ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

New Publications

George M. Eberhart

Alternate Realities: How Science Shapes Our Vision of the World,by Joel Davis (309 pages, November 1997), is an invigorating look at some of the ways scientific revolutions have extended our five senses to allow us to see the infinite and the invisible. Davis uses the history of telescopes, cosmological theory, and quantum physics to penetrate the nature of scientific reality, especially focusing on recent research. The writing is visionary and the explanations are lucid. $27.95. Plenum Press. ISBN 0-306- 45629-X.

Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists,edited by Keir B. Sterling, et al. (937 pages, January 1998), provides personal and professional information on some 445 representative individuals who lived between the late 15th and late 20th centuries, including some whose accomplishments are undeservedly obscure. A valuable contribution to biographical research, this volume contains facts and figures that are difficult to track down elsewhere. $175.00. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-23047-1.

Chocolate: Food of the Gods,edited by Alex Szogyi (228 pages, January 1998), examines the history of chocolate and its use in literature, art, music, folklore, psychology, and business. Some surprises will be found here—chocolate as the food of libertines in the writings of the Marquis de Sade, large-scale cacao production in Spanish colonial America, the concept of rational chocoholicism, and conventions of war and peace in Oscar Straus’s The Chocolate Soldier. $49.95. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313- 30506-4.

For those who need visuals, Ultimate Chocolate, by Patricia Lousada (144 pages, October 1997), has an eyeful. Although mostly recipes, the pictures are excellent and do show various types of confections and their preparation. $29.95. DK Publishing. ISBN 0-7894-2084-8.

Directory of Geoscience Libraries: North America, 1997,compiled by Connie J. Manson and Ian D. Gordon (113 pages, 5th ed., October 1997), briefly describes the holdings of 538 geoscience libraries and collections in the United States and Canada. Relevant nonbook collections are included, such as data libraries and collections of well logs and well cores. $35.00. Lois Heiser, Geoscience Information Society, Geology Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405-1405. ISBN 0-934485-25-9.

Eclipse! The What, Where, When, Why & How Guide to Watching Solar & Lunar Eclipses,by Philip S. Harrington (280 pages, October 1997), provides all the information you need to go to central Europe to see the next total solar eclipse on August 11, 1999- (Sorry, you just missed the Caribbean one on February 26.) Harrington describes specialized eclipse equipment and offers tips on eclipse photography. Nearly half the book is taken up with describing the times, paths, and weather prospects for all solar and lunar eclipses from 1998 to 2017. $14.95. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-12795-7.

Encyclopedia of American Indian Wars, 1492-1890,by Jerry Keenan (278 pages, December 1997), summarizes the major conflicts with Native Americans since colonization. Individuals, wars, and other incidents are briefly described, followed by suggestions for further reading. For some reason, only events that occurred within eventual U.S. boundaries are included, so Indian wars in Canada and Mexico are not represented. Especially useful for quick fact-finding. $73-50. ABC-Clio. ISBN 0-87436-796-4.

The Facts on File World News CD-ROM(quarterly, September 1997- ) provides handy access to 70,000 full-text articles from 17 years of the Facts on File news database. The program now integrates its menus, search engines, and hyperlinks with the Netscape Web browser (with no requirement to be online) to make navigation easier. The only drawback to the look and feel of the Web is the expectation that articles are com- pletely up-to-date, when often they are sev- eral months old; however, perhaps the pub- lishers will be adding Web hyperlinks in future releases. Facts on File has also added to its database of 300 maps from Magellan Geographix 70 maps, charts, and graphs il- lustrating specific news stories that originally appeared in their print publications. Articles on news topics and other documents are findable by keyword search and a general subject index, as well as lists of key events, issues, and people. Minimum require- ments are a 486 processor or higher, Windows 3-1 or 95, 8 MB RAM, 7 MB free disk space, and a double-speed CD-ROM drive. List price is $995 for one year’s worth of quarterly updates. Facts on File News Services, 11 Penn Plaza, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001-2006.

George M. Eberhart is associate editoror American Libraries; e-mail: geberhart@ala.org

Notable Latino Americans:

A Biographical Dictionary,by Matt S. Meier (431 pages, 1997), profiles 127 Hispanic men and women who have made major contributions to American life and culture. Actors (Rita Hayworth), community leaders (Hector Pérez García), conductors (Xavier Cugat), educators (George I. Sanchez), journalists (José Martí), politicians (Henry Cisneros), singers (Mariah Carey), sports figures (Chi C ıi Rodriguez), and many other occupations are represented. In addition to detailing life achievements, the biographies can also serve as role models to Latino students. $65.00. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29105-5.

Poland's Holocaust,by Tadeusz Piotrowski (437 pages, January 1998), examines the role of radical ethnic minorities in the collapse of the Polish Republic in the 1930s. Poland’s ethnically fragmented population included substantial minorities (Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Belorussian, and Jewish nationalists) that wanted independence. With the approach of World War II, their leaders collaborated either with the Soviets or the Nazis and a self-destructive pattern of siding with hos- tile occupiers emerged. This aspect of the Polish Holocaust has not been very well documented, and this study fills the gap with 142 pages of documents, notes, and bibli- ography. $55.00. McFarland & Company. ISBNO-7864-0371-3.

Those who need to catch up on the events and personalities of the rest of the Holocaust would do well to consult Dictio- nary of the Holocaust: Biography, Ge- ography, and Terminology, by Eric Joseph Epstein and Philip Rosen (416 pages, De- cember 1997). One nice feature is its translation and definition of Ger- man-language terms relating to the subject. $49-95. Green- wood Press. ISBN 0-313- 30355-X.

Resource Management in Academic Libraries,edited by David Baker (237 pages, September 1997), covers fi- nancial management from a British perspective, although much of it will be relevant to American institutions. Se- lected chapters include service-level agreements, by Jean Steward; al- locating funds for purchasing, by John Hutchins; research collections, by Keith Webster; operating costs, by Elizabeth Hart; and models for the future, by David Baker. $80.00. Bernan Associates, 4611-F Assem- bly Dr., Lanham, MD 20706-4391. ISBN 1- 85604-036-4.

Toxic Waste Sites: An Encyclopedia of Endangered America,by Mark Crawford (324 pages, December 1997), is a state-by- state description of 1,300 seriously polluted waste dumps (Superfund sites). Each entry describes the site’s location, history, type of contamination that affects the soil and groundwater, number of people who are threatened, cleanup work conducted or planned, parties responsible for the contamination, legal actions taken, and sources for further information. Not exactly a vacation guide, but useful for deciding where not to live. $65.00. ABC-Clio. ISBN 0-87436-