Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: Reference Reviews, Volume 22, Issue 6
Digital full text archives feature ever more prominently in the reference repertoire and, as a consequence, in these columns. The first review in this issue is for 19th Century British Library Newspapers RR2008/247). Launched in October last year, this is a joint partnership between the British Library and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) (UK government backed body tasked with promoting the use of information and communications technology in higher education) in conjunction with the oddly named Cengage (still better known to most reference librarians as Thomson Gale). At inception the database contained text from 48 national and regional titles and provided access to either one or two million pages of content (the British Library (www.bl.uk/collections/britishnewspapers1800to1900.html)and Cengage (www.gale.cengage.com/DigitalCollections/products/britlib/explore.htm)web sites disagree on the actual number of pages). Whatever the size, this digital archive will be an immense boon to those exploring nineteenth century British history from primary sources and has the potential to free researchers from knotty and embarrassing tangles with spools of microfilm or tedious journeys on the Tube out to Colindale (the north London suburban home to the British Library’s Newspaper Reading Room). Somewhat disappointingly,however, and unlike many other digitisation projects based on the holdings of national libraries or government bodies, access to the database is only free of charge to UK higher and further education institutions (as a result of JISC funding) and users in the reading rooms of the British Library. Other libraries wanting to access the resource must subscribe through Cengage, a significant deterrent perhaps to more widespread uptake, especially in public libraries where the database might prove popular with genealogists, local historians and the like.
Another major digital resource we review is The Economist Historical Archive, 1843-2003 (RR 2008/260), a further joint project involving Cengage, this time produced in partnership with The Economist company. It is worth reflecting that The Economist is much more than a “magazine”(after all, it has always billed itself as a newspaper) and that it has major reference potential. Also a “nineteenth century newspaper” it was founded by James Wilson, a hat-maker from the Scottish Borders town of Hawick,as part of the campaign against the Corn Laws (Edwards, 1993). A small circulation UK title for much of its life, an early editor was Robert Palgrave,better known to many reference librarians as the author of Palgrave’s Dictionary of Political Economy and originator of the continuing Palgrave(now Palgrave Macmillan) publishing brand. Jointly owned by the UK Financial Times (itself part of the Pearson empire which includes a number of reference imprints) and independent shareholders since 1928, The Economistexpanded its circulation rapidly from the 1950s to become the international brand we know today. Many reference librarians, especially those in the UK who might regard it as a primarily “British” publication, probably underestimate its global “clout” and value as an information resource. Only 14 per cent of circulation is now in the UK with 50 per cent in North America. Providing the orientation of its reporting and comment, often characterised as “classical liberalist”, is not forgotten, there can be few more useful sources for locating news and related material both in business and economics and more widely. Again, this is a source for all libraries, including those in the public sector.
Two other Cengage (Gale) products feature prominently in this issue. The Encyclopedia of Race and Racism (RR 2008/262) is a major three volume set mainly aimed at North American libraries supporting undergraduate students. The two volume second edition of the Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health (RR2008/275) follows close on the heels of the original released just five years ago as the Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders (RR2003/462). Perhaps Cengage’s greatest rival in the production of encyclopedic reference works is Greenwood Press. Here we cover several titles from the imprint including The Way We Work: An Encyclopedia of Business Culture (RR 2008/265), All Things Darwin: An Encyclopedia of Darwin’s World (RR 2008/271) and, perhaps the best of the bunch, The Great Depression in America: A Cultural Encyclopedia (RR2008/280).
If Cengage and Greenwood are pre-eminent in the field of encyclopedias pitched at the North American undergraduate library market, Scarecrow Press are the unchallenged champions of the “historical dictionary”. Indeed, so prolific have Scarecrow become in producing titles with this label, that for many reference librarians “historical dictionary” will be synonymous with the imprint (a leading component of the independent Rowman and Littlefield publishing group). Because Scarecrow Press continually add and update titles many reference librarians will probably overlook developments in the various historical dictionary series. Two points are worth recording relating to reviews in this issue. Firstly, the Historical Dictionaries of Literature and Artsseries has recently begun producing titles on the cinema in particular countries, the latest volume of which covers Ireland (Historical Dictionary of Irish Cinema (RR 2008/281). Secondly, the long running and recently reinvigorated Historical Dictionary of Europe series,represented here by two updated titles on states previously part of the former Yugoslavia (Historical Dictionary of Bosnia Herzegovina (RR2008/290) and Historical Dictionary of Slovenia (RR 2008/291)has, just prior to this issue being put together, completed its geographical coverage of the continent with the publication of Historical Dictionary of Norway (review forthcoming in a future issue).
Finally, another reference publishing company that will be synonymous, at least in the minds of many UK reference librarians, with a particular reference format is CBD Research. The specialism the company has made its own is the production of meticulously assembled and presented organization directories, the most well known of which is Directory of British Associations (RR2003/287). Here we review one of the company’s other titles, Centres, Bureaux and Research Institutions (RR 2008/248) which has now reached its fifth edition. That CBD can continue to sustain printed directories of this type (so far the company has only dabbled with CD-ROM and floated the idea of online access) is either miraculous or we underestimate the traditionalism of UK business and public reference libraries that must be the company’s main market. It is noticeable though, that with the exception of Current British Directories (RR 2004/115), CBD is retreating from the publication of “directories of directories”. Printed directories, with which the shelves of commercial libraries were once stuffed,are surely publications of the past. Old printed directories, on the other hand,have great potential as historical sources and must surely be a target for future digitisation projects. Comprehensive digitisation of directories as recorded in that key to UK directories Shaw and Tipper (1996) would be as valuable in many research contexts, especially local history and genealogy, as 19th Century British Library Newspapers. Already in the UK there is the Historical Directories: Searchable Digital Library of the University of Leicester (www.historicaldirectories.org/hd/findbylocation.asp)and a number of local projects, but this is an area where there is much scope for further development.
Tony ChalcraftEditor, Reference Reviews, and University Librarian, York St John University, York, UK
