Page 2 - 45The Paranormal

The Paranormal:

A Selected Bibliography of Serials
and Reference Works, with Commentary

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Charles H. Smith

ABSTRACT. Despite the fact that paranormal subjects hold intercst
for a very large number of people, there apparently have been no
related analyses of users’ needs. I suggest that a well-intended li-
brary collection of works on the paranormal should seek a balance of
perspectives, and feature a good selection of reference materials that
will hclp patrons come to thcir own conclusions. A twelve-section
bibliography of classic and current reference works and serials is
provided both for selection purposes and to help librarians become
better acquainted with the scope and range of preternatural studies.
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INTRODUCTION
The information needs of those engaged in paranormal studies are as
shrouded in mystery as the subject itself. It appears that the matter is rarely
even broached: my literature review on ten indexing/abstracting services
revealed not a single article directly focussing on this topic! One might
suppose from this result that there is a corresponding lack of general
interest in the subject, but this is clearly not the case. A search on the
CD-ROM product PSYCHLIT for example, produces almost 1000 cita-
tions on the search term “parapsychology?” alone; parallel searches on
“psi” and “psychic?” generate 565 and 3710 hits, respectively. And this
is just the “technical” literature. To get some feeling for the level of

Charles H. Smith is Assistant Professor and Science Librarian at the Universi-
ty Libraries, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101.
Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian, Vol. 16(1) 1997
0 1997 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. I1