Robert N. Matuozzi and Elizabeth B. Lindsay. Literary Research and the American Moderninst Era: Strategies and Sources. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2008. 173p. alk. paper, $35 (ISBN 081086116). LC2008-15076.

In this third of the planned nineteen books in Scarecrow Press’s "Literary Research: Strategies and Sources" series, the authors roundly achieve their stated purpose to "provide the scholars of American modernism with solid research skills and an overview of the core reference tools that are focused in this field of study." The authors broadly identify their audience as scholars and researchers of American modernism, but the search strategies employed within would be too sophisticated for all but the most advanced undergraduate. Reference and instruction librarians, particularly literature specialists, would also benefit from a reading.

The book is well arranged and in a logical order. Basic information sources are introduced, and then, searches particular to literature, and more specifically American modernist literature, are employed. The first chapter, "Basics of Online Searching," covers basic information such as understanding MARC records, selecting and combining search terms using Boolean strategies, truncation, nesting, phrase searching, and proximity operators. The differences between, and when it is best to use, library catalogs, search engines, and article databases is outlined. Although much of this is all-purpose information, this chapter uses search examples specific to American modernism.

The remaining chapters describe the different types of information sources valuable in American modernist literary research. These chapters are divided into sections, and each section begins with complete bibliographic information for the sources described within that section. The authors identify the structure and features of each resource and explain which are better suited for particular research needs. In the first of these chapters, "General Literature Reference Sources," the authors explain that these are the best sources with which to begin a literary information search. This chapter starts with the most general of these sources, "General Research Guides," and instructs researchers how to find topics relevant to American modernism in these subject-expansive resources; it closes with the most specific general literature reference sources: "Individual Author Resources." Other sections in this chapter include "American Modernism Period Companions," "Modernist Period Encyclopedias," "Literary Companions and Surveys, and American Literature Encyclopedias," "Biographical Resources," and "Chronologies."

The volume contains useful figures throughout, and the following chapter, "Library Catalogs," is no exception, as it reproduces search results in the form of the catalog result pages from library, union, and national catalogs. Keyword approaches, along with approaches by author, title, and subject, are explained. The chapter on "Print and Electronic Bibliographies, Indexes, and Annual Reviews" discusses sources that provide access to lists of resources but that, in some cases, can also deliver full-text articles by linking to products like JSTOR or Project MUSE or to a general article database. In the chapter on "Scholarly Journals," the authors explain the importance of scholarly journals in charting new trends in theoretical stances, development of issues, or critical reception of authors and note that virtually all scholarly journals mentioned are indexed in MLAIB, ABELL, Humanities Index, and other indexes covered in the previous chapter on indexes. Individual journal descriptions explain which index to use for access and which product or database to use for delivery. However, in the "Contemporary Reviews" chapter, the authors are careful to point out that, despite the availability of online versions of reference tools, traditional bibliographies and periodical indexes are still very useful reference tools.

An interesting history of newspaper and periodical publishing of the period, especially that of "little magazines," is provided in the chapter "Newspapers, Periodical and Microforms." Although mainstream newspapers are well indexed and easily accessed electronically, either from the publisher or through commercial information vendors, such as ProQuest, locating more obscure pieces of literature may require perusal of the original published resource material. Some of the chapters, such as this one, with historical or critical narration, contain notes at the end of the chapter; other chapters do not require endnotes. The chapter "Manuscripts and Archives" describes the types of materials housed at archives and details policies and procedures practiced in these closed stack repositories. However, an "archives" is perhaps too simply defined as "a repository for housing and administering old records," when, in fact, archives often hold current records. The "Web Resources" chapter reveals resources that are difficult to discover through traditional library searches. Some of these Web resources point the researcher to other sources; others contain digitized primary resources. However, the authors warn that, given the variable nature of the Web, some of these resources may have disappeared while others have emerged. The final chapter, "Researching a Thorny Problem," guides the researcher through a single challenging research problem.

As would be expected, some information contained in these chapters overlaps. For example, Web resources are mentioned in all chapters as well as further elucidated in its own chapter. These instances are consistently noted by the authors. The appendix of "Selected Resources in Related Disciplines" guides the researcher to general literary resources as well as resources in art, history, social sciences, philosophy, religion, music, sciences, medicine, and theatre. The book ends with a useful bibliography and a comprehensive index.

An important contribution to the understanding of research methodology in American modernism, this book covers newer research technologies that could not have been included even just a year ago. However, this also exposes a weakness of the book, which, to remain relevant, will need to be updated frequently, as the technologies are likely to continue to change. The volume is clearly written and generally has an appropriate level of detail. However, at times, the authors provide more information than would be useful for most researchers, such as providing the names of common online catalog vendors. Nevertheless, library terminology is clearly defined before it is used, and the authors succeed in making the complicated search process easy to follow.

Following strategies outlined in this volume allows researchers to avoid common pitfalls with the information resources with which they are already familiar while introducing researchers to resources that they do not even know exist. Most important, the authors observe that an efficient research methodology can free up the researchers, allowing them to spend more time writing and reflecting.—Mary Manning, Adelphi University.