James, Simon R.H. London Movie Guide: Walks, Tours and Locations. Batsford, dist. by Sterling. 2012. c.308p. photogs. maps. index. ISBN 9781849940139. pap. $17.95. TRAV

London has been a popular place to film movies for decades because of its variety of settings, great atmosphere, easy access to a number of picturesque locations, and large pool of professionals and studio space. As a result, film-inspired tourism has grown as travelers seek out sites from their favorite films and television shows. In this handy guide, which updates a 2007 publication and contains locations for 200 additional films, Latin teacher and film buff James methodically takes readers through London, street by street, offering detailed notes on actors, films, and action. Each district of London is given a chapter, with indexes of films and streets so readers can better locate specific details. A tourist wandering through West Brompton can easily detour to Cremorne Wharf, where David Warner, in a gorilla suit, rode a stolen motorbike into the Thames in the 1966 film Morgan. VERDICT An information-packed guide; recommended for film buffs.

Jones, Becky & Clare Lewis. The Bumper Book of London: Everything You Need To Know About London and More. Frances Lincoln, dist. by PGW. 2012. c.280p. illus. index. ISBN 9780711231450. pap. $19.95. TRAV

All eyes are on London for the 2012 summer Olympics, but no matter when they visit, travelers always need a good guidebook. Jones and Lewis (coauthors, London Adventure Walks for Families) have written another kid-accessible guide to London that is a treat for the whole family. This small volume is packed with history, and the authors provide hints about little-known destinations, explanations of many of the mysteries and quirks of London, and even a recipe or two. Readers learn how the postcodes of London, devised to reduce the confusion caused by the number of streets with the same names, define the personality of each district. Biographies of medieval notables Chaucer and Caxton, the lost rivers of London, and football club fan chants are among the unusual topics covered. VERDICT With its colorful, fun look and appealing illustrations, this guidebook is thoroughly enjoyable, even for someone who knows London well. Highly recommended for all travelers, whether in an armchair or on the ground.

Pericoli, Matteo. London Unfurled. Picador. May 2012. c.2p. illus. ISBN 9780330517829. $35. FINE ARTS

Illustrator Pericoli (Manhattan Unfurled) has previously drawn the skylines of Manhattan and a 397-foot panoramic mural at John F. Kennedy Airport. Here, a 37-foot double-sided panoramic view of London unfurls from its case. The panorama can be arranged to mimic the curves of the Thames, and it shows both north and south views. The pen and ink drawings feature details of each bank, its landmarks and buildings, both familiar and unfamiliar, and highlight the crowded skylines of Canary Wharf and the startling outline of the Millennium Dome in North Greenwich. An accompanying booklet provides a key to each frame of the panorama. ­VERDICT An interesting addition to architecture or art history collections as well as collections on London history.

Tierney-Jones, Adrian. CAMRA’s Great British Pubs. CAMRA, dist. by Trafalgar Square. Jun. 2012. c.296p. photogs. ISBN 9781852492656. pap. $23.95. TRAV

No trip to Great Britain would be complete without a visit to a traditional pub. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has produced this guide to more than 200 pubs, authored by beer expert Tierney-Jones (1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die), which also ranks real British ales by a number of criteria. The “bests” include brewpubs, family pubs, food pubs, railway pubs, sporting pubs, and many more. The book also features information on that other common beverage, cider, as well as pubs in fiction and pub walks in London and the Lake District. Well illustrated, the guide plots each “best” on a map of Great Britain and also provides an index by region, a guide to British beer, and a description of the brewing process. VERDICT A great guide for those looking for traditional ales throughout Britain and especially for devotees of beer-inspired tourism.

Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published an online Zombie Apocalypse Emergency Preparedness Guide, and we gobbled it up. It got so many hits, the website crashed—a testament to our own fear of the living dead. But the true casualty of an apocalypse, always, is civilization. What is civilization, after all, but a luxury designed for those who don’t have to worry about survival? It’s just a matter of time until the zombie apocalypse. Here’s an octet of staggering reads to help you prepare for the end of the world.

