Reader’s Roundup

Reader’s Roundup: Monographic Musings & Reference Reviews

Column Editor: Corey Seeman (Director, Kresge Library Services, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan) <cseeman@umich.edu> Twitter @cseeman

Column Editor’s Note: I am very happy to share a set of reviews with the Charleston community with this issue. What is fascinating (from an editorial perspective) is that for the first time I can remember, we have both one of the highest and one of the lowest ratings among the books reviewed this time. The two highest review ratings involve a book that needs a home on your nightstand or your desk. The lowest review rating suggests that the reviewer would invest money elsewhere. Both of these groups represent works that either excite or disappoint the reviewers of the work. While the ratings are listed elsewhere in this column, it is worth sharing a bit behind the rational.

We (as a society) are rating-happy, slapping a number or a score on just about everything. We also fixate on the winners, even though we know that a win, especially with awards, might represent short-lived praise. (My case in point are the 2022 Emmy’s loving The White Lotus and ignoring Better Call Saul — please don’t get me started). Having just returned from an actual vacation, it is interesting for me to think about how people might respond to post-trip surveys. Most of us on this vacation shared the same general experience, and yet have very different perceptions of how enjoyable the vacation was. There is a hope that if you get enough people to respond, the more probable rating might emerge, but there sometimes are not enough responses to really find the balance.

That being said, as I looked around at my fellow vacationeers (not sure that is a word), all I could think of was a fairly standard bell-curve. The vast majority of people seem to be generally happy or content. A small number are elated and a small number are miserable. It is the same food, the same entertainment, the same basic package — but with very different responses. Somehow, without a baseline — it is difficult to interpret the scores that they might give a vacation. The same could be true about movies, books, television series, museums, etc.

The ratings that we came up with for this column are intented to provide less of a score, but more of a general account of the value that a book may provide in a modern library setting. I personally believe that most every book has some value to the library and value to many members of the community. That being said, libraries have a limited budget and shelf-space to house all these materials, so decisions need to be thought out. When you are looking at these reviews, do not skip ahead to the rating, but use it to summarize the key elements you see in the review. Hopefully it will help clarify the value of that item in your library.

I very much appreciate the work of the reviewers who really dig into the work and provide context that may be missing elsewhere. Thank you to my reviewers: Erika Boardman (UNC Charlotte), Janet Crum (University of Arizona), Julie Huskey (Tennessee State University), Joshua Hutchinson (University of Southern California), Colleen Lougen (SUNY New Paltz), Jane Natches (Tufts University), Mary Jo Orzech (SUNY Brockport) — who penned two reviews, and Kathryn Vela (St. Luke’s Health System). Thank you very much for your work in bringing this column together.

If you would like to be a reviewer for Against the Grain, please write me at <cseeman@umich.edu>. If you are a publisher and have a book you would like to see reviewed in a future column, please also write me directly. You can also find out more about the Reader’s Roundup here — https://sites.google.com/view/ squirrelman/atg-readers-roundup.

Happy reading and be nutty! — Corey

Alessio, Amy, Katie LaMantia & Emily Vinci. 50+ Programs for Tweens, Teens, Adults, and Families: 12 Months of Ideas. ALA Editions, 2020. 978-0-8389-1945-3, 176 pages, $54.99

Reviewed by Mary Jo Orzech (Librarian, Drake Memorial Library, SUNY Brockport) <morzech@brockport.edu>

As the title might suggest, this book presents more than fifty ideas designed for public library programs aimed at a wide range of ages and interests. The format is clear and straightforward, using easy-to-follow cookbook style instructions for each event. The first section is logically organized by month for effortless referral. The second part of the book includes five short chapters discussing ideas for groups and clubs that can grow from single events, such as a Graphic Novel Group, Power Parenting Nights or STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) Club.

A description of each activity mentions preparation time needed for planning and shopping, as well as setup. A handy supply list is provided along the typical length of a program, optimal number of attendees, and suggested age range. Marketing ideas, program variations, trivia and free games are included as ways to build interest before the event. “Pro Tips” contribute additional pointers likely to enhance participation, ease implementation, and encourage success.

