Editorial

Citation

Chalcraft, T. (2009), "Editorial", Reference Reviews, Vol. 23 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/rr.2009.09923eaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Reference Reviews, Volume 23, Issue 5

As regular readers will be aware, each year Reference Reviews flags three notable reviews from the previous volume as part of the Emerald Literati Club Awards of Excellence. The official announcement of those for 2008 will be found in the end pages of this issue, but are repeated here with a little background and additional listings of highly commended print and electronic works. Three awards are made:

1. 1.

   The “Best Print Reference Work” reviewed.

2. 2.

   The “Best Electronic Reference Work” reviewed.

3. 3.

   The “Best Reviewer” for the outstanding review of the year.

With the majority of our reviews still of titles published either solely in print or, with increasing frequency, in print but with a parallel electronic version (e.g. e-book – nearly half of all monograph titles reviewed are now published with an e-book or other electronic equivalent), our premier award remains that for “Best Printed Reference Work”. After considerable deliberation this award for 2008 is made to The Oxford Companion to World Exploration (RR 2008/46) a two-volume set from Oxford University Press (OUP) published in association with the Newberry Library. Exhibiting all the excellent features associated with the Oxford “Companion” brand, this work of 700 articles from 230 expert contributors is a highly significant contribution to a sphere of geography and history which has seen a number of important reference works in the last few years. Helping to clinch the award was the accolade “triumph”, bestowed by reviewer Alan Day, a critic amply qualified to judge having compiled a number of reference texts on discovery and exploration himself. Fulsome indeed in his praise, and a reviewer not shy to point out imperfections, Alan summed up the work as “a magnificent production. Its splendid illustrations, its authoritative text, its range and coverage, and its excellent analytic index, all add up to another Oxford University Press triumph”. The word “another” should also be noted here as OUP has received awards from Reference Reviews before and is further represented in the shortlist reproduced below. As this testifies, the OUP imprint remains a hallmark of reference quality.

Another respected and well-known name in reference and information publishing, and past winner of awards from Reference Reviews, is Gale, now strangely rebranded with the apparently meaningless and concocted name of Cengage. Masters of the grand reference project that few other publishers would contemplate or have the resources to tackle, Gale are awarded “Best Electronic Reference Work” for the electronic version of the second edition of Encyclopaedia Judaica (RR 2008/44). Also published as a print set in 22 volumes, this totally revised edition follows the original released in 1972. Whether in its electronic version as here commended or in print, this new edition is a major achievement and will, like its predecessor, be the pre-eminent reference source for all matters relating to Judaism and Jewish history and culture for years to come.

Our final award, that for the “Best Reviewer”, is made to the contributor who provided the most notable review of the issue. With a reviewing team of over 100, many of whom are seasoned contributors and accomplished writers, this is a particularly difficult category to judge and, as always, a very long shortlist was necessary before a final winner could be identified. For the second year running the winning contributor is form an Irish institution with the award going to Terry O’Brien, Deputy Librarian at Waterford Institute of Technology for his review of the third edition of Roger Scruton’s The Palgrave Dictionary of Political Thought (RR 2008/157). A difficult work to review, not least because of the controversy that surrounds Scruton, Terry steered a clear course through the middle exhibiting wide knowledge of the subject matter and conveying the value (and possible pitfalls) of the book with authority and style.

Selecting the best print and electronic works from the 382 reviewed in the 2008 issues of Reference Reviews is a considerable task. To assist with the process and acknowledge those titles that were major contenders two final shortlists were compiled that are reproduced below. The ten leading print and five leading electronic reference works have been given the designation Reference Reviews Top Ten Print Reference Works 2008 and Reference Reviews Top Five Electronic Reference Works 2008 respectively:

1. 1.

   Reference Reviews Top Ten Printed Reference Works 2008:

   • •

     Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism, Columbia University Press (RR 2008/290).

   • •

     Encyclopedia of Body Adornment, Greenwood Press (RR 2008//341).

   • •

     Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender, Gale (RR 2008/342).

   • •

     Gaither’s Dictionary of Scientific Quotations, Springer (RR 2008/359).

   • •

     International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd ed., Gale (RR 2008/298).

   • •

     New Encyclopedia of Africa, Gale (RR 2008/242).

   • •

     New Handbook of Literary Terms, Yale U P (RR 2008/77).

   • •

     The Oxford Companion to World Exploration, Oxford University Press (RR 2008/46) Winner.

   • •

     Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, Oxford University Press (RR 2008/92).

   • •

     Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political and Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-Clio (RR 2008/115).

2. 2.

