Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Reference Reviews, Volume 23, Issue 2

One of the most prominent trends in the reference and information world,especially in the science, technology and medicine area (STM), is the plethora of new search engines trawling, usually on a non-fee/non-subscription basis, the serial publications, research outputs, grey literature, etc., of specific subject sectors. These increasingly challenge the “traditional”subscription-based abstracting and indexing databases which, even when supplemented by full-text linking and extended to open access journals and other internet accessible materials, are becoming more difficult for many libraries to justify, especially where research is light and/or budgets tight. In this issue of Reference Reviews we feature three of this emergent breed of STM related search engines, albeit with very different subject content and target audiences.

NextBio (RR 2009/79) is a relatively new entrant in the life sciences. Like many of the search engines that have come on the scene in the last few years it offers a range of Web 2.0 interactive features including the uploading and sharing of datasets. Another factor in the emergence of new search engines is the recognition by a range of agencies, inter-governmental and philanthropic, that pathways must be opened to relevant research literature for developing countries where financial and technical constraints otherwise limit access. Representative of this trend is OARE: Online Access to Research in the Environment (RR 2009/80), a project sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme and Yale University. This offers free or low-cost peer-reviewed research literature in the field of the environment through the collaboration of major scholarly publishers such as Elsevier, Wiley and Cambridge University Press and is similar to initiatives in health (HINARI;Health International Access to Research Initiative) and agriculture (AGORA;Access to Global Online research in Agriculture). WorldWideScience.org(RR 2009/82) is the final resource we cover. Newly launched in 2007 and with the US Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) as lead sponsor, it currently offers federated searching of 44 science databases from 32 nations, including those from non English-speaking countries and the developing world. Despite limited search capabilities, this is an important new tool, covering a wider range of resources than comparable services such as Scitopia or commercially produced databases such as Scopus (RR 2005/07).

The Arab-Israeli conflict is another, incidental, theme of this issue of Reference Reviews, with both The Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict(RR 2009/96) and the Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict(RR 2009/92) receiving our attention. The former title from historical atlas specialist and renowned historian Martin Gilbert is reviewed in its latest edition, the ninth since original release in 1974. The latter title is an entirely new publication from ABC-Clio. Under the direction of Spencer C. Tucker, this follows the same format as other works commanded by this eminent military historian and published by ABC-Clio, the most recent of which to be reviewed in these columns was Encyclopedia of the Cold War (RR2008/324). Gang warfare may not be quite on the same magnitude as the conflict that has dominated the near Middle East since 1948, but in the UK at least it is a topical subject following a spate of gangland killings. Greenwood’s Encyclopedia of Gangs (RR 2009/60) is therefore a prescient publication, but unfortunately one, like so much of the publisher’s output, with a predominantly US focus that will limit its value on the other side of the Atlantic. Another title from the same publisher focussed on the USA is The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Homes through American History (RR2009/62) issued in four volumes. Extending beyond domestic architecture to cover homes from a historical, cultural, political and economic context, this is a major and pioneering set. Moreover, this time Greenwood have not neglected the international dimension with a companion three volume set, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Homes through World History, announced for imminent release(January 2009 at the time of writing).

These are some of the major landmarks of this issue of Reference Reviews,but there are other reviews of significant new reference contributions that should be signalled. American Philosophy: An Encyclopedia (RR2009/52), a single volume from Routledge, appears to be the first reference publication devoted to American philosophy. Richard Wright Encyclopedia(RR 2009/73) is likewise a first, being – apart from a couple of bibliographies – the only reference source devoted to the African-American writer who was influential in the early civil rights movement. Historical Dictionary of the Northern Ireland Conflict (RR 2009/95), in Scarecrow’s Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution and Civil Unrestseries, is the latest of a number of reference titles to cover “The Troubles”. More up to date than other works on Northern Ireland, it is an alternative to older sources such as the same publisher’s Northern Ireland: A Chronology of the Troubles. Another historical dictionary,making a small dent in Scarecrow’s near monopoly of this reference format,is the Historical Dictionary of Aviation (RR 2009/77). By experienced aviation writer David Wragg and from apparently revived UK imprint The History Press, previously part of the troubled Sutton Press publishing group, this is one of the few recent reference works in the field and will be especially valuable for its international perspective. Finally, we aim to highlight unusual reference titles, especially when they come from non-mainstream publishers and/or are the product of the endless effort of individual scholars. One such is 150 Famous Welsh Americans, authored by retired postman W. Avron Roberts and derived from his biographical archive of 1,200 distinguished Welsh Americans now held by the National Library of Wales.

Tony ChalcraftEditor, Reference Reviews, and University Librarian, York St John University, York, UK