Editorial

Reference Reviews

ISSN: 0950-4125

Article publication date: 19 June 2007

295

Citation

Chalcraft, T. (2007), "Editorial", Reference Reviews, Vol. 21 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/rr.2007.09921eaa.001

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Editorial

In the end pages of this issue will be found the official announcement of the 2006 Reference Reviews winners in Emerald’s annual Literati Club Awards of Excellence. As previously the Editorial Board has made three awards:

  1. 1.

    The “Best printed reference title reviewed”.

  2. 2.

    The “Best electronic reference title reviewed”.

  3. 3.

    The “Best review”.

With c.70 per cent of our reviews either for titles published only in print or in print but with an electronic version (e.g. e-book) our premier award remains that for “Best printed reference title reviewed”. This year we have departed from our normal practice of focussing on entirely new titles and selected the second edition of Thomson Gale’s Encyclopedia of Philosophy (RR 2006/297). Published under the long-established Macmillan Reference imprint and following the original set after a gap of nearly 40 years, its ten volumes radiate authority and quality. From physical appearance (e.g. elegant binding, clear layout) to content (e.g. well structured and written entries, internationalism) editor Donald M. Borchert has assembled a landmark reference that will stand in libraries of all types for years to come. As reviewer Stuart Hannabuss noted, Thomson Gale’s effort is the best of a clutch of new philosophy encyclopedias that have appeared in recent years, distinguished by its “coverage, clarity, logical consistency, explanation, priority setting and presentation”.

The award for “Best electronic reference title reviewed” is made to Alexander Street Press for Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 (RR 2006/193). Not a completely new site for 2006, having launched under the Alexander Street Press label in 2004, this subscription database stands alongside other notable products from the same publisher that have attracted wide critical acclaim such as Black Thought and Culture and Oral History Online. Established as recently as 2000 by executives from the former Chadwyck-Healey electronic publisher after it was swallowed by ProQuest, Alexander Street Press has taken forward the creation of full text databases. Known for their innovative and wide-ranging content, comprehensive searching functionality and focus on minority groups and social movements, our award is in part made to Alexander Street Press for their entire package with Women and Social Movements in the United States a particularly fine and representative example.

Our final award, that for “Best review”, is made to the contributor who provided the most notable review of the volume and is often the most difficult to select. 2006 was no exception and the editor was kept awake over several evenings reading and re-reading reviews to compile a “long” shortlist from which the final selection was made. Bob Duckett is a well-known name in UK reference and information circles and his contributions to Reference Reviews have been longstanding and unfailingly well-written and perceptive. 2006 saw Bob contribute a string of notable reviews several of which were in contention for the award. In the last few volumes Bob has done an excellent job of reviewing and comparing English language dictionaries so it is fitting that the review chosen was that covering the Longman Exams Dictionary (RR 2006/424). Because the 2006 Best review was so hard to judge a “roll of honour” should be called of other reviewers whose contributions made the final shortlist: step forward William Baker, Shelley Brown, Sheila Darrow, Ken Fraser, Martin Guha, Peter Guilding, Stuart Hannabuss, David Harrison, Ken Irwin, Stuart James, Theresa Liedtka, Sarah Long, Carmelita Pickett and George Woodman.

Selecting the best print and electronic titles reviewed from the 450 included in the 2006 issues of Reference Reviews was a pleasurable but protracted and difficult task. To assist the process and to acknowledge those titles given special consideration we compiled two final shortlists that are reproduced below. The ten leading print titles have been given the designation “Reference Reviews top ten print reference sources 2006”, the top five electronic titles “Reference Reviews top five electronic reference sources 2006”.

Top ten printed reference sources 2006

  1. 1.

    Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport, Berkshire Publishing Group (RR 2006/105).

  2. 2.

    Cambridge Guide to Literature in English 3rd ed. Cambridge University Press (RR 2006/418).

  3. 3.

    Caribbean Popular Music: An Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rock Steady and Dancehall, Greenwood Press (RR 2006/388).

  4. 4.

    Encyclopedia of New York State, Syracuse University Press (RR 2006/176).

  5. 5.

    Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd ed. Macmillan Reference (RR 2006/297) Overall winner.

  6. 6.

