Readers of Reference Reviews will need no lectures on the need for dictionaries of abbreviations and acronyms, least of all on the European Union. (Sobriquet = nickname.) Readers of Reference Reviews will also probably know that editions of Eurojargon have been published in fairly quick succession (1987, 1989, 1991, 1994, and 1997), thus demonstrating the work’s popularity and the ever‐evolving jargon of the EU.
The dictionary is easy to use, both to find quickly the required term, and also for grasping its meaning. Thus EBLIDA is listed in the left hand column alphabetical sequence, while its “meaning”, the European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations, is paralleled on the right hand side of the page. Seekers of the 3 WISE MEN are referred to THREE WISE MEN REPORT, which is “on air transport, chaired by De Croo and published in 1994 by EUR‐OP for the European Commission DG VII as Expanding Horizons: Civil Aviation in Europe, An Action Programme for the Future.” (EUR‐OP, and DG are listed.) Other Three Wise Men reports follow ‐ on EC steel policy, on the European Institutions, and the institutional implication of enlargement. Layout and legibility are excellent, the best I remember seeing for a long time, with good spacing and type size. The volume is robust and well produced. A particularly useful feature of the book ‐ “unique” even ‐ is that it cites source references to official texts, postal addresses and URLs, where appropriate. There is an appendix of publishers and electronic hosts.
Consultants, journalists, librarians, local authority staff, academics, documentalists, civil servants, economists and politicians are all named as potential users, plus “those with a penchant for serendipity”! This is a marvellous book for content and concept, presentation and production. Strongly recommended.
