Best Reference 2007

It seemed that in 2007, everyone was talking about the “subprime” mortgage crisis, which negatively impacted first the U.S. and then the world economy. No one wanted to talk about the “R” word since it would be admitting that the U.S. economy had (finally) slid into recession. Even Google's shares fell back on news that fourth-quarter profits rose only 17 percent compared with 46 percent in the third quarter. Rival Yahoo reported lower online ad spending.

While the national economy slowed, some state fiscal outlooks were in even worse shape, prompting massive spending reductions. What all this meant for reference publishing was that despite an outpouring of extraordinary new resources in all formats, libraries were hard-pressed to purchase some of them.

Among the most noteworthy titles were several resources in the field of medicine and health care. Springer's Encyclopedia of Pain, with authoritative articles from more than 550 of the world's leading experts, provides a wealth of information on pain and pain therapy, the principal reason most people consult a physician. Sage's Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society, with its 750 entries and stunning illustrations, helps define the issues that surround the disease and the society around it.

When we're not worrying about the economy, we worried about overeating, of course. Gale's Encyclopedia of Diets delivers information on virtually every popular or special weight-loss strategy out there.

Our knowledge of the ocean and its impact on trade was enhanced by two new reference sources from Oxford, the Dartmouth Medal–winning Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History and the Oxford Companion to World Exploration. Global warming was on everyone's radar in 2007. Sage's beautifully crafted Encyclopedia of Environment and Society explores new ways of thinking about people and nature. Speaking of nature, and for pure delight, the University of Alberta Press's Ladybugs of Alberta is the first regional ladybug field guide in North America.

What's up there with financial health, the environment, and dieting? Sex, of course. Gale's trailblazing Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender uses a global perspective to examine every aspect of the topic, from artificial insemination to Zenobia.

A word about Great Plains Publications' The Encyclopedia of Manitoba: three years in the making, it is the most ambitious publishing venture in the history of the province. In fact, the Winnipeg Foundation bought one for every provincial public and school library.

Last but not least, we are eager to pay homage to ten outstanding electronic resources, several of which front-line reference librarians have been anxiously anticipating for years, others that came out of the blue to delight and inform us. And we are happy to add that e-resources really are getting better and better, as we all learn more from researchers about how they want to access information electronically and as publishers get more creative about how they serve it up.

Acorn, John. Ladybugs of Alberta. Univ. of Alberta. 169p. illus. maps. ISBN 978-0-8886-4381-0. $29.95.

Everyone loves a ladybug, or at least they did until recent infestations of a “Japanese” variety became somewhat of a plague. Technically, ladybugs are members of a single family of beetles, the coccinellidae. The “lady” part of the name refers to the Virgin Mary since their red color reminded early Europeans of her red robes. This first North American regional guide by Acorn (Univ. of Alberta) comes equipped with comprehensive maps, color photographs, and illustrations of 75 different species. [Available in print only.]

The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre. 2d ed. Cambridge Univ. 757p. ed. by Don B. Wilmeth. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-521-83538-1. $150.

The first edition of this guide (1993) was widely praised for its broad coverage of American theater on a national scale. Edited by Wilmeth (emeritus, theater, Brown), this new edition updates the earlier one through 2006 and expands coverage to include circus, magic, vaudeville, burlesque, and folk festivals. With 2700 cross-referenced entries, this is the most up-to-date guide to American theater. [Available in print only.]

The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama. 2 vols. Columbia Univ. 1721p. ed. by Gabrielle H. Cody & Evert Sprinchorn. illus. index. ISBN 978-0-231-14032-4. $450.

