ACRL College & Researc Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

PUBLICATIONS

by George M. Eberhart

• A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, by David Crystal (389pages, 3d ed., May 1991), adds nearly 300 new terms that have developed in the field of linguistics since the previous edition in 1985. Special attention is paid to recent phonological theories, such as metrical phonology, pragmatics, and the terminology of government-binding theory. Copies are available for $49.95 (cloth) from Basil Blackwell, Three Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142. ISBN 0-631-17869-4.

• Drug Evaluations Annual 1991 (2,043 pages, May 1991) is the first of an annual series of hardbound textbooks that compile the American Medical Association’s Drug Evaluations looseleaf service. A comprehensive guide to the more than 2,000 prescription drugs on today’s market, the annual edition provides timely, unbiased, and practical information—including comparative evaluations—on the clinical use of each drug. Written for physicians and nurses, but useful to anyone with access to a good medical dictionary, each description gives the drug’s composition, actions, uses, adverse reactions and precautions, drug interactions, dosage, and preparations. The 88 chapters are arranged by the type of medical condition corrected by the drug, and each has an introduction detailing the latest therapeutic research. By contrast, Physician’s Desk Reference only includes the FDA-approved pharmaceutical company’s labeling for each drug, with no cross-references or listings of comparable medications. The cost is $75 for AMA members, $95 for nonmembers, from the American Medical Association Order Department, P.O. Box 2964, Milwaukee, WI53201-2964. ISBN 0-89970-401-8.

• Early Temples of Central Tibet, by Roberto Vitali (150 pages, June 1991), is an authoritative narrative and photographic record of the few Buddhist temples in Tibet that have survived the Maoist regime in China. Some of the monuments featured are documented for the first time. Five chapters, covering distinct periods and styles between the 8th and 15th centuries, describe important phases of Tibetan culture. The systematic destruction of that culture makes Vitali’s book a record of critical importance. Copies may be ordered for $59.00 from Seven Hills Book Distributors, 49 Central Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45202. ISBN 0-906026-25-3.

• Genus and Species of Pathogenic Organisms: A Spelling Guide to Medical Binomial Terminology, by Mary M. Smith (160 pages, August 1991), is the authoritative guide to spelling the Latin names of microorganisms having medical significance. Six thousand species are listed in two indexes, one for genus, another for species. Keep this one handy next time you’re searching a medical database for Trichophyton vanbreuseghemii. The cost is a microscopic $27.95 postpaid, from McFarland & Co., Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640. ISBN 0-89950-572-4.

• Gimme Shelter: A Social History of Homelessness in Contemporary America, by Gregg Barak (212 pages, April 1991), demytholo- gizes the stereotypes associated with homeless people and gives a demographic profile of the situation in the early 1990s. The author concludes that the causes for increased homelessness lie in the expansion of global laissez-faire capitalism, with its competing class interests, social policy formations, and individual versus collective rights of justice for all. Whether or not you agree with that perspective, the book willraise your awareness of the scope of the problem and the inability of current social policies to address it. Copies may be ordered for $39.95 from Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Box 5007, Westport, CT 06881. ISBN 0-275-93320-2.

• Keyguide to Information Sources in Online and CD-ROM Database Searching, by John Cox (247 pages, July 1991), identifies and evaluates the diverse literature of both online and CD-ROM database searching. Not content with just a simple bibliography, Cox provides a thorough analysis of the growth, evolution, and dynamics of this multidisciplinary topic, with numerous side- trips into such areas as the usefulness of gray literature and market research publications, and a disquisition on the variations in terminology (sorry, but consensus favors opticaldisk, not opticaldisc). The bibliographic listings are well-annotated and describe many European sources often ignored in standard North American compilations. Copies may be ordered for $90.00 from Cassell, Publishers Distribution Center, P.O. Box C831, Rutherford, NJ 07070. ISBN 0-7201-2093-4.

• Libraries and Expert Systems, edited by Craig McDonald and John Weckert (232 pages, June 1991), consists of the proceedings of a conference and workshop held at Charles Sturt U niversity in Riverina, Australia, in July 1990. The conference brought together librarians, information managers, and expert systems developers to explore such issues as knowledge-based support for library users, expert assistance for collection development, and expert systems as a learning tool for library school students. Copies are available for $46.00 from Taylor Graham Pub., Suite 187, 12021 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025. ISBN 0-947568-51.

• Libraries and Information Services Today: The Yearly Chronicle, June Lester, consulting editor (310 pages, July 1991), takes up where the now defunct ALA Yearbook left off. This first edition contains 36 topical reports by experts in the field, 23 biographies, and four association reports. Of particular interest are Barbara Moran’s report on academic libraries; fundraising and fìnancialdevelopments by Dwight Burlingame; information technology by Richard W. Boss; and reference services by Jim Rettig. Succeeding volumes will be published prior to ALA Annual Conference. A nice companion volume to The Whole Library Handbook/! [by our own George Eberhart— Ed.] Copies may be ordered for $32.40 (ALA members) and $36.00 (nonmembers) from ALA Publishing, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. ISBN 0-8389-0566-8.

