ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

New Publications

George M. Eberhart

Aspirations and Mentoring in an Academic Environment: Women Faculty in Library and Information Science,by Mary Niles Maack and Joanne Passet (216 pages, March 1994), focuses on three themes concerning women in library education: aspirations and career development; awareness of the opportunities and obstacles that women face in an academic environment; and mentoring as it affects those being mentored and the approaches open to women to become mentors. Commentaries on the topic are provided by Toni Carbo Bearman, Phyllis Dain, Margaret Stieg, Kathleen McCook, and Jane Robbins. The book costs $49.95 from Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, P.O. Box 5007, Westport, CT 06881-5007. ISBN 0-313-27836-9.

Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America,by Tricia Rose (237 pages, April 1994), takes a serious look at the social, cultural, and political implications of rap music and hip hop culture. The author, an assistant professor of Africana studies and history at New York University, focuses on four areas that define rap: its origins in the New York postindustrial urban terrain of the 1970s; rap’s musical and technological innovations; rap’s racial politics, institutional critiques, and media and institutional responses; and rap’s sexual politics, in particular female rappers’ critiques of men and the feminist debates that surround women rappers. Rose views rap as an essentially positive musical expression that continues the improvisation, narration, oratory, and emotion of other forms of African-American music. Copies may be ordered for $35.00 from Wesleyan/University Press of New England, 23 S. Main St., Hanover, NH 03755. ISBN 0-8195-5271-2.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs,by John Simpson (316 pages, April 1994), provides the origins of hundreds of traditional sayings that have earned for themselves a place in the English language. For example, “You can’t tell a book by its cover” dates from 1929 and “Facts are stubborn things” from 1732. A handy guide that will earn its place on ready-reference shelves. A copy may be purchased for $8.95 (paper) from Oxford University Press, 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. ISBN 0-19-280002-7.

Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary,compiled by Sue Ellen Thompson and Barbara W. Carlson (536 pages, April 1994), describes nearly 1,500 popular, ethnic, civic, historical, sports, and religious holidays and festivals celebrated throughout the world. International travelers may wish to plan their trips to include such events as the National Humor and Satire Festival in Gabrovo, Bulgaria (late May-early June); the Rose of Tralee Beauty Contest in County Kerry, Ireland (late summer); the Anastenaria fire-walking ceremony in Agia Eleni, Greece (May 21-23); and, of course, the Annual Bottle Kicking and Hare Pie Scramble, in Hallaton, Lancashire (Easter Monday). Educational, entertaining, and multicultural! A copy is $48.00 from Omnigraphics, Inc., Penobscot Bldg., Detroit, MI 48226. ISBN 1-55888-768-7.

In Their Footsteps: The American Visions Guide to African-American Heritage Sites,by Henry Chase (584 pages, April 1994), covers nearly 1,000 notable African-American points of interest in North America, including museums, cultural centers, churches, cemeteries, parks, monuments, and the homes of literary and historical figures. Along with information on hours, entrance fees, and directions, the book offers colorful anecdotes and detailed background information on the personalities and history behind each site. The descriptions are enticingly written to lure the casual reader into visiting the sites, from the Delta Blues Museum to the Tumwater Pioneer Cemetery. Each of the regions represented in the book is introduced with an original essay by such African-American writers as Gloria Naylor and Ishmael Reed. This excellent guide may be ordered for $35.00 from Henry Holt, 115 W. 18th St., New York, NY 10011. ISBN 0-8050-3246-0.

The Legal Researcher’s Desk Reference, 1994–1995,edited by Arlene L. Eis (421 pages, January 1994), is a sourcebook of information on the federal government, state and international agencies, law library suppliers, associations, law schools, legal periodicals, and other legal topics. Most sections are directory-type listings with full addresses, telephone and fax numbers. Among the sections added in this edition are: a directory of electronic public access to U.S. courts, Canadian court information, foreign bar associations, presidential libraries, library phone numbers for law schools, Internet providers, and Continuing Legal Education providers. Information is current as of October 1993. The directory costs $54.00 (plus $5.00 shipping) from Infosources Publishing, 140 Norma Rd., Teaneck, NJ 07666. ISBN 0-939486-31-8.

Nat Love, or “Deadwood Dick,” was born in a slave cabin in Tennessee, then lit out for Kansas in 1869 and became a celebrated cowboy. (From In Their Footsteps; Henry Holt, 1994.)

Courtcsv Black American West Museum

Mastering Informationin the New Century,by Marvin J, Cetron and Owen Davies (94 pages, April 1994), forecasts the development of the Internet and discusses the changes it will bring: by 2000, 50% of all service workers will be collecting, analyzing, synthesizing, storing, and retrieving information; by 1999, anyone equipped with a transceiver the size of a cellular phone will be able to send a message anywhere in the world; by 2000, personal “knowbots” will be in the home. These and other information trends are outlined by two info-futurists. Copies are $31 00 (SLA members, $25.00) from the Special Libraries Assoc., 1700 Eighteenth St., N.W., Washington, DC 20009-2508. ISBN 0-87111-431-3.

The Nation’s Great Library: Herbert Putnam and the Library of Congress, 1899– 1939,by Jane Aikin Rosenberg (235 pages, January 1994), examines the role of the Library of Congress in the development of American libraries into centers for learning that welcomed scholars, researchers, teachers, students, and the public. This history describes Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam’s desire to have LC recognized as the national library and identifies the LC’s role in the development of librarianship as a profession. Copies are $39-95 from the Univ. of Illinois Press, 54 E. Gregory Dr., Champaign, IL 61820. ISBN 0-252-02001-4.

Vietnam War Films,edited byjean-jacques Malo and Tony Williams (567 pages, May 1994), is an exhaustive filmography and analysis of 683 films dealing directly or indirectly with the Vietnam War. The authors have included biker movies, westerns, science fiction, and World War II movies that treated Vietnam War themes inferentially. The list is not restricted to U.S. films—films from Australia, France, Great Britain, Hong Kong, South Africa, and Vietnam, among others, offer a broader perspective and a necessary contrast to American films. Because of the American cultural embargo against Vietnam, only six of the 137 Vietnamese films have been screened in the U.S. Appendices include a chronology of Vietnam War films; a film listing by country of origin; lists of directors, actors, screenwriters and their films; and films that could not be examined for this book. The analysis accompanying each film is excellent. Copies are $55.00 from McFarland & Co., Inc., Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640. ISBN 0-89950-766-2.

The Yellow Book: A Centenary Exhibition,by Margaret D. Stetz and Mark Samuels Lasner (64 pages, April 1994), is an exhibition catalog that commemorates the 100th anniversary of The Yellow Book, the most important British magazine of the 1890s that encouraged developments in literary form that went beyond the conventional and shaped the genre of the short story. Published by the Harvard College Library in conjunction with the exhibition held at the Houghton Library in 1994, the catalog details the history of the magazine. A copy is $11.00 postpaid from The Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138. ISBN 0-914630-13-X. ■