Encyclopaedia Judaica named recipient of the 2007 Dartmouth Medal

Contact: Eileen Hardy

RUSA Marketing Specialist

312-280-4398

ehardy@ala.org

 

For Immediate Release

February 6, 2007

 

"Encyclopaedia Judaica" named recipient of the 2007 Dartmouth Medal

 

SEATTLE--“Encyclopaedia Judaica,” with Fred Skolnik as the editor-in-chief and published by Thomson Gale, is the recipient of the 2007 Dartmouth Medal.  The medal, donated by Dartmouth College and presented by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), is given for creating current reference works of outstanding quality and significance.

 

“This 22-volume set is an authoritative, interdisciplinary and comprehensive examination of all aspects of Jewish life, history and culture.  This title is an extensive revision of the first edition, which was published in 1972, and has 2600 new entries," said Edward Kownslar, award committee chair.   “In addition to updating all world and political events affecting Jewish life and culture since the early 1970s, ‘Judaica’ has significantly enhanced biblical studies and the Holocaust from the first edition.  This title has also expanded the area of women’s studies.”  

 

In years when there are multiple outstanding reference works, the Dartmouth Committee can give honorable mention to other worthy titles.  This year, such a title is “Historical Statistics of the United States: Earlier Times to the Present:   Millennial Edition,” published by Cambridge University Press.  This title is also an updated edition and significantly expands the scope and coverage of the previous edition, which was published in 1976 by the Census Bureau. 

 

The millennial edition increases the number of volumes from two to five, adds more than a dozen subject areas, and also adds approximately 37,000 data series.  “Historical Statistics” already has been the standard source for historical data for many years, and this edition will help this title keep that status.