ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News ■ June 2000 / 527 N e w P u b l i c a t i o n s G e o r g e M . E b e r h a r t African American Authors, 1745-1945: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook, edited by Emmanuel S. Nelson (525 pages, January 2000), describes the life and work o f 78 African American essayists, novelists, short- story authors, poets, playwrights, and literary figures. Included are William W ells Brown, Countee Cullen, W. E. B. du B ois, Marcus Garvey Jr., Jam es W eldon Johnson, Sojourner Truth, Phillis Wheatley, Richard Wright, and other writers representing the first 200 years o f African American literature. $99.50. G reen w ood Press. ISBN 0-313-30910-8. ARL Annual Salary Survey, 1999-2000, ed ite d b y M arth a K y r illid o u a n d M ic h a e l O ’Connor (126 pages, March 2000), reports salary data for all professional staff working in the 121 m em ber librar ies o f the Association o f Research Libraries (ARL). Major tables dis play average, median, and begin ning salaries; salaries by position and experience, sex, and race/eth nic background; salaries in differ ent geographic regions and sizes o f libraries. Additional tables cover la w , m e d ic a l, C a n a d ia n , an d nonuniversity research libraries. T w o n ew data tab les this year show the average salaries o f U.S. ARL university librarians by posi tion and years o f experience, and num ber and average salaries o f U.S. ARL university librar ians by years o f experience and sex. ARL mem bers $39/year, plus $6 p&h; nonmembers, $79/ year, plus $6 p/h. Association o f Research Li braries, 21 Dupont Circle, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20036. ISSN 0361-5669. A vatars of the Word: From Papyrus to Cyberspace, by Jam es J . O ’D onnell (210 pages, May 2000), is now available in trade paperback, in case you m issed the original 1998 release. This entertaining rumination by a professor o f classical studies show s how G e o rg e M . E b e rh a rt is s e n io r e d it o r o f A m e ric a n L ib ra rie s; e -m a il: g e b e rh a rt@ a la .o rg the viewpoints o f ancient authors have a bear ing o n our postm odern confrontation with, and ultimate accep tan ce of, the digital infor mation explosion. O ’D onnell d oesn ’t provide any q u ick answers, but he d oes sketch an outline that offers som e solace to those o f us w ho rem em ber the grand old days o f tradi tional scholarship. This is not som e old cur m udgeon ranting about how bad things are; rather it’s an unconventional take o n what the Latins and G reeks might say to luddites and geeks. $14.95. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-00194-X . Beating Publisher Price Discrimination, by Richard W. Meyer (82 pages, March 2000), reports on the results o f a three-year study o f cost control and pricing in the aca demic journal literature conducted by the libraries o f the Associated Colleges o f the South. O ne com ponent looks at the savings po tential for com m on access to a pool o f Internet periodicals in lieu o f print subscriptions; another es tablishes a model for comparing publisher list prices with statisti cally predicted prices. T h e study also evaluates the likelihood o f electronic availability in inhibiting the magnitude o f annual price in creases. T he cost o f this report is a prepaid minimum o f $35 “multiplied by the num ber o f journal titles published per year by the principal em ployer o f the individual re ceiving the report” (excluding zero, o f course). Richard W. Meyer, 13151 N. Hunters Circle, San Antonio, TX 78230. Becom ing a Library Teacher, by Cheryl LaGuardia and Christine K. O ka (115 pages, March 2000), provides you with the n eces sary survival skills to endure and appreciate an assignm ent in u ser instruction. T h e em phasis o f Part O ne is on practical prepara tion, with suggestions on clothing, ey e c o n tact, voice, expression, role-playing, coercion, and confidence. T he chapter on “performance tem p o ” is esp ecially revelatory, giving such mailto:geberhart@ala.org 528 / C&RL News ■ June 2000 tips as checking your appearance in a mirror (how many o f us forget that simple feed back?), scoping out the room, knowing your equipment, having visual backup, and being ready for Murphy’s Law. Part Tw o focuses on pedagogical structure, from preparing the class outline to the “seven commandments o f the canned dem o” and dealing with dis rupters. A first-rate antidote for first-day jit ters. $49.95. Neal-Schuman. ISBN 1-55570- 378-X. Building Planet Earth: Five Billion Years of Earth History, by Peter Cattermole (283 p a g es , 2d e d ., M arch 2 0 0 0 ), is a g o o d beginner’s guide to geology that offers the latest theories accom p anied by instructive maps, charts, and photographs. Succinct de scriptions o f the Alpine cycle, the Flysch deposition, the origin o f silicate and non-sili c a te m a te ria ls, th e e v o lu tio n o f G o n d wanaland, and Caledonian magmatism may inspire the curious undergraduate to decide upon a geology major. $39-95. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-58278-4. Burt Lancaster: A Filmography and Biog raphy, by Ed Andreychuk (248 pages, May 2000), reviews Lancaster’s 72 theatrical films and 13 television films from The Killers (1946) to Separate But Equal (1991). Photographs and credit lists accom pany the synopsis and com mentary for each film, and the b o o k b e gins with a b rief biography o f this energetic actor. $49.95. