The selection aids I have chosen have been listed in the order of my favorite descending to my least favorite followed by the best selection aid for electronic sources.
Hoffmann, Frank F. American Popular Culture: A Guide to the Reference Literature. Englewood, CO.: Libraries Unlimited, 1995. This source is the most current monographic source I could find. The title explains for itself that the material is on popular culture rather than a broader source on American Studies. It is completely comprehensive of popular culture including materials on popular arts, mass media, oral/folk traditions, fads, trends and other phenomena. Items included in this book were chosen both for currency and availability through book jobbers. The work is extremely organized by subject content. General reference sources are produced followed by, mass media, performing arts, politics, popular history, popular literature, popular music, social phenomena, sports, special collections, societies and associations, and finally, journals. There are two indexes, one for author and title, another for subject. The audience for the work is academic libraries/librarians, or subject specialists, or faculty. It is very appropriate for an academic environment such as Hamilton Library. The book contains information about monographs as well as serials, discographies, filmographies, and contact information for private special collections related to some aspect of popular culture, needing a reservation or appointment to view. Electronic media is unfortunately left out. This text covers English materials at the academic level. The contents seem to appear current abstracting materials up to 1993. An impressive factor of this work is that it is general covering many aspects of popular culture.
Journal of American Culture: Studies of a Civilization. This is the best journal source of popular culture that Hamilton Library contains that I was able to view. In the particular issue I was able to examine, there were multiple pages of lengthy book reviews with primarily favorable outcomes, along with a page dedicated to books on popular sports, and four pages dedicated to recent publications in popular culture from Bowling Green State University Press. The journal is in English, and is appropriate for the upper division student, graduate student or above. The format is standard, articles of a variety of topics in the front with books reviews and advertisements following. The book reviews were of items published one to two years ago. The Popular Press items advertised were books published in 1996.
Books In Print. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1972-. This reference tool has two relevant sections to this topic, Popular Culture- United States, and Americana. The first section has two and a half pages of entries classified by the LCSH. This source is good for new items as well as retrospective titles. Books In Print speaks for itself. It is a trusted, commonly used reliable reference source. The materials contained are of a wide variety containing pleasure reading materials through the most scholarly resources minus dissertations and theses. The only problem with this source in print format is that the text size is very small. The source covers books in English. Bowker is a well known name in reference works and Books In Print is housed in most libraries.
Salsman, Jack. American Studies: An Annotated Bibliography. Cambridge, England: University of Cambridge Press, 1990. This work covers a broader subject matter including all American Studies; but contains a special segment on popular culture. It was published somewhat recently with older editions having multiple volumes. Again it is an appropriate academic reference bibliographic tool for monographs but lacks any direction towards films, multi-media, or CD-ROM sources, or journals. Again this source covers materials in English targeted for the academic.
Popular Culture in Libraries. 1993-. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press. I chose this as a selection aid for a different reason than the above listed selection aids. Hamilton Library does not subscribe to this journal and hence I was not able to view it. I chose this as a relevant and important selection aid because there were more articles cited from library literature index sources to this journal over any other regarding the field of popular culture. This should not be a surprise due to the journal title alone. Because Hamilton Library does not carry this journal I could not get to the wealth of information indexed, and the articles I was referred to by LISA (Library Information Science Abstracts). I predict that the material is unique, and current because it is the only journal of its kind that I know of. The journal is in English catering to an academic audience.
Holmberg, Erin E. CD-ROMs In Print 1996. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research. This is the obvious best source to locate CD-ROMs in any field. Gale Research is a well known and trusted publisher whose product is better than Learned Information Inc.'s CD-ROM Finder. CD-ROMs In Print 1996 is indexed much better, and the volume is larger that its competitor. CD-ROMs In Print 1996 covers every discipline under the sun and even material in foreign languages. Basic entertainment CDs for children and adults are discussed along with materials about law, medicine and CDs for other serious scholarship.