Perennial favorite themes are updated with inspiring offshoots and intriguing brainstorms for fresh planning. The concise template format incorporates a number of creative twists and turns worth exploring. One example features card games such as cribbage or whist to supplement a Jane Austen event. Programs can be scaled and adapted by astute library staff to suit the unique needs of their communities.

Plans may build on tried and true favorite activities, such as those involving food and crafts, yet still include enough variation to satisfy readers looking for something new. The book includes sketches, not pictures, and frequently refers to websites for further details or examples. Specific websites are occasionally no longer available, a weakness shared by many print books in the current environment.

The complementary backgrounds of the three collaborating authors amplify and enhance the material: • Amy Alessio is an award-winning librarian, author of several library programming books, and an adjunct professor of library science. She also teaches webinars on book trends and social media.

• Katie Lamantia is a collection development librarian for a well-known publisher and co-author of several books, with expertise in programming for teens and young adults. • Emily Vinci is the fiction manager at a township district library in Illinois. She presents frequently about pop culture and niche library programming, and has also co-authored multiple books.

A small point is that trademarked names of supplies are frequently used rather than general descriptions. Addressing that might help the book be more useful in areas where specific commercial items may not be available, accessible or affordable, yet similar items could be substituted. Examples include plastic cups for “Dixie” cups, hook and loop for “Velcro,” jelly beans for “Jelly Bellies,” etc.

While intended for public library audiences, several programs could be readily modified for other venues. Academic libraries could easily benefit from ideas described in “Life Hacks for Living on Your Own,” “Healthy Living and Meal Prep” and financial literacy for college audiences. The book mentions that many activities could also be modified to encourage greater engagement through partnerships with a variety of community groups.

The book provides basic frameworks for interesting programs. It is easy to envision that supplemental online content (e.g., customizable flyer templates, prop descriptions, handouts and evaluation materials) could add value. This would reduce planning time, while still allowing for creativity and individualization. Although the book is primarily designed for in-person events, it recognizes the effectiveness of online, social media and other technology applications.

The authors generously share their expertise with tested programming ideas and their enthusiasm is contagious. The book illustrates successful experiences and promotes positive interactions. It is therefore a bit surprising that more discussion around assessment is not included. This resource might benefit from a simple customizable template to assist with evaluating impact and identifying suggestions, improvements or changes for next time.

In summary, many similar ideas may be available via online searching, yet the book includes multiple creative and practical twists for both new library staff and anyone seeking to refresh existing programs for specific audiences. The book also contains a valuable index that strengthens its usefulness.

ATG Reviewer Rating: I need this available somewhere in my shared network. (I probably do not need this book, but it would be nice to get it within three to five days via my network catalog.)

Autoimmune Diseases Handbook & Resource Guide. Amenia NY. Grey House Publishing Inc. (2021). 9781637000359, 442 pages. $184.91

Reviewed by Jane Natches (Head, Collections Management, Hirsh Health Sciences Library, Tufts University, Boston MA) <jane.natches@tufts.edu>

In academia, most people accept that a Health Sciences library exists to support the educational needs of students, residents, fellows and faculty in health-related fields of study. But some Health Sciences libraries reside in hospital settings and are expected to provide resources for patient use as well as health care professionals. It can be challenging to find good quality resources that are written at the level a patient can understand.

The Autoimmune Diseases Handbook & Resource Guide was written for patients and families with the intention of providing useful and understandable content about the prevention, treatment, and outcomes of 21 different autoimmune diseases. The book is divided into three sections. The first section, titled “Statistics & Studies about Autoimmune Diseases,” captures detailed information on 17 specific autoimmune diseases. The second section, titled “Types of Autoimmune Diseases” contains one page disease profiles of 21 autoimmune diseases — 17 of which are also covered in section one and four that are not. Each profile is followed by listings of various agencies, associations, research centers, support groups, and digital resources where one can find more information and help. The third section lists medications by disorder. An entry name index and a geographic index are provided at the end of the book.

