Best of Reference 2009

Somehow, the lyrics from the Ervin Drake song made famous by Frank Sinatra, “It Was a Very Good Year,” kept coming to mind in 2010, despite the economy. While the quantity of works produced declined, and publishers suffered along with everyone else, there was no diminution in quality. With reduced budgets for collections, librarians were forced to make hard choices on what to buy. But what a choice they had! Among our favorites this year is Sharp Suits, which describes the evolution of men's suits worn by luminaries from the Duke of Windsor to David Bowie. Listening to a recent Cajun music concert by Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys reminded us of the enduring legacy of the French in Louisiana, which was further enhanced with the publication of the Dictionary of Louisiana French.

On a global scale, everyone was talking about China. Berkshire's Encyclopedia of China, on topics as diverse as the “cadre system” and “yin-yang theory,” helps us better understand the Chinese “psyche.” Of similar quality is Gale's Encyclopedia of Modern China, whose articles describe China since 1800, complete with color photos, sidebars, and primary sources.

Along with its newest cutting-edge works like Encyclopedia of Human Relationships and Encyclopedia of Giftedness, Creativity and Talent, SAGE also published the most important resource on journalism in a generation and began packaging backlists of encyclopedias available online at affordable prices.

For innovative marketing, hats off to University Press of Kentucky. It not only erected a giant billboard on I-75 to promote its Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky but also created a dedicated Facebook page. And how about Yale University organizing an entire conference at the University of Hull in the UK around the theme of its Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain 1660–1851?

It's been a productive year for getting digital access to American history collections: three of the ten e-only products on the list focus on U.S. history specifically. The other noticeable trend on the e-front is a plethora of multimedia: maps, video, audio, and animation—and more and more of the material is interactive. Now, if only we could afford to get access to all this wonderful stuff.

World Book Public Library Edition. World Book. www.worldbook.com

This magnum opus is made up of three distinct sections: World Book Online Reference Center (25,000 encyclopedia articles plus thousands of additional reference articles, technology tutorials, photographs, maps, videos, animations, and audio clips), World Book Online Info Finder (with over 40,000 encyclopedia and reference articles, biographies, multimedia collections, geography resource guides, web links, and research tools), and World Book Online for Kids (with easy-to-read articles, images, illustrations, interactive maps, and teacher resources). The sum of these parts is a stunning success for serving public libraries; brilliantly conceived, implemented, and delivered. (LJ 10/1/09)

Dictionary of Louisiana French. Univ. of Mississippi. 892p. ed. by Albert Valdman. ISBN 978-1-60473-403-4. $38.

Louisiana became a French colony when Cavalier de la Salle and his French Canadian expedition reached the mouth of the Mississippi River in 1682. To this French colonial base 3000 Acadian exiles arrived between 1764 and 1785, and thousands of new French speakers came from Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) and France in the early 19th century. This new dictionary, with input from hundreds of informants and complete with headwords, homonyms, a pronunciation guide, parts of speech, definitions, and more, is the richest inventory of French vocabulary in Louisiana. (LJ 3/1/10)

Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. 3 vols. Oxford Univ. 1586p. ed. by Jonathan M. Bloom & Sheila S. Blair. illus. maps. index. ISBN 978-0-19-530991-1. $395; Online: Oxford Islamic Studies Online

This set is based on articles from the 1996 Dictionary of Art, which has been recast with a simplified organization and updated bibliographies, including 1600 A–Z articles by 375 scholars, 450 illustrations, and 67 line drawings and maps. The editors use a broad definition to include art made by artists and artisans whose religion was Islam or whose patrons lived in Muslim lands. (LJ 9/1/09)

Musgrave, Eric. Sharp Suits. Pavilion. 200p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-1-86205-852-1. $40.

Quality works on men's fashion are rare. This is no doubt why Sharp Suits has caused so much fanfare since its November Savile Row launch in London. Musgrave, who launched FHM in 1985, tells us that the suit, consisting of a jacket and trousers of matching cloth, has been a staple of a well-dressed man's wardrobe since the 1860s. In eight colorful chapters, he traces its development as single-breasted or double-breasted, notes the impact of the English royal family, and then discusses the impact of popular music and film.