Frater, Rhiannon. Seige.Tor. (As the World Dies, Bk. 3). 2012. c.352p. ISBN 9781429988216. pap. $14.99. HORROR

Life during the zombie apocalypse is challenging, but the inhabitants of the fort have managed to survive and even flourish despite the lurking dead, a murderous vigilante, and the baleful remnants of the U.S. government. The zombie-slaying, butt-kicking heroines of The First Days and Waiting To Survive are at the brink of a new world, but whether the living or dead will rule remains to be seen. VERDICT Frater’s prose needs a rigorous edit; her villains are wicked to a melodramatic, mustache-twirling degree, and, as in her previous novels, the sappy love scenes don’t always jibe with the end-of-the-world motif. And yet this is an addictive read, full of bloody good zombie action, well-crafted characters, and some truly heart-stopping imagery (e.g., a zombie fetus struggling to emerge from the torn abdomen of his living dead mother). Keep the tissues handy—Frater knows how to pluck the heartstrings­.

Handeland, Lori. Zombie Island: A Shakespeare Undead Novel. Griffin: St. Martin’s. May 2012. c.320p. ISBN 9780312623067. pap. $14.99. HORROR

Fresh from his victory over the zombie horde that invaded London, bard, playwright, and necrovampire William Shakespeare schemes to rid his beloved Katherine of her villainous husband. But the fates intervene, and the two are shipwrecked on an island along with a power-mad sorcerer, an enslaved fairy, and Kate’s evil husband, who has been changed into the wolflike Caliban. Oh, and the island is infested with zombies. Fortunately, Kate is the most fearsome zombie killer since Lizzie in Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Together with his “Dark Lady,” Will works at chopping down the undead while dreaming up literary notions that come to him at the most inopportune times. VERDICT In this follow-up to Shakespeare Undead, RITA Award–winning author Handeland has fashioned a sprightly, scary, and sexy retelling of The Tempest that will please Shakespeare enthusiasts as well as horror fans. Lose all literary pretensions, strengthen your stomach, and embrace this bloody frolic full of vampires, zombies, and a love story that is the stuff that sonnets are made on. [Library marketing.]

Lamberson, Gregory. Carnage Road. Print Is Dead: Creeping Hemlock Pr. 2012. c.112p. ISBN 9780984739431. pap. $6.95. HORROR

Boone and Walker, the last survivors of the Floating Dragons motorcycle gang, set out on a cross-country odyssey through the zombie apocalypse. Their trek begins in Buffalo and heads west through Indiana, where they catch a movie in an abandoned movie theater crawling with zombies that are also watching Death Machine starring Bruce Willis­; Kansas, site of their imprisonment by racist right-wing extremists; Hollywood, home of undead celebrities haunting their stars on the Walk of Fame; and concluding in Texas for a last stand at the Alamo. Along the way, they drive fast, take out ghouls, and encounter both the best and the worst remainders of the human race. VERDICT Lamberson’s (Personal Demons) latest is both bleak and beautiful, a brain-splattering zombie thriller that is at its core a paean to the power of friendship, even in a dead world. This novella may be brief, but it has real bite, along with taut zombie action, scathing social commentary, and a suitably nihilistic ending. Zombie fans are in for one easy ride through the apocalypse. [Print Is Dead is Creeping Hemlock’s zombie-themed imprint.—Ed.]

Marshall, James. Ninja Versus Pirates Featuring Zombies. ChiZine. May 2012. c.240p. ISBN 9781926851587. pap. $15.95. HORROR

In a world controlled by zombies, one fantastically rich 16-year-old kid sets out to end human suffering. Guy Boy Man, the (Internet) pirate of the title and self-appointed savior of the world, is determined to eliminate evil forces, among them violent vegetarians, wealthy communist librarians, fields ripe with writhing babies, and, of course, zombies. In his quest, Guy teams up with handsome Ninja Sweetie Honey. Enter BabyDoll15, a cute, pink-haired girl with a unicorn, and the competition is on. Can Guy Boy Man find love in a world where everyone is doomed to become either zombies or zombie food, depending on their score on the ZAT (Zombie Aptitude Test)? Sounds confusing, and it is—right from the first sentence, which, incidentally, is three pages long. Are these events really happening, or are they just in the head of Guy Boy Man, possibly the least reliable narrator since Humbert Humbert? VERDICT Chaotic, crazy, and undeniably captivating, NVPFZ is the quirkiest take yet on the zombie genre. First in a series that is sure to be a smash with the gaming generation.