When assessing a resource, we teach our students to look at the author’s credentials and ask: “Do they have the background and expertise to be writing about this subject?” But the first thing one notices about this book is that no individual authors or editors are listed on the cover or title page. In section one the authors are made up of various organizations and associations that support specific autoimmune diseases. Here Grey House Publishing has reproduced whole brochures and fact sheets originally published by those organizations. For example, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation is the author of the 3-page fact sheet “News from the IBD Help Center” and the 21-page brochure “Living with Crohn’s Disease” that make up the chapter on Crohn’s Disease in section one. This lends legitimacy to the content, provided one has a level of familiarity and trust of the organization. Section two is more problematic as disease profiles appear to be unauthored and data sources uncited.

Books made up of a compilation of authors is not unusual, especially in the medical field. But books produced this way require editorial work if not of the actual content, then with the selection of that content. On the first page of the Publisher’s Note (page xi) the reader is told that “There are more than 80 different autoimmune diseases, affecting every part of the body” yet only 21 diseases were selected for this publication. The publisher note also explains that section one contains some detailed research articles taken directly from academic journals and appears to lament that they are “word-heavy” and long but that the valuable information within them made it difficult to exclude. Obviously, many editorial decisions were required to produce this book, but how those decisions were made and by whom is unclear.

The challenge with creating a guide this way is the ability to keep it concise. In a handbook such as this, one might expect to find all the information about the etiology or symptoms of a disease in one place. In this book, however, information can appear in multiple places and the duplicate content may not always agree. For example, in section one the chapter on Lupus contains a fact sheet from the Office on Women’s Health (OWH), a fact sheet from the Lupus Foundation, and a health topic flyer from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In the OWH fact sheet, the symptoms for Lupus are muscle and joint pain, fever, rashes, such as a butterfly-shaped rash that may appear across the nose and cheeks, chest pain when taking a deep breath, hair loss, sun or light sensitivity, kidney problems, mouth sores (usually painless), feeling very tired, anemia, memory problems, blood clotting, and eye disease (page 83). In the NIH Health topic, some of those same symptoms are noted, but this document also lists changes in color of the fingers and toes, swollen glands, swelling in the legs or around the eyes, headaches, dizziness, depression, confusion and seizures (pages 90-91). And in between, on pages 85-89, the Lupus Foundation explains about the four different forms of lupus. It is interesting to note that while the NIH content is only about the most common form of lupus — systemic lupus / erythematosus (lupus), the OWH content doesn’t clarify the specific form or that there is more than one form. Added to the patchwork of content in section one is the fact that the same 17 diseases here are also summarized in section two. For Lupus, on page 339 of section two the reader can again find an abbreviated list of symptoms for the most common form of lupus and brief descriptions of three other forms of the disease.

The content of this book certainly has value. It is the organization that is concerning. The fact that it requires the reader not only to read each section in full so as not to miss a critical piece that may be provided by one institute but not another, but to then have to jump to its companion section at the back of the book is problematic. It is also limiting in that it only covers 21 diseases and only 17 completely (in both sections one and two). I would be more inclined to spend my money on an encyclopedia of autoimmune diseases that covers every autoimmune disease and is written in a way that is consolidated and succinct.

ATG Reviewer Rating: I’ll use my money elsewhere. (Just not sure this is a useful book for my library or my network.)

Blake, Allison, ed. Careers in Gaming. Ipswich, MA: Salem Press : A division of EBSCO Information Services, 2020. 9781642656862, 350 pages. $125.00.

Reviewed by Erika Boardman (Electronic Resources Management Librarian, UNC Charlotte) <eboardman@uncc.edu>

Whether you enjoy them yourself or know people who do, video gaming is a widely popular activity in today’s society and will continue to grow as a favorite hobby for years to come. There is a huge population that attends gaming events to hear from the producers, directors, and etc. about the “next big thing” for the gaming industry. Many of us admire the visionaries, artists, and all other contributors of our favorite games, and we can’t help but wonder how these people became involved in the gaming industry and how we can get there ourselves.

Careers in Gaming places itself as an introductory core reference work for those curious about the gaming industry and what jobs are involved within the field. This volume is a part of the Careers In series by Salem Press and the reputation of this series for providing real-world knowledge remains apparent in this volume.

