Good news! In my last posting, I described being contacted by John H. Moore, editor of the Encyclopedia of Race and Racism, because he'd heard I was investigating him. After a brief exchange in which he tried to rationalize the inclusion of an overtly anti-Semitic and unscholarly article on "Zionism" in the encyclopedia, I decided to direct my energy to Helene Potter, the editor at Gale most directly involved with this publication. After exchanging a few emails, she suggested we talk on the phone.
Ms. Potter and I talked for about a half-hour last Wednesday. It was a very good discussion and I came away feeling very encouraged by what she described. It looks like they are making a thoughtful effort to address the issues raised here and elsewhere. I'm satisfied that our concerns have been heard and it's now a matter of waiting to see how this is resolved. When there are further developments I will post news here. In the meantime, one of our AJL colleagues forwarded a link to an article in the Christian Century Magazine that describes a very similar controversy surrounding another encyclopedia. http://www.christiancentury.org/article_print.lasso?id=6542 It's worth a read. I think it points out how much scholarly publishing is becoming an ideological battleground. Happy Purim! -- Lee Jaffe Assessment & Planning Jewish Studies Librarian 3366 McHenry Library University of California 1156 High Street Santa Cruz, California 95064 831.459.3297 [email protected] http://library.ucsc.edu/ --- Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