In this resource on modern drama, which dates back to Henrik Ibsen's 1867 epic play Peer Gynt, some 1400 articles from 450 leading scholars describe 540 individual plays, 640 playwrights, and traditions in 60 countries. Cody (Impossible Performances) and Sprinchorn (Ibsen: Letters and Speeches) place emphasis on cultural contexts as impacted by significant movements rather than plot summaries. From Clare Boothe to Dadaism to South African theater, the work fully illuminates the intellectual and artistic life of the past century and a half. [Available in print only.] (LJ 8/07)

CQ Global Researcher. CQ Pr. www.cqpress.com/lib/global-researcher.html

e In nearly 30 years of reference work, CQ reports have been the shining example of what a truly brilliant research resource can be. This e-resource promises to be just as fine. Either stand-alone or in concert with CQ Researcher and the CQ Researcher Plus Archive, the product will be used constantly by students and others needing to get perspective on an increasingly complex and bewildering set of global issues. (Ereviews, LJ 6/1/07)

CSA Illustrata: Natural Sciences. ProQuest. www.csa.com

e When comparing plain, ole' Subject Descriptors to the Object Descriptors available through this file's deep indexing, it is obvious that there is no comparison. The Object Descriptors for each article are much more specific—and revelatory—than the Subject Descriptors. There are many more of them, too. So it is easy to see how searching in this science resource can produce much more relevant, targeted results. The searching is wonderful, the content very good, and the overall functionality terrific. (Ereviews, LJ 12/07)

Current Issues in Health. H.W. Wilson. www.hwwilson.com

e A substantial file about all current health-related topics that will be successfully usable to, and used by, a wide range of researchers. A logical complement to CQ Researcher, it will update topics from that outstanding product to bring health issues research up-to-date for a wide audience, as well as address a whole new world of health topics in a dynamic, accessible way. (Ereviews, LJ 2/15/08)

Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2d Ed. Gale Cengage. www.encyclopaediajudaica.com

e Despite some difficulty in getting to the full text, this is a work of tremendous scholarship and importance. Students and scholars of Jewish studies and the librarians serving them have been waiting for years for this resource to be updated and digitized. [Also available as a quality librarybound set or as a personalized leatherbound edition; 22 volumes; more than 21,000 articles, of which 2600 are brand new; libraries pay $1,995 for the entire set.] (Ereviews, LJ 5/1/07)

The Encyclopedia of American Journalism. Routledge. 636p. ed. by Stephen L. Vaughn. index. ISBN 978-0-4159-6950-5. $520.

The study of journalism and mass communications is one of the most popular majors on many college campuses. Editor Vaughn (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison) includes 405 signed articles ranging from 500 to 5000 words. Some 171 contributors describe important associations and organizations; individuals; laws, acts, and legislation; newsgroups and corporations; and technologies. [Available in print only.] (LJ 3/15/08)

Encyclopedia of Asian-American Literature. Facts On File. 384p. ed. by Seiwoong Oh. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-8160-6086-3. $75.

While Asian Americans have been writing and publishing since the 19th century, the appearance of writers like Amy Tan and Khaled Hosseini on recent best sellers lists has prompted an interest in North American writers of Asian descent. The 337 rather lengthy entries, written by 95 contributors from several continents and edited by Oh (English, Rider Univ.), describe 200 Asian American authors and their literary achievements. [Available in print only.] (LJ 11/15/07)

Encyclopedia of Cancer and Society. 3 vols. SAGE. 1050p. ed. by Graham A. Colditz. illus. index. ISBN 978-1-4129-4989-7. $335.

Since age is the dominant factor that drives cancer risk, the total number of cancer cases diagnosed is expected to double by mid-century. The 750 entries in this set, written by experts from a variety of disciplines, explore key themes such as known carcinogens, cancer around the world, cancers by type, treatments and therapies, alternative treatments, and the impact of cancer on society. Colditz's (medicine, Washington Univ.) research on breast cancer and hormone treatments is widely cited. [Available electronically through SAGE eReference as well as Gale Virtual Reference Library.] (LJ 2/1/08)

Encyclopedia of Children, Adolescents, and the Media. 2 vols. SAGE. 883p. ed. by Jeffrey Jensen Arnett. illus. index. ISBN 978-1-4129-0530-5. $325.

Long a favored topic in college classes, the impact of the media on children and adolescents has changed dramatically over the past several decades. To help make sense of it all, this cutting-edge reference source with 400 entries, edited by Arnett, editor of Journal of Adolescent Research, discusses topics ranging from digital literacy and gender identity development to human computer interaction and online relationships. [Available electronically through SAGE eReference as well as Gale Virtual Reference Library.] (LJ 3/15/07)

Encyclopedia of Environment and Society. 5 vols. SAGE. 2105p. ed. by Paul Robbins. illus. index. ISBN 978-1-4129-2761-1. $599.

