ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

New Publications

George M. Eberhart

George M. Eberhart is senior editor of American Libraries; e-mail: geberhart@ala.org

Creating a Virtual Library: A How-to-DoIt Manual,edited by Frederick Stielow (184 pages, 1999), offers guidance on creating, mounting, and maintaining a library Web site based on the experiences of the Mid-Hudson Library System in Poughkeepsie, New York. Its library-related focus includes suggestions on building information suites, evaluating and monitoring your site, enhancing Web content, and implementing scripts and databases. $55.00. Neal-Schuman. ISBN 1-55570-346-1.

Cryptozoology A-Z,by Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark (270 pages, August 1999), is an encyclopedia of large animals that remain undescribed by science. More than 100 cryptids (unknown animals) are featured, along with “living fossils” that have been recently discovered, and biographical sketches of cryptozoologists. In addition to Bigfoot and Nessie, the authors catalog other alleged monsters that seem to have a basis in reality, among them the bondegezou of Irian Jaya, the Hispanic Chupacabra, the Flathead Lake (Montana) monster, MacFarlane’s bear in the Canadian Northwest Territories, the mokele-mbembe saurian of central Africa, surviving Neanderthals, and the Australian yowie wild man. $13-00. Fireside Books. ISBN 0-684-85602-6.

Dealing with Difficult People in the Library,by Mark R. Willis (195 pages, July 1999), provides a compendium of advice on the prevention and handling of stressful encounters in the library. Willis offers tips on controlling situations, dealing with complaints, and tactfully solving problems with homeless people, unruly patrons, inappropriate. Internet users, and censorship advocates. Sample policies from various public libraries are given in appendices. $28.00. American Library Association. ISBN 0-8389-0760-1.

Dictionary of Human Rights Advocacy Organizations in Africa,by Santosh Saha (200 pages, May 1999), lists current groups in Africa working to uphold and protect both basic political rights and the expansive rights of suppressed populations. Each entry gives a capsule summary of what the groups’ goals are and one or two references (very often a U.S. State Department country report on human rights). For some reason, addresses are not provided, though the occasional Web site is given. $69-50. Greenwood. ISBN 0-313-30945-0.

Homophones and Homographs: An American Dictionary,by James B. Hobbs (318 pages, 3d ed., August 1999), identifies 7,786 homophones (different words that sound the same, like coward, cowered, and cowherd) and 1,552 homographs (words that are spelled the same but have different pronunciations, like tear and tear). A good sourcebook for poets and punsters, this third edition permits an alternative way of looking at words and their meanings. $32.50. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0610-0.

Indian War Sites: A Guidebook to Battlefields, Monuments, and Memorials, bySteve Rajtar (330 pages, September 1999), offers a state-by-state listing of attacks and battles from the Spanish conquest of Florida in the early 16th century to the Yaqui War in 1915. Many of these are relatively minor incidents that have been overlooked by general histories yet still affected Indian affairs and life on the frontier. Canadian and Mexican incidents are also detailed. A 20-page chronology of events puts the various incidents in perspective, and indexes of persons, battles, and place names enhance access. $39.95. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0710-7.

Inventing Acadia: Artists and Tourists at Mount Desert,edited by Pamela J. Belanger (174 pages, August 1999), was written to accompany an exhibition of works by the principal artists of Mount Desert Island, Maine, at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, June through October 1999. Artistic depictions of the island’s impressive coastal scenery by Thomas Cole and Frederic Church were a major factor in promoting tourist excursions to Maine in the 1850s and 1860s. These visual images contributed to the allure of an accessible American wilderness that ultimately led to the invention of Acadia and other national parks, where the landscape became a cultural as well as a geological artifact. A well-illustrated examination of the connection between art and sightseeing. $39.95. University Press of New England. ISBN 0918749-09-3.