• Library Computing in Canada: Bilingualism, Multiculturalism, and Transborder Connections, edited by Nancy Melin Nelson and Eric Flower (110 pages, July 1991), contains papers presented at the first Computers in Libraries Canada conference in Toronto, September 1990. Highlights include a vendor’s perspective on bilingual library automation (John Richardson), CA'NET, the Canadian link to INTERNET (Carole Moore), and two perspectives on Canadian interlibrary loan (Debra Wallace and Leslie Morris). Morris, incidentally, attributes the strong interlibrary cooperation between western Canada and the western United States to East Canada’s hangups with what the Americans did to them in the War of 1812—but wasn’t it the Brits who burned down the Library of Congress? The book may be ordered for $39.00 from the Meckler Corporation, 11 Ferry Lane West, Westport, CT 06880. ISBN 0-88736-792-5.

• Library Provision in Higher Education Institutions (209 pages, July 1991) is a report commissioned by the Australian National Board of Employment, Education and Training to examine the most important issues facing academic libraries in Australia. Many of the problems addressed are the same ones that North American librarians are trying to solve (the impact of new technologies, access, management, performance measurement, library cooperation, space planning, standards), and it is very intriguing to see what measures the Australians are recommending their government take to help improve things. It’s filled with interesting statistics, too. Copies are available for $16.95 from the Australian Government Publishing Service, North American Operations, P.O. Box 7, Planetarium Station, New York, NY 10024. ISBN 0-644- 13543-3.

• Prison Pictures from Hollywood‚by James Robert Parish (532 pages, August 1991), provides plot summaries and critiques of 293 theatrical and made-for-TV releases dealing with the plight (deserved or not) of the incarcerated. Prison films may be a minor genre, but they do have their enthusiasts. There is a certain fascination in watching characters living under appalling conditions; it probably reminds us of military service, or high school, or both. Excellent commentary by veteran genre analyst Parish. A copy may be ordered for $51.95 postpaid from McFarland & Co., Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640. ISBN 0-89950-563-5.

• Ranganathan, Dewey and C. V. Raman: A Study in the Arrogance of Intellectual Power, by Girja Kumar (147 pages, 1991), is a comparative psychobiography of librarians S. R. (“Five Laws”) Ranganathan and Melvil Dewey with physicist and Nobel laureate C. V. Raman. Kumar, president of the Indian Library Association and former librarian at Jawaharlal Nehru University, is one of India’s leading library scholars. He considers all three men geniuses who shared certain characteristics of individualism, vision, eccentricity, and irritability. The book’s tone is lightly philosophial with acerbic editorial commentary: “Ranganathan was like a banyan tree under which nothing seemed to grow.” No pricing information was provided with the review copy, so just send the publisher an order and hope for the best: Vikas Publishing House, 576 Masjid Road, Jangpura, New Delhi-110014, India. ISBN 0-7069-5564-1.

• Repression and Resistance: Insider’s Accounts of Apartheid, edited by Robin Cohen, Yvonne Muthien, and Abebe Zegeye (306 pages, 1990), reflects a new and vigorous strand of scholarship that offers an alternative analysis of the institution of apartheid. Separate chapters address the history of the Native Affairs Department in the 1940s and 1950s and the development and practice of pass controls in Cape Town. Another group of papers examines apartheid in health, education, and the mines, offering new insights into the actual experiences of blacks forced to live in a repressive environment. A final group of contributors looks at three dimensions of political struggle in South Africa—class, race, and gender. The contributors combine scholarly analysis with the insider’s knowledge of the difference between apartheid theory and social reality. Copies are available for $58.00 from K.G. Saur, P.O. Box 31, New Providence, N] 07974. ISBN 0-905450-86-8.

• Technology and Choice: Readings from Technology and Culture, edited by Marcel C. LaFollette and Jeffrey K. Stine (341 pages, April 1991), reprinted from the quarterly journal, Technology and Culture‚ published by the University of Chicago Press. This collection of 14 essays addresses historical choices that individuals, societies, governments, and industries have had to make regarding the use of technology. Some topics: “Domestic Electric Plugs and Receptacles, 1881-1931,” “The Garbage Disposer, the Public Health, and the Good Life,” “From Virginia Dare to Virginia Slims: Women and Technology in American Life,” and “Nuclear Power and the Environment: The Atomic Energy Commission and Thermal Pollution, 1965- 1971.” Copies may be ordered for $30.95 (cloth) from the University of Chicago Press, 5720 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago, IL 60637. ISBN 0-226- 46776-7.

• Television Interviews, 1951-1955, compiled by Sarah L. Shamley (108 pages, May 1991), is a finding aid to Longines-Chronoscope interviews in the National Archives. Chronoscope, a television interview series broadcast on CBS-affiliated stations in the early 1950s, featured guests who were the newsmakers of the era: John F. Kennedy, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, Joe McCarthy, EarlWarren, W. Averell Harriman, and Clare Boothe Luce. The kinescopes listed are available for viewing at the N ational Archives and copies are for sale. Indexed by guest and topic. Copies may be ordered for $25.00 (plus $3.00 shipping) from the National Archives, Washington, DC 20408. ISBN 0-911333-82-7.

• What Then Must We Do? by Leo Tolstoy (239 pages, August 1991), examines the causes of poverty through the ages. First published in 1886, the first 15 chapters were censored by the Russian government because they contrasted the suffering of the poor with the hypocrisy of the fabulously wealthy. In some ways dated but in other ways timeless, this book was acknowledged internationally as a seminal work of socioeconomic theory. Perhaps it is best read in conjunction with Gimme Shelter‚ which is reviewed above. Copies are available for $13.95 from Seven Hills Book Distributors, 49 Central Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45202. ISBN 1-870098-33-1.