home.earthlink.net/~ddstuhlman/liblob.htm.

Attendees to this workshop were librarians in non-Jewish theological libraries or religion librarians in universities.

This document was last updated on May 21, 2002.]

I. Introduction

The Judaica Reference Workshop was a teaching workshop designed teach the participants reference skills and reference sources in Judaica. This document is a partial a summary of the workshop. Included are the documents used in the presentation.

II. Taste of Jewish learning

The word for book in Hebrew is Sefer. Sefer appears in the Hebrew Bible over 100 times. The Bible uses Sefer to mean the Torah or for the titles of books that were not preserved (for example Sefer Yashar and Sefer Milkhmot Ha-shem. The modern Hebrew words Sifriah for library and Safran for librarian are relatively modern inventions.

Some selections from Jewish sources about the importance of books

From the book of Jeremiah 32:14

Take these documents (sefarim in Hebrew), this deed of purchase, the sealed text and the open one, and put them into an earthen jar, so that they may last a long time.

This an early example archiving public records and making sure they are preserved.

Judah Ibn Tibbon, ca. 1120-1190 was born in Granada, Spain was forced to leave Spain in the middle of the 12th century. He was the "father of translators" He translated the works of Bahya, Judah Halevi and other from Arabic into Hebrew. He was an active collector of books. This is what he said in his ethical will, "A Father's admonition"

My son! Make books your companions, let your case and shelves be your pleasure grounds and gardens. Bask in their paradise, gather their fruit, pluck their roses, take their spices and myrrh. Hebrew Ethical Wills, Jewish Publication Society, 1976.
Ibn Tibbon tells us to care for our books.
Take care of your books. Cover your shelves... guard against water and mice. Write a complete catalog of your books and examine them... When you lend a book, keep a record. Life in the Middle Ages, edited by I. Abrahams, Macmillan, 1896.


III. Reference Service

Reference service depends on an adequate collection of resources and knowledgeable staff to guide the readers. Resources include reference books, electronic and non-print sources, and the knowledge of other people to turn for help. The possession of the right books and the knowledge to use them are essential to the successful answering of reference questions. A reference staff member who does not know when to ask for help and therefore gives the wrong answer is doing a dis-service. A staff member who is skilled at the art of information searching can show the reader astonishing results with meager resources.

Only constant, practical use of a particular reference work will make the librarian or reader thoroughly familiar with its character and use. The workshop examined a few reference books using some of the following criteria :

A. Scope of the work

B. Authorship

C. Publisher -- What is the publisher's reputation?

D. Date of publication to determine approximate date of the information

E. Examine the arrangement of the book. What is the arrangement? Alphabetic, topical, historical. What is the index and table of contents like?

F. Special limitations or features

G. How is the work arranged? Are entries concise or comprehensive? Are there bibliographies or references?
 

IV. Exercise Using Reference Books

Exercise 1: General reference topics

The group was divided into groups of two for the purpose of this exercise. The teams were assigned two questions each to discuss based on the following directions.

What is your search strategy to help a reader. What kinds of questions would you ask the readers to clarify the questions so that the best answers can be found?