Careers in Gaming is organized alphabetically by career title and covers a variety of disciplines including arts and music, software and information systems, and other subjects of interest. Some of the featured careers include voice actor, market research analyst, e-sports player, and market research analyst. Each career profile starts with a “Snapshot” that includes the career clusters, what interests an individual may have that would be beneficial for the type of job, salary earnings, and employment outlook. The rest of the profile is broken down into six sections: “Overview,” “Work Environment,” “Education, Training, and Advancement,” “Earnings and Advancement,” “Employment and Outlook,” and “More Information.” Throughout the career profile are side boxes with additional information about transferable skills, duties and responsibilities, and extra quick information that compliments the rest of the profile. Some of the career profiles also include a section called “Conversation With…” that provides an interview with an individual that has current or previous experience with the career profile it corresponds with.

The last section of the book includes a list of the organizations and associations mentioned throughout the book, an index and bibliography, and an informational chart about the Holland Code, a career theory about the different work groups an individual could fit into. There are additional pages that explain the six groups of the Holland Code.

Overall, Careers in Gaming is a relevant reference work for anyone interested in obtaining information about working in the gaming industry. Some of the information for each career profile felt repetitive at times, but it’s definitely not a deal breaker to have the same information presented twice in a different manner. The interview pieces are a great addition to the career profiles because it offers a bit of context about the different avenues people have taken to get to their career. There were a couple of careers that I felt were a bit of a reach to include as a “gaming career” or just something I wouldn’t particularly be looking for in this reference work. For example, “School teacher” was a career listed and the career profile really only mentions gaming in the context of being utilized more in classrooms for teaching and learning purposes — not actually a career in the gaming industry. Since the topic of gaming careers is still relatively new and there aren’t many publications about finding a job involving video games, this is a good career book to have on hand in a reference collection and to expand the subject coverage of a career resources collection. Careers in Gaming provides a good introduction and general overview to the field of gaming that can provide direction for people in their career search and insight into the gaming industry.

ATG Reviewer Rating: I need this in my library. (I want to be able to get up from my desk and grab this book off the shelf, if it’s not checked out.)

Cardiovascular Disease: Handbook & Resource Guide. New York: Grey House Publishing, 2020. 9781642658521, 545 pages. $165.00

Reviewed by Kathryn Vela (Medical Librarian, St. Luke’s Health System, Boise, Idaho) <velak@slhs.org>

This book is the second title in the new Grey House Health & Wellness Guides series, designed to collate information about cardiovascular disease for patients and healthcare providers alike. The book is organized into four sections: Section One covers studies and statistics about cardiovascular disease; Section Two outlines the different types of cardiovascular disease, including relevant agencies and resources; Section Three describes comorbid conditions like substance use and obesity; and Section Four includes a selection of appendices. The purchase of this book comes with free online access to the Grey House/Salem Press Online resource for this book.

The first section of this book encompasses over 300 pages and is composed of a collection of government-funded manuals and reports on cardiovascular disease and a large selection of statistical maps showing cardiovascular disease death rates by state and county in the United States. While nearly all of this information can be found online for free, areas that struggle with reliable Internet access or who serve a population with limited digital literacy could benefit from having this information in print as part of this book.

The same is true for the second and third sections, as well; each type of cardiovascular disease and comorbidity that is described is accompanied by a list of agencies, resource centers, research foundations, support groups, and/or journals. This information could be found online, but having this list of resources could be helpful to those who are familiarizing themselves with a certain condition and not very familiar with effective online searching. There is a risk that much of this information could quickly become outdated as contact information changes.

The publisher states that the Cardiovascular Disease Handbook & Resource Guide is “a necessary reference for public and academic libraries, as well as health care and senior center collections.” Given that much of the information in this book can be found online for free, I do not feel that academic or hospital libraries would find much benefit in adding this book to their collection. One possible group of users might be libraries that are located in a rural area with limited or unreliable Internet, or libraries that serve a population that lacks digital literacy. They might find that this work has useful information that might not be easily obtained elsewhere.

