Malia, '[Reviews]', LIBRES v7n01 (March 1997) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/libres/libres-v7n01-malia-reviews].txt.txt Archive LIBRE7N1, file reviews. Part 1/1, total size 29456 bytes: ------------------------------ Cut here ------------------------------ LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal ISSN 1058-6768 1997 Volume 7 Issue 1; March 31. Quarterly LIBRE7N1 REVIEWS ________________________________________________ Reviews in this issue: _A Dictionary of Ancient Egypt_. Reviewed by: Elizabeth Malia _A Dictionary of the Roman Empire_. Reviewed by: Elizabeth Malia _Television: an International History._ Reviewed by: Elizabeth Malia _SLA Biennial Salary Survey._ Reviewed by: Marylou Hale _Women Composers: Music Through the Ages_ Reviewed by: Barbara Cressman _Dada: The Coordinates of Cultural Politics._ Reviewed by: Terry Skeats _Index to Black Periodicals 1995_ Reviewed by: Kimberly Hill _______________________________________________ Bunson, Margaret. (1995). _A Dictionary of Ancient Egypt_. New York: Oxford University Press. 291 pgs. ISBN 0-19-509989-3. ------ Bunson, Matthew. (1994). _A Dictionary of the Roman Empire_. New York: Oxford University Press. 494 pgs. ISBN 0-19-510233-9. Oxford University Press issues these two volumes (originally published by _Facts on File_ as "encyclopedias,") as part of their Oxford Paperback Reference series. Written in a dictionary format both volumes seek to give readers at most levels easily accessible definitions, descriptions, explanations, and biographies of noteworthy people. Both Bunsons organized their material in a similar fashion, perhaps according to a proscribed formula. Both created a suggested method of attack for readers in the introductions, which suggests starting with several broad subject categories as a means of creating a frame of reference for the more detailed or complex entries. Generally, these broad categories are grouped around major social forces such as religion, government and warfare. Copious cross references are made from these topics to more in depth, narrower topics. In addition, maps, and chronological aids are provided. For _Ancient Egypt_, genealogical tables are given for some of the dynasties, and a glossary is provided. Curiously, _Roman Empire_ has a thorough, cross-referenced index, while there is none for _Ancient Egypt._ This volume provides the Greek names of people and places, and access through these names would have been only possible via a cross-referenced index. Perhaps Margaret Bunson is relying on the dictionary format to suffice, but the volume seems somewhat unfinished. Both volumes provide black and white line drawings as illustrations. In this case, _Ancient Egypt_ provides many more illustrations, of greater size and detail. Taken from archaeological artifacts and carvings, these drawings also serve as subtle evidence of the very stylized artistic style of ancient Egypt. Some color illustrations would have been helpful, but the line drawings are adequate. Many _Facts on File_ publications are aimed at use as ready reference, and these two volumes fit that mold. Both _Ancient Egypt_ and _Roman Empire_ can be used as a quick, detailed resource. Strongest in biographical sketches and geographical descriptions, all entries strive to give historical context. In _Roman Empire_, the entirety of Roman history is not covered, but rather only the period of empire, from the Gallic Wars (59 BC) to the fall of the western empire in 476 AD. This leaves out the republican period. A _Dictionary of Ancient Egypt_ and _A Dictionary of the Roman Empire_ are best suited to ready reference and supplemental use with monographs on the subject. They are much more thorough than general encyclopedias, and less analytical than standard scholarly works on these two civilizations. They could be used to good effect in all libraries within this scope, but should not stand alone as the major source on these topics. Elizabeth Malia Eastern Washington University emalia@ewu.edu ****** Smith, Anthony. (Ed.) (1995). _Television: An International History._ New York: Oxford University Press. 419 pgs. ISBN 0-19-8119992. Truly, a picture is worth a thousand words. Even for the 20th century, few technological breakthroughs have had as wide and pervasive an influence on society and history than the television. Television has changed politics, business, and social customs all over the world. Smith has gathered together a collection of essays which discuss the historical and international impact of television. Television is the currently dominant communication format, and faces a future of striving to maintain that dominance in the information explosion. The full history of television spans nearly a century, but practical applications of the technology were not available until 1936. Typical of many technological innovations, television first took hold in the more developed countries and by 1990, nearly 98% of the homes in those countries have televisions. Yet televisions are also encountered in river villages in India and Thailand. As they have spread, they have also carried with them a connecting fiber that ties all cultures together, and exacerbates the social divisions between cultures and peoples at the same time. The essays are written by people with a wide range of backgrounds, including television writers, academics from communications programs, journalists, television producers, and professional television executives. Their topics are organized into four parts: Origins and institutions, Forms and genres, Television and society, and Television across the world. Individual programs are not discussed in detail, unless they illustrate a