College and Research Libraries Selected Reference Books of 1992 Eileen Mcilvaine his article follows the pattern set by the semiannual series · initiated by the late Constance M. Winchell more than thirty years ago and continued by Eugene Sheehy. Because the purpose of the list is to present a selection of recent scholarly and general works of interest to reference workers in university libraries, it does not pretend to be either well balanced or com- prehensive. A brief roundup of new edi- tions of standard works, new titles in series already considered reference, and pieces received on continuations orders is pro- vided at the end of the articles. Code numbers (such as AD540 and CJ331) have been used to refer to titles in the Guide to Reference Books, 10th ed. (Chi- cago: American Library Assn., 1986) or to the Supplement ... Covering Materials from 1985-1990 (Chicago: 1992). PHILOSOPHY Encyclopedia of Ethics. Lawrence C. Becker, ed., Charlotte B. Becker, assoc. ed. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, 925. New York: Garland, 1992. 2v. (1,462p.) $150 (ISBN 0-8153- 0403-X). LC 91-4978. For some time, librarians faced with students pursuing paper topics on moral and ethical issues have been able to offer two reference classics: the Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Guide BA75) and the Dictio- nary of the History of Ideas (Guide BA70) as starting points for background reading or beginning research. This new two- volume Encyclopedia, edited by a profes- sor of philosophy and a librarian, will provide a welcome fresh treatment of subjects previously covered and will offer information on new issues and problems. Addressed to "an audience of scholars and university students but fully acces- sible to others with a serious interest in the field," (lntrod.), this Encyclopedia presents 435 signed essays by 267 con- tributors which range in length from 500 to 9,000 words. Entries are arranged al- phabetically and cover topics such as character, forgiveness, and technology; the ethical problems of a particular dis- cipline, such as anthropology, biology, or library and information science; ethical issues, such as academic freedom or in- fanticide; history and discussions of sub- fields in ethical and moral philosophy, such as Hindu ethics or animal rights; and biographical sketches of historical or contemporary thinkers. All articles conclude with a bibliography, some of which are surprisingly full and many of which include references to popular or nonacademic authors (e.g., Edward Abbey under ''Land Ethics" and Jane Austen under ''Integrity''). The extremely detailed index points to the dozens of en- tries, which include such aspects of broad . categories as "Cooperation" or "Grace," as well as such timely and specific subjects as date rape or moral dilemmas in the novels of William Styron. In addition to the general index, the editors have thought- fully provided an index to the 5,800 bib- liographic references. Students will love this Encyclopedia of Ethics for its concise and clear treatment Eileen Mcilvaine is Head of Collections and Reference in the Humanities and History Division, Columbia University Libraries, New York, New York 10027. Although it appears under a byline, this list is a project of the reference departments of Columbia University Libraries, and notes are signed with the initials of one of the following staff members: Barbara Sykes-Austin, Avery Library; fames Coen, Business Library; and Mary Cargill, Olha della Cava, Beth fulzl, Robert H. Scott, Sarah Spurgin, funko Stuveras, Butler Library. · 151 152 College & Research Libraries of some very complex social, political, and personal issues. Librarians will have trouble keeping the volumes on the shelf. (N.B. Some of the essays in these two volumes have also appeared in a 1992 survey from Garland titled A History of Western Ethics.) - B.J. RELIGION Melton, J. Gordon, and Michael A. Koszegi. Religious Information Sources: A Worldwide Guide. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, 1593. Re- ligious Information Systems Series, 2. New York: Garland, 1992. 569p. $75 (ISBN 0-8153-0859-0). LC 91-47697. The compilers of this book have set for themselves the task of providing "a com- prehensive guide to the many sources of information in the broad field of re- ligion," (lntrod.), with the specific aim of providing "a quick and handy reference to anyone working in a particular field" of religion. To that end, they have amassed a great variety of sources, with citations for over 2,500 standard reference books, bibli- ographies, computerized databases, micro- form publications, archival and oral history collections, pertinent profes- sional associations, and relevant research centers. The arrangement goes from general to particular, from sources for the study of the concept of religion, including the many academic disciplines which have turned their attention to religion, to in- formation sources on the world's re- ligions, grouped according to traditional geographic areas, with sections on atheism and the occult. A separate sec- tion is devoted to Christianity, including chapters on church history and on Chris- tianity's many denominations. To help locate the resources within the book, the compilers have provided a table of contents and a title, author, or- ganization, and subject index. However, the index is not always accurate and the last section of the book is omitted from the table of contents. The real drawback to this source guide is that it attempts to cover too much ground. The resources are spread out March 1993 over so many topics with the result that any one topic risks being inadequately covered. For example, the index only lists six sources of information on re- ligion in Latin America. Five more (inex- plicably omitted from the index) can be identified from the table of contents. Moreover, the lack of Spanish- and Por- tuguese-language sources makes this guide less useful to students of religion in Latin American. Undoubtedly, other sections are more thoroughly treated and the convenience, especially for reference librarians, of so much information on religion in one handy volume cannot be underesti- mated. - O.dC. LANGUAGE The Oxford Companion to the English Lan- guage. Tom McArthur, ed., Feri McAr- thur, managing ed. Oxford; New York: Oxford Univ. Pr., 1992. 