Roscoe, Ingrid & others. Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain 1660–1851. Yale Univ. 1620p. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-300-14965-4. $200.

What strikes you immediately about this incredible resource is its comprehensive biographical coverage and extraordinary attention to detail. Taking an earlier classic work by Gunnis, the editors and other experts have rewritten all of the earlier lives of sculptors (some 2000) and added 1000 new entries. More than 35,000 individual works are listed; the bibliography now contains 3000 manuscript and published sources.

Cinema Image Gallery. H.W. Wilson. www.wilson.com

This file consists of over 152,000 high-quality images from the Kobal Collection, which includes stills, posters, lobby cards, portraits, animations, and candid photos. It's searchable by subject, title, credits, director, document type, photographer, physical description, studio, update code, genre, film year, image type, award name, award category, and winner and also has internal links to biographies and reviews about productions. Superlative—even when one has high expectations. (LJ 3/1/09)

Hischak, Thomas S. & Mark A. Robinson. The Disney Song Encyclopedia. Scarecrow. 349p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-8108-6937-0. $49.95; Online: NetLibrary

Once you pick up this book, it's hard to put it down, and it's certain to start you humming all those great Disney songs, from “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” to “Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” Hischak (SUNY-Cortland), whose plays are widely performed around the country, and Robinson here combine talents to describe over 900 famous and not-so-famous tunes from Disney films, TV shows, Broadway productions, records, and theme parks since the 1930s.

Rège, Philippe. Encyclopedia of French Film Directors. 2 vols. Scarecrow. 1469p. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-8108-6137-4. $300; Online: NetLibrary

In 1895, the Lumière Brothers gave the first public viewing of films anywhere. Since then, the French have played an important role in world cinema. Rège, whose books include biographies of Klaus Kinski and Johnny Depp, here identifies every French director who has made at least one feature film since 1895—almost 3000 individuals. From the silent era pioneers to the leading figures of the French New Wave, it's a rich tradition. (LJ 4/15/10)

Oxford Biblical Studies Online. Oxford Univ. www.oup.com

This tremendously useful, one-of-a-kind resource for Bible scholars comprises several key resources, among them Catholic Study Bible (2d ed.), Jewish Study Bible, New Oxford Annotated Bible (3d ed.), Oxford Study Bible, Oxford Bible Commentary, Oxford Companion to the Bible, Oxford Dictionary of the Bible, The Apocryphal Old Testament, The Apocryphal New Testament, and How To Read the Bible, along with 5000 scholarly articles, time lines, illustrations, and a bibliography. (LJ 5/1/09)

Allen, Larry. The Encyclopedia of Money. 2d ed. ABC-CLIO. 520p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-1-59884-252-4. $95; Online: ABC-CLIO Ebook Collection & via partnership with Blackwell & YBP Library Services

Money, or the lack of it, was on everyone's mind in 2009. Allen, a Texas economist, notes that the war against inflation in the 1990s had succeeded so well that countries like Japan began to experience deflation. With a wave of failures of financial institutions, the fears of government regulation were replaced with calls for stricter regulation. He argues here that money serves four basic functions: as a medium of exchange, as a unit of measure, as a store of value, and as a standard of deferred payment. How these interact is the subject of 350 accessible entries. (LJ 2/1/10)

Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Reference Center™. EBSCO. www.ebscohost.com

Designed for continuity experts and information professionals, this full-text database covers “all aspects of business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR),” including information on such topics as business continuity planning, continuity of operations planning, crisis communications, emergency preparedness, organizational resiliency, and risk evaluation. The only e-resource of its kind, it needs to be readily accessible to anyone with a stake in managing risk and maintaining institutional workflows. (LJ 11/1/09)

Ágoston, Gábor & Bruce Masters. Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Facts On File. 650p. illus. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-8160-6259-1. $85; Online: Infobase Ebooks

This is the most important reference work available in English about one of the greatest and most splendid empires in history. Ágoston (Georgetown) and Masters (Wesleyan) have drawn on the talents of 90 international experts to write extended entries on topics like libraries, literature, and medicine as well as shorter entries on subjects like mamluks (slaves purchased to become soldiers) and Ziya Pasna, a 19th-century poet.