As befits the topic, this beautifully packaged, wonderfully illustrated, interdisciplinary resource has more than 1200 entries written by specialists. A helpful reader's guide groups topics like agriculture, conservation and ecology, movements and regulations, politics, pollution, and society. A resource guide, chronology, glossary, and list of the UN's economic indicators complete the set. [Available electronically through SAGE eReference as well as Gale Virtual Reference Library.] (LJ 1/08)

The Encyclopedia of Manitoba. Great Plains Pubns. 814p. ed. by Ingeborg Boyens. illus. index. ISBN 978-1-891283-71-7. $99.95.

Three years ago, Boyens and Gregg Shilliday, partners in Great Plains Publications, had a vision for Manitoba. In November 2007, that vision became a reality with the launch of this new encyclopedia at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Weighing in at seven pounds and comprising 2000 entries from 300 experts, along with 1000 color illustrations, it gives us an unparalleled vision of this Canadian province. [Available in print only.]

Encyclopedia of Pain. 3 vols. Springer. 2746p. ed. by Robert F. Schmidt & William D. Willis. illus. index. ISBN 978-3-540-43957-8. $1250.

Pain is defined as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.” While research has been ongoing since the 1960s, only in the 1990s did it become possible to visualize the parts of the brain that are affected by pain. This resource provides information that spans basic and clinical research on pain and pain therapy. Covering everything from acute stress disorder to fibromyalgia, it is useful to practicing healthcare professionals and researchers. [e-ISBN 978-3-540-29805-2. $1250; both print and online versions can be purchased for $1,559.] (LJ 4/1/07)

Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender. 4 vols. Gale Cengage. 1682p. ed. by Fedwa Malti-Douglas. illus. index. ISBN 978-0-02-865964-0. $475.

The changing view of sex—from something that is procreational to something that impacts all of our lives—combined with an explosive growth in interest in gender studies makes this a landmark reference source in the first decade of the 21st century. Since the Kinsey Report some 50 years ago, younger generations have led a revolution to change sexual mores while transforming gender into what Malti-Douglas (Woman's Body, Woman's Word) calls “a much more elastic category.” In this set, broad theoretical essays examine issues of sex and gender at both the personal and social level. [e-ISBN 978-0-02-866115-5; ebook pricing depends upon account type and population served.] (LJ 3/15/08)

The Encyclopedia of the Cold War: A Political, Social, and Military History. 5 vols. ABC-CLIO. 1969p. ed. by Spencer C. Tucker. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-1-85109-701-2. $495.

This massive work on the Cold War, which was the defining issue of the last half of the 20th century, comprises 1290 entries from 200 international contributors. Coverage extends from the end of the World War II to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and draws heavily on recently opened Russian, Eastern European, and Chinese archives. Tucker is a noted military historian who previously edited encyclopedias on the world wars. [e-ISBN 978-1-85109-706-7. $620; print and ebook combined, $870; also available through Ebook Library, MyiLibrary, ebrary, and NetLibrary.]

The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets. 2 vols. Gale Cengage. 1101p. ed. by Jacqueline L. Longe. illus.index. ISBN 978-1-4144-2992-2. $360.

Americans anguish about overeating more than anything else. This valuable guide is designed as a one-stop source of information on special diets, nutrition basics, and nutrition-related health conditions. Some 275 articles on special and popular diets explain their origin, function, benefits, risks, and research. We learn, for example, that the Atkins diet, named for Robert C. Atkins, M.D., was introduced in 1972 and started a “low-carb revolution,” while the raw foods diet dates back to prehistoric times. [e-ISBN 978-1-4144-2994-6; ebook pricing depends upon account type and population served.] (LJ 3/15/08)

Garrigues, Richard & Robert Dean. The Birds of Costa Rica. Cornell Univ. 387p. illus. maps. index. ISBN 978-0-8014-7373-9. $29.95.

