Classical Studies : A Guide to the Reference Literature

Focuses narrowly on bibliographical and information resources rather than on general scholarship to provide a resource for reference librarians, general readers, and classicists who have wandered outside their specialty. Describes and evaluates at length reference materials relating to Greek and Roman civilization from the Bronze Age through the sixth century A.D. Includes such fields as art and archaeology, history, language and literature, philology, and the history of the field of classicism itself. Most of the 667 cites works are in English and published through the end of 1994, though a few from 1995 are included. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Classicists will appreciate the scholarship that has gone into the production of this guide to information resources in classical studies, with nearly 700 annotated entries. Jenkins, a librarian at the University of Dayton, notes that it is intended for librarians and library users. Classical scholars, in particular, will find this a valuable reference tool, if only because of the extensive bibliographic coverage of specialties within their field. For example, it lists bibliographies for individual writers ranging from Aeschylus to Vergil.

The volume is divided into three sections: "Bibliographical Resources," "Information Resources," and "Organizations." The author lists mostly books, although he does cite some journal sources where relevant. He also stresses English-language publications, though not to the exclusion of other languages, especially German. Each entry gives a complete bibliographic citation followed by a 100-word evaluation in which Jenkins notes its scope and possible audience, followed by a short critique. These annotations include cross-references that can be comparative links to other works cited. For example, in discussing The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature the author compares it favorably with three other handbooks and companions.

Many electronic sources exist for classical scholars, and Jenkins lists both CD-ROMs and online titles. A special chapter devoted to Internet resources gives the reader a current list of Web, gopher, and listserv addresses. It should be noted that a typo in the URL for the "Classics and Mediterranean Archaeology" Web site, which Jenkins cites as one of the best available, can prevent access. The URL should read gopher://rome.classics.lsa.umich.edu:70/11/General or http://rome.classics.lsa.umich.edu/welcome.html. The "Organization" section gives addresses for associations and for research centers, such as the American Academy in Rome.

Overall, this book has much to recommend it: the librarian will have a wonderful reference and collection development tool; the beginning researcher, through the excellent author-title and subject indexes and detailed table of contents, has an ideal guide; and the browser is assisted by a precise scope note at the beginning of each chapter. It is a worthy addition to the excellent Reference Sources in the Humanities series.