A Selective and Evaluative Bibliographic Essay on Mormonism: For Use in Public, Academic, and Special Libraries.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) was established in 1830 by six men led by Joseph Smith. Today this group, commonly called Mormons, numbers approximately seven million members worldwide. Mormonism has sometimes been the object of public, political, and ecclesiastical animosity and misinformation. There is now a vast amount of material available on Mormonism. This bibliographic essay addresses the questions of how to keep up with the abundance of material and how to tell the difference between the fair, balanced, and well-researched material and poorly written and biased pieces. It is intended to be a core collection guide for public libraries as well as a reference guide for researchers and students in academic, special, and public libraries. Over 125 citations are divided among 15 subject headings: (1) bibliographies, indexes, and guides, (2) biographies, (3) doctrinal literature, (4) genealogical research, (5) handbooks, directories, and encyclopedias, (6) histories, (7) hymnology, (8) the Mormon Church, (9) Mormon authors, (10) pioneers, (11) polygamy, (12) the Salt Lake Temple, (13) women, (14) periodicals, and (15) newspapers. An alphabetical, enumerative bibliography of the same sources cited in the bibliographical essay is also included. (JB)