The American Founding Era Collection. Rotunda: Univ. of Virginia. rotunda.upress.virginia.edu

This is a powerhouse of primary-source documents—the kind of resource only digitization can make widely available, and that's just what Rotunda is doing. The file consists of the following collections: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson Digital Edition, The Adams Papers Digital Edition, The Papers of George Washington Digital Edition, and The Dolley Madison Digital Edition. These integrated XML-based archives let users cross-search the entire holdings. (LJ 9/15/09)

American History in Video. Alexander Street. www.alexanderstreetpress.com

A collaboration between Alexander Street Press and A&E Television Networks, this collection of nearly 1500 videos with searchable transcripts synchronized to video, chronicling American history from the 1890s to the 1980s, tops any other similarly themed resource in its field and is an amazing deal. It's a product every library could make accessible to its researchers, from elementary school children to historical scholars and everyone in between. (LJ 8/09)

The American West: Sources from the Everett D. Graff Collection at the Newberry Library, Chicago. Adam Matthew Digital. www.amdigital.co.uk

This database on the American West contains 300-plus original manuscripts; maps; ephemera; printed sources; papers of early pioneers, explorers, and hunters; accounts of the gold rush; prospectuses and city directories; records of key railroad companies; emigrant guides; manuscript travel journals; store catalogs; illustrations; and firsthand accounts of the lives of vigilantes and outlaws. Most material here is unique, spanning the years 1722–1939. Highly recommended for academic, public, and special libraries serving American history researchers, as well as American cultural researchers. (LJ 6/1/09)

Archaeology in America. 4 vols. Greenwood. 1425p. ed. by Francis P. McManamon. illus. maps. index. ISBN 978-0-313-33184-8. $449.95; Online: ABC-CLIO Ebook Collection & via partnership with Blackwell & YBP Library Services

This treasure trove of intriguing articles by leading archaeologists is organized geographically into four volumes, describing a vast region from the Arctic Ocean to Northern Mexico. Within regions, general topical essays are followed by pieces describing individual sites. Essays include ancient as well as historic period sites. Especially notable are texts giving Native American perspectives like that of Jason Yonker on the “Kennewick Man” controversy or fascinating like Robert Neyland's on the successful raising of a Confederate submarine, the CSS Hunley, from Charleston Harbor in August 2000. (LJ 3/1/09)

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. 2 vols. Indiana Univ. 1659p. ed. by Geoffrey P. Megargee. illus. maps. index. ISBN 978-0-253-35328-3. $295.

By project's end in 2018, this seven-volume set will describe more than 20,000 camps and ghettos that the Nazis and their allies operated from Norway to North Africa and from France to Russia. It's the most important reference work for Holocaust studies since the fall of the USSR and the opening of many European archives. The first volume, in two parts, describes the SS-run camps, some established as early as March 1933, and contains more than 1100 entries written by 230 contributors. (LJ 8/09)

Westwood, John. The Historical Atlas of World Railroads. Firefly. 399p. illus. maps. index. ISBN 978-1-55407-523-2. $45.

With eight previous books on the history of railroad transport to his credit, Westwood knows his subject well. Complete with 400 high-quality maps and photos, his book charts the spread of railroads from their origins pulled by horses on wooden tracks in the British mining industry to the development of iron rails in the 1750s and the first public railroad, the Stockton and Darlington in Great Britain in 1825. (LJ 2/1/10)

Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History. 6 vols. Oxford Univ. 2927p. ed. by Stanley N. Katz. illus. index. ISBN 978-0-19-513405-6. $895; Online: Oxford Digital Reference Shelf

Legal history is one of the oldest fields of scholarly inquiry. This rich tradition is examined in detail by 484 legal scholars, who have written more than 950 entries on ancient Greek and Roman law, Chinese law, English common law, Islamic law, Medieval and post-Medieval Roman law, South Asian, African, and Latin American law, and U.S. law. Entries are arranged alphabetically from the Abbasid dynasty to Franz Von Zeiller. Capital punishment is discussed in Chinese law, English common law, and in the 20th-century Muslim world. (LJ 11/15/09)

Political Encyclopedia of U.S. States and Regions. 2 vols. CQ Pr. 1042p. ed. by Donald P. Haider-Markel. illus. maps. index. ISBN 978-0-87289-377-1. $265.