Otnes, Cele and Richard F. Beltramini. Gift Giving: A Research Anthology. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1996. I selected this work from the Journal of American Culture: Studies of a Civilization. This was one of the monographs advertised in the journal. The subject matter is relevant to pop culture and the work covers consumer behavior, communication, sociology, motivations, values and behaviors related to gift giving. Coming from a university press this is a text for an academic audience and it comes from the best of popular culture, Bowling Green. ISBN 0-87972-706-3. Price $39.95 cloth.
Primeau, Ronald. Romance of the Road: The Literature of the American Highway. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1996. Again this work is from Bowling Green and the subject matter is exciting and gets much attention from a variety of audiences, especially car lovers. Price $34.95 cloth.
Musser, Charles, et al. History of the American Cinema. Volumes I, II and III, New York: Scribner's, 1990. I chose theses works because they are projected to be part of an upcoming ten volume set on the history of film. It includes information on feature films, documentaries, avant-guarde, and art films. It seems to be the one stop shopping for your film reference needs. ISBN 0-684-18413-3; 0-684-18414-1; 0-684-18415-X. Selected from American Popular Culture: A Guide to the Reference Material. Price $65.00.
Cooper, Thomas W., et al. Television & Ethics: A Bibliography. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1988. I selected this work because Cooper is a trusted name in popular culture studies. The theme of television is appropriate to pop culture at large, and the item specifically examines the impact of television on the viewer along with the implications of the power of television. An academic text, which coverage is comprehensive from ancient Greece to 1987. Selected from American Popular Culture: A Guide to the Reference Material. Price $50.00. ISBN 0-8161-8966-8.
Studies in Popular Culture. 1977-. This journal was found in American Popular Culture: A Guide to the Reference Literature. I feel that this journal is appropriate because the contents employ a multi-media perspective of film, radio, literature, TV, music, and printed materials. It originates from the University of Louisville, Department of English.
American Heritage. 1949-. New York: American Heritage Inc. This journal is a good choice because it reaches a mixed audience. Freshman in college can read about American fast food, and the researcher can find substantial articles relating to history. This is a bi-monthly magazine with many color illustrations. This item appears in Hoffman's American Popular Culture: A Guide to Reference Literature.
Prelinger, Rick. Ephemeral Films: 1931-1945. Voyager, 1995. Prelinger, Rick. Ephemeral Films: 1946-1960. Voyager, 1995. I selected this set because I want to incorporate multi-media into the American popular culture collection. This set is organized into two categories, a pre-war era (1931-1945) and a post war era (1946-1960). I liked the reviewers words which I quote, "The films in this collection can be effectively used as supporting material for a number of academic areas-women's studies, communications, social studies, anthropology, media history, etc. They are valuable both for their historical perspective and their power to illustrate the subtle and not so subtle influence of media." Review appeared in Choice, May 1996. Cited in CD-ROMs In Print. ISBN 1-55940-559-7. Cost $29.95 each.
America History and Life. ABC-CLIO. This CD, although expensive covers research materials on the broader topic of American History, including some material on culture and pop culture phenomena. Dissertations and theses are index here along with book reviews, and articles. There were no films reviewed or indexed regarding popular culture. The interface works, yet is not intuitive. One must read commands in all corners of the screen. The search software allows the user to limit searches by author, date, subject, descriptor and more. Price $3000. for a single user; $4250 for network license.
Hoy, Suellen. Chasing Dirt: The American Pursuit of Cleanliness. New York: Oxford, 1995. I chose this book after reading the review by Peter Rollins in Journal of American Culture: Studies of a Civilization. The review defined for me the relevance to American popular culture. It looks at historical, and social themes, as well as it is comparative to other cultures. Price $12.95. ISBN 0-19-511128-1
Gatten, Jeffrey N., comp. The Rolling Stone Index: Twenty-Five Years of Popular Culture, 1967-1991. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Popular Culture Ink, 1992. I chose this item because it covers a variety of areas within popular culture. It contains book reviews, concert reviews, film reviews and record reviews. This item should be viewed for entertainment and light reference. It is not intended for scholarly research and would be a nice light addition to a more academic collection. Price $85.00. ISBN 1-56075-030-8