1,184p. $45 (ISBN 0-19-214183-X). LC 92-224249. Editor Tom McArthur states, "Sacred threads run though the world of refer- ence books and one of them bears the colours of Oxford," (Pref.). A one- volume companion to the global lan- guage of the late twentieth century is no easy task, and, in the end, the editors found it better to define all that this work would not be: not a gazetteer, not a style or use guide, not a grammar or history, not a linguistic atlas nor a dictionary of slang, phrase, and allusion-though all those elements do appear in the final product. The result, to adapt a phrase from Lewis Carroll, is a portmanteau book, and a handy work for browsing or for consulting on all sorts of questions on the history, dialects, literatures, and curi- osities of the English language through- out the world. Short, signed articles are alphabeti- cally arranged and address twenty-two broad themes: geography (further broken down into Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, and from there into in- dividual countries or regions); history (e.g., Royal Society, Anglo-Saxon Chron- icles); biography (Marshall McLuhan, Virginia Woolf); name (forms of address, trademark); literature (James Joyce, in- tertextuality); style (wit, sexism); educa- tion (TESOL, English Language Amend- ment); grammar (dangling participle, Fowler); writing (uncial, creative writing); speech (Pygmalion, Churchill); reference (Onions, Roget); word (Nonce word, Con- fusable); usage (barbarism, Doublespeak Award); language (echolalia, American Dialect Society); variety (Gullah, BBC English); media (telephone, headline); and technology (serif, mouse). The main entry for each theme lists all related arti- cles, so that one can read through a series of entries on similar subjects. However, many of the articles fall under several main themes, and the reader may also trace related topics by following cross- references within the text. Most readers will prefer to browse through the volume, grazing on a richly varied diet which includes items as diverse as rap, The New Yorker, quotation marks, and Lambdacism. Bibliographical references are in- cluded within the text and the volume concludes with a name index. Though much of the information contained in the Oxford Companion to the English Language could be found in dozens of other refer- ence works, not many other one-volume works would have entries for such a wide variety of topics. - B.J. LITERATURE Bassett, John E. Harlem in Review: Critical Reactions to Black American Writers, 1917-1939. Selinsgrove, Pa.: Susque- hanna Univ. Pr.; Cranbury, N.J.: Assoc. Univ. Presses, [1992]. 232p. $36.50 (ISBN 0-945636-28-8). LC 90-51013. This is a well-conceived and carefully executed reference work. Its aim is clearly defined: to explore how black and white reviewers treated the aes- thetic and political questions raised by black prose and verse writers of the 1920s and 1930s. It limits itself to literary works and discussions of literature. While primarily a bibliography of book reviews, pertinent scholarly articles and literary criticism are also included. The book follows a chronological ar- rangement. The years covered-1917- 1939-are broken down into periods. Selected Reference Books 153 Within each period, authors are listed with titles with their respective reviews. The book review section is followed by citations to general criticism and scho- larship of that period. Most references have a brief annotation; the book re- views are rated on a spectrum from favorable to unfavorable. A final chapter extends selective coverage to 1944. An introductory essay puts the collection of bibliographic references into context. Since the book lacks a table of contents, the author and critics indexes are essen- tial for name access to the work.-O.dC. Sajdak, Bruce T. Shakespeare Index: An Annotated Bibliography of Critical Arti- cles on the Plays, 1959-1983. Millwood, N.Y.: Kraus, 1992. 2v. $302 (ISBN 0527789321). LC 91-28335. Yes, Virginia, another Shakespeare bibliography. This one is an annotated listing of English-language articles on the plays appearing in reasonably acces- sible journals arranged by broad subject, and then by publication date. The second volume is a detailed set of indexes by character, scene, and subject. The characters are listed under the in- dividual plays, so that a student cannot, for instance, simply look up Bianca or Bottom. The subject headings are quite detailed and often seem to consist of key- words from the annotations. For the patient user, this bibliography will have its rewards, but libraries with Cham- pion's The Essential Shakespeare (Suppl. BD26) and the Garland Shakespeare Bibli- ographies (Suppl. BD261) will want to think twice before investing both the money and the reference librarian's time.-M.C. ARCHITECTURE Gretes, Frances C. Directory of Inter- national Periodicals and Newsletters on the Built Environment. 2d ed. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1992. 