Moody, David. Autumn: Aftermath. Griffin: St. Martin’s. 2012. c.352p. ISBN 9780312570026. pap. $16.99. HORROR

It’s been 26 days since an infection wiped out most of the human race, then reanimated the dead. Pockets of survivors remain, banding together for strength and safety. A group has taken shelter in a medieval castle and only emerges when it’s absolutely necessary. As autumn fades to winter, the balance of power changes, and the survivors begin to turn on one another. In the aftermath of the disease, will the last people destroy one another, or will the dead destroy them all? VERDICT This fifth and final chapter is a fine and fitting conclusion to horror maestro Moody’s “Autumn” series. While packed with enough undead action to please even the most ravenous zombiephile, the novel truly succeeds when Moody slows down the pace and focuses on his characters’ humanity. The true horror isn’t the living dead, it’s the darkness inside the living. The questions Moody poses will resonate long after the book is finished. Highly recommended­.

Nassise, Joseph. By the Blood of Heroes. Harper Voyager. (Great Undead War, Bk. 1). May 2012. c.352p. ISBN 9780062048776. pap. $14.99. HORROR

World War I is in its seventh year, and the Kaiser’s army has introduced a new weapon into the fray: T-leiche, also known as “corpse gas.” When fallen soldiers are exposed, they rise from the dead as “shamblers,” mindless, flesh-eating machines (also known as zombies). The shambler brigades are used as shock troops to weaken the Allied lines and pave the way for the more traditional German divisions. But corpse gas can have an even more evil effect, as in the case of the infamous Red Baron Manfred von Richthofen, who was exposed during a plane crash and resurrected as a better, stronger, and more intelligent version of himself. It’s up to legendary ace pilot Jack Freeman and Capt. Michael “Madman” Burke to foil the Germans in this genre-jumping tour de force. VERDICT Urban fantasy and sf author Nassise­ (Eyes To See) raises the alternate history genre to brilliant new heights. This is a treat for zombie and horror fans, military fiction aficionados, history buffs, and steampunk lovers alike, all of whom will be clamoring for the next installment.

Wellington, David. 32 Fangs: A Final Vampire Tale. Broadway. 2012. c.352p. ISBN 9780307886187. pap. $14. HORROR

Laura Caxton has sacrificed everything to her hunt for the world’s longest-living vampire: the lives of her friends and family, her job, her freedom, even her humanity. Caxton, now a fugitive from justice, has escaped from prison to pursue her nemesis, the malevolent Justinia Malvern. When the two finally confront each other in a bloody showdown, Caxton finds that the cunning Malvern has outsmarted her again with a scheme that involves Laura’s few remaining friends, a battalion of cops, and an army of half-dead slaves. These zombies, also known as the faceless, are Malvern’s victims, whom she calls back from the dead to do her bidding. Malvern’s strength may be failing, but she can still impose her will on zombie minds too weak to defend themselves. ­VERDICT Best-selling author Wellington (Monster Island; Frostbite) will not disappoint his myriad fans with this explosive conclusion to the vampire series that began with 13 Bullets. Part horror historical, part police procedural with entirely splattery fangs-and-brains action, this will draw in undead aficionados of all kinds.

