College and Research Libraries RICHARD D. WOODS Libraries and Mexican Ainerican Bibliography Mexican American bibliographies which are prepared as guides to the holdings of one library many times fall short of their potential: These works often do not mention some of the basic sources; they lack search strategies for the unsophisticated user; their arrangement does not promote accessibility; they attempt to reflect the holdings on several minority groups; and they do not mention standards for in- clusion. To remedy these defects, the following article suggests seven criteria to improve Chicano bibliographies and provides five titles of exemplary works in this field. THE INCREASED MILITANCY AND VISIBIL- ITY OF THE MEXICAN AMERICANS forced many colleges to improvise courses in Chicano Studies in the 1960s. To com- plement this tempo of sudden recogni- tion of America's second largest minor- ity group, librarians often responded by putting together Chicano bibliogra- phies to serve as guides to their hold- ings. Unfortunately, almost all of these lo- cally prepared bibliographies reflect the haste and the urgency of their inception and completion. Their compilers, per- haps indifferently reacting to an assign- ment and feeling secure under the anonymity of corporate authorship, ag- gravated an already desperate situation by presenting to the public hastily con- ceived bibliographies that neither repre- sented their Mexican American holdings nor directed the user. Perhaps the blame for this shoddiness can be placed on exigencies of the moment or librarians Richard D. Woods is chairman, Latin American Studies, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas. 32 I reacting to a fad course whose duration would entail little bibliographical con- trol. Yet it is possible that librarians do not deserve all the blame. Their efforts may reflect the inadequacy of Mexican American materials in many collections in the 1960s. However, now we are well out of the 1960s and have the pe.rspective to know that Chicano studies or at least interest in the Mexican American is not ephem- eral. Publications on this topic have accelerated; the movement has proven its durability; and the focus presently is on bilingual education with its auxil- iary emphasis on biculturalism. Now is the moment to inventory and to assess what librarians have done in Chicano bibliography and to establish guidelines to improve the bibliographical control of this growing field of knowledge. In completing a manuscript on Chi- canq reference material, 1 I recently ex- amined over 270 bibliographies, many of which were generated by libraries at- tempting to provide some guide to in- formation on this ethnic group. In my study of these guides I found a pattern of errors that continued to recur and an Libraries and Mexican American Bibliography j 33 abundance of worthless or marginal works that would frustrate the user. The guidelines or criteria that I suggest for a successful or at least an adequate bibliography of an institution's hold- ings result from this study of Chicano reference materials. The following is not only a list of tentative standards but also a critique of current Chicano bib- liographies produced by librarians. SEVEN CRITERIA 1. Mexican Americans deserve singu- lar attention. This means that materials relating to this group should not share space with similar materials on Eskimos, · Orientals, Blacks, and American Indi- ans. In the Southwest, because of Chi- cano concentration .and for historical reasons, a collective ethnic bibliography is inexcusable. If this pluralism is ever justifiable, it would have to include the Chicano with more kindred groups such as the Cuban and the Puerto Rican. 2. The bibliographer should establish the guidelines for the work in a preface or an introduction. Two pages are suffi- cient to indicate a compiler's intention and the limits established for the work: justifications, time periods, formats, and arrangement. In these prefatory re- marks it .should be noted what the com- piler has done with the subject of Mexico. If the bibliographer has at- tempted to include all or even a portion of the library's works on this country, then there has been created a pseudo Chicano bibliography pre-empted by ti- tles that displace works tied more cul- turally and geographically to the Mexican American. An easy solution is to list only the books from Mexico or Latin America that directly pertain to the Chicano. For example, Los Chicanos: una minorfa nacional explotada, by Gilberta Lopez y Rivas, though from Mexico, relates closely to the Mexican American. An- other possibility is a Spanish name dictionary such as Onorntistica hispano- americana, by Gutierre Tib6n, who at- tempts to trace the origin of surnames .and who provides a work of reference value for any Hispanic culture. But the whimsical inclusion of Mexican titles dilutes the bibliography and misleads the user. A suggested compromise might be to mention a reputable Mexican bib- liography with the entries checked which are in the library. 