192 College & Research Libraries March 2011 Librarians and archivists seeking guid- ance on digitization projects will find this book helpful, although they may find it challenging to navigate. A detailed table of contents provides a roadmap for the book, but the curious lack of an index makes it especially difficult to consult the book on a specific topic. If a librarian or archivist has a question concerning the digitization of an image of a sculpture, for example, there is no way of knowing whether the book addresses this, and, if so, where, because the table of contents, while detailed, is not that nuanced. The lack of an index will certainly limit the helpfulness of the book, but for those working in academic cultural institutions, it will still be useful to have this book on hand as a reference.—Maria T. Accardi, Indiana University Southeast. Peter Beal. A Dictionary of English Manu- script Terminology, 1450–2000. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. 457p. acid-free paper, $49.95 (ISBN 9780199576128). LC2010-290182. Peter Beal’s A Dictionary of English Manu- script Terminology, originally published in hardcover in 2008, is the culmination of a lifetime of experience and expertise in manuscript studies. Containing over 1,500 entries, it contains an impressive array of terms relevant to archivists, students, and scholars alike. The terminology included in this text covers manuscript forms, ma- terials, features, conditions, tools, physical and historical contexts, producers, types of provenance, scripts and lettering. The manuscripts consulted and referenced include personal letters, financial records, works of literature, heraldic manuscripts, legal documents, state documents, ephem- era, and more. In short, Beal has condensed his 25+ years of working intimately with manuscripts into a catalog of ideas essen- tial to anyone working within the field. Considered one of the foremost author- ities in manuscript studies, Peter Beal was Sotheby’s London’s English Manuscript Expert for over two decades. He is a Fel- low of the British Academy and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies of the University of London. Cur- rently, Beal is compiling the Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts, 1450–1700 as an online resource that promises to trans- form the way scholars research and think about manuscripts by establishing con- nections between numerous and widely scattered manuscripts of various genres, forms, authorship, and provenance. He is also the author of numerous books on Early Modern manuscript studies, history, and the culture of writing. Beal’s Dictionary was inspired by John Carter’s ABC for Book Collectors, but it is by no means a replacement for that venerated reference work. While Beal’s dictionary contains some of the terms found in Carter’s work, he describes them in the context of manuscript production rather than acquisi- tion. Except where those two domains col- lide, there is little duplication between the two works. That said, Beal does manage to bring some of Carter’s whimsical humor to his work (albeit, a bit drier), such as when he discusses “certain” modern collectors’ fascination with deckle edges. In preparing this volume, Beal sought to codify the technical language used by those whose principal objects of study are manuscripts and documentation. It is by no means an exhaustive dictionary of terms, but the breadth is sufficient for any scholar, ranging from the utterly mundane (“ink”) to the wildly esoteric (“scripophily”). As Beal outlines in his introduction, this work is intended for anyone with special interest in the field, including amateur genealogists, archi- vists, lawyers, academics, and postal workers: in short, anyone who has a need for a common vocabulary when working with written or printed documents. Entries range from 20 to over 1,000 words in length. In addition to succinct definitions, each entry often contains a brief history of the term or an explana- tion of its common historical setting, cross-references, and perhaps one of the 96 excellently reproduced images from Sotheby’s collections. Take the first entry, for example: within the first paragraph Book Reviews 193 of the two-page definition for the word “abbreviation,” Beal elegantly exhibits the breadth of his knowledge by discussing the origin and use of abbreviations, how often they occurred and when, who used them and why, and alludes to the difficulty of reproducing them in modern, digital transcriptions. Each entry contains a depth of understanding that cannot be easily reproduced with such conciseness and, yet, Beal manages to do so with dexterity. Beal’s style follows a natural progres- sion of thought as he explores various facets of a term. His tone is casually aca- demic and rooted in a practical wisdom that comes from years of experience working with the material. Moreover, he does not refrain from discussing a term’s metaphorical manifestations, even play- fully, as when he describes Shakespeare’s punning of the word “gall” or Umberto Eco’s use of the word “palimpsest.” A Dictionary of English Manuscript Terminology is an essential guide to the terminology of post-medieval manuscript production and would be useful to a wide range of academic library users, includ- ing scholars of the Early Modern era, researchers working with printed and handwritten manuscripts, graduate stu- dents in the humanities, students of law, archivists, and special collections librar- ians. While the hardcover edition remains the more durable option, the newly issued paperback would be a welcome addition to any scholar’s personal library.—John M. Jackson, University of Southern California. Reference Renaissance: Current and Future Trends. Eds. Marie L. Radford and R. David Lankes. New York: Neal- Schuman, 2010. 312p. alk. paper $75 (ISBN 978-1555706807). LC2010-000229. Dedicated to reference librarians and sup- port staff, Reference Renaissance explores the changing reference landscape where new technologies are merging with traditional services. Editors Marie L. Radford and R. David Lankes took the theme “reference renaissance” from the conference of the same name and comment that this was intended to depict the most up-to-date reference work. The chapters in this work have been updated from the information presented at the 2008 Reference Renais- sance conference sponsored by ALA’s Reference and User Services Association and the Bibliographical Center for Research in Aurora, Colorado. Part I, “The State of Reference Services: An Overview,” opens the volume with a look at “Reference in the Age of Wikipedia, or Not” and a discussion between library educators and directors. Part II, “What Research Tells Us about Reference,” is divided into three sections: Virtual Reference; Approaches, Values, and Philosophy of Reference Services; and Innovative Service Models. Chapter 1 in Section II.1 looks at ways librarians can improve both communication and ac- curacy in virtual reference transactions and contains checklists of recommendations for facilitating communication in chat ref- erence including some relational barriers to avoid. In Section II.2, chapter 5 discusses the differences between systems-centered versus user-centered reference and how “by embracing its cognitive diversity, the profession of librarianship can better serve the full range of thought communities.” Section II.3 delves into innovative service models. Chapter 7 looks at access to library guides and the use of the Research and Subject Guides database at the University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Chapter 8 sums up Part II with a discussion of vari- ous reference service models such as tiered reference, roving reference, consolidated service points, and social software. Part III is devoted to “Reference in Ac- tion: Reports from the Field” and is divided into four sections: Virtual Reference; Search Engines and Virtual Tools; Innovative Models and Marketing; and Staff Develop- ment and Training. Chapter 9 looks at com- bining proprietary chat software with free chat services and chapter 10 discusses the AskNow Law Librarian Service in Califor- nia. In Section III.2, chapter 12 talks about using texting services and virtual tools like Google, Yahoo!, and MSN to enhance reference service at the National Library of