Costa Rica is one of the most popular destinations for travelers because of its attractive climate, stable government, and abundant and diverse wildlife. Birders from around the world visit Costa Rica to see great green macaws, crested guans, and keel-billed toucans. This handy guide comprises descriptions and illustrations of more than 820 resident and neotropical migrant species. Garrigues is a well-known bird guide, and Dean is a natural history illustrator; both live in Costa Rica. [Available in print only.]

Giles, Will. Encyclopedia of Exotic Plants for Temperate Climates. Timber. 440p. illus. index. ISBN 978-0-88191-785-6. $49.95.

Bamboos, bananas, cactuses, and palms were once considered viable only in the southern parts of the United States. In this book, Giles, whose own exotic garden thrives in untropical Norwich, England, advises gardeners how to grow exotic plants in temperate regions. Covering more than 2500 species and cultivars, this is one of the most beautiful reference books of 2007. [Available in print only.]

Global Perspectives on the United States. 3 vols. Berkshire Pub. 1153p. ed. by David Levinson & Karen Christensen. illus. index. ISBN 978-1-933782-06-5. $275.

Americans traveling abroad for the first time are sometimes surprised to learn that we are not universally beloved. Why this is so and what people in other countries think about us is the central theme of this intriguing work. The first two volumes include national surveys from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe while the last volume includes 100 essays on the issues and events that shape global perspectives on the United States. [Available in print only.] (LJ 5/15/07)

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Children's Issues Worldwide. 6 vols. Greenwood. 3048p. ed. by Irving Epstein. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-313-33614-0. $599.95.

Illinois Wesleyan professor Epstein, long a student of street children, child labor, and delinquency education, believes a society can be judged by the welfare of its children. Here he has assembled a cast of 174 contributors from a staggering 126 different countries to explore universal issues such as education, child labor, child abuse and neglect, play and recreation, family, health, and growing up in the 21st century. [e-ISBN 978-0-313-05555-6. $659.95; also available electronically through Greenwood Digital Collection.] (LJ 4/15/08; see review, p. 108)

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales. 3 vols. Greenwood. 1160p. ed. by Donald Haase. illus. bibliog. ISBN 978-0-313-33441-2. $299.95.

In 1959, German folklorist Kurt Ranke helped establish the International Society for Folk Narrative Research. Two years later, Fabula, an international journal of folktale studies, was established. These, along with celebrations commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Jacob Grimm in 1963, helped usher in the golden age of interest in folktales and fairy tales. Those four decades of scholarship are well represented in this multicultural survey that sheds light on themes and motifs, characters and character types, individuals, and even national traditions. [e-ISBN 978-0-313-04947-5. $329.95; also available electronically through Greenwood Digital Collection.]

Grizzard, Frank E. Jamestown Colony: A Political, Social, and Cultural History. ABC-CLIO. 448p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-1-85109-637-4. $95.

On December 20, 1606, three ships carrying 105 settlers and 55 crew sailed down the Thames bound for Virginia. Delayed by storms, they did not enter the Chesapeake until April 26, 1607, and did not agree on a site for James Town until May 13. Much has been written about this first permanent English settlement in the New World. The 250 entries here describe its founding and daily life, as well as fascinating figures, including John Smith and Pocahontas. [e-ISBN 978-1-85109-642-8; also available through Ebook Library, MyiLibrary, ebrary, and NetLibrary.]

The Grove Encyclopedia of Classical Art and Architecture. 2 vols. Oxford Univ. 1474p. ed. by Gordon Campbell. illus. index. ISBN 978-0-19-530082-6. $250.

Using the massive Grove Dictionary of Art set and the more recent Grove Art Online e-resource as a base, art historian Campbell has updated, revised, or created anew more than 1000 articles examining every aspect of classical art and architecture and incorporated the latest archaeological excavations. Designed for students studying classical civilizations who need a self-contained account of a particular site or object, it meets the needs of the general public and scholars alike. [e-ISBN 978-0-1953-2521-8; available electronically through Oxford Digital Reference Shelf.] (LJ 9/1/07)

Hayes, Derek. Historical Atlas of California. Univ. of California. 256p. illus. maps. index. ISBN 978-0-520-25258-5. $39.95.

