mcilvaine.p65


180  College & Research Libraries March 1999

180

his article follows the pattern
set by the semiannual series
initiated by the late Constance
M. Winchell more than fifty

years ago and continued by Eugene P.
Sheehy. Because the purpose of the list is
to present a selection of recent scholarly
and general works of interest to reference
workers in university libraries, it does not
pretend to be either well balanced or com-
prehensive. A brief roundup of new edi-
tions of standard works is provided at the
end of the articles. Code numbers such
as AD124 and DB13 have been used to
refer to titles in the Guide to Reference
Books, 11th ed. (Chicago: ALA, 1996).

Periodicals and Newspapers
The Waterloo Directory of English News-

papers and Periodicals, 1800–1900. Ed.
John S. North. Waterloo, Ont.: North
Waterloo Academic Pr., 1997. 10 vols.
7349p. il, facsims, ports. $3,645 (ISBN
0-921075-18-9).

This indispensable set has a complicated
publishing history. The Waterloo Directory
of Victorian Periodicals, 1824–1900 (which
includes England, Scotland, and Ireland)
was published as a single volume in 1976
(Guide AD114). That volume is now be-
ing updated and greatly expanded along
with the revised directories of Irish and
Scottish newspapers and periodicals pub-
lished in 1986 (Guide AD124) and 1989
(Guide AD119), respectively. A CD-ROM
version of the present title was issued in
1994. This print version adds some 2,000

titles and updates about half the entries.
This is Series One of a projected five; each
series will supersede the earlier, incorpo-
rating all of the information (and correc-
tions). The compilers felt, realistically, that
if they are unable to complete the whole
set for some reason, at least some infor-
mation will be available.

This first series is an alphabetical list
of some 25,000 newspapers and journals
in all fields, although the emphasis is on
art and architecture, children’s maga-
zines, theater, humor, music, and women.
Of the 25,000 titles, an astonishing 8,000
were examined in detail. Many of the oth-
ers were found cited, but not located; they
were included because the editor hopes
“to provide an introduction to the field,
rather than limit the research in some tidy
way” (p.10).

The bibliography excludes govern-
ment publications and company reports
but does include transportation sched-
ules, almanacs, and town directories, as
well as the more traditional journals and
newspapers published at least once a
year. When the set is complete, the edi-
tors hope to have covered in fifty volumes
some 125,000 serials published in En-
gland between January 1, 1800, and De-
cember 31, 1900, even if most of the is-
sues appeared before or after those dates.

The information provided for each title
varies, of course, sometimes just being
limited to a title and date. But when pos-
sible, the title, variant titles, dates, place
of publication, editor, contributors, circu-

Selected Reference Books of 1998

Eileen McIlvaine

Eileen McIlvaine is Head of Reference and Collections in Butler Library at Columbia University; e-mail:
mcilvain@columbia.edu. Although it appears under a byline, this list is a project of the reference depart-
ments of Columbia University Libraries, and notes are signed with the initials of one of the following staff
members: Barbara Sykes-Austin, Avery Library; Mary Cargill, Anice Mills, Robert H. Scott, Junko
Stuveras, Sarah Spurgin Witte, Butler Library; Deborah Wassertzug, Journalism Librarian; Olha della
Cava, Lehman Library; Elizabeth Davis, Music Library; Nancy E. Friedland, Undergraduate Library.



Selected Reference Books  181

lation, and selected British locations are
listed. There are indexes of issuing bod-
ies, places and people, and subjects. The
5,000 reproductions of title pages make it
fascinating to browse.

Not all the information seems to be
complete. The notorious Tit-Bits, for ex-
ample, which was published for many
years, lists only one date. So I can hope
that Tootsie Sloper: A Journal of Brightness,
Lightness and Frivolity had more than one
issue. And this monumental achievement
does shed brightness and lightness, and
indeed frivolity on the nineteenth cen-
tury.—M.C.

Philosophy
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Ed. Edward Craig. London:
Routledge, 1998. 10 vols. $2,995 (ISBN
0-415073103). LC 97-4549.

This is the first major encyclopedia of
philosophy in English since Macmillan’s
Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1967, suppl.
1996. Guide BB24). The ten-volume set
covers world philosophy from antiquity
to the twentieth century. Volume 10 fur-
nishes an extensive index that brings to-
gether related articles. For example, un-
der “medical ethics,” volume and pages
of the main article are indicated in bold
characters followed by related articles in
other volumes from “doctor/patient re-
lationship” to the “Tuskegee project.” If
you look up a country, entries on philoso-
phers of the country are listed alphabeti-
cally along with some topics important
to the country’s history of philosophy.

In addition to individual philosophers,
schools and “isms,” the work treats world
philosophy from both the historical per-
spective and the geographic. It succeeds
in bringing some organic unity to the di-
versity. The articles were contributed by
some 1,300 philosophers worldwide, and
each article is accompanied by a bibliog-
raphy of reference and further reading.
Many university and research libraries
will not be ready to trade their worn cop-
ies of the MacMillan Encyclopedia for this
new version, but this is a worthwhile ad-
dition to their collections

The set comes with a CD-ROM disc.
The Windows-based database requires
133 MHz Pentium processor and 16 MB
of RAM. Although the installation guide
recommends 9 MB of available hard disk
space, in the actual installation 15 MB or
more is necessary, even for the browser-
only installation. The database typically
shows three windows on the screen: in-
dex or table of contents, text, and bibli-
ography. The DynaText-based database is
fairly easy to navigate and better than
those textual databases using the Acro-
bat Reader.—J.S.