ATG Reviewer Rating: I’ll use my money elsewhere. (Just not sure this is a useful book for my library or my network).

Evans, Robert C. (ed.) Notable Crime Fiction Writers. Ipswich, MA: Salem Press, 2021. 978-1-63700-031-1 (print set); 9781-63700-032-8 (ebook). 2 v. (930 p.), $225.

Reviewed by Janet Crum (Director, Health Sciences Library, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ) <janetcrum@arizona.edu>

Popular with readers since the nineteenth century, crime fiction is often ranked as one of the top-selling literary genres in the United States and United Kingdom. In recent decades, the genre has also earned increasing respect from critics and academics. Notable Crime Fiction Writers has much to offer both fans and students of crime fiction.

According to the Publisher’s Note, the set is based on its predecessor, the five-volume Critical Survey of Mystery & Detective Fiction (2008), with some changes to the scope and content. Authors who have died or stopped publishing in the genre have been removed except for, “major, continuously influential figures, such as Poe, Christie, Hammett, and others” (vii). Over a hundred new entries have been added for, “writers who were not active enough to have been included in 2008,” including an effort, “to broaden the coverage of writers from previously underrepresented groups, namely African American, Native American, Hispanic, Women, and LGBTQ” (vii). Entries for authors included in the previous edition have been updated to include newer works, and the new edition includes an appendix with new essays on the genre.

The work includes entries for authors across all major subgenres as well as a few authors well-known in other genres whose work includes elements of crime fiction (e.g., Stephen King). Entries are arranged alphabetically and begin with ready reference information such as pseudonyms, type of plot (e.g., police procedural, amateur sleuth), principal series, principal characters, and a photo. The remainder of each entry typically covers the following: • A summary of the author’s contribution to crime fiction • Brief biography • An analysis of the author’s, “themes, motifs, and writing style” (vii) • Principal works or groups of works by genre • An annotated bibliography

All entries are signed. Contributors are a mix of academics (mostly American) and independent scholars. Entries do not include complete bibliographies but rather highlight a few key works. Most entries run four to six pages, with a few slightly longer. The set contains four appendices: 1. Past and Present Mystery and Detective Fiction: Six essays covering the history and major developments of the genre, from its nineteenth-century origins through the golden age, pulp magazines, subgenres, and more. Thoughtful and richly referenced, these essays will be of interest to both students and fans. 2. Crime Fiction Settings and Situations: All but one of the essays in this appendix focus on settings: Crime Fiction Set in Sweden, Crime Fiction Set on the West Coast, etc. These essays are brief and discuss only a few works; for example, Crime Fiction Set in the West discusses only four novels and makes no mention of Tony Hillerman, Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire series, or JA Jance. Similarly, an essay entitled Crime Fiction with Mentally or Physically Challenged Characters — the only one not focused on a setting — includes Jeffery Deaver’s iconic Lincoln Rhyme but discusses a later book in the series rather than the first and best known, The Bone Collector. In most cases, the essays in this section consist primarily of plot summaries with some additional details sourced from reviews. 3. Resources: This section includes: an excellent annotated bibliography of reference, criticism, and other books about the genre and glossaries of genre terms, techniques, and jargon. 4. Author Birth and Death Data — an alphabetical listing of author birthdates, birthplaces, and death dates.

The set includes several useful indexes: author place and year of birth; authors by category (e.g., cozy, gay and lesbian detectives); character; and subject (including author names, titles, and some character names).

Most of the author entries I reviewed are well-written and offer substantive insights into each author’s body of work and contributions to crime fiction while also being accessible to the general reader. Standouts include the entries for Tony Hillerman and Attica Locke. A few entries have significant issues. For example, the entry for JA Jance is poorly written and demonstrates little knowledge of crime fiction (e.g., the author suggests that starting with a murder, “may seem backward,” when it is, in fact, standard practice in the mystery genre). The entry for Arthur Conan Doyle, arguably the most influential mystery writer in the western world, focuses mostly on one work — The Hound of the Baskervilles — with little information about the rest of the Holmes canon.

