Chapter 5:
Answering Questions about Anything and Everything – Encyclopedias
Updates:
- The Citizendium Project
With the aim of improving on the free content, open software encyclopedia popularized by Wikipedia, co-founder Larry Sanger launched a ‘citizen’s compendium’ site at www.citizendium.org. Currently still a pilot project, the site hopes to eventually establish a more reliable face by instituting a panel of subject experts who both adjudicate and decide the veracity of an article in the event of a dispute. The system of anonymous editing will also be replaced.
- The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Fourth edition.2006. Colin Larkin, ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
The 10-volume encyclopedia aims to add an online version in 2007 that will be interactive with Grove Music Online.
- General Encyclopedias: 2007 Compton’s by Britannica, Encyclopedia Americana, Encyclopaedia Britannica, The New Book of Knowledge, World Book Encyclopedia, and World Book Encyclopedia of People and Places released updated editions in 2006-2007.
- McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, Tenth Edition.
In the dynamic world of modern technology, the much-awaited 20 volume encyclopedia, revised after a five year stretch, is to be released in 2007. The revised edition reportedly includes over one thousand new or rewritten articles with a focus on fields such as molecular and cell biology, nanotechnology, climate sciences and information technology. For more information, see www.mhest.com.
Further Reading:
- American Reference Books Annual. 2006. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
In addition to a special section on “Dictionaries and Encyclopedias” under General Reference Works, each of the subject areas, such as Education, Law, Anthropology, Economics and Business have a similarly titled sub-section as well for reviews of subject encyclopedias.
- Berinstein, Paula. 2006. “The Kid’s All Right (And So’s the Old Man). Searcher 14, No.3 (March). Accessed at www.infotoday.com/searcher/mar06/berinstein.shtml on 1/24/2007.
This is an entertaining and thought-provoking essay comparing Wikipedia and the Britannica. In addition to the correlations and contrasts presented in the essay, there is also a thoughtful note on the significance of Wikipedia as a “lesson in research methodology”.
- Cohen, Noam. 2007. “Courts Turn to Wikipedia, but Selectively.” The New York Times, (January 29): C3. The article provides an engaging discussion on the more than 100 judicial rulings that have cited Wikipedia, and the growing role of the encyclopedia as a “default reference for the curious”.
- Mann, Thomas. The Oxford Guide to Library Research. 2005. The third edition of this research guide continues to provide a useful overview of research techniques. In addition, however, it also includes a detailed review of print and electronic encyclopedias.
Trends:
“Our greatest challenge is treading the fine line between too big and too niche”, states Kevin Ohe of the Greenwood Publishing Group when speaking of electronic resource bundling (Roncevic 2006, 10). The ‘fine line’ is apparent in the newer bundles of online encyclopedias being offered by various publishers. While online editions were typically provided as a clutch of general and specific encyclopedias, the specific needs of specific user groups are also being introduced. So, for example, Britannica targets its online general encyclopedias for different types of libraries such as the academic, public and school libraries. Grolier and EBSCO cater to different age groups such as the elementary, middle and adult student. Oxford University Press is collating its subject encyclopedias into portal sites such as the proposed Oxford Music Online that promises to provide ‘enhanced access’ to more than just the existing Grove Music Online. Greenwood Publishing has fed over five hundred of its print editions on terrorism and security issues to create the online PISO: Praeger Security International Online (www.greenwood.com/psi/default/aspx). This also testifies to the entry of subject encyclopedias into multi-formatted editions. General encyclopedias were one of the earliest entrants into providing online editions. Subject encyclopedias can now also be found in multiple formats. SAGE e-reference, for example, was launched in January 2007 to provide electronic versions of its products at www.sagepublications.com/ereference.
See:
Roncevic, Mirela. 2006. “E-Reference on a Mission”. Library Journal, 11/15/2006, 10.
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