Literature
Reference Guide to Russian Literature.

Ed. Neil Cornwell; assoc. ed. Nicole
Christian. London, Chicago: Fitzroy
Dearborn, 1998. xl, 972p. $135 (ISBN
1-8849-6410-9). LC 97-169924.

Despite the existence of a number of valu-
able English-language reference tools for
the study of Russian literature, such as
the Handbook of Russian Literature, ed. Vic-
tor Terras (1985. Guide BE1411), Wolfgang
Kasack’s Dictionary of Russian Literature
since 1917 (1988. Guide BE1412), or the
ongoing Modern Encyclopedia of East Slavic,
Baltic and Eurasian Literatures (Gulf Breeze,
Fla.: Academic Intl., 1977– ), this volume
represents an important new contribution
that most libraries with serious coverage
of Russian and comparative literature will
want to acquire.

One in a series of reference handbooks
produced by this relatively new publish-
ing company, the Guide is the collective
endeavor of a large team of British,
American, and Russian specialists. Its
approach differs somewhat from that of
its predecessors in its special focus on in-
dividual works of literature, including
brief summaries of plot and theme and
discussion of the major issues of interpre-
tation and analysis.

The book opens with a series of well-
written essays surveying the major peri-
ods, genres, schools of criticism, and so
forth. In the main body of text that fol-
lows, major authors (as well as key
anonymous works) are surveyed, from



182  College & Research Libraries March 1999

the Old Russian period to the present.
Each article begins with a concise bio-
graphical sketch, a bibliography of the
key editions and translations as well as
critical works, and then, typically, an
overall characterization of the author ’s
work followed by two- or three-page dis-
cussions of major works. Alphabetical
and chronological tables of contents,
along with a title index, provide varied
means of access to the contents.

The work lends itself to quick lookups
for those wishing to familiarize them-
selves with a particular author or work
but also admirably serves the needs of
those seeking to obtain quickly an over-
view of the major themes and issues of
Russian literature, to identify potential
areas for further research, or to fill gaps
in a specialist’s knowledge of the field. It
is not only a work that many libraries will
find essential for the collections, but it is
something that many individual scholars
will want to acquire for their personal
reference collections as well.—R.H.S.

Film and Radio
Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclo-

pedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Ox-
ford Univ. Pr., 1998. 822p. $55 (ISBN 0-
19-507678-8). LC 96-41959.

Historical Dictionary of American Radio
Eds. Donald G. Godfrey and Frederic
A. Leigh. Westport, Conn.: Green-
wood, 1998. 485p. $89.50 (ISBN 0-313-
29636-7). LC 97-33140.

These two well-researched, comprehen-
sive volumes complement each other
nicely. In On the Air, John Dunning has
updated, revised, and enlarged his ear-
lier encyclopedia Tune in Yesterday (Guide
BH308), published in 1976. Correcting
oversights and adding new material that
includes “full descriptive and factual de-
tails on hundreds of people and shows
not covered in the first book” (Introd.),
Dunning has produced an informative,
carefully researched work. Alphabetical
entries describe individual radio shows
and significant radio personalities. Each
entry provides a program’s brief broad-
cast history and detailed listings of casts,

announcers, writers, directors, theme
songs, etc., followed by narrative essays
that cover the history and memorable fea-
tures of the show. A program’s current
availability on cassette tape is often noted.
Cross-references and an index that de-
notes main entries in boldface help the
reader identify individuals and program
titles. Students of radio broadcasting will
also benefit from the extensive bibliogra-
phy, divided into books; newspapers and
periodicals; logs; and miscellaneous items
such as publicity releases and bound scripts.

The Historical Dictionary of American
Radio, although equally thorough, takes
a slightly different approach. Beginning
with an introductory essay that gives a
brief history of the medium followed by
a chronology of significant events from
1837 to 1997, this volume covers the
broader political, economic, and social
aspects of radio, with less emphasis on
programs and personalities. Entries en-
compass technical and business terminol-
ogy, formats, and descriptions of govern-
ment agencies, regulations, and policies
that have affected radio. Concise, clear
coverage of the FCC’s role with respect
to regulatory control, licensing, censor-
ship, and deregulation is especially note-
worthy. Each entry, arranged alphabeti-
cally, is signed. Brief biographies of the
hundred or so contributors, all professors
in the field of mass communications or
broadcast journalism, are included at the
back of the volume. Cross-references and
an index with main entries noted in bold-
face are valuable aids. The Select Bibliog-
raphy includes books, journal articles,
theses, government documents, and a list
of about seventy relevant Web sites rang-
ing from the Bellingham Antique Radio
Museum to the Telecommunications Act
of 1996.

Both of these volumes are notable for
their attention to detail and their schol-
arly approach to this burgeoning area of
study.—A.M.

Langman, Larry. The Media in the Movies:
A Catalog of American Journalism Films,
1900–1996. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland,



Selected Reference Books  183

1998. 333p. il. $65 (ISBN 0-7864-0433-
7). LC 97-46949.

The latest offering form Larry Langman,
author of a number of esteemed film ref-
erence works, is a compilation of film
summaries for more than a thousand fea-
tures and serials released between 1900
and 1996 that have as their central con-
cern journalism in its different guises,
both print and broadcast. The work is in-
tended for researchers seeking to trace the
film depiction of journalism and journal-
ists and particularly how journalists in-
teract with their news stories and the
public. It also is intended to reflect the
way these filmic depictions have changed
over nine decades.

