Text, Lies and Cataloging

What do James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces, Margaret B. Jones’ Love and Consequence and Wanda Koolmatrie’s My Own Sweet Time have in common? None of these popular books are what they appear to be. Frey’s fraudulent drug addiction “memoir” was really a semi-fictional novel, Jones’ chronicle of her life in a street gang was a complete fabrication, and Koolmatrie was not an Aboriginal woman removed from her family as a child, as in her seemingly autobiographical account, but rather a white taxi driver named Leon Carmen.
Deceptive literary works mislead readers and present librarians with a dilemma. Whether making recommendations to patrons or creating catalog records, objectivity and accuracy are crucial—and can be difficult when a book’s authorship or veracity is in doubt.
This informative (and entertaining!) study addresses ethical considerations for deceptive works and proposes cataloging solutions that are provocative and designed to spark debate. An extensive annotated bibliography describes books that are not what they seem.

With over 25 years of cataloging experience, Jana Brubaker is the acting associate dean for collections, technical services, and digital scholarship at Northern Illinois University Libraries in DeKalb.

Jana Brubaker
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 166
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-0-7864-9744-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3256-8
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vi
Preface 1
Introduction 3
A Few Words about Cataloging Terms 6
Deceptive Works 9
Barriers to Accurate Cataloging 11
Codes and Standards 13
Memoirs and Autobiographies 17
Col. Crockett’s Exploits and Adventures in Texas  20
Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk  21
The Life of John William Walshe, F. S. A.  23
Long Lance  24
The Cradle of the Deep  27
Pilgrims of the Wild  28
The Diary of a Surgeon in the Year 1751–1752; Surgeon’s Mate; Man Midwife  29
My Sister and I  31
The Long Walk  33
Travels with Charley  34
Go Ask Alice  36
I Married Wyatt Earp; Illustrated Life of Doc Holliday  38
The Education of Little Tree  40
Michelle Remembers  42
Satan’s Underground  43
Mutant Message Downunder  45
A Rock and a Hard Place  47
Sleepers  50
Stoker  52
Fragments  54
Misha  55
The Autobiography of Howard Hughes  57
Jihad!  60
The Blood Runs Like a River; The Boy and the Dog; Geronimo’s Bones  62
The Cage  64
A Million Little Pieces; My Friend Leonard  65
Kathy’s Story  67
Three Cups of Tea; Stones into Schools  70
Child P.O.W.  72
The Road of Lost Innocence  73
Angel at the Fence  76
Love and Consequences  77
The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven  79
The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz  80
Other Nonfiction 83
Never Cry Wolf  85
In Cold Blood  87
Roots  90
In His Image  92
Arming America  93
Honor Lost  95
Ananios of Kleitor  97
The Last Train from Hiroshima  98
Imagine  100
The Embassy House  102
Fiction 105
Wild Cat Falling  108
Jack Rivers and Me  109
Famous All Over Town  110
The Hand That Signed the Paper  112
My Own Sweet Time  114
Sarah; The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things; Harold’s End  115
The Honored Society  117
Poetry 119
The Darkening Ecliptic  119
The Love Poems of Marichiko  121
Doubled Flowering  122
Saracen Island  124
Conclusion 126
Notes 131
Bibliography for Case Studies 151
Selected Bibliography for Secondary Resources 153
Index 155

“In this era of fake news and alternative facts, catalogers have an added burden when it comes to identifying deceptive books…Brubaker explores the cataloger’s responsibility in describing these titles and provides useful guidelines on how to catalog them…. a timely and thought-provoking work”—Library Journal; “an informative and occasionally downright entertaining study…recommended”—Midwest Book Review.