442p. $79.95 (ISBN 0-442-00792-2). LC 91-43506. This work, which supersedes and con- siderably expands the original edition published in 1986 (175p.), "was ... pre- pared primarily to assist professionals 154 College & Research Libraries who are involved in the planning, de- sign, construction, and preservation of the built environment to locate inter- national serially published sources of infor- mation relevant to their specific interests," (lntrod.). The undeniable growth of interest in architecture and urban form during the mid- to late-1980s, and which continues in the 1990s, spawned "a tremendous out- pouringofnew periodicals and newsletters dealing with the built environment that has made the process of identifying and locating relevant subscriptions difficult and expensive." This directory lists and describes over 1,600 serial publications cur- rently being produced by architecture schools, professional associations, govern- ment agencies, private consultants, and nonprofit organizations in fifty-seven countries, as well as the major publishing companies. Included are titles that contain a substantial number of articles on the built environment with sufficient biblio- graphic data to be clearly identified. For- eign periodicals selected are those that provide English summaries or are in- dexed in a published or online source available in the United States. The directory is arranged in fourteen major categories, including architecture, building types, office practice, interior design, historic preservation, planning, construction, real estate, and the fine and decorative arts. A ''User's Guide" de- scribes the arrangement of entries, abbreviations, country codes, inter- national money symbols, and identifies nearly seventy indexing, abstracting, and online full-text database services through which the periodicals can be accessed. Each entry is given full biblio- graphic and publisher information, in- cluding telephone and fax numbers, circulation figures, regular features such as advertising, book reviews, and il- lustrations, and a brief description of its content, editorial policy, types of articles, language notes, and overall quality. ISSN numbers close out the entry. Espe- cially useful is a note about title changes where they have occurred. The titles that have not been directly examined by the author are indicated by an asterisk. Ar- rangement is alphabetical by title under March 1993 the major categories listed above, fol- lowed by a separate chapter for the index- ing, abstracting, and database services. An alphabetical index to all titles, a geo- graphical index, and a subject index, all with entry numbers, provide the needed additional access points. Architects, engineers, interior design- ers, contractors, preservationists, land- scape architects, planners, real estate professionals, building product and equipment manufacturers as well as stu- dents and librarians who rely on periodi- cal information in these fields will find this directory useful for business and academic applications. Its well-defined scope of the built environment makes it a welcome alternative to the more general periodical directories such as Ul- rich's (Guide AE10) and The Serials Directory (Suppl. AE6). -B.S.-A. ECONOMICS- PUBLIC FINANCE The Handbook of Municipal Bonds and Pub- lic Finance. Comp. and ed. Robert Lamb, James Leigland, Stephen Rap- paport. New York: New York Institute of Finance, 1992. 879p. (ISBN 0-13- 373960-0). LC 92-26109. As stated in the introduction, this handbook "is designed to help profession- als in a variety of fields understand the most important of the new developments in the municipal securities industry and evaluate the most innovative solutions to emerging public finance problems." New developments and state-of-the-art tech- niques of the past fifteen years have not been addressed in any single volume until now. The forty-two chapters of this hand- book, written by industry specialists, cover such topics as debt management, bonding versus pay-as-you-go decisions, and financial infrastructure improve- ments. On the market side there are chap- ters on mutual funds and unit trusts, swaps, and refundings. Current issues and future trends are covered by notable in- dustry journalists. Other contributors are drawn from underwriting, investment banking, rating agencies, economists, aca- demics, attorneys, and market makers. Cumulatively, the book presents a for- ward looking, broadly focused treatise incorporating several perspectives; it is written for a professional or academic audience. An index and glossary are in- cluded. Although there is no general bibli- ography, authors have added bibliographic footnotes. This title is highly recom- mended for academic and special libraries serving appropriate clients.- J.C. LAW-SUPREME COURT The Oxford Companion to tlze Supreme Court of the United States. Kermit L. Hall, ed. in chief. New York: Oxford Univ. Pr., 1992. 1,032p. $45 (ISBN 0-19- 505835-6). LC 92-3863. Johnson, John W. Historic U.S. Court Cases 1690-1990: An Encyclopedia. Gar- land Reference Library of the Social Sciences, 497; American Law and Society, 2. New York: Garland, 1992. 754p. $125 (ISBN 0-8240-4430-4). LC 91-40175. Hot on the heels of the Thomas-Hill hearings and the presidential elections come these two very different works, both of which provide historical, social, and political contexts for current and past court controversies. Aiming to offer "a comprehensive guide to the history and current operation of the Court," the Oxford Companion contains several thou- sand entries in the familiar alphabetical arrangement. The nearly 300 contribu- tors include noted legal scholars and his- torians, such as Benno Schmidt and Richard E. Ellis, but the volume's acces- sible tone will prove as popular in the home as in academic libraries. Entries range in length from a few sentences to several thousand words, and, unlike many recent Oxford Companions, all end with brief bibliographies. Also, some ar- ticles are accompanied by black-and- white illustrations or photographs. Topics covered include biographical sketches on all justices, nominees re- jected by the Senate, and other promi- nent figures in the history of the court; certain key concepts in legal history, such as due process or separation of powers; over 400 individual court cases; broad social and political issues, such as abortion, race and racism, and school Selected Reference Books 155 prayer; historical periods and events; specialized terminology and phrases; and court architecture, painting, and