particular point in other countries or are indicative of an aspect of social impact. Copious black and white photographs accompany the text, as well as a few color plates. A list of suggested readings and an alphabetical index are included. A chronological table, while very detailed, might have been helpful to illustrate simply the impact of television on the world. The United States has often been in the vanguard of television evolution. Consumer demand and market share have driven much of that evolution. It is probably fair to say, then, that much of the social system in the United States has been more fully affected by television. Dinner time news programs contributed to the unpopularity of the Vietnam Conflict. MTV specials have raised millions for the aid of starving people all over the world. Many attribute the increasing viciousness of crime to the over abundance of violence on television. The essays document this social impact well. While other countries have on occasion been slower to embrace television and it's marvels, the chapters about other countries are enlightening and on occasion sobering. All societies have been influenced by the western media, but many have developed their own special hallmarks. Locally produced programs often surpass western imports in popularity, although nearly all countries have copied and tailored American programs to their society. And imports from America often are the bulk of programming, merely because the United States simply produces more. Sensitive to the rapidly changing world of communications and information access, the editor and Richard Paterson end the work with an "epilogue." As technology changes and the nature of television programming changes, the whole concept of television will continue to evolve. The authors cautiously predict that television will be controlled world-wide by ever larger global corporations for high cost, high concept events, with regional services covering lower-cost fare. Much can change, much may not. This is a solid, thorough detailing of the phenomenon of television, and is very readable and direct. Elizabeth Malia Eastern Washington University emalia@ewu.edu ****** Sayer, L. (Comp. & ed.). (1996). _SLA Biennial Salary Survey._ Washington, DC: Special Libraries Association. 89 pp. ISBN: 0-87111-458-5 A cursory look at this survey brings to mind a line from an old television show, "The facts, just the facts." This book is packed with 28 tables, most with multiple parts, and 21 figures. It may be a temptation on the part of the reader to dismiss this because it is too complicated to understand. In the opinion of this reviewer, dismissal without scrutiny would be premature. Admittedly, this is not a coffee table volume. It is a compilation of timely information regarding salaries of members of the Special Libraries Association from across United States and Canada. Although the data came from members of the Association, all practicing and potential librarians can benefit from the data provided in this book. It is beneficial to those seeking employment as well as those offering employment. Job-seekers can negotiate the best salary within the range listed for a particular area and specialty. Likewise, employers can advertise salaries and positions that are consistent with their region. This source also helps to standardize the language by indicating what others call themselves and their positions. Conveniently, most of tables are split into separate parts for Canada and for the United States. This division is extremely helpful when comparing salaries because the exchange rate between these countries is usually not one-to-one. Be sure to note if the salaries are stated in United States dollars or Canadian dollars. Each table that is not in United States dollars is clearly identified. At first glance, the regions identified on page 13 are not intuitive. However, more careful examination of these divisions reveals that they are based on the United States census. Such a division allows comparisons not otherwise possible. Each group of tables is preceded by an explanation of how the statistics were generated, what is being compared, and the highlights of the results. These explanations are neither technical nor complicated. They provide the basis for interpretation of the tables and are surprisingly easy to understand. In order to avoid misinterpretation, it is recommended that time be taken to read the descriptions before diving into the tables. One interesting set of tables (6a-6b) defines the median salaries for metropolitan areas within each census district. It is disappointing that many metropolitan areas are left out of these tables. These omissions could be due to the fact that not many members of the Special Libraries Association reside in these metropolitan areas, or the members that do live in these areas didn't return the surveys that were sent. With only a 38% return rate, it is easy to assume the latter. However, the reasons will remain a mystery because the editor has failed to even speculate. A cautionary note is given regarding the changes from year to year. Figure 21 lists the reasons for unemployment during the time period of April 1995-March 1996. This chart is very helpful. Popular library literature as well as discussions on listservs talk about downsizing, closing, and outsourcing as reasons for job loss. This is supported by the data given in Figure 21. However, with 72.1% of the respondents unemployed for reasons other than downsizing, closing, or outsourcing, the major question has to be what does "other" means. It would have been helpful to know if the nebulous category of "Other" included voluntary unemployment for reasons such as