Editorial

Citation

Chalcraft, T. (2010), "Editorial", Reference Reviews, Vol. 24 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/rr.2010.09924eaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Reference Reviews, Volume 24, Issue 5

As regular readers will be aware, each year Reference Reviews highlights notable reviews from the previous volume as part of the Emerald Literati Club Awards of Excellence. The official announcement of the 2009 awards 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. This year two awards are made:

1. 1.

   The “Best print reference work” reviewed.

2. 2.

   The “Best electronic reference work” reviewed.

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 – over 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”. For 2009 this award is made for the Dictionary of Nineteenth Century Journalism in Britain and Ireland (RR 2009/352), jointly published by Academia Press of Belgium and The British Library. This illustrated publication of 1,620 entries covering newspapers and magazines, individuals, topics, publishers, illustrators, etc, is supported by a chronology and extensive bibliography and will undoubtedly be the definitive reference on early British and Irish journalism for years to come. Stuart James in his review asks, “(t)he perfect reference book?” Noting elsewhere that “(e)verything about this book is commendable and much of it is quite excellent”, he and the Editor, who was privileged to have been able to dip into it for a number of weeks before sending it onward for review, were in no doubt about the qualities of this publication. A worthy winner.

The award for “Best electronic reference work” is made for the electronic version of The International Encyclopedia of Communication (RR 2009/13). This extensive work issued by Blackwell (now Wiley-Blackwell) in association with the International Communication Association was clearly intended as a landmark reference and, as reviewer Stuart Hannabuss noted, “genuinely impresses and supersedes the opposition”. One of several other resources in contention for our “Best electronic reference work” award was also a Wiley-Blackwell publication, the equally ambitious and landmark The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest (RR 2009/309) (also published as a print set). This and other print and electronic titles shortlisted for award are listed below and designated respectively “Top ten printed reference works 2009” and “Top five electronic reference works 2009”. In many respects, and as the International Encyclopedias above illustrate, awarding separate print and electronic awards is increasingly difficult as more and more publications, especially those commercially produced, are issued in parallel print and electronic versions. These therefore, are likely to be the last awards where there are distinct print and electronic categories. From 2010 we anticipate awards based on different criteria, most probably newly produced reference, updated or revised reference and gratis reference – suggestions from readers and nominations for awards based on reviews appearing in this volume of Reference Reviews welcome.

Reference Reviews Top ten printed reference works 2009

• •

  Dictionary of Nineteenth Century Journalism in Britain and Ireland, Academia Press and British Library (RR 2009/352) Winner

• •

  Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol and Addictive Behavior, 3rd ed., Gale/Cengage (RR 2009/262)

• •

  Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy, Gale/Cengage (RR 2009/173)

• •

  Encyclopedia of Marine Science, Facts on File (RR 2009/326)

• •

  The Encyclopedia of Positive Psychology, Wiley-Blackwell (RR 2009/306)

• •

  The Encyclopedia of Strikes in American History, M. E. Sharpe (RR 2009/307)

• •

  Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora, ABC-Clio (RR 2009/147)

• •

  Greenwood Encyclopedia of Children’s Issues, Worldwide Greenwood Press (RR 2009/111)

• •

  LGBTQ America Today: An Encyclopedia, Greenwood Press (RR 2009/264)

• •

  Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, Oxford University Press (RR 2009/142)

Reference Reviews Top five electronic reference works 2009

• •

  Cinema Image Gallery, H.W. Wilson (RR 2009/238)

• •

  Dictionary of Slang, Ted Duckworth (RR 2009/123)

• •

  Discovering American Women’s History Online, Middle Tennessee State University (RR 2009/290)

• •

  The International Encyclopedia of Communication, Blackwell (RR 2009/13) Winner

• •

  The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, Wiley-Blackwell (RR 2009/309)

In previous years we have usually also made an award for the best review (in terms of the quality of the review presented by the reviewer). For 2010 we have chosen not to do so, not because there is an absence of reviews meeting the required standard, but because the quality of the reviews, especially now we are carrying an increasing number of “extended” reviews of 1,000 words or more, makes selecting one from the 400 usually carried increasingly difficult. The editor would however, like to single out Bob Duckett for his continuing massive contribution to this journal. Bob has an unparalleled knowledge of general reference sources and unerring eye for the qualities and frailties of reference publications; his opinions will be held in high regard by readers and publishers alike. In this issue we carry a “Reference Reviews Survey” article from Bob charting the history of the Buildings of England series widely known as “Pevsners”. Finding a path through this complex series, or rather “series of series”, is not easy, especially since current publisher Yale University Press began to sprout updates and offshoots such as the Pevsner Architectural Guides on individual cities. Bob summarises the development of the series and offers a bibliographical summary of the “Pevsner Corpus” which will hopefully help librarians in possession of some of these volumes, perhaps scattered in different geographical classifications, review their collections.

Looking at the other contents of this issue of Reference Reviews, we feature a number of significant new publications, some of which may well be contenders for the 2010 awards. Our first review is of the initial volume of Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism (RR 2010/201). This set, projected for five volumes, will join a number of other recent reference publications on the religion, some of them reviewed in these columns, which our reviewer helpfully lists. The Times Literary Supplement is one of the world’s most respected and long established book reviewing publications. Cengage (Gale) has now made the entire run of back issues from its inception in 1902 through to 2005 available online as the TLS Historical Archive (RR 2010/222). All content is available, including “300,000 reviews, letters, poems and articles”. Another major new reference is the Dictionary of Irish Biography (RR 2010/242) issued by Cambridge University Press in association with the Royal Irish Academy and available both online and as a nine volume printed set. With this publication Ireland at last has “a proper national biographical dictionary”, replacing earlier smaller scale attempts such as Boylan’s A Dictionary of Irish Biography and providing an alternative to the mainly pre-1922 Irish entries in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Another important new resource of note, this time exclusively online, is the National Library of Australia’s (NLA) Trove (RR 2010/250). Based on the resources of the NLA, this has been developed as a “one-stop shop” incorporating eight free discovery services including the well known PANDORA web archive. This will be a major resource for any research on Australian history, especially local and family history, as well as literature and other subjects, and deserves to be widely known in outside Australia.

Updated or renewed reference sources covered here include Palgrave Macmillan’s Grants Register (RR 2010/207), probably the most comprehensive single print directory relating to educational grants worldwide and the second edition of The Gale Encyclopedia of Surgery and Medical Tests (RR 2010/228). Smaller scale but useful updates include the fifth edition of Wiley-Blackwell’s popular The Dictionary of Human Geography (RR 2010/241) and a new version of the affordable and versatile Oxford Paperback Reference series title the Dictionary of Business and Management (RR 2010/214). Perhaps final mention, however, should be for two web sites. One is the updated and revamped version of the United Nations Treaty Collection (RR 2010/213) an often overlooked resource, partly because of its complexity now hopefully lessened. The other web site is a new subscription source, but one based on material in Chicago’s Newberry Library, The American West: Sources from the Everett D. Graff Collection of Americana… (RR 2010/247). From UK company Adam Matthew Digital which has previously focussed on providing digital collections of British historical material, this is a major, albeit pricey resource, that opens new doors for the study of the American West.

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