Mike Tribby wrote: > Ox Eckhardt hit .371 in 1932 for the Mission Reds to win the Pacific Coast > League batting title. > > But where, if anywhere, do you draw the line? My need to know about > and do research on oldtime minor league baseball doesn't measure up to > the frequent examples of OPAC users starved for information about Clint > Eastwood? I don't think Ox Eckhardt ever appeared in national media > talking to an empty chair (but maybe he should have).
My guess is that the line would be drawn between: a) relationships between entities, and: b) facts contained within the resource. The Clint Eastwood examples illustrate relationships between Eastwood and the resources, and the nature of those relationships. To make a parallel between Clint Eastwood and Ox Eckhardt, your desire to find out that Ox Eckhardt hit .371 in 1932 for the Mission Reds to win the Pacific Coast League batting title would be akin to finding out that Clint Eastwood took "x" number of days to direct the film UNFORGIVEN, or worked "y" number of dollars on his role in THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. Just like the case with Eckhardt, these facts about Eastwood--whether or not anyone finds them interesting or important--are bibliographically insignificant. They would not belong in the OPAC. I think most catalogers would have no trouble seeing this line. Kevin M. Randall Principal Serials Cataloger Northwestern University Library k...@northwestern.edu (847) 491-2939 Proudly wearing the sensible shoes since 1978!