relocation, pregnancy and/or child care,or switching professions. Without any more information, it is hard to assess the real causes of unemployment among the Special Libraries Association members. It is worthy to note that only 7.6% of the respondents were unemployed during the period listed. The exact salary survey is included in the last few pages of this book. This is extremely helpful for researchers wishing to expand on the survey or use it in a different population. It is also beneficial for graduate students to have a sample of an actual survey for some classes that require such a thing. Finally, it is important for all librarians to be familiar with the questions that are asked on these surveys. Most library organizations exist to serve the membership, and if the members don't know what the organization is doing, informed and active participation is not possible. It is recommended that this book be purchased by the targeted audience, members of the Special Libraries Association. In addition, human resource officials will find essential information about job titles, salaries and regional characteristics conveniently placed in one book. Any librarian ready to switch jobs will discover the information in this book extremely useful. Armed with the data in this book, they can reasonably negotiate salaries as well as determine where the best prospects are for jobs. This is an excellent reference resource. Marylou Hale West Charleston Library hmhale@worldnet.att.net ****** Schleifer, Martha Furman & Glickman, Sylvia. (Eds.)(1996). _Women Composers: Music Through the Ages_ Volume 1, _Composers Born Before 1599_. NY: G.K Hall. 365 pgs. ISBN:0-8161-0926-5 (v.1) _Women Composers: Music through the Ages_, is a 12 volume series of annotated, modern performance scores from the 9th through 20th centuries. While not attempting to be comprehensive, this series features an excellent selection of music by women composers. When completed, the series will be organized chronologically: ca.810-1599 (vol. 1), 17th century (vol. 2), 18th century (vols. 3-5), 19th century (vols. 6-8), and 20th century (vols. 9-12). To date vols. 1 and 2 have been issued. _Composers Born Before 1599_ includes bibliographies, detailed notes on manuscript editorial procedures, explanatory essays that illuminate the scores, as well as a comprehensive index. The words of the vocal works are in the original language, with English translations provided. All of the scores are prepared from original materials, with careful differentiation made between the original and the performance editions. The scores are newly engraved to ensure clarity and ease of use for classroom and performance. Performance parts are available through the Hildegard Publishing Company. The goal of _Composers Born Before 1599_ is to bring to light a collection of extant music of women composers born between ca.810 and 1599. The essays, "Was Anonymous a Woman?", "Women and Trecento Music", and "Lifting the Protective Veil of Anonymity: ca.1300-1566", challenge the widespread assumption that the creative voices of musical women were silent for almost three centuries preceding 1599. As the coeditors note in the series introduction, "Women's contribution to the arts and humanities has been the subject of an explosion of interest in recent years. Historically, there has been a deep-rooted prejudice against women composers." (pg. vii). Most women who created music in the earliest years were members of religious orders, aristocrats, or members of professional musical families. The composers featured in volume one range from the relatively well-known Hildegard von Bingen to the mysterious Vittoria Aleotti and Raphaela Alleota. "Were they one composer or two? The earlier works by Vittoria are secular and the later ones, by Raphaela, a nun, are sacred." (pg. ix). A notable feature of _Composers Born Before 1599_ is its exploration of music infrequently performed due to inaccessibility. Contributor Diane Touliotos, in order to photograph manuscripts in a monastery to which women are not admitted, was forced to hire a male photographer in Greece. Touliotos' ability to read early notation, coupled with her knowledge of the Greek language, enabled her to prepare the music of the medieval composer, Kassia. Most of the contributors to this volume hold Ph.D.s and have published widely. Coeditor Sylvia Glickman is the founding president of the Hildegard Publishing Company, a press devoted to furthering the music of women composers, past and present. She was appointed coordinating editor for the _Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music_ in 1995. Coeditor Martha Furman Schleifer is a member of the music history faculty at Temple University, and senior editor of Hildegard Publishing Co., and has made several contributions to _The New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers_ (London: Macmillan, 1995). _Women Composers: Music through the Ages_ compares favorably to other recent publications dealing with this topic. Mary Booker's _The Work of Women Composers from 1150 to 1995_ (Ilfracombe: Arthur H. Stockwell) is a one volume treatment of the subject. _Women in Music: An Anthology of Source Readings from the Middle Ages to the Present_ (Boston: Northeastern University Press) is a slightly expanded version of the 1982 edition. Robert L. Kendrick's _Celestial Sirens: Nuns and their Music in Early Modern Milan_ (NY: Oxford University Press) is an extensive resource for polyphonic music in women's religious orders of seventeenth-century Europe, and includes musical examples, illustrations, and an appendix of documents and musical sources. This work treats the reader to a hitherto unopened cache of