Zito, V.M. The Return Man. Orbit: Hachette. 2012. c.400p. ISBN 9780316218283. pap. $9.99.HORROR

It has been four years since the Resurrection split the United States into two nations: the eastern Safe States, overcrowded by 50 million refugees with not enough food, supplies, or jobs to go around, and the western Evacuated States, the silent wastelands of the living dead. It is here that Henry Marco, former neurologist and bounty hunter for hire, makes his living. Engaged by grief-stricken survivors, he hunts down living dead loved ones and puts them to rest—that is, he kills them. Marco is highly skilled at his job, so much so that Homeland Security wants him for a secret mission vital to the future of America. When he teams up with Kheng Wu, a Chinese secret agent disguised as an American soldier sent to back him up, he’s in for the ride of his life through a world dominated by death. VERDICT Zito’s debut is stunning, a harrowing, haunting, and beautifully written novel that belongs on the very top shelf of the zombie canon alongside Max Brooks’s World War Z, Mira Grant’s “Feed” series (Feed; Deadline), and the groundbreaking Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. [In June, Orbit will publish Blackout, Grant’s concluding volume to her zombie trilogy.—Ed.]—Jeanne Bogino, New Lebanon Lib., NY

More Staggering reads

Zombie fiction keeps shuffling along. Also coming this summer but arriving too late to be considered for this roundup: John Russo’s Undead (Cemetary Dance, Jun.), which brings back into print two classic zombie novels by the screenwriter of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, and 21st Century Dead: A Zombie Anthology (Griffin: St. Martin’s, Jun.), compiled by Christopher Golden, the editor of The New Dead.—Ed.

CONTENT Literati by Credo is different from most of the resources reviewed in this column. It is not a database of publisher content but rather a suite of services extending beyond a library’s computer screen related to information discovery, information literacy (including assessment), and library marketing.

To libraries considering subscribing, the most visible component of Literati by Credo is the online discovery platform, built on the success of Credo Reference, LJ’s “Best Overall” database of 2011 (ow.ly/aq7ux). The online platform provides access to some of Credo Reference’s most useful tools, including topic pages, “mind maps,” and search gadgets (renamed “Tools” and offering a wider selection).

The main homepage of the Literati by Credo online platform offers a slightly cleaner interface than the original Credo offering and provides opportunities for customization. Libraries can add links to subject guides and to the library homepage and include their Twitter feeds or chat widgets. In addition, users can now register for Literati accounts, which allows them to save articles and searches.

After logging in, users enter a customizable homepage that lists their saved pages, search results, and entries in one box, while another content box allows them to add some of the product’s search tools (image search, quotations, pronunciations, location search, etc.). Literati by Credo makes the link to sign up and log in more prominent than other databases, though unfortunately users rarely take advantage of these tools. Interestingly, students who sign in receive an email after registration that ends with “P.S. Show this email to your parents and let them know that their tuition dollars are working!”

As when using Credo Reference, users can search by keyword, browse thousands of topic pages, or explore the graphical “mind map” (“concept map” in Credo). An advanced search is available, providing additional refinements without being overwhelming to novice users. Browsing topic pages can be a challenge, since only one layer of subject headings is provided: once a user clicks the topic “Science,” for example, an alphabetical list of 1,614 topic pages is presented. A Java plug-in is required to use the “Mind Map” feature, which could cause problems for some users.

The new content available in Literati is almost all individually made for subscribing libraries. Staff at Literati, working with individual institutions, draw on a wide variety of content to create or customize videos and tutorials based on the needs of the institution. These custom materials can appear at the bottom of the main homepage and on topic pages as appropriate.

To accompany the other instructional tools provided (videos, tutorials, “Credo Topic Pages”), the Literati staff have created “LibGuides” on various topics based on the reference books available in Credo. These “LibGuides” can be reused by libraries—­individual sections can be mixed with librarian-­created guides to help students in various courses or majors. This helps to highlight specific reference materials available in Literati in a location where students are searching for information: subject guides.

I was able to review videos on primary vs. secondary sources, how to determine the right database to use for a given research project, the importance of peer review, and plagiarism, although more subject-specific content is also available. Tutorials are created using Adobe Captivate and work within the user’s web browser. The tutorials were very basic, without feedback or response required from the user, similar to a standard slide presentation—this is an area for improvement. While the pieces on general topics were all reasonably well done, videos of equal or better quality can be found on YouTube. Where a library’s needs are highly specific, the custom videos may be more valuable.