The book opens with a brief
filmographic essay that betrays a heavy
bias toward films from the earlier part of
the century (primarily before 1960), with
later films given only passing mention.
The ten stills and posters reproduced in
the work also give evidence of the
author ’s emphasis on films made before
1960.

The film listings offer brief synopses
and analyses of the films, which are listed
alphabetically and given entry numbers
that are used in the personal name index
that follows. Listings include the title and
release date of the work with studio
names abbreviated. The credits show di-
rector, screenwriter, and principal actors
but do not include the names of the char-
acters the actors play. In addition, the
book’s appendixes belie its title because
they cover newspaper film series and se-
rials and peripheral newspaper films;
these lists do not include titles that cover
broadcast media. A bibliography at the
back of the volume lists supplementary
readings related to journalism, but not to
films per se.

Because the criteria for inclusion in this
obviously selective work are never dis-
cussed, the reader may be left wonder-
ing why it is lean on films made after 1960
and why, of those films, titles such as
Network and To Die For are omitted but
the questionable Dead Men Don’t Die is
included.

Given Langman’s reputation as a
filmographer, libraries with an extensive
film collection should purchase this title.
But also note the publication in 1997 of a
similar work entitled From Headline
Hunter to Superman: A Journalism
Filmography by Richard Ness, an instruc-
tor at Wayne State University’s commu-
nications department and researcher in
the journalism film genre (Lanham, Md.:
Scarecrow, 1997. 789p. $89.50). That work,
despite its numerous typographical er-
rors, has an international scope, lists its
films chronologically, has fuller credits
and cast listings, and, most important,
covers more than 2,100 films, including
made-for-TV movies.—D.W.

Art and Architecture
Ballast, David Kent. The Encyclopedia of

Associations and Information Sources for
Architects, Designers and Engineers.
Armonk, N.Y.: Sharpe Professional,
1998. 814p. $125 (ISBN 0-7656-0035-8).
LC 97-20300.

Despite its title, this is not an encyclope-
dia but, rather, a compilation of directo-
ries relevant to those professions named
in the title. This work will indeed be use-
ful to architects, designers, engineers, and
students of those disciplines if care is
taken to remember that information de-
livery systems are in a rapidly expand-
ing and transformative period. Online
databases and CD-ROMs change their
formats only slightly less frequently than
Web sites, and any directory is likely to
have some of its contents superseded be-
fore it is even published.

Still, there is an impressive range of
coverage in many of the twelve sections.
The 534 entries for associations and or-
ganizations include the standard address
(including e-mail and Web address) and
descriptive information and find groups
such as the American Jail Association and
the ALA sharing a page. Two sections are
given over to journals and newsletters,
their publishers, frequency, and prices,
which can be useful as a selection tool for
librarians, as will the sections on online
databases (89 are listed), CD-ROMs (103),



184  College & Research Libraries March 1999

and Web sites (546). However, some sec-
tions are of questionable value; for ex-
ample, the resources of associations (i.e.,
publication lists) are incomplete and
likely to go out of date almost immedi-
ately, and keywords separate from the
keyword index are redundant. Moreover,
there are factual errors: a quick scanning
of the journal titles and the indexes that
cover them revealed at least ten titles in-
dexed by the Avery Index to Architectural
Periodicals (Guide BF209), but not listed as
such, which does a disservice to users as
well as providers.

The strength of this resource lies in its
organizational listings, which include
government agencies, research and test-
ing laboratories, its wide scope of printed
membership directories and database list-
ings (everything form the American So-
ciety of Plumbing Engineers to the Union
List of Artists Names), and its successful
efforts to include such a wide variety of
professional services in its pages.—B.S-A.

Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconogra-
phy: Themes Depicted in Works of Art.
Ed. Helene E. Roberts. Chicago:
Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998. 2 vols. 1120p.
il. $250 (ISBN 1-57958-009-2). LC 98-
163033.

In her introduction to this two-volume
work on major themes prevalent in works
of art, editor Helene Roberts makes an
important practical point: “Without a
knowledge of the many narratives from
mythology, religion and literature that
animate the world’s art, much of that art
is closed to modern interpretation and
understanding” (paraphrased from p. vii).
Roberts and her forty-one contributors
have provided a useful means to access
the messages underlying the images,
folktales, plays, fables, myths, poetry, and
other forms of artistic representation that
cross many culture and centuries.

The main part of the encyclopedia con-
sists of an alphabetical list of approxi-
mately 120 broad themes, such as aban-
donment, madness, witchcraft, melan-
choly, etc. Each of these essays discusses
a selected group of narratives illustrative

of the topic: Oedipus, Moses, and found-
ling hospitals are among the major nar-
ratives found in the essay on abandon-
ment for example. A list of selected works of
art and further readings completes the entry.

In addition, there are seven indexes
that enable the reader to find specific
mythological, historical, and Judeo-Chris-
tian personages, places, and concepts ref-
erenced to the Bible, the Koran, and other
religious texts, non-Western cultures, re-
ligions and mythologies, artists, authors,
composers, filmmakers, and literary texts,
and a subject index (called “Other Names
and Terms”), all of which refer back to the
essays. Illustrations are limited to one full-
page black-and-white image per essay.

This is a refreshing approach to a sub-
ject that is often presented in a single al-
phabet, without the benefit of the the-
matic arrangement that will satisfy the
contextual requirements essential to
iconographic interpretation and under-
standing. A general reading list in the first
volume extends to six double-columned
pages and is not duplicated in the read-
ings cited in each chapter.