treasures. The brief biographies of the composer are delightful, providing peeks into the personal lives of these women and the driving forces behind their musical creations. Contributor Thomasin Lemay writes of Paola Massarenghi, "her life is representative of many gifted women of the period in that it is largely undocumented." (pg. ix). The series is an usually comprehensive resource for the study of women composers and has much to offer to the modern scholar, performer, teacher, student, and the general public. Barbara Cressman University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign cressman@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu ****** Foster, Stephen C. (ed.). (1996). _Dada: The Coordinates of Cultural Politics._ New York: G.K. Hall. xvi+296 pp. ill., bib. refs., biblio., index. ISBN 0-8161-7354-0 (cloth). $95.00. (_Crisis and the arts: the history of Dada, v.1_). The Dada movement in literature and the visual arts was founded in Zurich in 1916, in part as a reaction to boredom with cubism, and with traditional literature and art, and in part as a reaction to the horrors which arose from World War I. Amongst its founders were Jean Arp, Hugo Ball, Tristan Tzara and Marcel Janco. The word Dada means "hobbyhorse"; the Oxford English Dictionary also defines it as a "childish or familiar expression". The term was used as the name of the review begun by the group in 1916, which frequently contained works (articles, poems and essays) of an antilogical nature. The Dada movement spread rapidly through the art world in the 1920s, and came to include exhibitions of works by Modigliani, Arp, Max Ernst, Paul Klee, Kandinsky and others. It also took under its umbrella the French painters Francis Picabia and Marcel Duchamp, as well as Americans Man Ray and Walter Arensberg. In 1922, an international Dadaist exhibition took place at the Galerie Montaigne in Paris. The influence of the Dada movement in twentieth-century art and literature should not be underestimated; the surrealist movement, which numbered amongst its members many of the early Dadaists and later such artists as Salvador Dali, Yves Tanguay, Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso, is a prime instance of its influence. Though the organized program of the Dada group had largely dissolved by the mid-1920s, the Neo-Dadaists of the 50s and 60s continued the tradition, and strong elements of it can still be seen. The editor of this collection of essays, Stephen C. Foster, is professor of art history at the University of Iowa, and director of its Fine Arts Dada Archive and Research Center. He has written extensively on the Dada movement, and the present volume is the first in a projected series of eight; six of the remaining seven volumes will consist of historical studies of Dadaism arranged geographically, while the eighth will contain an extensive bibliography on the movement. In his foreword to Volume 1, Foster describes its function as "...to present the current problematics of Dada studies, their historiographic sources, and the complexion of contemporary problem-setting in the field....Dada is examined in its relationships to the visual and literary arts, the manifesto, the event, its language experiments, and the text." (p. xiv) The volume contains eleven essays. Foster's introductory essay sets the tone of the volume, and what he feels should be the approach taken to the examination of Dada. "In introducing [vol.1]", he says, "what I am proposing (perhaps imposing) is the possibility that the activities of Dada were undertaken as much as a means of coping as reforming, and that their successes or failures must be measured in terms of their transaction of social experience bereft of any menaingful social coordinates. Such a perspective permits refocusing questions from *what* [author's italics] the Dadas' activities added up to, to *how* [author's italics] they added up. Put differently, there may be more to learn from the processes of their coping than from the *products* [author's italics] of their coping." [p.2] This is a salient point, one worth keeping in mind when examining the remaining ten essays in the book since, as Foster notes, the skeptic's tendency is to suggest that Dada "...bore an historical responsibility for correcting the world's problems for all time" [p.1], and because it failed in this task, to deny it legitimacy. This same criticism has been levelled at other literary, artistic and philosophical movements in the past, yet the skeptics have hardly come up with anything better. The essays in the current volume cover a fairly wide range of Dada studies. The two by Rainer Rumold and Michel Sanouillet are critical histories of Dada literature; the latter focuses on France and the United States, while the former covers Germany and Central Europe. Rumold's objective is to cover a span "...reaching from autobiographical accounts of Dada to Walter Benjamin's and Theodor Adorno's theoretical perspective on the movement and, finally...to the historical assessment of academic criticism up to the present." [p.197] Sanouillet proposes to "...enumerate the number and pertinence of occurrences to Dada in books, articles and the media in general, underscore the new points made by each leading critic or historian over the last seventy-five years or so, while organizing viewpoints around a few major trends." [pp.231-232] Both authors succeed admirably, and the essays will be useful in conjunction with the proposed vols. III,IV,VI and VII, which deal in detail with these geographical regions. Hanna Bergius' essay "Dada, Montage, and the Press" is particulalry interesting for its examination of the way in which Dadaists used the mass