The New Walford Guide to Reference Resources. Vol. 1: Science, Technology and Medicine.

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Author: Berry, Teresa U.1

A Classic Returns

The New Walford Guide to Reference Resources. Vol. 1:
Science, Technology and Medicine.
Facet, dist. by Neal-Schuman 2005. c.828p. ed. by
Ray Lester. index. ISBN 1-85604-495-5. $395.

Science and technology information resources have changed radically since the last edition of Walford's Guide to Reference Material (first published in 1959) was released in 1999. The New Walford not only reflects the increasing influence of online resources but has taken a new approach altogether. Retaining its decidedly British bent, this first volume in a projected three-volume set serves as an annotated guide for librarians unfamiliar with the resources of a particular field. While selected traditional print resources-directories, encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, indexes, thesauri, catalogs-are still covered, more emphasis has been placed on new digital resources (image and text collections, blogs, RSS feeds), web sites, and information producers. Each entry provides a bibliographic citation and/or URL and a brief annotation describing the content and any notable features. The Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) has been abandoned in favor of a more straightforward subject arrangement. The New Walford continues to categorize entries by resource type, but now they are somewhat pigeonholed into a standard set of 13 categories. One new section is the "Tools for Information Professionals," useful for novices. The topic index has also been expanded to include specialized subjects that do not have a section in their own right. While complementing and updating other science bibliographies, such as C.D. Hurt's Information Sources in Science and Technology, this does not replace subject-specific guides (e.g., Robert Maizell's How To Find Chemical Information). The volume's strength lies in its currency, and every public and academic library with a previous edition will want this update. [Coming in 2006 is Vol. 2: The Social Sciences; Vol. 3: Arts, Humanities, and General Reference will be published in 2007.-Ed.]

Heirs apparent: a notable successor

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By Teresa U. Berry, Univ. of Tennessee Libs., Knoxville