I also noted some puzzling omissions from the author entries, most notably Jeffery Deaver and Charlaine Harris, both huge names in the genre.

Despite these mostly minor issues, this work is a treasure trove for crime fiction fans and an excellent reference for librarians supporting reader’s advisory or literature programs that include crime fiction.

ATG Reviewer Rating: I need this on my desk. (This book is so valuable, that I want my own copy at my desk that I will share with no one.)

Hope, Jake. Seeing Sense: Visual Literacy as a Tool for Libraries, Learning and Reader Development. Cover Illustration by Olivia Lemenech Gill. London: Facet Publishing, 2020. 978-1-78330441-7, 195 pages. $43.40

Reviewed by Mary Jo Orzech (Librarian, Drake Memorial Library, SUNY Brockport) <morzech@brockport.edu>

This compact book provides a wide-ranging yet brief overview of many aspects of visual literacy. Written in a conversational style by an author well acquainted with the field, this handsome paperback provides valuable history and context for a sometimes neglected area of publishing. Integrating reading development and visual literacy with practical suggestions for book illustrators is a compelling area ripe for additional study. The increasing popularity of graphic novels and comics as art forms make deeper consideration of visual literacy both appropriate and timely. Covering a wide swath, we are reminded of the importance of visualizations for conveying meaning, as well as the myriad of relationships that exist between words and pictures, from early cave drawings through digital animations.

Author Jake Hope is a “reading development and children’s book consultant with a keen interest in librarianship, visual literacy, diversity and children’s books.” He has significant experience as both observer and judge for several book awards. His knowledge and background with award programs bring their history, processes and unique emphases into sharp focus. The book is sprinkled with first person interviews, quotes, and case studies from notable jurors and awardees, providing a unique “behind the scenes” glimpse into the creation of book illustrations, particularly, though not exclusively, in children’s and young adult books.

The book is an easy read and well organized. Concise chapters range from “What is visual literacy and why does it matter?,” through terminology, developmental reading stages, artist perspectives, and the critical importance of visual literacy in information-seeking, making meaning, and learning. The chapter on visual representation and inclusion is especially welcome and touches on a range of topics including cultural diversity, gender, sexuality, mental health, empathy, learning needs, sight and colour blindness. The final chapter detailing visual literacy in libraries and reading environments should be most pertinent for librarians. The author illuminates some of the ways that visual literacy can be incorporated as part of library collections, displays, settings, and services along with creative examples of how it can be highlighted in both the physical and online worlds. Many of the cases emanate from libraries in the United Kingdom, but can be adapted and replicated globally. These “show me, don’t tell me” models can help to inspire and benefit visual learners as well as readers of all ages as both consumers and creators. Figures, boxes and short case studies significantly enrich the text as does a glossary, reference list and index. Including comic strip writer Mort Walker’s definition of terms like grawlix (a string of typographical symbols to represent an obscenity in a comic), plewd (stylized sweat drops around a character’s head), squeans (lines and symbols drawn around a character’s head when disoriented or drunk) and emanata (elements such as a question mark over a character’s head) to describe emotions in depictions provides both vividness and humor. The book would benefit from additional proofreading to catch typos and misspellings, but the charming narrative pulls the reader past most of them.

As Quentin Black states, “We live in a verbal culture where we think words are important and drawing is merely decorative. But there are hundreds of things for which drawing is wonderfully economical and efficient.” (p. 124) Seeing Sense makes a convincing case for paying additional attention to the many ways that visual representations literally colour our world.

ATG Reviewer Rating: I need this available somewhere in my shared network. (I probably do not need this book, but it would be nice to get it within three to five days via my network catalog.)

Ng-He, Carol and Patti Gibbons. Exhibits and Displays: A Practical Guide for Librarians. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021. 9781538144039, 135 pages. $65.00 ($61.50 ebook)

Reviewed by Joshua Hutchinson (Head, Acquisitions and Cataloging, University of Southern California) <joshuah8@usc.edu>

Volume number 72 in the series longstanding Practical Guides for Librarians, this work demonstrates the best of a practical guide in a well-established series: it is well thought out, clearly structured, and does exactly what it says — presents a practical guide for librarians creating displays and exhibits. Ng-He and Gibbons tell us in the preface that the reader will learn “the full process of creating, implementing, and evaluating exhibits and displays” while helpfully presenting the chapters “in the sequential order that exhibit production generally takes.”

