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It has been two years since our “current” survey last appeared (RSR, Summer 1987). In that survey, we covered 1985 publications. For the sake of continuity, this new survey looks at 28 titles from 1986 and 14 from 1987. All of them are still listed in Books in Print.

The decade of the 1980s was unique for the sheer quantity of education reform reports and legislation. Virtually every state enacted education reform legislation, including reforms of teacher education, licensing, and comprehension. According to Darling‐Hammond and Berry, over 1,000 pieces of legislation related to teachers have been drafted since 1980, and “a substantial fraction have been implemented.” As I discussed in my 1989 RSR article, “Five Years after A Nation at Risk: An Annotated Bibliography,” two waves of 1980s reform reports were identified in the enormous body of primary and secondary literature dealing with education reform. The reform publications of the early 1980s stressed improvements in curricular standards, student performance outcomes, and changes to the education programs, such as salary increases, teacher testing, and stricter certification requirements. The second‐wave reform publications emphasized more complex issues centered around the concepts of restructuring the schools and teacher education programs, as well as empowering teachers to become more involved in curriculum and governance issues.

In this time of severe national budget deficit, all programs are reviewed for trimming/downsizing and effectiveness. Just as educational systems are evaluated for trimming, so are school and academic library services. This article will address why it is crucial to have close linkages between school and academic libraries through articulation programs to avoid duplication and waste of human resources, and explain how articulation can be initiated through precollege programs offered by colleges and universities. It will focus on why academic libraries participate in precollege access programs, highlight how collaboration between school and academic libraries helps the “town and gown” community relationship, and point out how precollege programs help minority students and university recruitment and retention efforts. As an example, it will describe the outreach program of the College Library at the University of Wisconsin‐Madi‐son. The article concludes by discussing the future goals of strengthening and broadening the participation of academic libraries in precollege access programs.

More than five years have passed since A Nation at Risk was published in 1983 by then‐Secretary of Education Terrance Bell's National Commission on Excellence in Education. Those years have seen the publication of an enormous body of both primary material, composed of research reports, essays, and federal and state reform proposals and reports; and secondary material, composed of summaries and reviews of the original reform reports and reports about effective programs that are based on reform recommendations. This annotated bibliography seeks to identify, briefly describe, and organize in a useful manner those publications dealing with K‐12 education reform and improvement. The overall purposes of this article are to bring organization to that list, and also to trace relationships and influences from the federal initiatives to the states and professional associations, and from there to the school districts and individual schools.

In the 1980s, as the United States encountered international economic and technological challenges, the very ability of the American educational system to produce a competitive labor force, able to learn and solve problems, was questioned. During this past decade, renewed concern about educational quality in the United States motivated over one hundred reports analyzing the shortcomings in our system of education and endorsing reform. All of the principal curriculum areas have been reviewed in this process; moreover, science education has been deemed particularly deficient. Major reports sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) recommend both content revision of science courses and methodological changes in the way science is presented throughout the elementary and secondary grades.

This article discusses information sources and critical interpretations of Mary Shelley's life and her most important work, Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus. In addition to publishing history and information about revisions, translations, inclusion in collections, and references to possible sources of the story, it will evaluate some biographical material about Mary Shelley and her family, and their influence on her. Finally, various critical approaches, the growth of interest in both the writer and her work, and possible reasons for it will be noted.

A phobia is a condition that is caused by fear of a specific object or situation. Phobias constitute the most common form of psychiatric disorder. “People of all ages, at all income levels and in all geographic locations suffer from phobias, according to a study of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Between 5.1 percent and 12.5 percent of Americans suffer from phobias.”

In a world in which “England's green and pleasant land” sets the standard for garden excellence, gardeners in much of the United States will struggle in vain to adapt the British style to their own volatile climates. American regional gardening literature offers a new vision to help gardeners throughout the United States select plants suited to their climates (especially native plants) and use techniques to prevent losses to cold, heat, humidity, or drought. The resulting gardens may not always resemble the traditional English her baceous border, but their beauty and vigor will enhance the often monotonous American suburban landscape.

Animal rights is a growing social justice movement opposed to all forms of animal exploitation and abuse. Animal rights is not animal welfare. It is not pet therapy, wildlife conservation, or the services of the local humane society. Although it shares concerns with other organizations interested in the welfare of animals, the animal rights movement is activist and progressive, rejecting the view that animals are resources to be used for human purposes.

In the 1967 film, The Graduate, Mr. Robinson gave Dust in Hoffman's character, Benjamin, the scene‐stealing career suggestion, “plastics!” Although Benjamin appeared indifferent to the oracle‐like advice, thousands of other graduates have since helped to make plastics, or polymers, a popular career choice. Today, the U.S. polymer‐based industries (plastics, rubber, fibers, paints, films, membranes, coatings, and adhesives) employ more than a million workers and need 10,000 new graduates yearly to support their growth. Yet, despite the emphasis industry and government place on formal training in polymer science and engineering (hereafter called PSE), academia has given the rapidly developing field a cool reception. Science writer Joseph Alper notes: