2012 Dartmouth Medal
Posted by: Barbara Bibel
The Dartmouth Medal, RUSA’s “Oscar” for the most outstanding new reference source of the year, went to Green’s Dictionary of Slang, published by Chambers and distributed by Oxford. It was selected for its comprehensive and inclusive scholarship, providing coverage of English-language slang in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, and other English-speaking countries. It is the “OED” of slang, covering 500 years of slang usage with 110,000 words and phrases, more than 400,000 citations, and 6,000 titles as sources. Scholars will treasure it and a wide range of readers will enjoy it. This title was also on the 2011 Editor’s Choice list for Reference Sources.
The committee awarded an honorable mention to Sage’s International Encyclopedia of Political Science, published in association with the International Political Science Association. The international scope, objective coverage, extensive bibliographies, and 1500 articles written by scholars from 40 countries offer a wealth of information about political science, law, foreign policy, and religion.
Last but not least, the committee announced a Lifetime Achievement Award for the Statistical Abstract of the United States, published by the United States department of Commerce. For 133 years, this source has been the recognized authority for U.S. Statistics as well as a point of entry into government documents. It went electronic in 1993 and it still exists in print. It will be missed, but its legacy offers an in-depth picture of American Life.