The Roberts encyclopedia aims to dis-
tinguish itself from this thicket of sources
by using a comparative method to de-
scribe the use of iconography in art and
to organize itself from the point of view
of the actions, situations, and concepts
that have been selected for the essays (p.
viii). In so doing, it recommends itself as
a first step when beginning an icono-
graphic search, in the knowledge that any
further steps can be traced through the
reading list and the works of art. This lat-
ter feature is especially welcome but
could have been better exploited if there
had been a key devised from the list of
artworks to the bibliographic sources in
which it is expected they can be found.—
B.S-A.

GATF Encyclopedia of Graphic Commu-
nications. Eds. Richard M. and Frank
J. Romano. Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall, 1998. xxxviii, 945p. il.
$350 (ISBN 0-13-096422-0). LC 98-
008329.



Selected Reference Books  185

GATF, the Graphic Arts Technical Foun-
dation, has long been active in providing
information to professionals in the
graphic communications industries
through publications, seminars, and elec-
tronic media. With publication of the
GATF Encyclopedia of Graphic Communica-
tions, GATF has broadened its audience
with information useful to a more gen-
eral public without neglecting the special-
ist. This is a wonderful work with com-
prehensible entries on just about
everything related to graphic communi-
cations.

The opening essay entitled, “The Story
of Print: The First 500 Years,” provides a
useful overview. The main body of the
encyclopedia consists of 10,000 terms and
more than 650 illustrations related to ev-
ery aspect of visual communications:
print to desktop publishing, photography,
computers and networking, and more.
Entries include technical terms, compo-
nents, processes, equipment related to
visual communications, and biographical
entries for those individuals who contrib-
uted to the development of visual com-
munications through invention. Nice ad-
ditions include the history of the alpha-
bet and a 16-page color insert on the color
spectrum and color reproduction.

The well-written and concise entries
are arranged alphabetically and are ex-
tensively cross-referenced by bolded
terms. Most of the entries are a few lines;
however, broader topics such as print,
photography, and type and typography
receive fuller treatment. Generally, entries
for broader topics will include a history
of the topic followed by information that
relates to the medium in a professional
setting. For example, the section on type
and typography begins with a history of
type through desktop publishing fol-
lowed by information on characters of
type and letter elements such as serif and
sans serif and how they were used in the
industry. A time line of communications
history and a bibliography follow the
main body.

 This work is useful for professionals
involved in publishing, printing, or

graphic arts and for the general public
with interest in any aspect of visual commu-
nications. Highly recommended.—N.E.F.

Maliszewski-Pickart, Margaret. Architec-
ture and Ornament: An Illustrated Dic-
tionary. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland,
1998. 198p. il. $35 (ISBN 0-7864-0383-
7). LC 97-33112.

The perennial complaint about dictionar-
ies is that one has to know how a word is
spelled in order to look it up. The same
holds true with dictionaries of architec-
ture; for example, to find out what the
space surrounding an arch is called or
what terms differentiate among various
masonry bonding patterns, one often ig-
nores the alphabetical arrangement of
entries and, instead, flips through a dic-
tionary in the hope of seeing the desired
architectural form or diagram revealed in
the illustrations.

This small, but useful, volume acts as
a kind of reverse dictionary to the most-
often-used standard sources, such as
those by Cyril M. Harris, for example, his
Dictionary of Architecture and Construction
(2d ed. 1993. Guide BF242), Historic Archi-
tecture Sourcebook (1977, and its reprint
title, Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Ar-
chitecture, 1983. Guide BF245). It presents
labeled drawings and photographs of
building components and architectural
elements in broad categories, such as win-
dows and doors, walls, roofs, columns,
stairs, ornament and moldings, arches,
vaults, and domes so that, turning to the
walls section, one has only to look at the
illustrations in that section (grouped
many or one to a page depending on the
nature of the structure) to find brick and
stone bonding patterns named and com-
paratively illustrated, or at the section on
arches to see a spandrel identified in situ.
Actual definitions follow in a single dic-
tionary section where the terms are ar-
ranged alphabetically.

The ornament and moldings section
presents a variety of patterns and theme
variations, making it useful to designers
who wish to select a motif in addition to
being able to identify one known already.



186  College & Research Libraries March 1999

Finally an appendix, “Describing Archi-
tecture,” gives examples of various build-
ing types in narrative form that encom-
pass a recommended checklist of points
necessary to describe a building accu-
rately. A bibliography follows.

This book will be useful to architects,
historians, preservationists, students, and
interested lay public to identify, as well
as to learn, architectural terms used pri-
marily in the context of American archi-
tecture and its historical forms.—B. S-A.

Music
Temperley, Nicholas. The Hymn Tune In-

dex: A Census of English-Language Hymn
Tunes in Printed Sources from 1535 to
1820. Oxford: Clarendon Pr., 1998. 4
vols. $550 (ISBN 0-19-311150-0). LC 97-
25758.

This work aims to present a scholarly or-
ganization and treatment of hymns, as
well as to provide a practical means of
accessing information about them in a
variety of ways. Its subject is British and
American hymns and metrical psalm
tunes published before 1820.

A four-volume work, the tune census
comprises volumes three and four with
entries for 17,424 tunes. Each entry con-
tains a tune number (assigned in numeric
sequence), the tune coded in alpha/nu-
meric form for identification, the tune
meter, the keys in which the tune has been
published, and a tune-setting code. This
last code indicates the number of voices
for which the tune has been written and
the placement of the voice that carries the
tune and thus serves as the basis for the
coding. In addition to these musical at-
tributes, each entry contains the author ’s
or editor ’s name, any additional author
or editor source attribution, the code for
the text incipit, the tune’s name or head-
ing by which it is known, the year of pub-
lication, and a letter code indicating the
country or region of publication. For any
of this information, italic type is used if
information is not taken from the item,
but is being supplied by the author.