As befits our most populous state, Hayes, whose previous works include Historical Atlas of the United States, has selected some 500 historical maps and other illustrations ranging from sketches to commercial maps to works of art to tell the story of California. Among the most fascinating are artist Jo Mora's whimsical pictorial maps from the 1930s. A visual delight. [Available in print only.] (LJ 1/08)

Heywood, V.H. & others. Flowering Plant Families of the World. Firefly. 424p. illus. maps. index. ISBN 978-1-55407-206-4. $59.95.

The predecessor of this book, Flowering Plants of the World, was published to great acclaim in 1978. It became an essential reference for anyone interested in plant life because of its depth and presentation. Its successor, with a slightly different title, treats 506 families compared to the 306 in the original and incorporates significant advances in knowledge, including DNA sequencing, over the past several decades. [Available in print only.]

Lilley, William, III, & others. The Almanac of State Legislative Elections. CQ Pr. 418p. illus. maps. ISBN 978-0-87289-551-5. $175.

Drawing on prior CQ titles analyzing U.S. state legislatures, this volume uses socioeconomic data to show how each of the nation's 6,744 state legislative districts changed during the first seven years of the 21st century in terms of population, wealth, poverty, degree of higher education, and ethnic and racial mix. It includes in-depth voting results from 2000 to 2006 and maps showing district boundaries. [Available in print only.]

Lynch, Wayne. Owls of the United States and Canada. Johns Hopkins. 242p. illus. index. ISBN 978-0-8018-8687-4. $39.95.

If you were an “owlaholic” living in Minnesota in January and February 2005, you might have seen as many as 226 gray owls in a single day. By the end of the winter, the state's ornithologist's union reported the largest number of sightings ever recorded. This gorgeous book by celebrated natural history writer and wildlife photographer Lynch covers 19 species that inhabit North America. [Available in print only.]

Magill's Survey of American Literature. 6 vols. Salem. 2866p. ed. by Steven G. Kellman. illus. index. ISBN 978-1-58765-285-1. $499.

First published in 1991 (with a supplement in 1994), this set has been a mainstay of reference departments ever since. Over 70 new authors have been added to this revised edition, including Canadians like Michael Ondaatje and young adult writers like Walter Dean Myers. Coverage of minority and women writers has been expanded as well. An A–Z format is retained, with essays ranging from six to 13 pages in length. [Available electronically as part of Salem's MagillOnLiterature online database hosted through EBSCO.]

Maunder, Andrew. British Short Story. Facts On File. 528p. index. ISBN 978-0-8160-5990-4. $75.

Emerging somewhat later than its American cousin, the British short story as genre only achieved popularity in the last half of the 19th century, when compulsory elementary education after 1870 helped create a new mass of readers. The 450 entries here describe major short stories, novellas, and story collections from Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to Nick Hornby's Speaking with the Angel ; profile important authors from Charles Dickens to V.S. Naipaul; and describe concepts, genres, and movements. [Available in print only.]

Mills, Shown Elizabeth. Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifact Through Cyberspace. Genealogical Pub. 885p. index. ISBN 978-0-8063-1781-6. $49.95.

Tracing family history is a passion for many people. Mills, an expert on archival research, here guides readers through thousands of different kinds of sources from archives and cemetery records to local, state, and national government records and web sites. She also discusses the fundamentals of analyzing evidence and provides guidance in citing sources. Every library needs a copy. [Available in print only.]

Music in Latin America and the Caribbean. Vol. 2. Univ. of Texas. 537p. ed. by Malena Kuss. illus. index. ISBN 978-0-292-70951-5. $65.

In this second of a planned four-volume work on the music of the peoples of South and Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean, 27 specialists describe the complex soundscape of the postconquest Caribbean, whose musical traditions have been shaped by an enduring African presence, the experience of slavery, and colonization by Europeans. [Available in print only.]

The Oxford Companion to World Exploration. 2 vols. Oxford Univ. 979p. ed. by David Buisseret. illus.index. ISBN 978-0-19-514922-7. $250.

