Editorial

Citation

Chalcraft, T. (2006), "Editorial", Reference Reviews, Vol. 20 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/rr.2006.09920daa.001

Editorial

In the end pages of this issue will be found the official announcement of the 2005 Reference Reviews winners in Emerald’s annual Literati Club Awards of Excellence. As with the last few years, we have 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 approximately 75 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, after considerable deliberation, we have chosen the Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups (RR 2006/184) from that major publisher of reference titles, Greenwood Press. This is not a multi-volume shelf-bending reference blockbuster, but a relatively modest work of less than 450 pages. The author is Stephen E. Atkins who has produced a number of other acclaimed works in similar subject areas (Greenwood Press have a strong reputation for commissioning works from highly rated authors). Addressing a topic of interest and concern to a wide audience, the encyclopedia contains 285 well-selected and constructed entries based on published books, media articles and reports. To be successful, a work on a controversial area such as this must steer a careful course and this Atkins does superbly, providing a text, in the words of reviewer Alun Hughes, which is “exceptionally lucid, objectively phrased and free from hyperbole and innuendo”. That this title is from Greenwood Press, one of the largest publishers of medium-sized reference texts, is also fitting as their sustained activity and generally high quality output is in itself worthy of special recognition.

Our award for “Best electronic reference title reviewed” is made to Oxford University Press for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB). This is, of course, both a printed and an electronic set, but our review, probably reflecting the purchase choice of most libraries, was of the electronic version. Whichever way it is evaluated the ODNB is an unquestioned star. Everything about it is impressive: its size (60 volumes in the print version, 54,922 entries at time of release); the scholarship (10,000 specialist contributors, 400 associate editors); and ease of use (in repeated use of the electronic version I have never failed to find the desired entry, even when only limited information is known). Most of all the new ODNB was primarily produced as a service to the academic and wider community rather than as a commercial publishing venture. And it is one that will endure. With the electronic version constantly updated, we can be sure that no other biographical source relating to the UK will ever take its place.

Our final award for “Best review” is made to the contributor who provided the most notable review of the volume. In many past years this has been the most difficult award to decide, but for 2005 there was no hesitation in selecting Stuart Hannabuss for his review of International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature, 2nd ed. (RR 2005/196). One of a number of outstanding reviews contributed by Stuart over the year, this was notable for its deep knowledge of the subject area, including other sources in the field, and its thorough and well-crafted assessment of the text. Many other excellent reviews were contributed with reviewers exhibiting a tremendous range of experience and expertise. Of the few journals focussing on the review of reference materials, Reference Reviews perhaps provides some of the most detailed and also some of the most “freestyle” reviews in that we endeavour not to trammel the reviewers approach with rigid formats and guidelines. Hopefully readers benefit from the fresh and often entertaining style of review this can provide and I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank all the reviewers, especially those who contribute regularly to these pages, for their continuing efforts.

Selecting the best print and electronic titles reviewed from the 443 included in the 2005 issues of Reference Reviews was a challenging 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 2005” while the corresponding designation for the fewer electronic tools considered is “Reference Reviews top five electronic reference sources 2005”.

Top ten printed reference sources 2005

1. 1.

   The Design Encyclopedia, Laurence King/Museum of Modern Art (RR 2005/266)

2. 2.

   Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Fitzroy Dearborn (RR 2005/306)

3. 3.

   Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups, Greenwood Press (RR 2005/184) Overall Winner

4. 4.

   Encyclopedia of Religion, Macmillan Reference (Gale) (RR 2005/341)

5. 5.

   Encyclopedia of Women’s Health, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers (RR 2005/205)

6. 6.

   The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life: A Tour Through History from Ancient Times to the Present, Greenwood Press (RR 2006/170)

7. 7.

   Gypsy Jib: A Romany Dictionary, Holm Oak Publishing (RR 2005/93)

8. 8.

   Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature, Oxford University Press (RR 2005/38)

9. 9.

   The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book: An Abridged Thesaurus, Brill (RR 2005/70)

10. 10.

    Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor, ABC-Clio (RR 2005/278)

Top five electronic reference sources 2005

1. 1.

   ARTstor, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (RR 2005/430)

2. 2.

   Business Monitor Online, Business Monitor International (RR 2005/136)

3. 3.

   Latino Literature (LALI), Alexander Street Press (RR 2005/95)

4. 4.

   Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press (RR 2005/59) Overall Winner

5. 5.

   Victoria Research Web, Patrick Leary (RR 2005/275)

Will this issue of Reference Reviews produce any winners for our 2006 awards? For the moment this is for readers to speculate, but this issue certainly contains an unusually wide range of material a few worthy of highlighting. K. G. Saur has a long established reputation for producing monumental bibliographical and biographical reference sets, and continues to roll them off the presses when many similar publications have been switched to electronic only availability. Here we take a look at the latest volume in one of the more recent projects sterreichische Retrospektive Bibliographie (RR 2006/179). Because of the complexities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the fact that may publications appeared in general German language bibliographies, modern day Austria has been late in assembling a retrospective bibliography. This gap is now being remedied by Saur with what must surely be one of the last major national bibliographic projects to appear in a print format.

Other major print sets featured include The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States (RR 2006/291), The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature (RR 2005/203), The Gale Encyclopedia of Children’s Health (RR 2006/210) and the single volume, but still substantial in contribution and content, Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece (RR 2006/223). The first two titles are one of a string of recent multi-volume encyclopedias dealing with US ethnic groups or, more specifically, the culture and literature of such groups. Two further Greenwood Press titles we will shortly feature are The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature and The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Folklore. To date, there has been very little reference publishing on the various ethnic groups that make a significant contribution to the life and culture of the modern UK and, for that matter, Europe. Is this a niche publishers could fill?

There are various other diverse print and electronic riches in this volume. The only other one there is room to note here is The Gaskell Web (RR 2006/201). This resource, while not without its limitations, is notable because it is one of a number of web sites devoted to a specific literary figure which are gradually transforming the way writers are studied. Serious scholars and dedicated enthusiasts are able to use the web to create sites that bring together a vast array of resources, both primary and secondary, on an author that even the most specialised research collection would struggle to emulate. Such is the range of sites now available that some form of good old-fashioned “bibliographical control” is needed. Various literature portal type sites already provide some links, but as far as I am aware none do so comprehensively or with detailed evaluations. Is providing a systematic guide to quality sites dealing with individual literary figures a service a dedicated librarian could provide?

Finally, returning to the award shortlists, one of the top ten printed titles was Gypsy Jib: A Romany Dictionary. Now, building on this and earlier efforts, comes news of an important project to preserve and codify Romany dialects from across Europe. The Romani Project (www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/Research/Projects/romani/), hosted by Manchester University, includes the dictionary-like Romani Dialects Interactive. Ultimately, if carried forward, this could become the definitive source of information on Romany dialects across Europe.

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