1. A reader is invited to an orthodox Jewish wedding and wants to know what the wedding ceremony is all about and the proper etiquette for guess.
Discussion: The librarian must determine how much the reader wants to know. Is this a ready-reference question or a research question? The reader could be directed to a book of Jewish customs, a book on Jewish marriage or How to be a Perfect Stranger.
2. A Jewish friend of the reader lost a parent, and asks what is the Jewish custom concerning consoling the friend and the family?
Discussion: Ask the reader how much depth they want to know. If the reader requires in depth information then a book such as The Jewish way in death and mourning, by Maurice Lamm should be recommended.
3. A reader is invited to a Passover Seder and wants to know more about the seder rituals. What is a proper house gift?
Discussion : Discuss with the reader the depth of preparation required. Recommend a general book on Passover, a Passover Haggadah, or How to be a Perfect Stranger.
4. After seeing Star Wars a reader wants to know if Judaism has a concept of the "dark side of the force," i.e., an evil inclination.
Discussion : This is a hard question for a reference librarian to know because it requires a knowledge of Judaism and the Star War movies. A short answer may be found in a one volume encyclopedia about the evil inclination which in Hebrew is called, Yatsar ha-rah. This question can open a long discussion that the librarian probably does not have the time for.
5. In studying Easter a reader learns that the Last Supper was a Passover seder. The reader wants to know how to figure out when Easter and Passover will occur in the year 2010.
Discussion : Make sure the reader is clear on the facts. Question why the year 2010 is wanted?
6. Readers named Reuben, Moses, and Rosa want to know the meanings of their names and the Biblical sources.
Discussion : Reuben and Moses should have no problem finding information about their name sakes looking in an English Bible concordance, an index to a Bible, or a book of names. Rosa is out of luck. Rosa is not in the Bible.
 
7. After seeing an advertisement for challah (braided loaves of bread eaten on Sabbath and holidays) in a supermarket, a reader wants to know where to find a recipe to make his/her own.
Discussion: Determine if the reader is interested in making Challah because they collect bread recipes or because they want a special Sabbath bread. The reader should be guided to a cook book or a book about the Sabbath.
 
8. While planning a trip to Israel, a reader learns that many fast food chains have franchises in Israel. The reader wants to know how to find them.
Discussion : Refer the reader to a guide book on travel to Israel.
 
9. After seeing a news story of an American official visiting Israel, the reader is wondering why the official put on a black head covering when visiting the Western Wall. Since the reader is Catholic, he also wondered if a white or red covering is allowed for a Jew.
Discussion : The answer requires knowledge of Jewish and Catholic practices. Learning about Jewish head covering could be a quick answer or in-depth research. This question could be referred to an expert who could give a quick answer. The answer from a book will take a lot of searching. The answer is: The black head covering is neutral and inexpensive. There is not limitation on the colors for head coverings. Most of the time adults will wear dark colored head coverings. Perhaps at a party someone may wear a red hear covering.
 
10. A reader is searching for the origins of some of the prayers in her church. She wants to know the source of "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts." She also wants to know if Jews have this line in their prayer service.
Discussion : Reader should be directed to a prayer book with an English translation. There is no index. The reader will have to flip through the pages or ask someone who knows.
 
11. A reader wants to go to Israel for the summer to study. What are sources for appropriate programs?
Discussion : The reader should be referred to the Israeli consulate or the academic department which may be able to give better information than a library.
 
12. A reader wants a list of the Hebrew months and dates for the Jewish holidays.
Discussion : Ask the reader the purpose of finding out the dates. Does the reader what this year, a previous year or some time in the future. Refer the reader to a calendar, computer program for calculating dates, or a calendar book that covers many years.
 

Exercise 2: Comparing encyclopedias

This is a compare and contrast encyclopedias exercise. Use the

Encyclopedia Judaica, Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Jewish Encyclopedia, Catholic Encyclopedia and general encyclopedias.

Look up the topics in three or more different sources. Have each member of the group read one article. Discuss with your group the following:

1) The purpose and usefulness of the particular encyclopedia;

2) The coverage of the topic;

3) The strengths and weakness of the encyclopedia.

It is important to report when a particular encyclopedia does not have an article on the topic and when the article has a different title than in the list below.

When done we will gather the large group and report our findings.

Each group will have one topic from each category.
 