    The Encyclopedia of Yacht Designers, W.W. Norton (RR 2006/265).

  7. 7.

    English Socialist Periodicals 1880-1900: A Reference Source, Ashgate (RR 2006/75).

  8. 8.

    A Historical Companion to Post-Colonial Literatures in English, Edinburgh University Press (RR 2006/26).

  9. 9.

    The Oxford Companion to World Mythology Oxford University Press (RR 2006/261).

  10. 10.

    World War I: Encyclopedia, ABC-Clio (RR 2006/289).

Top five electronic reference sources 2006

  1. 1.

    International Security and Counter Terrorism Reference Center, EBSCO Publishing (RR 2006/309).

  2. 2.

    Routledge Reference Resources Online: Religion Resource, Routledge (RR 2006/71).

  3. 3.

    Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 Alexander Street Press (RR 2006/193) Overall winner.

  4. 4.

    Women, War and Society 1914-1918, Thomson Gale (RR 2006/140).

  5. 5.

    World War I Document Archive, World War I Military History List (WWI-L)/Brigham Young University (RR 2006/113).

Will this issue of Reference Reviews contain any award winners for 2007? The 50 reviews in this issue certainly cover some strong looking contenders and, as before, encyclopedias, appear in pole position. Thomson Gale, under the Macmillan Reference label, has released a six-volume second edition of Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History: The Black Experience in the Americas (RR 2007/245). Appearing just ten years after the first edition, this extends the work’s scope from African Americans to the entire western hemisphere, updates or amends most of the earlier entries and contains revised bibliographies. Another polished encyclopedia is the two-volume Encyclopedia of the Antarctic from Routledge (RR 2007/251). Covering all aspects of the continent, from Amundsen to penguins and including geographical and geophysical matters, this is a major work made all the more useful as a general reference because of the critical significance the Antarctic may have in a warming global climate. Another encyclopedia worthy of special note is ABC-Clio’s Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia (RR 2007/249). For those of us in the West, apt to forget that this area was not only the crucible of civilization but also the home of some of the world’s most ancient cities, this will make illuminating reading. Also from ABC-Clio is the five volume The Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War: A Political, Social and Military History (RR 2007/246). With Thomson Gale recently releasing The Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (RR 2007/156) this era of US history has received thorough reference coverage and many libraries will be faced with the dilemma of which set to purchase. In US libraries, if funds will stretch, acquiring both will be the goal, emphasising once again the power of the American market in driving the production of commercially produced reference tools.

If we were to create an award for the most aesthetically pleasing reference source, then a strong contender for 2007 would have to be A History and Dictionary of British Flower Painters 1650-1950 (RR 2007/240) from that master of sumptuous book production, Antique Collectors’ Club. Covering more than 1,000 individuals, this is the definitive work in the field, complementing and building on the well known earlier text by Blunt and Stearn, The Art of Botanical Illustration. Also distinguished by fascinating illustrations, especially if like the editor you are addicted to maps and believe a page of cartography is packed with many times the reference information of the equivalent page or screen of text, is London Maps (RR 2007/254) from the British Library. Maps are also an important feature of the Statesman’s Yearbook (RR 2007/210) now revamped and re-launched in much expanded print and online versions by Palgrave Macmillan. Increasingly, general “fact book” reference stalwarts such as this are competing against a throng of internet fact-based sites, all of which are attempting to establish a niche and a clientele driven, in many cases, by advertising revenues. One of the better sites and more respected sites, apparently largely the work of one individual, is Martindale’s: The Reference Desk (RR 2007/209). “An exemplary example of a virtual reference desk” to quote our reviewer, it is one of several other large online sites reviewed in this issue including Thomson Gale’s major Literature Resource Center (RR 2007/229) and their Shakespeare Collection (RR 2007/231) building on the Arden Shakespeare complete works. Finally, all librarians, especially those in the UK, will draw some comfort from the fact that when the future seems so uncertain, at least our past is more clearly charted than ever before. With the release of The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland (RR 2007/207) in three volumes by Cambridge University Press the profession has a work with which to stand tall. This is recommended reading for all librarians, and should trumpet our heritage to the widest audience; make sure it is centre-stage in your collection.

Tony ChalcraftEditor Reference Reviews and University Librarian, York St John University, York, UK

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