"The Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science provides an outstanding resource in 33 published volumes with 2 helpful indexes. This thorough reference set--written by 1300 eminent, international experts--offers librarians, information/computer scientists, bibliographers, documentalists, systems analysts, and students, convenient access to the techniques and tools of both library and information science. Impeccably researched, cross referenced, alphabetized by subject, and generously illustrated, the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science integrates the essential theoretical and practical information accumulating in this rapidly growing field."

This collection systematically approaches the concept of Czechoslovakism and its historical progression, covering the time span from the mid-nineteenth century to Czechoslovakia’s dissolution in 1992/1993, while also providing the most recent research on the subject. "Czechoslovakism" was a foundational concept of the interwar Czechoslovak Republic and it remained an important ideological, political and cultural phenomenon throughout the twentieth century. As such, it is one of the most controversial terms in Czech, Slovak and Central European history. While Czechoslovakism was perceived by some as an effort to assert Czech domination in Slovakia, for others it represented a symbol of the struggle for the Republic’s survival during the interwar and Second World War periods. The authors take care to analyze Czechoslovakism’s various emotional connotations, however their primary objective is to consider Czechoslovakism as an important historical concept and follow its changes through the various cultural-political contexts spanning from the mid-nineteenth century to the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993. Including the work of many of the most eminent Czech and Slovak historians, this volume is an insightful study for academic and postgraduate student audiences interested in the modern history of Central and Eastern Europe, nationality studies, as well as intellectual history, political science and sociology.

St. Birgitta of Sweden (d. 1373) is one of the most celebrated female visionaries and authors of the Middle Ages and a central figure in the history of late-medieval religion. An aristocratic widow, Birgitta left her native country in 1349 and settled in Rome, where she established herself as an outspoken critic of the Avignon Papacy and an advocate of spiritual and ecclesiastical reform. Birgitta founded a new monastic order, and her major work, The Heavenly Book of Revelations, circulated widely in a variety of monastic, reformist, and intellectual milieus following her death. This volume offers an introduction to the saint and the reception of her work written by experts from various disciplines. In addition to acquainting the reader with the state of the scholarship, the study also presents fresh interpretations and new perspectives on Birgitta and the sources for her life and writings. Contributors: Roger Andersson, Nirit Ben-Aryeh Debby, Unn Falkeid, Anna Fredriksson, Birgitta Fritz, Ann M. Hutchison, F. Thomas Luongo, Maria H. Oen, Anders Piltz, and Pavlína Rychterová.

Few works of art better illustrate the splendor of eleventh-century painting than the manuscript often referred to as the “precious gospels” of Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim, with its peculiar combination of sophistication and naïveté, its dramatically gesturing figures, and the saturated colors of its densely ornamented surfaces. In The Bernward Gospels, Jennifer Kingsley offers the first interpretive study of the pictorial program of this famed manuscript and considers how the gospel book conditioned contemporary and future viewers to remember the bishop. The codex constructs a complex image of a minister caring for his diocese not only through a life of service but also by means of his exceptional artistic patronage; of a bishop exercising the sacerdotal authority of his office; and of a man fundamentally preoccupied with his own salvation and desire to unite with God through both his sight and touch. Kingsley insightfully demonstrates how this prominent member of the early medieval episcopate presented his role to the saints and to the communities called upon to remember him.

Molly McGinley has had enough of London and, feeling like a failure, heads home to the unremarkable Northern town of Merry-le-Moors, to move back in with dad Jack for Christmas. Jack, still mourning the loss of his wife and Molly's mum ten years ago, nevertheless maintains a positive outlook on life, and to lift Molly from her slump insists she goes out with him on his daily rounds driving the town's mobile library. When an elderly man, Cliff, starts coming into the library for warmth and companionship, Jack and Molly provide tea and sympathy... and begin to attract the lost, lonely and jaded people of Merry-le-Moors, who gather each day at the mobile library to talk about books, life and love. Each of them is searching for something in life, and Jack and Molly know just how to find it in the library. As friendships - and more - begin to form, Christmas approaches... and so does a dark cloud on the horizon. The library is under threat, and so too the fragile friendships that have been formed. But this is Christmas, after all, and magic - like love - can be found in the most unlikely places.

This is Volume I of a monumental two-volume work, a historical record and guide to bibliographic efforts on all the languages of the world, which is designed to serve the professional as well as non-professional reader as a first point of entry for information about any language. By consulting the Bibliography, the reader will quickly be able to identify specific bibliographic sources for particular topics of interest, and thus rapidly begin to narrow the search for information. Although bibliographies of bibliographies have appeared for a few language families, this set provides for the first time a comprehensive compilation of bibliographies for all of the languages or language families of the world, from the earliest period through 1985. Volume I, with nearly 2500 entries in 400 pages, covers the Indo-European languages of Europe, plus Etruscan and Basque, as well as general and multi-language references, including sections on dictionaries, dissertations, and specialized topics. Volume II, with approximately the same number of entries, will cover all other languages. In the Bibliography, most entries are annotated to indicate the number of items in each bibliography and how they are arranged; some information on the scope and coverage of the work (where not obvious from the title); whether items are annotated; and what indexes are included. The Bibliography will long stand as an indispensable reference tool, and should be in every library serving readers interested in any aspect of language.