sculpture. This inclusiveness of cover- age will delight the browsing reader with fascinating bits of court lore, such as the historical personages who are por- trayed as abstract ideals on the pediment frieze of the 1935 court building. In ad- dition, because the volume devotes special emphasis to "explaining the way in which the justices conduct the day-to- day operations of the court-its processes, practices, and procedures," (lntrod.),read- ers will find articles on such administra- tive arcana as the "discuss list" and the "seamstress's room" (for the mending of judicial robes). Many entries include fairly recent information; Justice Thomas is profiled, and the article on abortion covers the ramifications of the Webster decision (1989) as well as anticipating the legal questions raised by the RU-486 pill. Three appendices provide the text of the U.S. Constitution; chronologies of nominations, successions, and retire- ments; and a section on trivia and tradi- tions of the court. Case and topic indexes conclude the volume. In contrast, Historic U.S. Court Cases does not attempt to present encyclopedic coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court, but "to serve both the student or lay person interested in learning about important American court cases as well as the legal specialist looking for a convenient re- pository of useful information, analyses, or references." Eighty legal scholars, journalists, historians, and political scientists have contributed 171 essays which range in length from 1,000 to 5,000 words. The essays, which cover issues and cases that have come before state, federal, and even colonial courts, are ar- ranged within six chapters: crime and criminal law; government organiza- ·tions, power, and procedure; economics and the law; race and gender in Ameri- can law; civil liberties; and law in critical periods in American history. Short bibli- ographies follow each essay. Because of the topical arrangement and linking in- troductory essays, Historic U.S. Court Cases may also serve as a textbook for 156 College & Research Libraries constitutional history class. Also, refer- ence librarians will find that they need to make frequent use of the case and name/subject indexes to locate all the materials on particular issues. Students will appreciate a number of recent, or recently controversial, topics addressed in this volume, including the Pentagon papers, the Bakke case, the rights of mi- grant workers, and Native American land claims. Although the bicentennials of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in 1987 and 1989 have produced a spate of reference works on constitutional and court history, all libraries will want to own the convenient and complete Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court. Many academic libraries may also want to ac- quire Historic U.S. Court Cases for their circulating collection, if not for refer- ence.-B.J. AREA STUDIES Latin America and the Caribbean: A Critical Guide to Research Sources. Paula H. Covington, ed. Bibliographies and In- dexes in La tin American and Carib- bean Studies, 2. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1992. 924p. $115 (ISBN 0-313-26403-1). LC 91-34622. Latin America and the Caribbean is a multidisciplinary research guide with annotated bibliographies and essays which gives "an overview of recent trends in scholarship in a given discipline, the structure of the field and its literature," (Introd.). Essays that summarize the achievements and preoccupations of various fields, mainly since 1960, are copiously footnoted and intended to as- sist students new to Latin American stud- ies and scholars who are engaged in interdisciplinary research. The new bib- liography covers the humanities and so- cial sciences from architecture to wom- en's studies, with an emphasis on his- tory, literature, and the performing arts. Within a subject, books and periodi- cals are cited by country. The general bibliography section is subdivided by genre, e.g., book reviews, bibliographies of bibliographies, national and trade bib- liographies, biographies, and so forth. A March 1993 separate chapter deals with computer- ized databases, giving an overview of Latin American files in such major database systems as Dialog, BRS, Wilson- line, Nexis and Questel. An area not yet explored is the Internet connection that enables researchers, especially those af- filiated with universities in the United States, to consult databases in remote domestic and foreign sites. One advantage of this guide is its sub- ject-oriented approach. An earlier guide, Latin American Studies: A Basic Guide to Sources, 2d. ed., ed. Robert A. McNeil (Suppl. DB94), with many of the same contributors, adopted a format ap- proach. Sources were lis ted by type of publication, such as national bibliogra- phies, dissertations, and so forth. For students and scholars, a subject ap- proach is preferred because it is easier to use. The book includes author, title, and subject indexes. - J.S. RUSSIA AND THE SOVIET UNION Metzger, Wolfgang. Bibliographie deutsch- sprachiger Sowjetunion-Reiseberichte, -Reportagen, und -Bildbande, 1917- 1990. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, [1991]. 445p. 168DM (ISBN 3-447-03131-X). LC 92-101100. Travel and memoir literature has long been a key source for the study of Russia, a country of proverbial mystery to its Western neighbors. If anything, this has been even more true of the Soviet period as official controls over the flow of infor- mation and international hostilities have combined not only to maintain but even to increase that country's remoteness to outsiders. At the same time, as Soviet studies mature, scholars are becoming increasingly aware of the need to come to grips with the peculiar ways in which Western states and societies perceived the Great Power in the East. Both these problems are addressed by this new bibliography of more than 5,000 books, pamphlets, and articles. Cover- ing the period from 1917 to 1990, it at- tempts to bring together a fairly comprehensive listing of German-lan- guage travel accounts, journalistic treat- ments, and pictorial works that deal with the Soviet Union with a more selec- tive listing of magazine and newspaper guides, autobiographical and other works that serve to concretize the image of the Soviet Union for the German-read- ing public. An effort has been made to include Soviet publications as well, so that a wide range of viewpoints, from of- ficially self-apologetic to overtly hostile, are represented. The entries are arranged by year, ena- bling the reader to trace something of the history of the Germans' view of Soviet life. Full bibliographic information is provided, but no annotations other than an indication of the subject matter of an item not explicitly indicated by the title itself. An index to authors and main- entry titles provides additional control, but the lack of a subject index to such a large collection of titles is keenly felt. The criteria for inclusion are also somewhat unclear, perhaps reflecting the necessarily vague boundaries of the subject matter. One does not find, for example, Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski's Welt olzne Erbarmen or Ante Ciliga's Im Land der verwirrenden Liige, which are key eyewitness accounts of the Gulag from two foreign prisoners. Likewise, while a variety of Soviet memoirs and autobiographies are included, such an important one as Trotsky's is not. Regardless of these shortcomings, this is clearly an important addition to the bibliography of Soviet studies, far more comprehensive in its scope than any work proceeding it. One can only hope that, with the end of the Soviet era, we will see analogous attempts to come to terms with the literature in other lan- guages as well. - R.H.S Schmidt, Christoph. Ausgewiilzlte Biblio- graplzien und Bibliotlzekskataloge zur rus- sisclzen Sozialgesclziclzte. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1989. 108p. 49.80DM (ISBN 3-447-02957-9). LC 90-151713. Although published three years ago, this concise and useful guide to bibliog- raphies relevant to the study of Russian social history from the peasant emancipation to the revolutions of 1917 does not appear to have been Selected Reference Books 157 widely reviewed and thus still seems worthy of mention here. An admirable ten-page introduction manages to pro- vide the reader with a fascinating and informative overview of key develop- ments in Russian book publishing and bibliography at the turn of the century, bringing to life such leading figures as A. D. Toropov, D. V. Ul'ianinskii, V.I. Mezhov, and A. V. Mez' er while plac- ing their careers in a broader historical context and providing a substantial list of citations to further literature on the subject. It is followed in the body itself by a closer examination of seventy- seven major bibliographies or catalogs, all but seven of them published before 1936, and most of them published before 1916. While diverse in character, rang- ing from bookseller catalogs to reader's advisers to genuine subject bibliographies, and from the catalogs of key private collections of institu- tional libraries to the lists of publica- tions of government bodies, the works collectively offer a key to a host of sub- jects. These subjects include the major social classes and groups, economic is- sues, local history, minorities such as Germans, Jews, and Gypsies, and such social problems as prostitution, alco- holism, and crime. Arranged alphabetically, each entry includes a full bibliographic citation, a list of chapter headings, and unusually substantive annotations on the signifi- cance of the particular work as well as its arrangement. A subject index provides quick access to the appropriate title or titles. Naturally, such a brief list can only scratch the surface of the rich biblio- graphic literature on the subject (and the author has explicitly excluded some of the more comprehensive periodical titles from his survey). At the same time, however, its conciseness is a virtue, offering invaluable guidance to the re- searcher at the beginning of his or her undertaking. It seems well designed, too, as a potential tool for measuring the strength of a library's collection in this field. It clearly belongs in any reference collection supporting advanced studies of Russian history.-R.H.S. 158 College & Research Libraries WOMEN'S STUDIES Fischer, Gayle V. Journal of Women's His- tory Guide to Periodical Literature. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana Univ. Pr., 1992. 512p. $39.95 (ISBN 0-253-32219- 7). LC 91-28470. This bibliography of English-language material lists some 5,500 citations to journal articles published from 1980 through 1990, arranged in forty broad chapters, "Africa" to "Work." There are no subject or author indexes, although most entries are cross-listed under more than one subject. The bibliography is still some- what difficult to use, however, because there are no cross-references. A reader looking for articles on nineteenth-century infanticide might find the "infanticide" section of the ''Birth Control" chapter, but might not realize that there are additional articles in the "female criminality" and "reproductive rights and illegitimacy" sections of the "Law /Crime" chapter, and in the "infant mortality" section of the "Family" chapter. Although most of the articles in the bibliography could easily be found in America: History and Life or Historical Abstracts, there are some unique citations to articles in newslet- ters. This is recommended for libraries with large women's studies collections, or for libraries without access to the pe- riodical indexes mentioned above.-S.S. Nemec Ignashev, Diane, and Sarah Krive. Women and Writing in Russia and the USSR: A Bibliography of English-lan- guage Sources. Garland Reference Li- brary of the Humanities, 1280. New York: Garland, 1992. 328p. $51 (ISBN 0-8240-3647-6). LC 92-9246. Women and Writing in Russia and the USSR is a fine bibliography which will please many undergraduate and graduate students, even though it only includes writings in English. It is arranged in four sections: • Primary Sources: Creative Writing and Personal Documents" lists translations of fiction, and subjective nonfiction al- phabetically by woman author. • ''Biographical and Critical Sources" in- cludes criticism of individual women March 1993 artists, studies of women in specific time periods, and studies of the repre- sentations of women in the art of both men and women. • "Supplementary Sources on Women and Women's Experience" covers works about education, health and medicine, law, military, mothering (including childbearing, childrearing, family, and marriage), national identity, politics, prison and labor camps, religion and spirituality, rural communities, work, interviews, status of women, yearbooks and statistical reports. ''Bibliographies" cites twenty-four bib- liographies. Coverage extends from the nineteenth century through 1990, with some entries from 1991. Includes a personal name index.-S.S. Annotated Index of Medieval Women. Anne Echols and Marty Williams, eds. New York: Markus Wiener, 1992. 635p. $69.95 (ISBN 9-910129-27-4). LC 90-39810. This index provides brief biographies with citations to primary and secondary sources for some 1,300 medieval women living between 769 and 1500. Women are listed alphabetically by first names, and forms of the same name are interfiled (e.g., Marie of Anjou, Mary of Antioch, Maria of Aragon ... ). Tables at the end of the volume list women by country, date, surname or region of origin, and biographical categories, which are taken to include professions (abbesses, alewives, and apothecaries), subjects (abduction, adultery, and antinomian heresies) and political roles (negotiators, pawns, and squabbles). European and Byzantine women figure most prominently in this index, although there are a few entries for women in China, Israel, and Le- banon. This is the sort of index that would be very appealing to under- graduates and could also be useful to graduate students.-S.S. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS When the Organization of American States established a library of inter- American affairs in 1902, the representa- tives of member states apparently had no quibble about naming the library "the Columbus Memorial Library." Almost everything relating to Columbus has be- come a subject of dispute lately, from the rejection of the Eurocentric concept of the "discovery of the New World" to the whereabouts of his mortal remains (no less than three locations: Havana, Santo Domingo, and Seville). Those interested in controversies surrounding the SOOth anniversary of Columbus' voyage to America will welcome some new refer- ence sources for rethinking the signifi- cance of his adventure. Several updated Columbus bibliographies and dictionar- ies have appeared, although not as many as the publications produced at the French Revolution's 200th anniversary. The following is a brief overview of re- cent reference books of a general nature, excluding collection-specific bibliogra- phies.-J.S. Conti, Simonetta. Bibliografia Colombiana, 1793-1990. Genova: Cassa di Rispar- mio di Genova e Imperia, [1990]. xxxviii, 920p. LC 91-201085. An update of the bibliography pub- lished in 1986, Un Secolo di Bibliografia Colombiana, 1889-1985 (Genova: Cassa di Risparmio di Genova e Imperia, 1986. 360p.), this edition offers 8,383 entries alphabetically arranged by author with an index of journals, author index, and a topical index. An appendix for items 8,384-8,409 is not indexed. The author index is somewhat redundant because the bibliography is arranged alphabeti- cally. The topical index could have used more subdivisions of topics; as it is, item numbers can fill two-thirds of a page under a single subject heading. The bib- liography and the journal listing, though, are a mine of information even if difficult to retrieve. Literary works by such people as Lamartine and Zweig are cited. This book is intended to fill the gap left by recent bibliographies that cover specific library collections or time periods. Provost, Foster. Columbus: An Annotated Guide to the Scholarship on His Life and Writings, 1750-1988. Detroit: Publ. for the John Carter Brown Library, Brown Selected Reference Books 159 University, by Omnigraphics, 1991. xxxii, 225p. $54 (ISBN 1-55888-157-3). LC 90-27572. Provost's bibliography offers an ex- tensive international survey of printed primary sources and works of histori- ography, biography, politics, society, re- ligion, natural science, navigation and iconography, dating from 1750 to 1988. All 780 entries for books and articles are annotated. It is indexed by author I edi- tor, proper name, and topic. .--. Columbus Dictionary. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1991. 142p. $54 (ISBN 1-55888-158-1). LC 91-29120. Provost's companion volume gives concise accounts of people, places, events, and ideas with a major emphasis on personal and place names. Each entry has a bibliographic note and a conclud- ing bibliography of English-language sources, especially works of Samuel Eliot Morison on which the Dictionary is based. The book is not illustrated. Barcelo F. de Ia Mora, Jose Luis and Bar- celo Mezquita, Jose Luis. Summa Colombina: Diccionario Enciclopedico de Colon. [Madrid]: Sociedad Estatal Quinto Centenario, Progensa, 1990. 512p. il., maps. 3,500 pta. (ISBN 84-86505-33-X). LC 91-175649. In this Spanish encyclopedia with numerous black and white illustrations, the topics range from mythology of sea- faring to historical documents, with a number of entries for personal and place names. The appendixes include chrono- logical tables, a list of the crew members of the three ships of the first voyage, detailed descriptions of the ships, a chronological list of commemorative postage stamps honoring Columbus, maps, and documents. Although each article is not docu- mented, this volume contains a number of entries not found in Provost's dictio- nary, as well as the texts of historical documents and pictures of historical maps. The Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia. Sil- vio A. Bedini, ed. New York: Simon & 160 College & Research Libraries Schuster, 1992. 