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If you're heading to Anaheim, this RSS program sounds worth checking out: SUNDAY   6/24 RSS Discussion Forum: Rethinking Your Print Reference Collection Sharaton Park Hotel, Garden AB · 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. http://ala12.scheduler.ala.org/node/618 Convener: Christy Caldwell, University of California, Santa Cruz Library literature shows that since the eighties, we have known our print reference collections [...]

In a move that is sure to rock the world of reference, Encyclopaedia Britannica has just announced that it will no longer publish a print edition. Read more about it at http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/after-244-years-encyclopaedia-britannica-stops-the-presses/

Crossword puzzle dictionaries are a staple in most reference collections.  Two of the most popular are the Random House Webster's Crossword Puzzle Dictionary (Random House Reference, 2006) and The American Heritage Crossword Puzzle Dictionary (Houghton Mifflin, 2003).  As helpful as they are, they don't always have the answer to every cruciverbalist's query.  OneAcross.com is the [...]

Credo Reference has a number of publisher collections which feature the titles from an individual publisher.  They are available for purchase or subscription in Credo, but are generally not part of the Credo General Reference collection.  Credo just announced a new collection from Marshall Cavendish - 9 titles/70 volumes.  Here is more from the press [...]

Just finished reading an interesting article, "'The Rolls Royce of the Library Reference Collection': The Subject Encyclopedia in the Age of Wikipedia" in the latest issue of Reference and User Services Quarterly. The author, John W. East (University of Queensland in Australia) questions whether subject encyclopedias still have any value even online, never mind in print. He [...]

All are invited to attend this discussion forum sponsored by RUSA's Reference Publishing Advisory Committee at the ALA MidWinter Conference in San Diego, January 9th.  Hope to see you there! Discovery and Access of electronic reference works--discussion forum RUSA's Reference Publishing Advisory Committee will be hosting a discussion forum on e-reference discovery. Open to all [...]

Gale, part of Cengage Learning, today announced the availability of the first AccessMyLibrary Public Edition Android application and the first AccessMyLibrary College Edition application for iOS devices (iPhone, iTouch and iPad).  The AML Public Edition Android app allows researchers using an Android device to access Gale resources through public libraries within a 10-mile radius, similar [...]

Gale released a college version of the Access My Library iPhone app.  Using a college email address, students can gain access to Gale resources using their mobile device.  The public library version, which was released a while back, offers apple and android apps, the school library and college versions are for apple products only right [...]

Credo Reference is adding a Publisher Collection from Ashgate. Fifteen comprehensive, specialty titles will soon be available on the Credo Reference platform. Ashgate publishes over 60 reference titles annually in humanities and social sciences. The titles to be available through Credo Reference are representative of the cutting edge research for which the company is known. [...]

Big news today from Credo Reference, US Public libraries can now provide local public high schools with free access to Credo General Reference.  The pilot program will include local public high schools in new US public library subscriptions at no additional cost! (bold inserted by sp) From the press release:  Recognizing the increasing burden on [...]

Reprinted in full from No Shelf Required blog. Each Friday before the ALA Conference, the Independent Reference Publishers Group (IRPG) gets together to have a program and discussion of issues surrounding reference publishing.  The ALA Annual meeting was no exception.  A large group of publishers and librarians gathered to figure out, "how did we get [...]

A few months ago. Points of Reference did a survey based on David Tyckoson's presentation at the Booklist "Twentieth-First Century Reference Collections" webinar. During that webinar, David talked about how most of the print reference materials at his library at California State University, Fresno, have been moved to the circulating collection, and listed the handful [...]

Great news for libraries wanting their major reference content in one interface.  If you are a GVRL user, you now have access to 250 ABC-CLIO titles.  The titles range from history to humanities and current events to general interest.  GVRL now contains nearly 4,500 titles from 70 publishers.

Last December Gale release an iPhone app for the public library market based on their AccessMyLibrary service.  They are now releasing this same iPhone app for the school library market called, AccessMyLibrary School Edition.   The new K-12 version allows students to find their local school library – (grade schools, middle schools and high schools) and [...]

Last week I participated in a webinar about the discovery of reference content.  We identified several of the challenges to locating reference content - print only, reference indexed in only one place (Reference Universe), changing research habits of students (only using search engines/Wikipedia), online reference content in multiple vendor interfaces, and content not available in [...]

Over the past few months we conducted a survey to find out, in this era of shrinking reference collections, what print reference titles libraries would hold on to. This survey grew out of David Tyckson's presentation at our Twenty-First Reference Collections webinar back in January. After the webinar, someone asked David if there are any print reference titles [...]

You still have a few days to respond to our Essential Reference survey. In this era of shrinking print reference collections, we want to know which titles you would keep in your reference collection if you were downsizing--or rightsizing, as the preferred term seems to be. More than half the people who have responded so far are [...]

SAGE Reference Online will have free access until May 15th of this year.  Users must complete a quick registration page, but after that will have access to over 50 subject specific encyclopedias and over 180 handbooks, all in the social sciences.  Access includes The Encyclopedia of Journalism, which received Honorable Mention for the Dartmouth Award [...]

I'm here in Portland OR at the Public Library Association conference. Earlier today someone from a public library outside Chicago stopped by the Booklist booth to tell me he's been following the posts on this blog about shifting books out of the reference collection and onto the circulating shelves. He just started that process in his library [...]

Credo Reference subscribers will soon have access to over 10,000 topic pages, designed to provide a subject orientation and context for students doing research.  The pages include definitions, encyclopedia entries, images, and much more from the Credo collection.  These should prove to be a great starting point for research on a variety of topics - [...]