Page 5 - 45The Paranormal

14 BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES LIBRARIAN

Dana Gordon writes “The library serves two main groups of users: those
attempting to perform serious field research and members of the general
public who have an interest in the subject.”’ But even in this Write-up no
further attention is given to just how the “general public” might be mak-
ing use of the collection, or what services the library offers to its patrons.
Most existing special collections in the paranormal appear to have
rather narrow, purpose-specific histories. There are a number of private
collections on spiritualistic subjects, for example; some of these are at-
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tached to various religious institutions, whereas others have been built up
around the remains of the personal libraries of pioneering individuals such
as Hany Houdini and Harry Price. The cooperation obtainable from these
operations varies widely, and in some cases one gets the distinct feeling
that outside inquiries are not really welcomed. Then again, even minimal
cooperation is better than no access at all, and it is unfortunately the case
that many paranormal subjects are apparently represented by no special
collections of consequence whatsoever.
On the positive side, however, there is a growing army of individuals
who have involved themselves in documenting the literature of the field,
its personalities, and the range of subjects it covers. There has been a
veritable explosion of reference publications over the last ten years in
particular, as will be evident from a pemal of the sources listed later in
this work.
Further, it is fortunately not that difficult to locate “status of the field”
papers that will help the interested librarian make selections enhancing the
currency and provocativeness of a given collection. My review of such
materials for this work made plain a number of general concerns held by
workers in the paranormal; the following sample of comments is represen-
tative.
S. Blackmore notes that the original founders of psychical research
posed questions that are still being asked, even in the same way, 100 years
later.2 She wonders whether they in fact established “a science that deals
adequately with these questions.” J. Palmer, perhaps anticipating this
complaint, notes that “parapsychologists are now focusing on precise
definitions of psi effects and the identification of conditions conducive to
their reliable rnanife~tation.”~ D. Oaks doesn’t seem to believe that preci-
sion alone will do the trick, arguing that parapsychology will only come of
age if it sheds “the mechanistic metaphor and the reactions to mechanism,
crude spiritualism, and the artificial division between physical and mental
E.
phen~mena.”~ Bauer agrees to the extent that controversy over para-
psychology subjects “illustrates hidden assumptions in the scientific
world and research methodol~gy.”~ G. Playfair wonders whether parapsy-