This is an update of the first edition of the same title, compiled by Lois Buttlar, published in 1989, reorganized into 14 sections by theme, and within each theme into nine sub‐sections by form (for example, dictionaries and encyclopaedias, directories, indexes and abstracts, statistical sources, journals). Internet source materials have also been supplied (not a lot). There are 489 items, each annotated to provide bibliographical details and an annotation (average length 200 words) on its importance, role, scope, strengths and weaknesses, and application. All items were published between 1990 and 1998 (except for a few significant ones before that), all are in English, all published in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, or The Netherlands. General social science and children’s sources are excluded. There are title and subject indexes.
The work is intended for practitioners and administrators, researchers and students in the education field, above all in the USA. This mixed target audience has influenced the choice of content. Many items will be useful for people trying to find out what is going on where in the USA: what institutions and where, where to get grants, education personnel, state rankings, the Peterson series of elementary and secondary and independent schools, the College Blue Book for college applicants, places and programmes for disabled and/or gifted children, studying abroad, choosing and getting educational resources for classes K‐12 (that is, from kindergarten to Grade 12), and some useful Web sites and gateways (like GEM: The Gateway to Educational Materials to be found at http://www.thegateway.org and the Education Virtual Library to be found at http://www.csu.edu.au/education/ library.htm).
Then there are things for administrators and specialists: journals on educational administration, sources for the history and philosophy of education or comparative education or distance learning or educational testing (such as the ERIC/AE Test Locator with its own Web site at http://www.ericae.net/testcol.htm). Finally are things for researchers (in the USA and elsewhere): indexes and abstracts (like British Education Index, Resources in Education, Current Index to Journals in Education), the UNESCO Statistical Yearbook, journals like Cognition and Instruction from Erlbaum, Educational Research from Routledge, and Journal of Curriculum Studies from Taylor & Francis. All three, but most likely the third category, will interest information specialists researching the education field, and educationists carrying out research. For both it is likely their interests will lie more in North America than elsewhere.
This is a workmanlike collection in its field, with a lot of established and predictable works, a good conspectus of journals (the journal sections are good bibliographical windows on their subject, and have use for selectors), succinct annotations, and useful title and subject indexes which help the reader link things up. Some works are more early 1990s than late, so of questionable value. The American emphasis will be a plus or a minus point depending on your needs. The pragmatic side of me says that such works are being superseded by Internet sources, and that, in a few short years time, they will appear there in instantly and collaboratively up‐datable formats.