To access the information in the cen-
sus entries, a number of indexes are pro-

vided in volume two. The “Index of Tunes
by Musical Incipit” contains the coded
tunes listed in order by numeric code.
Using this index requires the ability to
hum or sing the tune’s pitches and to es-
tablish a pitch center (identified as “1”).
Every other pitch is then coded into num-
bers relative to the distance from “1.” The
“Index of Tunes by Name” points to an
entry in the tune index, but if the same
name has been given to more than one
tune, the coded tune Incipit for each en-
try is given to facilitate identification. The
“Index of Tunes by Composer” contains
the last names of the composers or edi-
tors and refers to entry numbers, as do
entries in the “Index of Tunes by Text
Incipit.” The last index contains codes
listed in alphabetic order, the letters of
which are formed from the first letters of
each word in the first line of text (e.g.,
OMSWMT = “O my soul, what means
this sadness”). “Tunes for Unusual Text
Metres” (the most common being lines
with 8 or 6 beats, or combination thereof)
completes the indexes.

Volume One provides the scholarly ap-
paratus detailing the state of research in
the field, historical and technical intro-
ductions, and a bibliography of sources.
A concordance to three standard hymn
collections is provided. Despite the chal-
lenging appearances of many of the codes
resulting from their machine-readable
source, this volume will meet the infor-
mation needs in the area of hymn identi-
fication and study.—E.D.

Political Science
Burg, David F. Encyclopedia of Student and

Youth Movements. New York: Facts on
File, 1998. 254p. il. $50 (ISBN 0-8160-
3375-7). LC 97-32408.

This informative, if selective, encyclope-
dia provides an overview of international
youth movements and student groups
from the Middle Ages to the present day.
Rather than an exhaustive approach, the
author acknowledges that he has neces-
sarily had to exclude more than he has
included. His aim has been to describe
groups that “represent the most signifi-



Selected Reference Books  187

cant of those movements and events,
while also revealing their diversity”
(Pref.).

Arranged alphabetically, the brief,
clearly written entries include move-
ments, groups, and significant individu-
als as diverse as Joan of Arc and Abbie
Hoffman. Cross-references to related top-
ics as well as bibliographic sources at the
end of some entries are useful aids. Black-
and-white photographs throughout the
text both amplify and illustrate the pro-
tests and events being described. An ex-
tensive bibliography at the end of the
volume provides sources for further
study. Although the index is useful for
locating a specific group or individual, it
lacks geographic access points that would
list youth movements and groups by
country.

Though it might have been more com-
prehensive in its coverage, especially of
the extent of involvement of American
students in protests of the late 1960s, this
well-researched encyclopedia will be for
value to undergraduates and others
studying student movements and their
impact on political, social, and cultural de-
velopment.—A.M.

A Historical Guide to the U.S. Govern-
ment. Ed. George Kurian. New York:
Oxford Univ. Pr., 1998. 741p. il. $75
(ISBN 0-19-510230-4). LC 97-47442.

This encyclopedia is “a composite profile
of the U.S. government through a history
of the various departments and agencies
that constitute it” (Pref.). It has four- to
five-page signed articles on general top-
ics, each with a fairly substantial bibliog-
raphy ( “Civil Service,” “Statistical Infor-
mation,” etc.), as well as specific agencies.
The preface states that the editor did not
include the judiciary branch, but impor-
tant court decisions are sometimes cited
in the bibliographies and there is an en-
try on the “Supreme Court Decisions on
the Presidency,” though not on the Su-
preme Court itself.

The volume includes a convenient ap-
pendix of some of the basic documents
relating to government administration,

such as the Hatch Act and the Freedom
of Information Act. There is a detailed and
useful index.

Despite its title, it does not have the
historical scope of Government Agencies,
compiled by Donald R. Whitnah (1983.
Guide CJ120). There are no separate en-
tries for the Children’s Bureau, the Job
Corps, or the Works Progress Adminis-
tration (all included in the earlier book),
though there are scattered references to
these agencies in the index. The bibliog-
raphies in the newer volume are fuller,
but the Greenwood volume occasionally
lists primary sources. Any library sup-
porting programs in American history
will need both volumes.—M.C.

Women’s Studies
Amico, Eleanor B. Reader ’s Guide to

Women’s Studies. Chicago: Fitzroy
Dearborn, 1998. 732p. $125 (ISBN 1-88-
49657-7). LC 98-138939.

This is an excellent starting point for femi-
nist research. Some 500 topics are ad-
dressed, including individuals, historical
events, social movements, feminist
theory, and general topics of current in-
terest. Each entry provides a list of rec-
ommended books, followed by a discus-
sion of the relative merits of each work.
The entries are well written and long
enough to provide useful information.
Although this work is clearly intended for
the generalist or beginning researcher and
cites only books in English, it will be in-
dispensable in all reference collections.

Entries are arranged alphabetically
(Aboriginal Women to Zaharias, Mildred
“Babe” Didrikson). A thematic list groups
topics into categories (e.g., Amazons,
Ancient Classical World, Ancient Near
East, Hatshepsut, Prehistory, Hunting-
gathering cultures, Hypatia and early
philosophers, Matriarchal theory,
Sappho), and there is a subject index.

The Reader’s Guide to Women’s Studies
is highly recommended. We look forward
to an update.—S.S.W.