I. Times and events

1. Holocaust
2. Bible
3. Spanish Inquisition and expulsion from Spain
4. anti-Semitism
II. Cities
5. Warsaw
6. Chicago
7. Berlin
8. Vilna    The article may be spelled Wilno in older encyclopedias. Current name of the city is Vilnius, but any Jewish book will use Vilna.
III. People
9. Maimonides     Name may be entered as : Maimonides, Moses or Rambam
10. Elijah, Gaon of Vilna
11. Joseph Karo  Name may be entered as Caro, Joseph or Karo, Yosef ben Ephraim.
12. Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki)


Web sites for library catalogs with large Judaica collections

These are all web based catalogs. Some libraries also maintain legacy Telnet based systems. The main pages of the libraries will give options for checking the catalog.
 

Address  of Catalog                                                                         Name of Institition

http://www.bhu.edu/meyerhoff/index.htm                             Baltimore Hebrew University

http://alice.mainlib.brandeis.edu:4505/ALEPH                  Brandeis University

http://ram1.huji.ac.il/ALEPH/ENG/NNL/NNL/NNL/START Hebrew University

http://hollisweb.harvard.edu/                                                 Harvard University

http://www.jtsa.edu/library/                                                     Jewish Theological Seminary

http://www.loc.gov/catalog/                                                     Library of Congress

http://library.ohio-state.edu/search/                                      Ohio State University

http://aleph.lib.ohio-state.edu/www/jdc/jdc.html                 Ohio State U. Jewish Studies

http://www.library.upenn.edu/                                                 University of Pennsylvania

http://libweb.princeton.edu/catalogs/princeton.html             Princeton University

http://norman.spertus.edu:4505/ALEPH                             Spertus Institute

http://www.library.ucla.edu/                                                     UCLA

http://innopac.uj.edu:6900/search                                         University of Judaism

http://www.yu.edu/libraries/yulis.htm                                     Yeshiva University

http://www.cjh.org/about/yivo_catalog.html                         YIVO Library
 

Useful web addresses
 
 

http://aleph.lib.ohio-state.edu/www/ajl.html                     Association of Jewish Libraries

http://www.library.brandeis.edu/judaica/cover.htm        Brandeis University Hebrew funnel

http://www.jpost.com                                                          Jerusalem Post on-line version

http://home.earthlink.net/ddstuhlman/liblob.htm               Daniel Stuhlman's Librarian's Lobby

http://www.israelemb.org                                                   Embassy of Israel. (Links to                                                                                          Israeli government sites.)

http://libweb.princeton.edu/katmandu/hebrew/open.html   List of Hebrew abbreviations from Princeton University

http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/allegrow/cat.htm                Lynn's Cataloging aids (Has lots of links useful for catalogers.)
 

 
Sites with lots of Jewish links                                     Name

http://shamash.org                                                             Shamash

http://www.virtualjerusalem.com                                     Virtual Jerusalem

http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~walrus/                              Frum side of the web
 

Libraries in the USA with large Judaica collections

Brandeis University  (Waltham, MA)
Harvard University  (Cambridge), MA)
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles, Jerusalem)
Jewish Theological Seminary (New York)
Library of Congress  (Washington, DC)
New York Public Library Judaica Division (New York)
Ohio University  (Columbus)
Spertus Institute (Chicago, IL)
University of California--Los Angeles [UCLA] (Los Angeles)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) [Includes the collection of the former Dropsie University]
Yale University (New Haven, CT)
Yeshiva University  (New York)
YIVO  (New York)

Handouts and texts

Handouts are not included here maybe found on the Librarian's Lobby home page.
 

I.   Books of Jewish Quotations (Librarian's Lobby May  1997)
II . Story of the Two Brothers   (Librarian's Lobby February  1997)
III. The Leningrad Codex  (Librarian's Lobby March 1998)
IV. The Leningrad Codex -- part 2  (Librarian's Lobby May 1998)

Links

Daniel D. Stuhlman
Mail to Daniel D. Stuhlman ddstuhlman@earthlink.net
Judaica Library Network Newsletter
Librarian's Lobby
Stuhlman Management Consultants
Chicago Rabbinical Council (cRc)

Last revised May 21, 2002
© 2002 by Daniel D. Stuhlman.