2v. (xxii, 787p.) il., maps. $175 (ISBN 0-13-142662-1). LC 90-29253. The encyclopedia offers signed arti- cles by international contributors, each accompanied by a short bibliography, often with line drawings and mono- chrome photographs. This is perhaps the best among these three encyclopedias for giving the broad historical back- ground and context in which Columbus' discoveries were made. For example, the article titled "Religion" has two parts: one presenting European traditions and the other on Amerindian traditions. This is more like an encyclopedia of the age of discoveries, with a comprehensive survey of the society, encompassing such varied aspects as agriculture, flora and fauna, science and technology, Muslims and Jews, trade and economic institu- tions, art and architecture, equipment, clothing and rations on board Colum- bus' ships, an overview of Columbus memorabilia, and documentary sources in museums and archives. It includes a subject index. NEW EDITIONS AND SUPPLEMENTS Kenneth Kister's Best Dictionaries for Adults and Young People (Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx, 1992. 438p. $39.50) is a much- needed revision and updating of the in- troduction and dictionary profiles of the "Adult" and "School and Children's Dictionaries" portions of his Dictionary Buying Guide (Guide AD2). The com- piler has made a determined effort to describe both the print and electronic formats of the dictionaries under review. The appendixes now include a listing of dictionary and language associations, much expanded bibliographies, and a longer directory of dictionary publishers and distributors. Kister gives a fascinating discussion of the first two editions of the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Lan- guage (1st ed., 1969; 2d ed., 1982; Guide AD13). The third edition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992. 2,140p. $38.95) seems to hark back to the first edition in its appearance, size, and number of il.:. March 1993 lustrations. The number of words covered is about the same as in the sec- ond edition (200,000) though the editor points out there are 16,000 new words and meaings and more illustrative quo- tations. Nine hundred synonym para- graphs offer very detailed distinctions between words. Usage notes remain a big feature in this dictionary. Revised too is the appendix of Indo-Aryan roots. The BBC English Dictionary has been updated to reflect usage and punctua- tion as of May 1992 (London: HarperCol- lins, 1992. xxiv, 1,37 4p. £14.95; 2d ed. 1983, Guide AD77). The BBC developed a database, the ''Bank of English," consisting of all BBC broadcasts made throughout 1988-1992 and 10 million words con- tributed by National Public Radio in Washington from their 1991 broadcasts. This corpus provided the entries, defini- tions, pronunciations, and preferred usage for people, places, and events to provide background information. Also included are about one thousand entries. The IBN: Index bio-bibliographicus no- forum hominum by Jean-Pierre Lobies (Guide AJ18, Suppl. AJ6) usually includes Part B, the list of source works added, as front matter in many of the volumes of Part C. This time, however, an unpaged Part B is issued as a separate volume giving en- tries 5146-6215 for new biographical works (Osnabriick: Biblio, 1992). Volume 2 of American Nursing: A Bio- graphical Dictionary, comp. Vern Bul- lough, Lilli Sentz, and Alice P. Stern, (Garland Reference Library of the Social Sciences 684; New York: Garland, 1992. 389p. $95) adds some 214 sketches to the 177 nurses in volume 1 (Suppl. EK94). This time the cutoff date is 1915. The indexes- by decade of birth, nursing school at- tended, area of special interest, state and country of birth-cover both volumes. Pierre Conlon for his Le siecle de lumi- eres: bibliographie chronologique (Guide AA751, Suppl. AA113) has produced some housekeeping volumes: tome IX (145p.) is a supplement to the volumes covering 1716-1760 for works omitted, corrections, revised entries; tome X (493p.) is an alphabetical list of titles so far included. The referral number for this last-named index is made up of the last two digits of the year and the as- signed item number within the year (Geneve: Droz, 1992). Deutsche literarische Zeitschriften, 1945- 1970, comp. Barnard Fischer and Thomas Dietzel (Munich, New York: Saur, 1992. 4v. 680DM), is a continuation of the indispensable bibliography of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ger- man literary periodicals compiled by Alfred Estermann (Suppl. AE36) and Thomas Dietzel (Suppl. AE35). Based on the holdings of the Deutsche Literaturar- chiv in Marbach, the 1,331 alphabetically arranged titles include literary, theatri- cal, and general-interest publications. The extraordinarily detailed listings pro- vide variant titles, places and dates of publication, a detailed collation, editors, major contributors, holdings in some 200 European libraries, and often excerpts from the introduction to the first issue or the prospectus. Indexed by editor, con- tributor, publisher, place of publication and by broad subject.-M.C. Those cumulative volumes of Suomen kirjallisuus for 1967-1971 (Helsinki: Univ. Library, 1992.3 v.) bring back categories of materials that have been published sepa- rately (see Guide AA740 for an explana- tion). The alphabetical listing for books, 1967-71, vols. 1-2, presents books pub- lished in Finland, and books in Finnish or books by a Finnish author or translator published abroad. Monographic series are included in the books section. Volume 3 contains a list of serials, mostly annuals since journals are covered by Bibliography of Finnish Periodicals, 1956-1977 compiled by Marketta Takkala (Helsinki, 1986). Pub- lications of the University Library, Helsingin yliopiston kirjaston julkaisuja, 48. 