Finding comparative data on states and regions is not always easy. While most states have had a single constitution, others like Georgia and Louisiana have had many. In 2007, the editors note, about half of U.S. states and a majority of U.S. cities used some form of direct democracy. Part 1 of this book includes thematic essays; Part 2 covers the political environment, electoral results, and branches of government; and Part 3 is a dictionary of state political terms.Part 4 contains 18 comparative statistical tables. (LJ 4/15/09)

Political Science Complete. EBSCO. www.ebscohost.com

This file brings new U.S. political science material to the marketplace and to the library. It indexes over 1900 journal titles and includes the full text of over 500 scholarly journals. It also contains 170-plus full-text reference sources and the full text of over 27,000 papers from major political science conference series. (LJ 7/09)

The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law.Yale Univ. 622p. ed. by Roger K. Newman. illus. ISBN 978-0-300-11300-6. $65.

This rich collection tells the stories of 700 eminent men and women significant in the history of American law, including contributions from 600 experts and edited by Pulitzer Prize nominee Newman. From trial lawyers to judges, from novelists to Presidents, everyone gets a fair hearing. Enhanced by what Barbara Tuchman would call “corroborative detail,” sketches are uncommonly well written. This is biography at the highest level. (LJ 6/15/09)

American Countercultures. 3 vols. Sharpe Reference. 868p. ed. by Gina Misiroglu. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-7656-8060-0. $299; Online: Sharpe Reference Online

A counterculture is a movement that stands in opposition to the conventional, whose core values and lifestyle are outside the mainstream. As this outstanding set shows, America's history is replete with examples of these, from the Puritans of the Colonial era to the hippies of the 1960s. Some 600 entries cover everything from Mad Magazine founded in 1952 to the “be-ins” of the 1960s and the “Slow Movement” of the last decade encouraging people to slow down.

Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology Online. Wiley-Blackwell. www.wiley.com

This is an example of a reference book turned into an e-product intelligently and in a way that transcends the print, i.e., you can find more and do more online. It includes 1800 definitions and explanations of the key concepts in sociology, with expanded essays on major topics within the field and a time line of over 600 key events in sociological history. (LJ 4/1/09)

Encyclopedia of Giftedness, Creativity and Talent. 2 vols. SAGE. 1057p. ed. by Barbara Kerr. index. ISBN 978-1-4129-4971-2. $375; Online: SAGE Reference Online, Gale Virtual Reference Library, & Credo Reference

Since the rights of gifted students are not protected under federal law, the methods by which they are identified vary by state. Leading experts here contribute more than 400 entries on giftedness, talent, and creativity and their effect on education, training, science, the arts, government policy, and everyday life. Covering everything from attitudes toward the gifted to creative teaching and summer programs, the insightful articles help educators make informed decisions about strategies and curriculum models. (LJ 9/15/09)

Encyclopedia of Human Relationships. 3 vols. SAGE. 1818p. ed. by Harry T. Reis & Susan Sprecher. index. ISBN 978-1-4129-5846-2. $425; Online: SAGE Reference Online, Gale Virtual Reference Library, & Credo Reference

Relationship science, which has emerged over the past three decades, views relationships as fundamental to nearly all domains of human activity. Reis (Rochester) and Sprecher (Illinois State) have engaged more than 700 international scholars to create the field's first major reference source, discussing topics like family conflict, friendships and sexuality, and attachment. Of special note is insightful coverage of newer topics like computer matching services, elder abuse and neglect, and singlehood. (LJ 6/1/09)

Encyclopedia of Human Rights. 5 vols. Oxford Univ. 2581p. ed. by David P. Forsythe. index. ISBN 978-0-19-533402-9. $595; Online: Oxford Reference Online

Winner of this year's Dartmouth Medal, this outstanding resource focuses on a topic that was largely unknown in international law before 1945. An international cast of contributors—more than one-third women and many from non-Western countries—describe the important contributions of people like Vaclav Havel and Elie Wiesel but also villains like Idi Amin. They cover NGOs like the Carter Center and Human Rights Watch, as well as situations like the genocide in Rwanda and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. (LJ 11/1/09)

