New Reference E-Books and Databases

Blackwell / NetLibrary.
Available online.   (W&L subscription)
Published in 2007, this work contains alphabetically-arranged definitions of nearly 3,000 terms -- "artifact types, prominent examples of artifacts, technological terms, culture periods, words associated with the making of and description of artifacts (including materials and methods), principles and techniques of examination and identification, and terms regarding the care and preservation of specimens."

Routledge / NetLibrary.
Available online.   (W&L subscription)
Roy Jackson's 2006 volume includes for biographical details for each individual, presentation and analysis of main ideas, an account of impact and influence, and a list of major works and additional reading.

Greenwood / Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Available online.   (W&L subscription)
Overviews of the core concepts and issues in sociology. Includes biographical entries.

Elsevier / Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Available online.   (W&L subscription)
Published as a three-volume set (2004), this encyclopedia "encompasses applications of psychological knowledge and procedures in all areas of psychology... Topics included are, but are not limited to, aging, assessment, clinical, cognitive, community, counseling, educational, environmental, family, industrial / organizational, health, school, sports, and transportation psychology."

Scribner's / Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Available online.   (W&L subscription)
Edited by John Middleton and Joseph C. Miller, this five-volume set (2007) contains over 1,000 signed entries from about 600 contributors, addressing "the entire history of African cultures from the pharaohs and the ancient civilizations of the south through the colonial era to the emergence of 53 independent countries."

Greenwood.
Available online.   (W&L subscription)
2007 volume by Margo DeMello contains over 200 entries which "address the major adornments and modifications, their historical and cross-cultural locations, and the major cultural groups and places in which body modification has been central to social and cultural practices."

Greenwood.
Available online.   (W&L subscription)
This six-volume set, published in 2007, contains essays on popular culture in regions and countries of the world, briefly covering architecture, art, dance, fashion and appearance, film, food, games and pastimes, literature, love and marriage, music, mass media, sports and recreation, theater, transportation and travel.
Volumes: North America | Latin America | Europe | North Africa & Middle East | Sub-Saharan Africa | East Asia and Oceania
Presented to the University Library in memory of Professor Marshall W. Fishwick.

Gale.
Available online.   (W&L subscription)
The most recent edition (2007) of this annual update to West's Encyclopedia of American Law includes discussions of cases and issues in such areas as abortion, religion, freedom of speech, terrorism, and voting. We also have the 2006 and 2005 editions.

Macmillan / Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Available online.   (W&L subscription)
This second edition (2008), consisting of nine volumes, is the major revision of the first edition of this title and its predecessor. It specializes in coverage of "scholarship and fields that have emerged and matured since the publication of the original international edition," containing "nearly 3,000 entirely new articles... contributed by thousands of scholars (including several Nobel prize winners)." You may view the table of contents here.