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Buying an
Encyclopedia
If you feel you need to provide research
materials at home for your children, consider
these facts about purchasing a set ofreference
books.
BY ANNE JUSTICE ALLEN
F
ew purchases are as de-
bated as a family's deci-
sion whether to invest in
a set of encyclopedias,
and if so, which set? One pundit
declares that a set of encyclope-
dias is the ultimate guilt pur-
chase: you feel guilty if you don't
provide them for your children,
and once purchased, guilty if
they're not being used!
Should parents provide their
child "every advantage" includ-
Compton's Encyclopedia, this is
a purchase well worth some
thoughtful deliberation. Many ed-
ucators and scores of parents
whose offspring have achieved
academic success consider such
a purchase unnecessary if not un-
wise. They point to the availabil-
ity in local libraries of not one but
multiple research choices when-
ever a need arises. The inevitable
obsolescence is another pitfall.
And, every parent should ask, "Is
PHOTO BY ESCHOL HARR FI I
seeing spots?
THE DE TROI T JEW ISH NEWS
A side-by-side comparison of the same topic as handled by different publishers can
be an effective way to judge which encyclopedia set might be right for your family.
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ing reference books in a home li-
brary? Or is such an investment
wasted funds, monies better
spent on other educational ad-
vantages?
Is the concept of one prima-
ry in-home resource obsolete in
a world of constantly changing
information that can be corn-
municated by high-tech devices
at ever-increasing speeds? In
short, will a set of encyclopedias
become a dust-collector? Or do
encyclopedias remain stimu-
lating aids to learning, well
worth the hard-earned money?
If the decision is made to in-
vest, how does one make an in-
telligent selection betWeen
competing publishers and even
between printed or computer
disk versions?
First, before considering which
encyclopedia is best, it is proba-
bly appropriate to ask whether
to "take the plunge" of ownership
at all. With prices running the
range from a hefty $1600 for a
29 book set of Encyclopaedia Bri-
tannica to $395 for 26 volumes of
this the best investment of edu-
cational funds?"
Atlanta educator, Dr. Marcia
King, ruled out purchasing en-
cyclopedias. Her daughter grad-
uated valedictorian of her class
and was successful in college, so
Dr. King figures "it didn't hurt
her too much." Despite the in-
convenience King's children ex-
perienced on occasion, they
learned to be resourceful about
their research sources, using ma-
terials already at hand, or seek-
ing original comments from
experts in a given field.
As a member of the Southern
Association of Colleges and
Schools (responsible for school ac-
creditation), Dr. King finds school
libraries throughout the state are
adequately equipped with cur-
rent encyclopedias. And, person-
ally, she recently chose to take
her 10-year-old son to Europe, be-
lieving that a better way to spend
money than purchasing encyclo-
pedias.
For Some, It's Basic
Yet for many, an encyclopedia