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-0436-1. The Chronological Encyclopedia of Dis coveries in Space, by Robert Zimmerman (410 pages, January 2000), includes every mis sion, private or public, from the launch of Sputnik in O ctober 1957 through the launch o f the Galaxy 11 private com munications sat ellite in D ecem ber 1999. Its focus is on sci entific knowledge; consequently it is less con cern ed with p olitics and the s p a ce race. Appendices offer satellites and missions listed alphabetically, by subject, and by nation. An intriguing summary o f astronomical knowl edge prior to 1957 is provided in an intro duction. The text is amply illustrated with photographs and spacecraft diagrams, and the index is sufficiently detailed to pinpoint such minutiae as which missions used chimpanzees (M e rc u ry 2 a n d M e rc u ry 5 in 1 9 6 1 ). Zimmerman also makes a point o f connecting specific space discoveries with the missions on which they were made, despite the fact that results were often announced years later. $78.50. Oryx Press. ISBN 1-57356-196-7. Civil Rights in the United States, edited by Waldo E. Martin Jr. and Patricia Sullivan (851 pages, 2 vols., February 2000), covers issues relating to people o f color, women, immigrant populations, Indians, children, the disabled, senior citizens, the hom eless, and other dis enfranchised segments o f society. Written by 332 contributors, the articles identify people, movements, organizations, events, concepts, and laws. A history o f civil rights in each state is also provided. $225.00. Macmillan Refer en ce USA. ISBN 0-02-864765-3. The Designer's Lexicon: The Illustrated Dictionary of Design, Printing, and Com puter Terms, by Alastair Campbell (320 pages, February 2000), reveals the meanings o f 4 ,179 terms in the design-related lexicons o f com puting, photography, typography, prepress, paper, printing, and binding. The definitions are succinct, accompanied by color illustrations, and subdivided into alphabetic groupings o f like terms within each major category. A master word finder allows you to pinpoint sp ecific jargon. B e mystified no longer w hen your newsletter editor casually intones words and phrases like hyphenation zone, grayscale, baselin e shift, Cromalin, unsharp masking, M weight, snowflaking, physical dot gain, binder’s creep, CMYK, or FPO. $22.95. Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118- 2625-2. A Dictionary of Music Titles, by Adrian Room (298 pages, April 2000), offers a nut shell description o f 3 ,500 classical com p osi tions, including nam ed sym phonies, operas, oratorios, ballets, orchestral works, choral works, cham ber music, keyboard com p osi tions, and songs. Arranged alphabetically fro m S c h u m a n n ’s A begg V ariation s to Stockhausen’s Zyklus, the listings describe the origin o f each com position’s title and the story behind the music. A handy refer ence w hen som eone else is using the Grove’s CD. $55.00. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0- 7864-0771-9. C&RL News ■ June 2000 / 529 Dragon Bones: The Story of Peking Man, by Penny van O osterzee (198 pages, April 2000), is a popular history o f the discovery and loss o f the famous Homo erectus teeth, jaw s, and cran ia foun d at Z hou kou d ian, China, in the 1920s and 1930s. B y no means the m ost thorough treatment o f the find, this com pact w ork by a talented Australian writer nonetheless serves as an introduction to one o f th e m o r e in t r ig u in g t a l e s in paleoanthropology. $23.00. Perseus. ISBN 0- 7382-0292-4. Eggs, N ests, and Baby D in o sa u rs: A Look at Dinosaur Reproduction, by Ken neth C arpenter (3 3 6 pag es, February 2 000), surveys ev ery th in g cu rren tly k n o w n a b o u t the s e x life o f d in osau rs. W ritten en terta in ingly b y D en v er M useum o f N atural H is tory eg g -fo ssil h u n ter C arpenter, the b o o k d o es req u ire som e p rior k n o w le d g e o f b i olog y and paleontolog y; how ever, the te ch n ical p arts are e x p la in e d clearly , and the hu nd reds o f illu strations aid c o m p re h e n sion . C arp en ter d es c rib es the w ays eggs and em b ry o s b e c o m e fo ssilized , d in osau r c ou rtsh ip and m ating, m eth od s o f study ing fo ssil eg g s, eg g taxo n om y , n ests, egg s, hatch in g , an d th e grow th o f b a b y d in o saurs. Lists o f all kn o w n eg g -fo ssil sites and d in osau r-eg g ty p es are giv en in a p p e n d ice s. $ 3 5 .0 0 . Ind iana U niversity Press. ISBN 0 -2 5 3 -3 3 4 9 7 -7 . Encyclopedia of 20th-Century American Humor, by A lleen P ace N ilsen and D on L. F. N ilsen (3 6 0 p ag es, D e c e m b e r 1 999), p re sen ts 98 essay s that e x p lo re su ch to p ics as A m erican In d ian hum or, an im ation , com ic b o o k s , g o th ic hum or, h o a x e s and p racti cal jo k e s , m etap h o rs, p a ro d y , p o litics and hum or, slan g, and stand-u p com ed y . S p e c ific co m ed ia n s, h u m orists, n o v els, m ov ies, o r TV sh ow s are d iscu ssed w ith in the c o n te x t o f relev an t essay s, but c a n b e lo ca ted in the c o m p re h e n siv e in d ex . A g o o d starting p o in t for un d erstan d in g the stru c ture, form ats, an d v arieties o f A m erican humor. $ 6 7 .5 0 . O ryx P ress. ISBN 1 -5 7 3 7 6 - 2 1 8 -1 . ■ 530 / C&RL News ■ June 2000