3. Before the bibliography proper, it is wise to offer explanatory paragraphs on how to use the collection best in or- der to secure more Mexican American materials. Students, uninitiated in the subtleties of library research, may be unaware of the terminology and the number of subject headings that could reveal additional sources. They may also forget to check such basic references as the New York Times Index, ERIC, vari- ous other services, and government doc- uments. 4. Not only should the above be in- cluded to maximize the usefulness of the bibliography, but also some general- ly neglected resources that rightfully belong in Mexican American literature. Many compilers forget the body of American literature that preceded the formalized Chicano movement. Such novels as John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat or Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop surely deserve attention in any Chicano bibliography. A checklist of titles of this nature is available in the valuable study by Cecil Robinson, With the Ears of Strangers, The Mexican in American Literature. 2 He surveys the entire field to determine the images of the Mexican evoked in Anglo literature. Noting mainly nega- tive stereotypes, Robinson presents his most important assessment in the chap- ter, "Children of the Earth." Excluding the views of the dominant culture, compilers sometimes also forget to incorporate non print materials- slides, tapes, and films. For a visually oriented generation, these sources might 34 I College & Research Libraries • January 1977 be of greater value than the more tra- ditional ones. 5. In arranging the bibliography, the tendency to divide it by subject fields leads to duplicating entries, making judgmental decisions as to placement of titles, and unintentionally marking la- cunae. Certain titles of value, such as anthologies, because of the hybrid na- ture of their contents are susceptible to entry under various fields. A remedy, perhaps .as time consuming as the com- pilation of the bibliography but ulti- mately beneficial to the user, is thorough indexing. Alphabetical listing by author and title requires little effort, but a sub- ject index presupposes an awareness of content and an ability at cross-referenc- ing. The latter eliminates the need for a classified bibliography and yet allows for multiple listings of interdiscipli- nary works. 6. The selections in the bibliography 1nost difficult to locate and assess are general works. Even though not men- tioning the Chicano as part of an ethnic group, these classic studies treat such factors as poverty, migrant work- ers, the nature of prejudice, assimila- tion in the United States, the education of the culturally different, and unem- ployment in the Southwest. They pro- vide the context in which to place Chicanos and understand their prob- lems. Prior reading, that is, before refer- ring to works specifically on the Mexi- can American, is recommended as an introduction to a study of this ethnic minority. Since the titles, tables of con- tents, introd~ctory remarks, and even evaluative book reviews do not allow the librarian to detect their relevance to the Chicano, another tactic must be exploit- ed to find these works. Probably the easiest method to identify such titles will be through faculty members who have expertise in the several fields. The inclusion of seminal works is the mark of a highly useful bibliographical tool. Three examples serve to illustrate the type of material that belongs in this category: Uprooted Children: The Early Life of Migrant Farm Workers, by Robert Coles; The Nature of Prejudice, by Gordon Allport; and Poverty in America, by Louis A. Ferman. 7. My final suggestion perhaps is utopian. Yet with the intensified pro- duction of Chicano materials any bib- liography upon publication becomes obsolete. Therefore, regular supplements, especially in research libraries or those in the Southwest, should be mandatory. Such a tool serves to update the bibliog- raphy and alerts the librarian when suf- ficient material is available to warrant a revised edition. ExEMPLARY WoRKs These .are suggestions, not command- ments, to aid librarians in redoing their bibliographies or in initiating guides on Chicanos for their own collections. Al- though most of the works of this nature need revisions, several are exemplary. All from the 1970s, the following excel because of perspective or maturity with- in the field of Chicano bibliography. No one incorporates all of these sug- gestions (several may actually contradict them), but each is worth emulating be- cause of some bibliographical feature that facilitates use or expands and re- fines control ' of Mexican American studies within one collection. Ethnic Studies: A Selective Guide to Reference Materials at Berkeley was compiled by Phyllis Bischof and pub- lished in 197 4. 