Notes on key reviews in this issue
Article Type: Editorial notes and queries From: Reference Reviews, Volume 25, Issue 2
Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database (RR 2011/73). Subscription database that begun in 2004 and now offers 500,000 MARC records with annotations, reviews, etc.
Encyclopedia of American Immigration (RR 2011/64). 3 vol. print and online encyclopaedia from Salem Press that offers far more expansive treatment than other recent encyclopaedias in this topic area such as Encyclopedia of North American Immigration (RR 2005/41).
The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature (RR 2011/76). Scarecrow Press title offering an alphabetical sequence of articles on broad Christian literary genres followed by A-Z entries for major Christian writers. Not to be confused with the recent, but different focus, Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Literature (RR 2011/23).
Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines (RR 2011/56). Another innovative Greenwood Press title searching out a new reference niche and offering possibly the largest selection of information on female spiritual and mythical figures ever assembled in a separate volume.
Encyclopedia of Modern China (RR 2011/97). A four-volume Gale Cengage contribution to the recent outpouring of general reference works on China. Rivals include the impressive Berkshire Encyclopedia of China (RR2010/95), which might be considered to have the edge if general coverage is required, and the scholarly, but single-volume and historically focused, Brill’s Encyclopedia of China (RR 2009/348).
Europa World Plus (RR 2011/52). Taylor & Francis online database last reviewed here in an earlier incarnation seven years ago (RR2004/15). Now combines the content of The Europa Year Book with the nine volumes of the publisher’s Regional Surveys of the Worldseries (most recently reviewed RR 2008/52).
The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Thematic Encyclopedia (RR 2011/65). The Great Depression is another area of recent reference publishing activity. This set will not supersede Encyclopedia of the Great Depression (2003), but will complement this and other more focused work such as the recent The Great Depression in America: A Cultural Encyclopedia(RR 2008/280).
Grzimek’s Animal Life (RR 2011/86). New Gale Cengage electronic version of major zoological reference Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia, last published as a 17 vol. print set in 2002 (RR2003/200). This online version incorporates additional content such as video and external links.
Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought (RR 2011/57). Oxford University Press online and print (two vol.) encyclopaedia. Follows, but does not derive from, the publisher’s Encyclopedia of Africa (RR2011/49).
SciFinder (Web) (RR 2011/89). Subscription web interface launched in 2007 to Chemical Abstracts Service providing 32 million records and the CA Registry of substances. Does not require the client software of other CAS databases.
Tony Chalcraft