632p.) Also in volume 3 are lists of printed maps and sheet music. All parts are indexed by a classed list. The Music Catalog (Washington: Library of Congress, 1991- . Quarterly. $100) is the new title for NUC Music Books, Books on Music and Sound Recordings (Guide BH92). The older title was available in both micro- fiche and paper, the successor is only on microfiche. The Music Catalog is quarterly to cumulate annually. Selected Reference Books 161 The Introductzon to Scholarship in Mod- ern Language and Literature, ed. Joseph Gibaldi (New York: Modern Language Assn., 1992. 377p. $37; 1st ed. 1981) is a collection of bibliographical essays by scholars introducing students to the "my- riad activities pursued by linguistic and literary scholars" (Pref.) such as "Cultural studies," "Ethnics and minorities," ''Tex- tual scholarship." See also the epilogue, ''The scholar in society" by Gerald Graff. Another very useful revision is Mary- Claire van Leunen's book of advice for citing works, for handling quotations, and for composing footnotes and bibliogra- phies: A Handbook for Scholars (New York: Oxford Univ. Pr., 1992. 348p. $12.95; 1st ed. 1978). In fact there is an appendix devoted to citing U.S. federal documents. The other appendix deals with the cur- riculum vitae, what elements to include, how to present the information. Dorothy Eagle died before she could complete the revision of her Oxford Il- .Justrated Literary Guide to Great Britain and Ireland (1981, Guide BD568), which is itself a revised and illustrated edition of the Oxford Literary Guide to the British Isles (1977). Meic Stephens has completed the work (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Pr., 1992. 322p. $45) with the addition of many new authors (137) and places (105), espe- cially expanding coverage of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Still heavily il- lustrated with drawings and photo- graphs, the work ends with thirteen regional rna ps. BNTL: Bibliografie van de nederlandse taal- en Iiteratuur-wetenschap indexes books and articles on literature and lan- guage published in Holland. Begun in 1975, it is an annual with a classed ar- rangement and with author and title in- dexes. This year the compilers have issued a retrospective volume covering the years 1940-1945 (s'Gravenhage: Stechting Bibliographia Neerlandica). Edna Coli has issued volume 5 of the Indice informativo de la novella hispano- americana (Rio Pedras: Ed. Univ. Puerto Rico, 1992. 541p.) this one covering the Altiplano: Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. The arrangement is the same as in the earlier volumes (Guide BD1213): for each 162 College & Research Libraries country, a general section is followed by authors in an alphabetical list with cita- tions for novels and critical and bio- graphical works for each. Many of the entries have biographical notes. For Mexico, David Foster has enlarged his Mexican Literature: A Bibliography of Sec- ondary Sources (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1992. 686p. $67.50; 1st ed., 1981, Guide BD1242) to include 80 authors both colonial and twentieth century. The first edition treated only twentieth-century authors, index of critics. Warren Walker has been most assidu- ous in his care for the short story. Now he has produced an index to the third edition with its five supplements, 1961- 1991 (Guide BD254) of Twentieth-century Short Story Explication (Hamden, Conn.: Shoe String, 1992. 254p.). Arranged by lit- erary author and short story, a citation indicates the volume and page of the bib- liographic reference to the explication. The second edition of Gerald Bord- man' s American Musical Theatre: A Chron- icle (New York: Oxford Univ. Pr., 1992. 821p. $49.95; 1st ed. 1978, Guide BH247) extends coverage to the 1989-90 season. Added too are "tum-of-the-century musi- cals that toured from city to city without every playing first-class houses" (Pref.). These are in an appendix along with "musicals that did play first-class houses but which were overlooked originally." In- dexed are shows and sources, songs, and people (including nine theaters). The Encyclopedia of Educational Re- search with Marvin C. Aikin as editor-in- March 1993 chief (New York: Macmillan, 1992. 4v. $330; 5th ed. 1982, Guide CB143) strives to provide a "valuable record of the concep- tion of education in the early 1990s" (Pref.). The articles are written by scholars and most of them have been revised. New areas of concentration discuss "societal is- sues of the time that affect education: preg- nant and parenting teenagers, prevention intervention, AIDs education." There is an additional emphasis on the teachers themselves. The appendix covers "doing library research in education." Wahib N asrallah has revised his United States Corporation History (New York: Garland, 1991. 522p. $67; 1st ed. 1987, Guide CH141); it now extends the period of coverage from 1965 to 1990; twenty-five collective histories are cited in an appendix. Volumes 1-8 of A List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress, comp. Clara Egli LeGear (Guide CL286), is a major catalog of a collection amassed over a cen- tury. Now Ms. LeGear has issued A Com- prehensive Author List to Volumes 1-8 (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1992. 289p. $19). Jacques Barzun and Henry Graff have revised The Modern Researcher, 5th ed. (New York: Harcourt, 1992. 409p. $ ) ; 4th ed., 1985, Guide DA4).1t is still a research manual with much illustrative material, but now the uses of the computer are covered. As the authors note: "When our First Edition was published, the ball- point pen was a recent invention .... In the present edition we discuss laptop and other computers" (Pref.).