Produced in partnership with the Newberry Library and written by leading scholars in the field of exploration, this Oxford companion includes 700 articles covering all aspects of global exploration from the North Pole to Antarctica. While coverage includes well-known explorers like Columbus and Champlain, it also focuses on the lesser-knowns like Rabban Bar Sauma, who traveled from Beijing to Europe in the 13th century. [e-ISBN 978-0-19-530741-0; available electronically through Oxford Digital Reference Shelf.]

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History. 4 vols. Oxford Univ. 2836p. ed. by John B. Hattendorf. illus. index. ISBN 978-0-19-513075-1. $550.

As land-based mammals, it's easy for us humans to forget that water-covered regions account for 70 percent of our planet. However, the interdisciplinary study of maritime history only became common in the 1990s. The 900 entries here cover the entire history of seafaring, from the ancient Egyptians to the supertankers of this century, and describe how seafaring has influenced world history from the Battle of Actium to Chinese explorer Zheng He. This year's Dartmouth Medal winner. [e-ISBN 978-0-1953-0740-5; available electronically through Oxford Digital Reference Shelf.] (LJ 6/1/07)

Oxford Islamic Studies Online. Oxford Univ. www.oxfordislamicstudies.com

e This database consists of over 300 entries from a variety of Oxford print works, nearly 1000 biographies, 160 primary sources, 138 images, and 233 chaptered works from other scholarly Oxford titles, with Quaranic materials and time lines. Sure, Oxford is leveraging a lot of its existing Islamic studies print content into an e-resource here, but what content and what a tour de force of a system, with all the additional scholarship that has been poured into this. Essential. (Ereviews, LJ 1/08)

Oxford Language Dictionaries Online. Oxford Univ. www.oxfordlanguagedictionaries.com

e As a collection of English “to and from” dictionaries, this is a superb resource. As an active tool for learning major world languages, it is a great beginning. This is a brilliantly designed online language system that eclipses other online dictionaries with its power, accessible complexity, linguistic intuitiveness, and clarity. It presently contains well over one million words and phrases, with more than two million translations in French, German, Spanish, and Italian. (Ereviews, LJ 11/1/07)

SAGE eReference. SAGE. www.sage-ereference.com

e This is the first e-resource based heavily on a printed format (i.e., pretty much all of SAGE's backlist) that will not frustrate the user or make him or her think a square peg (the print) has been jammed into a round hole (the electronic). It has been put together intelligently by folks who know their products and how to deliver them. Wholeheartedly recommended for all libraries supporting research in the social sciences. (Ereviews, LJ 11/15/07)

SocINDEX with Full Text. EBSCO Pub. www.ebscohost.com

e This sociology database is made up of nearly two million records covering 5000 journals. EBSCO advertises it as “the world's most comprehensive and highest quality sociology research database.” Based on quality, ease of use, and comprehensiveness of content, the publisher just may be right. Recommended for all academic libraries serving the social sciences, as well as medium to large public libraries and research institutions serving social science scholars. (Ereviews LJ 3/1/08)

Teen Health and Wellness: Real Life, Real Answers. Rosen Pub. www.teenhealthandwellness.com

e The up-to-date content of this file comes from 500 books in various Rosen series, written by professionals with backgrounds in career counseling, medicine, psychology, and science, but there are also plenty of web-only features. The design is pretty impressive: neither glitzy nor kludgey. One would imagine that teens might approach any self-help file suspiciously, but this one is likely to reach them effectively. Essential for public and secondary school libraries, perhaps even academic libraries with graduate education programs, and parents and teens. (Ereviews, LJ 7/07)

Vault Online Career Library. Vault. www.vault.com

e A well-organized powerhouse of a file, Vault Online Career Library brings together an astonishing amount of career information in one place. Content includes over 90 downloadable PDF career guides ranging from interview/résumé manuals to career overviews, info on specific occupations and employers; several thousand company overviews and profiles; career advice articles; and company, industry, career topic, and grad degree message boards with millions of postings. Enthusiastically recommended for libraries and institutions with the resources to afford it. (Ereviews, LJ 5/15/07)