Judgment Day for the Shroud of Turin,by Walter McCrone (341 pages, March 1999), gives the author’s perspective on the Shroud controversy and his detailed microchemical analyses of the fabric since 1974. McCrone presents considerable physical evidence leading to his conclusion that the Shroud is a 14thcentury French red-ochre painting made to look like a relic. Since his findings have not been accepted by Shroud enthusiasts, he spends considerable time in taking them to task for failing to be objective, thus making the book a valuable history of the controversy as well as a scientific report. $34.95. Prometheus. ISBN 1-57392-679-5.

The Okapi, Mysterious Animal of CongoZaire,by Susan Lyndaker Lindsey, Mary Neel Green, and Cynthia L. Bennett (131 pages, April 1999), presents a natural history of this zebra-like relative of the giraffe, whose habitat in the dense Congolese rain forest precluded its discovery until 1901. Plentiful drawings by Green demonstrate the okapi’s physical traits and behavior, and the authors describe the conservation efforts of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in Congo-Zaire. $30.00. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-74706-3.

San Francisco Album: Photographs of the Most Beautiful Views and Public Buildings of San Francisco,by George Robinson Fardon (174 pages, July 1999), is a reprint with commentary by Jeffrey Fraenkel, Hans P. Jraus Jr., and others of Fardon’s rare 1856 photographic showcase, thought to be the first published compilation of photographs of any city in America. Many of the photos are panoramic views that document a dynamic, commercial city on the eve of the Civil War. Specific images include South Park, the Merchants’ Exchange, Fort Vigilance, City Hall, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, and North Beach. $50.00. Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-2630-9.

Suppressed Inventions and Other Discoveries,by Jonathan Eisen (546 pages, April 1999), provides an introduction to scientific conspiracy theories from the suppression of alternative medical therapies, through the cover-up of technologies derived from extraterrestrial contact, to the suppression of alternative fuel resources. Much of the evidence is extremely tenuous, but it should serve as a starting point for discussion or critique. The section on alternative power sources from Tesla to cold fusion is particularly intriguing. Try it out if you’re tired of the standard political conspiracies. $15.95. Avery Publishing Group, 120 Old Broadway, Garden City Park, NY 11040. ISBN 0-89529-809-0.

When the Nazis Came to Skokie: Freedom for Speech We Hate,by Philippa Strum (172 pages, April 1999), recounts the complex legal issues involved in the 1977 case of the rights of American neo-Nazis to march and display swastikas in Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago with a high concentration of Holocaust survivors. The case has since been used as a litmus test in debates over the limitations of hate speech. In this major re-examination, Strum profiles the individuals involved, looks at the case law leading up to it, and speculates on how it might have ended differently. $25.00. University Press of Kansas, ISBN 0-7006-0940-7.

Women’s Roles in Ancient Civilizations: A Reference Guide,edited by Bella Vivante (386 pages, June 1999), is a crosscultural survey of the status of women in ancient Asia, Africa, Europe, and America from a gynocentric perspective. It highlights the ways in which women participated in and influenced their cultures’ activities even when they were repressed or unacknowledged. A useful supplement to cultural histories that may omit the feminist element. $59-95. Greenwood. ISBN 0313-30127-1.

Working with Faculty to Design Undergraduate Information Literacy Programs:

A How-to-Do-lt Manual for Librarians,by Rosemary M. Young and Stephena Harmony (123 pages, 1999), provides models for creating content and assignments for course-integrated literacy programs, standalone presentations, and full-credit courses. Evaluation instruments, technological tools, and handling administrative details are also covered. $45.00. NealSchuman. ISBN 1-55570-354-2.

World Conflicts: A Comprehensive Guide to World Strife since 1945,by Patrick Brogan (682 pages, May 1999), reviews the wars, revolutions, assassinations, and terrorist attacks in a country-by-country survey of conflict in the postwar world. Brogan discusses the historical origins of the political or racial tensions, the parties involved, the main events, the outcome, and the prospects for peace. Appendices include a chronicle of terrorist events and lists of wars, coups, and assassinations up to early 1998. $49.50. Scarecrow. ISBN 0-8108-3551-7. ■