Editorial

Citation

Chalcraft, A. (2005), "Editorial", Reference Reviews, Vol. 19 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/rr.2005.09919daa.001

Editorial

In the closing pages of this issue is the official announcement of the Reference Reviews winners in Emerald’s annual Literati Club Awards of Excellence. As for 2003, we have again made three awards:

1. 1.

   The “Best printed reference title reviewed”.

2. 2.

   The “Best electronic reference title reviewed”.

3. 3.

   The “Best review”.

Our premier award, that for “Best printed reference title reviewed”, is this year presented to an excellent example of what is generally a diminishing breed, namely a “national” encyclopaedia, that is a general encyclopaedia devoted to a particular country. Encyclopaedia of Ireland (RR 2004/228), from Dublin publisher Gill & Macmillan was six years in the making and cost around $1,000,000 to compile. Its 5,500 articles and 700 illustrations across 1,256 pages make it, as reviewer Peter Guilding concluded, “an outstanding achievement in Irish publishing”. It is however, an achievement that extends to the world reference stage. Single-volume encyclopaedias from smaller publishers of this scale, breadth and detail are now rare indeed, and a company that is prepared to embark on what must be a financially high-risk project deserves our congratulations and thanks.

The “Best electronic reference title reviewed” is awarded to Europa World Online (RR 2004/15) from Europa Publications, part of the Taylor & Francis Group. Europa World Online is the electronic version of the well-known and established Europa World Year Book and therefore not a “new” publication in the sense of a completely fresh product containing information never previously assembled. Because of this the award is made primarily for Europa’s success in taking an established and respected print product and converting it to electronic form. Strong features include a clean layout, easy navigation and sophisticated search features. It is all too easy to overlook when considering the range of online reference sources available, that a very sizeable proportion are long established print titles converted to electronic form. Europa are clearly in the process of moving many of their renowned reference titles to electronic access, and appear to be doing this with particular success. Other Europa electronic reference titles reviewed in Reference Reviews have also impressed and was the clinching factor in our decision to allocate this award to Europa World Online.

Our final award for “Best review” is presented to the contributor who provided the most notable review of the volume. This is always a difficult one to judge and 2004 was no exception. After much deliberation the award was made to Stuart James for his masterful review of the International Encyclopaedia of Information and Library Science (2nd ed.) (RR 2005/59). Because there were so many strong contenders, I would also like to mention three close “runners up”, Bob Duckett (RR 2004/432), Karen Evans (RR 2004/108) and Sarah Long (RR 2004/320).

Selecting the best print and electronic titles reviewed from the 461 covered in the 2004 issues of Reference Reviews is no easy task. To assist the process the editorial board worked from two shortlists. For the information of readers these are reproduced below. Print titles have been given the designation “Reference Reviews top ten print reference sources 2004” and electronic titles “Reference Reviews top five electronic reference sources 2004”.

Top ten print reference sources 2004:

1. 1.

   Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Cambridge University Press (RR 2004/351).

2. 2.

   Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the World’s Ancient Languages, Cambridge University Press (RR 2004/380).

3. 3.

   Dictionary of Entomology, CABI (RR 2004/92).

4. 4.

   Encyclopaedia of American Folk, Art Routledge (RR 2004/277).

5. 5.

   Encyclopaedia of Ireland, Gill & Macmillan (RR 2004/228) Overall Winner.

6. 6.

   Encyclopaedia of National Anthems, Scarecrow Press (RR 2004/448).

7. 7.

   Encyclopaedia of Religion and War, Routledge (RR 2004/31).

8. 8.

   Exploring Polar Frontiers, ABC-Clio (RR 2004/408).

9. 9.

   International Encyclopaedia of Linguistics, Oxford University Press (RR 2004/380).

10. 10.

    Oxford Encyclopaedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford University Press (RR 2004/103).

Top five electronic reference sources 2004:

1. 1.

   American Journeys, Wisconsin Historical Society (RR 2004/224).

2. 2.

   Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, National Archives of Canada and National Library of Canada (RR 2004/403).

3. 3.

   Europa World, Europa (RR 2004/35) (Overall Winner).

4. 4.

   First World War.com, Michael Duffy (RR 2004/220).

5. 5.

   Volcanoes of the World, Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institution (RR 2004/35).

Moving now to this issue of Reference Reviews, it is interesting to note some similarities between the 2004 overall print winner, Encyclopaedia of Ireland, and Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (RR 2005/223). This is also a work devoted to a defined geographical area, published in a single volume and issued by a relatively small publisher local to the region. Although not quite on the same scale as our award winner with 1,316 articles instead of over 5,000 it is still, as reviewer Helen Peeler Clements concludes:

A major disseminator of regional knowledge … essential for any library supporting research in US and Canadian history.

Print encyclopaedias, still an ever-present, seem to have clustered especially heavily in this issue of Reference Reviews. Encyclopaedia of Leadership (RR 2005/183) is a four volume heavyweight from Sage which steers a pioneering reference path in the multidisciplinary area of “leadership studies” encompassing elements of management, politics and social sciences generally. Another multi-volume set offering encyclopaedic like treatment is Gale’s Arts and Humanities through the Eras (RR 2005/215). Covering Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome, Medieval Europe and Renaissance Europe in separate volumes it ambitiously embraces architecture, literature, music, philosophy, religion, visual arts and more, and is pitched very much at the student and academic library market. Another encyclopaedia we should mention, as much for the quality of the review as the content, is International Companion Encyclopaedia of Children’s Literature (RR 2005/196). Issued in an expanded second edition eight years after the original, it is subject to a superbly insightful review by Stuart Hannabuss who expertly uses his knowledge of the field and competitor works to give what must surely be the definitive overview critical assessment.

Other encyclopaedias covered include another Sage title, Encyclopaedia of Social Theory (RR 2005/185), Arabian Nights Encyclopaedia (RR 2005/192), aiming to supply the most comprehensive treatment of these Arabic folk stories in the English language, Kluwer’s Encyclopaedia of Women’s Health (RR 2005/205) and Tobacco in History and Culture (RR 2005/221), a significant work that, to quote the review, “appear(s) to stand alone in the history of tobacco scholarship”. We should also not overlook the review of the TOXNET database (RR 2005/209), the world’s major online source of information on toxicity, given a very thorough assessment by Brian Carpenter. As this issue is almost turning into an encyclopaedia “special” it is perhaps fitting to end this column by taking note of some recent criticism of perhaps the grandest and certainly the best known encyclopaedia in the English language, Encyclopaedia Britannica. This comes not from our reviewers (although a detailed review of Britannica on DVD is in preparation and will appear in a future issue of Reference Reviews) or another journal, but from a 12-year-old child.

Several newspapers including the Times of 26 January reported that 12-year-old schoolboy Lucian George had discovered errors in a number of Britannica articles relating to Eastern Europe, including locating the town of Chochim in the wrong country and incorrectly stating the nationality of Nikita Khrushchev as Russian (he was Ukrainian). With the latter error in particular, it seems surprising that these had evaded attention for so long and perhaps Lucian’s discoveries will prompt others to scan major reference works for similar mishaps. For this though one needs time and detailed knowledge. This Lucian seems to have in abundance having apparently acquired it from his 90-year-old Polish grandmother. Maybe we should recruit Lucian to the ranks of Reference Reviews reviewers for any works in this subject area, but in the meantime we will have to rely on the efforts and expertise of our existing reviewing pool who, while perhaps not quite able to match the eagle-eyed Lucian, strive to keep the us informed of the merits of important new and revised reference works.

Anthony ChalcraftEditor Reference Reviews and College Librarian, York St John College, York, UK