3 It is a selective and annotated guide to bibliographies, ab- stracts, indexes, and other reference works. In addition to entries, Bischof describes the card catalogs and the vari- ous library units and offers suggestions on use of periodical literature, abstracts, and bibliographies. This app~ars to be a distillation of the experiences and Libraries and Mexican American Bibliography I 35 thoughts of a reference librarian who understands user needs. Although I do not agree with the multiplicity of eth- nic groups included, I find this bibliog- raphy commendable for its annotations of Chicano works and its foresight in bringing the user to generally over- looked materials. Another outstanding reference work, Mexican Americans: A Selected Bibliogra- phy Revised and Enlarged, Falll974, is a guide to a cross section of the materials at the University of Houston libraries. 4 It has approximately 1,450 unannotated entries on the title topic, Spain, and Mexico, and general items, such .as Oscar Handlin's The Uprooted, The Epic Story of the Great Migrations that Made the American People. The section on literature, one of th~ best developed in bibliographies of this nature, in- cludes Mexican novels, Chicano self- portrayals, and Anglo interpretations. Especially noteworthy as an invalu- able guide to materials on Mexican Americans is Finding Chicano Materi- als in the Michigan State University Li- braries.5 Noting terminology, subject headings, the peculiar tools necessary for using each format~ this bibliogra- phy has a purpose unique to the field- to familiarize the inexpert user not only with Mexican American materials but also with the most appropriate search strategy for locating this information. Steven Tash and Karin Nupoll, in La Raza: A Selective Bibliography of Li- brary Resources, have compiled one of the largest guides to Mexican American materials: books, periodicals, articles, filmstrips, government documents, and microfilms. 6 The 3,173 sporadically an- notated entries fall into three large cate- gories-Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and general sources. The latter, an as- pect often ignored in bibliographies, refers to books on ptejudice, delinquen- cy, the exceptional child, etc. The three categories are in turn subdivided under twenty-four separate subject headings. To .aid the user further, Tash and Nu- poll divide these into reference and gen- eral resources. On the whole, the work is excellent because of its completeness and facility of use. Finally, one more work merits atten- tion. Mary Butterfield's A Bibliography and Guide to Chicano Materials in the Eastern Michigan University Library has 116 .annotated entries from various contributing disciplines of Chicanismo. 7 Because of annotations, subject index- ing, the interdisciplinary nature of the materials and the three-page guide on how to research the subject, Butterfield's guide is superior to most other library bibliographies. CONCLUSION Because the major contributions de- rive only from five works, the essence of this review is both negative .and cor- rective. The number of failures, or at best neutral examples in the field of Chicano bibliography, is indicative of the state of Chicano studies-a groping for identity, an unsureness of direction, and the creation of a few works based on scholarship .and imagination. Because of the many poorly done · works, little impression is given of evolvement or development, i.e., newer bibliographies perfecting earlier efforts. Until recently this apparently has not been done. My suggestions for improve- ment plus the brief discussion of five superior bibliographies may serve as a formula for currently projected works on the Mexican Americans. Librarians with such guidelines can produce bibli- ographies that incorporate more materi- als, that possess an arrangement which promotes accessibility, and that include search strategies to encourage the fuller use of resources. , 36 I College & Research Libraries • January 1977 REFERENCES 1. Richard D. Woods, Reference Materials on Mexican Americans: An Annotated Bibliog- raphy (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1976). 2. Cecil Robinson, With the Ears of Strangers: The Mexican in American Literature ( Tuc- son: Univ. of Arizona Pr., 1963). 3. Phyllis Bischof, Ethnic Studies: A Selective Guide to Reference Materials at Berkeley ([Occasional Publications, 1] Berkeley: Univ.' of California, The General Library, 1974). 4. University of Houston Libraries, Mexican Americans: A Selected Bibliography Revised and Enlarged, FaU 1974 (Houston, Texas: Univ. of Houston Libraries, 1974). 5. Michigan State University Libraries, Find- ·ing Chicano Materials in the Michigan State University Libraries ( [How to Find Series, no. 1] East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State Univ. Libraries, 1973). 6. Steven Tash and Karin Nupoll, comps., La Raza: A Selective Bibliography of Library Resources (Northridge, Calif.: California State Univ., Northridge, 1973). 7. Mary Butterfield, A Bibliography and Guide to Chicano Materials in the Eastern Michi- gan University Library (Ypsilanti, Mich.: Eastern Michigan Univ. Library, 1972).