Kimball, Michelle R., and Barbara R.
von Schlegell. Muslim Women through-



188  College & Research Libraries March 1999

out the World: A Bibliography. Boulder,
London: Lynne Rienner, 1997. 307p. il.
$75 (ISBN 1-55587-680-3). LC 96-25718.

This is a disappointing bibliography on a
subject for which there is considerable
interest and demand. The bulk of the bib-
liography (some 2,905 citations) is ar-
ranged alphabetically by author with no
annotations. It focuses primarily on
“scholarly studies in English written in
this century through 1995, with some
works of fiction, early travel accounts,
popular publications and works written
by practicing Muslims which would be
called ‘devotional’” (Pref.). There is a
small section (53 citations) of recom-
mended books and articles.

The author arrangement would be fine
if there were an adequate index, but the
index is seriously flawed. Many articles
are not listed in the subject index at all.
For example, “Women and Shi’ism in
Iran” by Mina Modares (m/f 5-6:61-8) was
not listed under Shi’ism, Iran, or Women.
Articles that have been indexed are al-
most as difficult to find. For example,
Marchia Hermansen’s “The Female Hero
in the Islamic Religious Tradition” (An-
nual Review of Women in World Religions
2:111–43) does not appear under either
religion, hero, or heroine but, instead,
under Islam—the female hero in (filing
alphabetically after “t” for “the”). It ap-
pears that most of the indexing is based
on words in the title of the article, rather
than upon any sort of understanding of
the subject of the book or article. This kind
of sloppy indexing is inexcusable at a time
when we turn to printed bibliographies
for the sort of access we cannot get from
online sources. The Index Islamicus,
Women’s Resources International, and
KVINNSAM all provide better access and
indexing of materials relating to Islamic
women. This bibliography is useful for
verification of older material (when you
have the author ’s name) and does pro-
vide adequate subject access for most ar-
ticles. However, the danger is that a
reader might assume comprehensive cov-
erage and not search the other sources.—
S.S.W.

Women in the Third World: An Encyclo-
pedia of Contemporary Issues. Ed.
Nelly P. Stromquist. New York: Gar-
land, 1998. 683p. Garland Reference
Library of Social Science, 760. $135
(ISBN 0-815301502). LC 98-14689.

The editor and contributors of Women in
the Third World set for themselves the task
of providing a feminist perspective on
issues dealing with socioeconomic devel-
opment in third-world countries. Specifi-
cally, they wanted to gather in one vol-
ume relevant information on existing, as
well as emerging, issues pertaining to
women in the developing countries and
to bring a cross-disciplinary approach to
the study of these issues.

The more than sixty articles in the en-
cyclopedia are grouped into ten sections.
One section deals with conceptual and
theoretical issues; several sections docu-
ment the situation of women in political,
legal, demographic, social, and economic
contexts; and still others deal with women
and the environment, to explore topics
that prepare for and promote change.
Geographical entries comprise the last
section. The essays within the sections
present up-to-date information, within a
feminist framework, on both traditional
and well-identified issues, as well as on
emerging issues such as domestic and
sexual violence, creation of women-
friendly cities, AIDS, and the gender con-
sequences of ecological deterioration and
of war.

All essays follow a set of uniform pa-
rameters, but because the authors come
from both the First and the Third Worlds
and were drawn not only from the ranks
of established scholars, but also include
well-known activists and new figures in
feminist literature, there are variations in
approach and presentation. Thus, entries
run the gamut from syntheses of the lit-
erature, to interpretations of current
events, to advocacy of special issues.
Quality was safeguarded through a rig-
orous process of peer review. The content
is enriched with bibliographies, charts,
and statistics. There are an annotated bib-
liography for the entire encyclopedia, an



Selected Reference Books  189

index, and several appendixes containing
the texts of several key instruments of im-
portance to women.

This is a work of high quality and
broad scope, but it is more than an exer-
cise in meticulous fact-gathering and
good organization. The work is a com-
mitment to the cause of women, for the
ultimate goal of the compilers was to pro-
mote an understanding of the condition
of women across different settings and
countries, to underscore the pervasive
reach of gender ideology, to demonstrate
the relation between gender and power,
and to provide insights that might lead
to a proper conceptualization, and even-
tual solution, of the problems encountered
by women in the Third World.—O.dC.

History
Reader’s Guide to American History. Ed.

Peter J. Parish. London, Chicago:
Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997. 880p. $103
(ISBN 1-884964-22-2). LC 98-101338.

Reference librarians are familiar with the
scene: a student comes to the desk want-
ing a general work on some aspect of
American history. The choice has usually
been to show him hundreds and hun-
dreds of titles under United States—His-
tory or the outdated Harvard Guide to
American History (Guide DB13). The recent
Guide to Historical Literature, sponsored by
the American Historical Association
(Mary Beth Norton, editor. New York:
Oxford Univ. Pr., 1995. 2v), has helped but
is too general to be useful in many cases.
The Reader ’s Guide to American History
should offer relief.

It is an encyclopedia analyzing the
most significant books written on some
600 topics in American history. It includes
events, individuals, and themes (though
I was surprised to find no entry on the
Frontier Thesis) concentrating on politi-
cal, social, and economic history. It should
be useful to both the beginning history
student trying, for instance, to negotiate
through the vast number of books writ-
ten on the Civil War and the more ad-
vanced student starting research on a spe-
cific topic.

This volume does not, and does not
pretend to, offer one-stop shopping. It
does not list reference works, primary
sources, or, for the most part, periodical
articles. But it does offer an invaluable
service by summarizing and evaluating
the major works in American history
clearly and understandably.—M.C.