media both as an element in their art and as a device to disrupt traditional art. John D. Erickson's essay on Dada's "cultural politics" shows clearly how the movement (group?) came into conflict with the cultural setting Erickson calls "high modernism". If the standards demonstrated in these essays are any indication, the series should prove to be a major resource for study of the Dada movement. Those institutions which do not feel justified in opting for the entire set would nevertheless do well to consider purchasing vol.I for their art/literary history collections; the essays are first-rate and informative, and the 15-page bibliography provides access to much additional material. Terry Skeats Bishop's University tskeats@ubishops.ca ****** _Index to Black Periodicals 1995_. (1996). New York: G.K. Hall & Co. (ISSN 0899-6253) The 1995 _Index to Black Periodicals_ brings together over 6000 citations from 29 black American journals. Multi-disciplinary in scope, the index has been published annually since 1961 under a variety of names, including Index to Periodical Articles By and About Blacks, Index to Periodical Articles By and About Negroes, and Index to Selected Periodicals, and is considered to be a standard source in many reference collections. A ten-year cumulation covering 1950-1959 is also available from G.K. Hall. Interesting to note, is that in the 1995 issue, an address is provided for people wishing to submit a suggestion for an alternate name to the Index. While the current editions of the Index are now published solely by G.K. Hall, there is still a 5 member advisory board consisting of renowned Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; Howard Dodson, chief of the Schomburg collection at the New York Public Library; Thomas Battle, Rosalind Savage and Jessie Carney Smith. A wide range of publications are indexed in the 1995 edition. The researcher can use this one volume to find articles from not only _Ebony_ and _Jet_, but also more scholarly works such as _National Minority Politics_, _The Howard Journal of Communications_ and _The Journal of Black Studies_. Included in the preliminary pages are the addresses of the various publications. While the Index provides access to the majority of titles in the broad field of African-American studies, two titles, _The Journal of Negro History_ and _The Negro History Bulletin_ are conspicuously absent. The title of the source should not lead the librarian/researcher to believe that information can be found *only* on African-Americans. Citations can be found on topics of current interest, such as the Israel-Arab Conflict, Ireland, parenting, the PLO, suicide, United States international relations and the Oklahoma City bombing. Access to the citations is provided alphabetically according to subject or author. Extensive cross-referencing is provided. Subject headings generally follow the Library of Congress Subject Headings, except in the case of "Afro-Americans." In this instance, it proves a little redundant. The term "about" following the name of a person identifies that entry as a subject heading. Broad subject headings of "poems," "short stories," "book reviews," film reviews," music reviews," and "theater reviews" provide access to, in the case of the first three, lengthy lists. While this may not be practical or the person looking for something specific, it does prove useful for the student who needs "something," but doesn't know quite what. Subject/Author headings are easily identifiable due to the bold-face type, and the remainder of the text is easily readable, with italics identifying the name of the journal. Citations appear in a standard, easily recognizable format. While this is a standard source, and provides a valuable service, it is not without flaws. Most disturbing is that only selected issues of titles are indexed. The *List of Periodicals Indexed* appearing in the preliminary pages provides not only the list of titles, but a list of issues included in the index. Some entries do not seem to give an adequate citation list. For instance, a subject search for "Obituaries" leads the researcher to *only* citations from _Jet_ magazine. There seems, in some cases, to not be a logical assignment of subject headings. Looking up the term "Internet" results in 2 citations, while the term "Computer Networking" results in 11, with six of those 11 being related specifically to the Internet. Locating information on cities is made difficult. Access is available only by locating the state and then the city. For example, information on New Orleans can *only* be found under the listing, "Louisiana New Orleans." These flaws however, are not so great that they take away from the positive aspects of the Index. In some sense, this index is a duplication of other indexes. However, while citations to these articles may be found in a variety of locations, it is nice to have a collection this varied housed "under one roof." Kimberly Hill University of Southern Mississippi kshill@ocean.st.usm.edu --------- ________________________________________ This document may be circulated freely with the following statement included in its entirety: Copyright 1997. This article was originally published in _LIBRES: Library and Information Science Electronic Journal_ (ISSN 1058-6768) March 31, 1997 Volume 7 Issue 1. For any commercial use, or publication (including electronic journals), you must obtain the permission of the relevant authors. To subscribe to LIBRES send e-mail message to listproc@info.curtin.edu.au with the text: subscribe libres [your first name] [your last name] ________________________________________ ------------------------------ Cut here ------------------------------