Encyclopedia of Journalism. 6 vols. SAGE. 2343p. ed. by Christopher H. Sterling. index. ISBN 978-0-7619-2957-4. $795; Online: SAGE Reference Online, Gale Virtual Reference Library, & Credo Reference

Few professions have been impacted as much as journalism has in the Internet age, with daily newspaper readership down 14 percent in the last 15 years, while online news access has gone from zero to 37 percent. Sterling, one of the field's most prolific authors, uses prominent scholars to craft 350 entries spanning the history of the profession, its technologies, issues, and controversies. There's extensive coverage of online journalism, from blogs to social network sites, discussions of hard vs. soft news, and even Chinese television. (LJ 4/1/09)

Rielly, Edward J. Football: An Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Univ. of Nebraska. 439p. index. ISBN 978-0-8032-9012-9. $26.95.

The study of popular culture has enjoyed explosive growth in recent decades. Explaining how football became so embedded in that culture is the aim of this book, which includes entries for items that have significance for football but also significance off the gridiron. From African Americans and College to Zero (a shutout is recorded as nothing) to football language, which now influences business, and the “Super Bowl,” which is the most watched program on U.S. television, it's a fascinating story.

Berkshire Encyclopedia of China. 5 vols. Berkshire. 2754p. ed. by Mary Bagg. illus. maps. index. ISBN 978-0-9770159-4-8. $525.

Take a publisher with a decade of experience in China, add a group of well-known Chinese and Western scholars, pay special attention to details (each of the 800 articles begins on its own page, all article titles are rendered in English, Chinese characters, and transliterations), add 1100 unique photographs, sprinkle in dozens of traditional Chinese proverbs, do it all on recycled, chlorine-free paper, throw in a year of free online access, and the end result is this sumptuous resource on all things China for the 21st century. (LJ 9/1/09)

Encyclopedia of Modern China. 4 vols. Gale Cengage. 2330p. ed. by David Pong. illus. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-684-31566-9. $520; Online: Gale Virtual Reference Library

The emphasis here is on China since 1800. Pong (Delaware) has used 500 international authors to write 936 entries and sidebars, enhanced with hundreds of color photos, maps, tables, and graphs. From daily life and the banking system to the explosive economic growth over the last 30 years, it's all here, along with the arts, government, health care, and popular culture.

Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky. 6 vols. Oxford Univ. 2927p. ed. by Paul A. Tenkotte & James C. Claypool. illus. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-8131-2565-7. $49.95; Online: Oxford Reference Online

More than six years in the making, with 2100 entries from 300 authors, this regional encyclopedia was launched at a grand fete at Northern Kentucky University on October 25, with Nick Clooney serving as MC. It chronicles the historical, geographical, social, cultural, religious, political, and economic history of northern Kentucky, which at varying times has served as the gateway to the West, as an important stop on the Underground Railroad, and a center of brewing and distilling.

Hayes, Derek. Historical Atlas of the American West with Original Maps. Univ. of California. 288p. illus. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-520-25652-1. $39.95.

An English geographer/historian who did graduate work at the University of British Columbia, Hayes is the award-winning author of 12 books. In his newest atlas, which covers a wide swath of the Western United States, including Texas and Alaska, he has selected more than 600 original full-color maps and complements them with extensive explanation. It's a rich history, beautifully illustrated. (LJ 11/1/09)

World Heritage Sites. Firefly. 832p. illus. maps. index. ISBN 978-1-55407-463-1. $29.95.

UNESCO first intervened to rescue ancient Nubian treasures threatened by the construction of Egypt's Aswan Dam in 1959. In 1972, it drafted a World Heritage Convention to encourage the preservation of cultural and natural heritages worldwide. The World Heritage List now includes 878 sites in 145 countries. These include some of the most famous places in the world, from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta. (LJ 11/1/09)

Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy. 2 vols. Gale Cengage. 1127p. ed. by J. Baird Callicott & Robert Frodeman. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-02-866137-7. $294; Online: Gale Virtual Reference Library

Environmental ethics first appeared on the scene in the 1970s perhaps prompted by a 1967 article in Science entitled “The Historic Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis.” After the founding of the journal Environmental Ethics in 1979, it grew rapidly, with most colleges and universities offering courses or even majors by the end of the century. Some 250 scholars here contribute 300 articles complete with bibliographies on precursors like Rachel Carson and John Muir and on issues like biocentrism and vegetarianism. (LJ 3/1/09)