   Reference Reviews Top Five Electronic Reference Works 2008:

   • •

     Ancient and Medieval History Online, Facts on File (RR 2008/376).

   • •

     Cambridge Companions Complete, Cambridge University Press (RR 2008/117).

   • •

     Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed., Gale (RR 2008/44) Winner.

   • •

     Musipedia (RR 2008/186).

   • •

     NYPL Digital Library (RR 2008/249).

Turning to the reviews in this issue of Reference Reviews, there are a number of notable titles some of which may well be contenders for the 2009 awards. Significant encyclopaedias include two from the prolific Greenwood Press, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Latino Literature (RR 2009/226) in three volumes and The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life in America (RR 2009/249) in four volumes. The latter is published in Greenwood’s Daily Life through History series, which now runs to 96 published or announced titles (see www.greenwood.com/catalog/series/The%2bGreenwood%2bPress%2bDaily%2bLife%2bThrough%2bHistory%2bSeries.aspx), and clearly also acts as a companion to The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life (RR 2005/170) published in 2004 in six volumes. Other multi-volume sets reviewed include the second edition of Springer’s Encyclopedia of Entomology (RR 2009/234), ABC-Clio’s Treaties with American Indians: An Encyclopedia of Rights, Conflicts and Sovereignty (RR 2009/247) and the same publisher’s African Americans in Science: An Encyclopedia of People and Progress (RR 2009/228) in two volumes. Scientists are in fact a minor theme in this issue as we also carry a review of the Encyclopedia of Ancient Natural Scientists: The Greek Tradition and its Many Heirs (RR 2009/233) from Routledge. Finally, another encyclopaedia to note is the Encyclopedia of New Year’s Holidays Worldwide (RR 2009/215) by William D. Crump. This follows the author’s similar 2006 title The Christmas Encyclopedia (RR 2006/301) and surely proves, if further evidence were needed, that there is no end to the niches and angles publishers will probe in the quest for another reference product.

Effectively exploiting the plethora of information buried in the nooks and crannies of reference works, especially encyclopaedias, is one of the greatest challenges of information advisory work. Over the years numerous publications have attempted some form of cross-title indexing, usually with limited success, such as First Stop: The Master Index to Subject Encyclopedias (Ryan, 1989). The coming of databases and the internet has made this enterprise far more achievable and has also enabled aggregate services such as Credo Reference (http://corp.credoreference.com/) to at least partly fulfil this function. In this issue we look at a product that focuses on unlocking the contents of reference sources through their indexing, Paratext’s flagship Reference Universe (RR 2009/204) which claims to search the indexes of more than 20,000 print and electronic reference works. Whether this subscription service will become a significant weapon in the struggle to impose order on a burgeoning reference universe only time will tell. As our reviewer points out, the concept has its limitations both when it comes to the effort that will still be required to move from the keyboard to the printed page and because of direct competition from major reference databases that provide “one-stop shopping”.

In the ever-changing reference world it is important not to overlook old favourites, not least because they provide familiarity and the reassurance of ready answers. In the UK few sources can be more familiar than the Annual Abstract of Statistics (RR 2009/211) reviewed here in its 144th annual edition. The UK equivalent of the US Statistical Abstract of the United States (www.census.gov/compendia/statab/) it is worth remembering that it is also freely available to all online as a PDF file at www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/AA2008/AA2008.pdf Another statistical publication that is well known in the UK is Family Spending (RR 2009/216) an annual report on domestic expenditure and consumption patterns. Both these publications, and others from the Office of National Statistics now issued in print by Palgrave Macmillan, remain essential items at the general reference desk whether retained as annual subscriptions or accessed online.

Two other familiar friends published in new editions the busy general reference desk in the UK will not want to overlook are the latest Chambers Dictionary (RR 2009/220), still a British favourite despite the many alternatives such as Encarta and the Oxford University Press range, and The Oxford Guide to Literary Britain and Ireland (RR 2009/227). Add to this the tenth edition of Ainsworth and Bisby’s Dictionary of Fungi (RR 2009/229) and the sixth edition of David Crystal’s Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (RR 2009/223) for libraries in the natural and social sciences respectively and the reference world seems perhaps not as unchanging as sometimes supposed. Established titles with pedigree continue to find a market especially when reinvented and rebranded. This is further evidenced by the titles that were contenders for our awards. In addition to the winning Encyclopaedia Judaica, no less than four shortlisted titles, Gaither’s Dictionary of Scientific Quotations, International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, New Encyclopedia of Africa and New Handbook of Literary Terms, are revisions or resurrections of earlier tried and trusted works.

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