New Editions and Supplements
Il Vocabolario Treccani (Roma: Istituto della
Enciclopedia italiana, Fondata da
Giovanni Trecanni, 1997. 5v. and CD-
ROM disc and Guide. L2289000) is the re-
vised and enlarged edition of Il Vocabolario
della Lingua Italiana (1987. Guide AC527).
Now including 160,000 entries for words
accompanied by hundreds of illustra-
tions, the emphasis is on living language
and the dictionary actively adds new
words and meanings. The dictionary is
not meant to double as an encyclopedia,
and proper names of people are excluded
unless they have become part of common
vocabulary. A typical entry is composed
of part of speech, word origin, sample
conjugation for a verb, meanings of the
word, and examples of usage, which are
often quotations from classic authors such
as Manzoni and Ariosto. The dictionary
is visually appealing offering beautiful
plates, excellent drawings and the C.
Plantin typeface for the text. The set in-
cludes a CD disc that offers the possibil-
ity of compiling one’s own personal dic-
tionary.—J.S.

The Foundation Center has revised
several of its publications. The National
Guide to Funding in Arts and Cultures by
Elizabeth H. Rich is in its fifth edition
(New York: Foundation Center, 1998.
1409p. $145 paper) and gives information
for 4,618 grant-making foundations, 342
direct corporate-giving programs, 277
public charities, and 1,100 descriptions of
recently awarded grants. Especially en-
riched is the index with more subject and
geographical terms. In the revision of the
Foundation Center’s Guide to Proposal Writing
by Jane C. Geever (New York: 1997. 213p. $20
paper; 1st ed. 1993), there is an interesting
section on what should go into the proposal.



190  College & Research Libraries March 1999

Joseph Gibaldi has revised the MLA
Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Pub-
lishing (New York: Modern Language
Association, 1998. 343p. $25.00; 1st ed.
1985, comp. Walter Achert and Gibaldi,
Guide AA317) to “establish ground rules
and provide practical advice for schol-
ars—from advanced undergraduates to
authors preparing their first book for pub-
lication. Of especial interest are the chap-
ters on legal issues in scholarly publish-
ing, citing electronic publications, stan-
dard abbreviations. The MLA Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers, also by Gibaldi
(4th ed. 1997. 293p. $20.00 paper), is in-
tended primarily for undergraduates.

Another style manual received revi-
sion: Where Credit Is Due: A Guide to Proper
Citing of Sources, Print and Nonprint by
Nancy E. Shields (Lanham, Md.: Scare-
crow, 1997. 189p. $32.50; 1st ed. 1985.
252p) is addressed to the beginning stu-
dent. It includes information on citing
nonprint material such as microscope
slides, radio broadcasts, telephone/con-
ference calls. There also is a glossary of
terms in common use today, such as In-
ternet, URL, reel to reel, slash, and a list
of standard abbreviations.

British Directories: A Bibliography and
Guide to Directories Published in England
and Wales (1850–1950) and Scotland (1773–
1950), compiled by Gareth Shaw and
Allison Tipper, is in a second edition
(New York: Mansell, 1997. 459p. il., maps
$150) (see Guide AL1 for details on the first
edition, 1989, and also on its relationship
to other bibliographies of British directo-
ries). This bibliography adds directories
of specific trades, provides comprehen-
sive coverage of all Scottish directories
prior to 1950, reports holdings of 120 li-
brary collections that have been visited,
and offers revised indexes arranged by
publisher, place, and subject. There is a
new chapter on the use of directory ma-
terial in historical studies and a list of
corrections and additions received since
the first edition. Shaw and Tim Coles have
begun a new work, Guide to European
Town Directories, following the same pat-
tern (Aldershot, Hants Brookfield, Vt.:

Ashgate). Volume one covers towns in
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the
Scandinavian countries (1997. 327p.
$93.95), and volume two will focus on
France, the Low Countries, Italy, Portu-
gal, and Spain.

The third edition of Literary Research
Guide: An Annotated Listing of Reference
Sources in English Literary Studies, by
James L. Harner, maintains the same
wealth of information (New York: MLA,
1998. $19.75; 2d ed. 1993, Guide BE396,
formerly subtitled A Guide to Reference
Sources for the Study of Literatures in En-
glish and Related Topics) and has “deleted
47 entries, added 60, revised 560 result-
ing in an edition that includes 1,027 en-
tries, refers to 1,331 additional books, ar-
ticles and electronic resources in annota-
tions and headnotes and cites 752 re-
views” (Pref. to 3rd ed.). Harner goes on
to say that although he has cited “URLs
for Internet sites related to printed works,
databases and online library catalogs. I
have admitted a few resources that exist
only as World Wide Web sites. As I write
(April 1997) the Web is too unstructured,
unregulated and unstable to offer many
library reference sources of value.” He
does, however, offer his own Web site for
revisions and additions: http://www.
english.tamu.edu/pubs/lrg.

The Wing Short Title Catalogue of Books
Printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales
and British America and of English Books
Printed in Other Countries (New York:
MLA, 1972–1998. 4v. Guide AA683) is now
complete with the publication of volume
four, Indexes (1998. 1078p. $250). This pro-
vides the “Index of Printers, Publishers,
and Booksellers,” and a “Chronological
Index of Non-London Publications.” The
headnotes for the printers were complied
by Carolyn W. Nelson and Malcolm
Seccombe and are, in many cases, very
brief (e.g., dates and address, but with a
reference to the source). The printer ’s
name is followed by a chronological list-
ing of titles of works with Wing numbers.