Those chapters are structured with helpful and brief titles, starting with “Show it! Why libraries create exhibits and displays,” moving through planning, telling the story, writing text and labels, physically building the exhibit and display, bringing in material and traveling exhibits, creating digital exhibits, and finishing up with the crucial steps of engagement, marketing and assessment.

Each chapter is clearly structured, with an introductory section, brief subheadings punctuated liberally with examples from exhibits presented in libraries, and closing with Key Points, Notes and References. Oddly, the Notes and References sections generally duplicate each other, but in general this formal structure serves the book well, ensuring that each chapter is clear, readable, easy to reference, and provides further reading if desired.

Happily, this guide engages readers in a clear and honest fashion. For instance, the authors note on page 6 that, “sometimes libraries are not ready to take on displays and exhibits, so be… realistic about what your library’s current capacity can support.” The real-world examples are presented in a helpful way, and clearly illustrate the chapter’s content. While many librarians reading this guide will have had little or no experience curating exhibits, seeing these examples will give them some degree of experience with presenting library exhibits.

In particular, I found the chapter on writing exhibit text and labels to be exemplary — offering advice in a wide variety of areas, moving from the size and typeface used on exhibit labels to how much text should be included, the style in which it should be written, and the various types of text and labels that an exhibit curator might want to write. The chapter closes with examples of a variety of different label types, including case panels, item labels and a pull quote.

This book provides an excellent introduction to exhibits best practices for all librarians. Because of its highly structured format, it contains material useful for the novice exhibit creator as well as someone with more experience, and still prove to be useful for both. It can be read front to back, and can also be treated as a reference book. In libraries where many librarians are involved in the exhibits process, I can imagine a dog-eared copy of this book being passed around as an introduction to exhibition curation.

ATG Reviewer Rating: I need this available somewhere in my shared network. (I probably do not need this book, but it would be nice to get it within three to five days via my network catalog.)

O’Neal, Michael J. (Ed.). Principles of Business: Globalization. Ipswich, MA: Armenia, NY: Salem Press; Grey House Publishing, 2019. 9781642652895, 577 pages. $165.

Reviewed by Colleen Lougen (Serials and Electronic Resources Librarian, SUNY New Paltz) <lougenc@newpaltz.edu>

In Principles in Business: Globalization, Michael J. O’Neal defines globalization as the increased interdependence of nations, economies, populations, and cultures, and in particular, the establishment of economic partnerships between countries to promote international trade. Globalization has been a far more substantial element in modern businesses in nearly every country on the globe. Recent events, including COVID-19 and the Ukrainian War, demonstrate the vulnerability of global supply chains, and some say deglobalization may be a new reality. Knowledge of globalization and its components is essential in today’s rapidly changing business environment.

Salem Press’ Principles of Business series continues with this eighth volume. Principles in Business: Globalization provides a wide range of topics surrounding globalization that are described in an accessible manner and reveals ways to distinguish between efficient and inefficient forms of globalization. Other volumes in the series include marketing, management, finance, entrepreneurship, economics, accounting, and leadership. The books in this series serve as a useful introduction to business fundamentals.

The editor, Michael J. O’Neal is a former college teacher with a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from Bowling Green State University. He conducts developmental editing and copyediting for educational and reference books. A brief discussion of early trading between nations is presented in the introduction, along with some positive and negative effects of globalization. Examples of topics covered in the main contents include balance of payments, trade, business cycles, comparative economic systems, exchange rates, international supply change management, stock markets, and the World Bank.

