This is in many ways an impressive work: published for the first time by K.G. Saur it bears their hallmark of clear, consistent entries for a mass of material, elegant and convenient production in book form, and thorough indexing. The house is very experienced, and very good, at publishing large databases in printed format, across a whole range of subject fields from fine art to, as here, leading‐edge science and technology. The basic statistic is pretty impressive: more than 23,000 organizations are covered, and more than 40,000 named individuals within them, including private (commercial) bodies, university and hospital research, government research institutes and laboratories, consultancies, and charities and non‐profit organizations. Of these some 8,000 organizations and 11,000 individuals are new to this edition. The work covers the whole of science and engineering, from aerospace and agriculture to medical sciences and physics. At the margins there is, inevitably some uncertainty, with a small number of business projects getting in under the apparent guise of information systems, but that is hardly any problem.
Each entry gives obviously the basic contact information, then adds details of field of research, current research activities, publications and R&D staff. There are also, where appropriate (and where revealed), details of expenditure and sources of funding, and of affiliations, parent bodies and joint ventures. All, in other words, much as we would expect from a major K.G. Saur directory and all presented and indexed as accurately and thoroughly as is the firm's custom and expertise. The index volume presents references by organization name, by country, and most importantly by field of research. This latter treads a very successful path between specificity and bulk of references: ten headings beginning “Computer” help to tame the obvious source of numerous entries, although even so, the general “Computer science and technology” produces 19 columns of alphabetical entries.
If there is an element of hesitation evident in my remarks so far, I must now express some concerns about the contents of this work. Naturally, I checked my own institution first, to discover that while the research areas listed are all current, they are by no means the only ones (or always the most important) conducted within my university. Furthermore, of the individuals named, a worryingly high number are no longer employed at Paisley, in a couple of cases having left four or five years ago. All that might well be attributable to poor questionnaire completion and return by my colleagues, but also indicates one of the problems of compiling a major work in this way. Another matter for concern is that my university's work in composite structures is listed but the index refers to it neither under “Composite materials” or “Structural engineering”. It is dangerous to criticise a whole work on such partial evidence, but such occurrences must raise doubts in one's mind of whether such slips are more widespread.
A final concern is the publication of this work in traditional “editions” in book and CD‐ROM formats. It would seem that a live online database would help solve most of my concerns in encouraging institutions to keep their entries up‐to‐date. That is always the problem with directories of departments and individuals such as this, a problem which has beset government (and funding) agencies over the years and which, in fact, K.G. Saur tends to address better than most by active lobbying of the sectors it is investigating. (I recently had another of their library questionnaires to return). As a rule I remain traditional enough to welcome publication of this kind of material in book form, but the combination of computerized online indexing power with the ability to keep data constantly up‐dated does seem a better option in this case. There will be quite a few wishing to have the convenience of using the printed version, but if this is to become a standard directory of its subject it needs to be constantly up‐dated and even more thoroughly indexed. Both are best (or only) achieved in an online environment.
Still, if you are in a research or higher education library and your users need to keep in touch with the world of scientific and engineering R&D, this is the most comprehensive and accurate directory of its kind you will find. Despite what I say above, its coverage across the private and public sectors and the whole of Europe (the EU countries, as well as Russia, Eastern Europe and the Balkans), combined with its detail and the usual standard of Saur presentation and indexing, makes it outstanding.