Covering from “A Band Apart Produc-
tions” to “Zoom Lens,” Anthony Slide has
updated his American Film Industry (1988.



Selected Reference Books  191

Guide BH254) and retitled it New Histori-
cal Dictionary of the American Film Indus-
try (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow, 1998. 266p.
$55). Featuring about 200 new entries
(e.g., Agents, Akeley Pancake Camera,
Body Building in the Cinema, Alcohol-
ism), he has dropped some (e.g., anima-
tion, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy
and Horror Films) and revised others (e.g.
Blacks in American film, Columbia Pic-
tures). The entries still feature short bib-
liographies and references to primary re-
sources that now include holdings of sev-
eral additional libraries.

Louise Spain’s Dance on Camera: A
Guide to Dance Films and Videos (Lanhan,
Md. : Scarecrow, 1998. 238p. $65) is the
revised edition of Dance Film and Video
Guide by Deirdre Towers (1991. Guide
BH149) and offers a title listing of 1,400
films giving information such as credits,
source, abstract, and distributors. The in-
dex adds awards, categories, excerpts,
and series titles.

Volume One of Medieval Scholarship:
Biographical Studies of the Formation of a Dis-
cipline (1995) covered historians from the
seventeenth to the twentieth centuries.
Volume Two (New York: Garland, 1998.
465p. $95. Garland Reference Library of
the Humanities 2071), edited by Helen
Damico, “provides thirty-two accounts of
men and women from the 16th century
to the 20th who developed medieval phi-
lology and literature into a profession”
(Pref.). Essays cover figures such as the
Grimm brothers, C. S. Lewis, Rosemary
Woolf, and Ramon Menendez Pidal, and
also includes a selective primary and sec-
ondary bibliography. The volume ends
with a good subject index. Volume three
will deal with scholars of medieval phi-
losophy, art, and music.

Who’s Who in British History appeared
in volumes covering certain periods, such
as Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Late Medieval,
Early Hanoverian (1988–1997. Guide
DC298). These have all been merged into
one alphabet, Who’s Who in British History:
Beginnings to 1901, Geoffrey Treasure,
general editor (London, Chicago: Fitzroy
Dearborn, 1998. 2v. 1392p. $270.00), but

with a chronological list of entries. Also,
there are indexes by name and by cat-
egory, for example, philosophers, politi-
cians and royal advisors, newspaper pro-
prietors and publishers, religious women,
sports and games figures. Further read-
ing concludes each entry, and there is a
general reading list by period.

According to the preface of the Dictio-
nary of Irish Biography by Henry Boylan,
the third edition (Dublin: Gill &
Macmillan, 1998. 461p $35.; 2d ed. 1988,
Guide AH255) corrects minor errors from
the earlier edition and adds new entries.
The “work has been completely rede-
signed and reformatted and is illustrated
for the first time.”

Pan-African Chronology: A Comprehen-
sive Reference to the Black Quest for Freedom
in Africa, the Americas, Europe and Asia,
compiled by Everett Jenkins (1996) cov-
ered the period from 1400 to 1865. Jenkins
has extended the dates with Pan-African
Chronology II for 1865 to 1915 (Jefferson,
N.C.: McFarland, 1998. 572p. $65).

The New Encyclopedia of the American
West, edited by Howard R. Lamar (New
Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Pr., 1998. 1324p.
$60) is a revision of Lamar ’s Reader’s En-
cyclopedia of the American West (1977. Guide
DB174). The number of contributors has
grown to about 300, more individuals are
treated, especially writers, the bibliogra-
phies and statistics are updated, and there
is a new index by name of person. Also
new is the Timeline of the American West
40,000 BC–1998.

Herman C. Kemp has expanded his
Annotated Bibliography of Bibliographies on
Indonesia (1990. Guide AA78) to include all
the countries of Southeast Asia, Bibliogra-
phies on Southeast Asia (Leiden: KITLV Pr.,
1998. 1128p. $126.50. Bibliographical Se-
ries 22), with good coverage through 1996
and a few entries from 1997. The 5,380 en-
tries are arranged by subject, and the volume
concludes with author/subject/title indexes.

Finally, the new edition of the gazet-
teer has arrived: Columbia Gazetteer of the
World, edited by Saul B. Cohen (New
York: Columbia Univ. Pr., 1998. 3v. 3578p.
$750), formerly called Columbia Lippincott



192  College & Research Libraries March 1999

Gazetteer of the World (1962. Guide CL85)
because it was based on Lippincott’s Pro-
nouncing Gazetteer (1855, rev. 1905). Five
years in the making, almost every entry
has been changed and there are 3,000 new
ones. The United States is well covered
with 40,000 entries for every incorporated
and many unincorporated places, every
county, some special-purpose sites, and
physical features. But other areas of the
world are thoroughly addressed (e.g.,
6,048 entries for Russia, 2,007 for Greece,
69 for Malta). The information given is
very full with much reliance on official

sources. As is true of the earlier edition,
there are no maps. An electronic version
is planned for fal1 of 1999.

Ny litteratur om kvinnor, the interna-
tional women’s studies bibliography from
Gothenburg University Library, is avail-
able as a free database: KVINNSAM
(http://www.libris.kb.se/english/
special.database.DAKS.html) and super-
sedes the printed volumes from 1981 to
the present, with more than 60,000 refer-
ences books, journals, journal articles,
book chapters, scholarly papers, booklets,
and research reports.—S.S.W.