A total of nearly 100 entries were submitted by 24 independent scholars, some with university affiliations. The entries range from two to eight pages long and are organized alphabetically. Each entry includes an abstract summarizing the essay’s contents, along with a thorough overview, viewpoints, issues, and applications of the topic. A comprehensive bibliography cites various scholarly books and articles, periodicals, trade publications, and websites referenced within the entry, and a recommended reading list provides further reading and research opportunities. Diagrams, illustrations, and photographs are included in some entries. In addition to the book’s content, there is a twenty-page glossary of terms and what appears to be a thorough and helpful index. Additionally, libraries that purchase the print book are entitled to free online access to that title via Salem Press Online. It is particularly pleasing to find an essay on globalization and human rights, a critical element in the global economy. The book also contains articles regarding poverty and government policy, climate change, and environmental issues, all of which play an active role in counterbalancing the market-driven nature of globalization. Academic libraries would benefit significantly from this volume. In addition to providing essays filled with information about complex subjects, this book can be a useful supplementary resource for students. There are many details, subtopics, and citations in the densely packed entries, making it difficult to browse compared to other reference books. If I need to explore any of the topics in greater depth, it would be helpful to have this book available.

ATG Reviewer Rating: I need this in my library. (I want to be able to get up from my desk and grab this book off the shelf, if it’s not checked out.)

Ramirez, Tina M., editor. Great Events from History: Human Rights, Second ed. Armenia, NY: Salem Press, 2019. 9781642652918 (set) 4 volumes. 1857 pages. $395.00.

Reviewed by Julie Huskey (Head of Cataloging, Tennessee State University, Brown-Daniel Library) <jhuskey@tnstate.edu>

The late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have seen increased interest in human rights. In the second edition of Great Events from History: Human Rights, editor Tina M. Ramirez brings clarity and understanding to the issue of Human Rights. Ramirez is an independent scholar and human rights consultant and defines human rights, in part, as being “based on standards recognized among governments regarding the rights people have wherever they are — distinct from their civil rights [emphasis in original] which are only recognized within their country (xi).”

The first edition went to press in the aftermath of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia; since then, events such as 9/11 and the Arab Spring have further encouraged discussion of human rights. Perhaps more significant than political developments, however, have been the growth of the Internet and social media, which, as Ramirez acknowledges, has shifted coverage away from newspapers and international organizations toward more informal, real-time coverage.

The set starts with an entry on the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 and concludes with the murder of Saudi author, Washington Post columnist, and activist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The first entry new to the second edition, appearing approximately halfway into volume four, concerns the riots, in 1991 and 1992, over the acquittal of the arresting officers in the Rodney King case.

The entries, all of which are about three pages long, open with a one-sentence summary, “Category of event,” “Time,” and “Locale,” and a list of two to eight “key figures.” A critical annotated bibliography, with three to ten sources, concludes each entry. A few black and white illustrations from Wikimedia Commons are scattered throughout.

Young-adult author Michael J. O’Neal contributes over half of the forty-five or so new entries. Some entries from the first edition have been revised; others have merely added death dates for some of the persons involved. Although it may have been unrealistic to update every event that warranted it, many more entries would have benefited from revision, not only because of related developments, but because perspective can change considerably after a few decades.

The datedness of some entries shows itself not only in the excessive number of bibliographies that lack citations after 1990, but occasionally in more obvious ways — e.g., “Mother Teresa of Calcutta was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Ottoman Empire (now Yugoslavia) (1231); overall, however, the authors have taken care to avoid referencing the date the entry was written.

Any work such as this forced to make some choices about what to include. The scope is somewhat United States-centric, but there is sufficient coverage of areas that generally receive less attention in North America. Human rights cannot be separated cleanly from other aspects of culture, so some readers may take issue with the inclusion of certain events, such as the school-choice program initiated in Minnesota in 1985 (p. 1373). The mid-1990s is curiously under-represented.

The extensive indexing — alphabetical, categorical, personal name, geographical, and subject — is typical of Salem’s youngadult works.

Human Rights is an interesting set to browse, and it could be especially helpful for high school or lower-division college students exploring writing topics. The annotated bibliographies, especially for the updated entries, may be the work’s strongest feature. However, the uneven updating from the first edition may make it an optional purchase, particularly for libraries that already own the 1992 version.

ATG Reviewer Rating: I need this available somewhere in my shared network. (I probably do not need this book, but it would be nice to get it within three to five days via my network catalog.)