For Future Reference

By Mirela Roncevic -- Library Journal, 3/15/2007

While the folks at Facts On File, now an imprint of Infobase Publishing, continue to refurbish their online products, they are also keeping busy expanding their print line. Two new forthcoming print encyclopedias are at the top of the list: the three-volume Encyclopedia of American Education, Third Edition (EAE), and the seven-volume Encyclopedia of World History (EWH). Scheduled for release in the mid summer, EWE's third edition, once again edited by education expert Harlow G. Unger, features several key updates: a new introduction, new statistics and education figures, and entries on new legislation and government actions. Over 40 new entries bring the total of entries to 2000, spanning the Colonial period to present day. Coverage also includes bilingual education, home schooling, distance learning, and charter schools.

Due out in December of this year, the EWH is touted as being "one of the first to offer a balanced presentation of human history from a truly global perspective of the past." Based on the latest scholarship and arranged in six chronological eras (from prehistory to today), the set "follows the way world history is taught and studied in the classroom." Key features include thematic essays, primary-source documents, chronologies, 600 illustrations, and a 32-page insert of full-color maps.

Contributors needed: In an ongoing effort to expand LJ's coverage of electronic resources, we are looking for regular contributors to the Reference section. If you have experience working with and/or using electronic reference products and would welcome an opportunity to exercise your writing skills, please contact Mirela Roncevic at mroncevic@reedbusiness.com. Readers interested in reviewing reference materials in all subject areas, particularly science and health and medicine, both in print and electronic formats, are invited to send a résumé and two writing samples to Reference Editor Mirela Roncevic at mroncevic@reedbusiness.com.