Nichols, C. Reid & Robert G. Williams. Encyclopedia of Marine Science. Facts On File. 626p. illus. maps. index. ISBN 978-0-8160-5022-2. $85; Online: Infobase Ebooks

Nichols and Williams, both experienced oceanographers who have also taught their craft, along with contributors from industry, academia, and government, here describe the 600 key topics and concepts of this interdisciplinary field, whose scope includes applied science, engineering, and technology. Twenty essays profile pioneers like Robert Ballard, who found the sunken Titanic in 1985.

Tucker, Arthur O. & Thomas DeBaggio. The Encyclopedia of Herbs. Timber. 604p. illus. index. ISBN 978-0-88192-994-2. $39.95.

Tucker and DeBaggio, two of the country's leading herb experts, have combined talents to update and expand their earlier Big Book of Herbs, which won an award from the Herb Society of America. They describe more than 500 herbs that are most common in home gardens, catalogs, restaurants, and markets used for flavor or fragrance, from the acorus (sweet flag) used in the Oil of Holy Ointment to Zingiber mioga (mioga ginger) used for soups and stir fry.

Turner, Matt W. Remarkable Plants of Texas. Univ. of Texas. 336p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-292-71851-7. $29.95.

In its 268,000 acres, Texas is blessed with enormous botanical diversity, including some 6000 species, and has been the subject of many field guides. Turner, by contrast, uses 65 entries to discuss 80 native plants in 62 genera and 42 families. He covers plants that are widely disseminated and most interesting in terms of human life and wildlife and are frequently written about in diaries, journals, and reports.

Zanini de Vita, Oretta. Encyclopedia of Pasta. Univ. of California. 374p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-520-25522-7. $29.95.

“So You Think You Know Pasta” was a recent headline in the New York Times. The subject was this remarkable new reference work by 73-year-old Italian food historian Zanini de Vita. Said one critic, where “Julia Child demystified French food, Oretta demystifies pasta.” In all, she describes 310 different shapes, tells us the ingredients, how they are made and served, and where they are found. (LJ 1/10)

The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion.Univ. of Chicago. 1105p. ed. by Richard A. Shweder. index. ISBN 978-0-226-47539-4. $75.

With a goal to inform, broaden, and enrich our conversations about children while answering basic questions about their mental, social, biological, and spiritual development, this compact volume succeeds admirably by using an interdisciplinary approach and a global scale. The 529 A–Z arranged articles provide readable summaries on topics from class size and ear infections to children and war. (LJ 11/15/09)

Counseling and Therapy in Video. Alexander Street Pr. www.alexanderstreetpress.com

The content here is astonishingly deep, broad, and expert, as well as unique, and you are not going to find anything even remotely similar online that covers counseling and therapy in this way. The quality of the featured videos is excellent; the redundancies between browsing and searching make it quite certain that you will find what you're looking for quickly. The design is deceptively simple (in a good way) and when combined with all the aforesaid elements makes for a highly effective tool. (LJ 12/09)

Gale Encyclopedia of Surgery and Medical Tests. 4 vols. Gale Cengage. 1905p. ed. by Brigham Narins. illus. index. ISBN 978-1-4144-4884-8. $520; Online: Gale Virtual Reference Library

First published in 2004, this considerably expanded edition includes 535 clearly written entries by medical writers, doctors, nurses, and pharmacists on the process of medical testing and surgery. From amniocentesis (to diagnose fetal defects) to vertical banded gastroplasty (stomach stapling), entries describe purpose, terms, precautions, description, preparation, risks, and results. A great ready-reference for students in nursing and allied health as well as the general public.

Great Athletes. 13 vols. Salem. 4725p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-1-58765-473-2. $1020; Online: Salem History

Having morphed over the years into the largest and most comprehensive collection of sports biographies ever published, this 13-volume set now has profiles of nearly 1500 athletes written by close to 400 experts. Engaging entries describe their early life, road to excellence, career as emerging champion, and postathletic success or failure. Buy the complete set and get complimentary online access and a free poster. (LJ 12/09)