Coolness!

Author : Loker, Zvi.
Title : Yehudim ba-ezor ha-Karibi : mismakhim ve-yeduyot le-toldot Yehude ha-merhav ha-Karibi ba-'idan ha-koloni'ali / Tsevi Loker.
Published : Yerushalayim : Miœgav Yerushalayim, 751, 1991.

Locations/Orders : Availability
Location : Widener Heb 42800.494 Holdings Availability

Description : 42, 369 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Notes : Hebrew and English.
Title on added t.p.: Jews in the Caribbean : evidence on the history of the Jews in the Caribbean zone in colonial times.
ISBN : 9652960152
Subject : Jews -- Caribbean Area -- History.
Title : Jews in the Caribbean.
HOLLIS Number : 002442370

I recently circulated this book to a patron and realized as I went to stamp it that it was half in Hebrew (which runs right to left) and half in English (which runs left to right), which meant that technically speaking the end of the book was the middle! Astute readers of the Jersey Exile will recall that I was wondering how one would barcode and stamp a book that was written boustrophedon - i.e., "as the ox plows", from left to right then right to left, and so on and so forth - and here it is, a book that may not be written in Linear B, but is a pretty good candidate for a boustrophedon text.

So how did my colleagues in the Judaica Division handle this particular problem? As far as cataloging such a book goes, you cannot say that it is both Hebrew and English in its main entry, although you can put said information in a note as this record has. So despite the fact that the book is half in the one language and half in the other, as far as the catalog is concerned it is first and foremost a Hebrew book. Therefore its barcode and due date stamp should go in the "front", which is the back of a right-to-left text, and the plate indicating the benefactor whose funds purchased the book should go in the "back", which is correspondingly the front.

I still think it all should have gone in the middle!