Literati also provides customizable information-­literacy assessments, designed to work with the videos and tutorials. I previewed some of the assessment questions but was not able to evaluate the degree to which they could be customized or examine how they could be integrated into learning-management systems such as Blackboard or Angel, which Credo indicates is possible.

The assessment questions fall into two main categories: demographic questions (class, major, etc.) and knowledge questions. The assessment did not mention Credo or Literati by name, although it did mention other search engines and databases. All of the questions were multiple-­choice, and none asked students to perform specific tasks, just report what they might do. By planting seeds about reliable resources or the usefulness of concept maps, the questions are phrased to inform as much as to test. Like most general assess­ment tools, the usefulness of these questions depends on how closely they line up with the goals and objectives of the information literacy program.

Training materials for library staff are another feature of Literati. Once again, the focus of these materials can be customized.

Importantly, the folks behind Literati understand that their product is not the best tool for every research question, and this is reflected in their videos, tutorials, and connections to other databases in the “Credo Topic Pages.” Literati doesn’t just link to alternative sources (JSTOR, ScienceDirect­, Ebsco, etc.). Instead, “Topic Pages” provide selected results from these databases (based on library subscriptions), allowing students to go beyond the reference works in Credo to the books and articles necessary for their projects.

In addition to the discovery, education, and course-specific content provided by Literati, Credo also works with libraries to produce customizable marketing materials aimed at promoting the use of Literati and the library in general. I saw some of the posters but was unable to view any promotional videos. The digital posters are simple, professional-looking graphics with straightforward slogans branded with both the library logo and the Literati by Credo logo.

Perhaps more important than the digital outreach tools, the Literati by Credo staff act as consultants, working with libraries to develop marketing plans and offering suggestions for student outreach, communication with student media, and more.

The collaborative and consultative aspects­ of the Literati service make this product different from others. Libraries that purchase Literati by Credo will be able to work with its creators to develop information-­literacy programs or produce library marketing plans and materials.

PRICING Pricing is highly variable, dependent on the size of the institution and the services provided. Credo reports that thus far, libraries have paid between $6500 and $60,000 for the service.

VERDICT The online discovery portion of Literati is a good tool for finding topics and basic information in high school or first-year college courses. The other items offered are like a suite of consultation services, most useful to libraries without the staff or expertise to develop assessment tools, tutorials, and marketing materials. The Literati staff can act as extra library staff with expertise in areas your library may lack.

Bunson (Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire ) here provides a dynamic, engaging reference on the culture, history, and people of Ancient Rome. Entries offer considerable context, enhancing the accessibility of the information. Bunson’s approach is distinctly interdisciplinary, weaving geography into military history, branches of philosophy into biographical entries, etc. Far from creating confusion, this method brings the Roman physical, intellectual, scientific, and social world to life. Biographic entries are particularly well written, presenting the roles of both well-known figures and important but obscure men and women with richness and sensitivity. The historical coverage spans the founding of Rome by Aeneas to the collapse of the empire in the fifth century C.E. Illustrations accompany many entries and include reproductions of portraits, photographs of busts, maps, and architectural diagrams. Appendixes provide further valuable information, such as recommendations of materials for the study of Roman history, lists of dictators and emperors, a glossary of important terms, and family trees of notable houses and dynasties. VERDICT A superb source of detailed, engaging information on the ever fascinating and often perplexing ancient Roman civilization, Bunson’s work is a handy reference for classics students and enthusiasts alike.—Lauren de Bruin, Alberta Lib., Edmonton

Best, Samuel J. & Brian S. Krueger. Exit Polls: Surveying the American Electorate, 1972–2010. CQ Pr. 2012. 448p. illus. index. ISBN 9781608717415. $195. Online: CQ Press Electronic Library REF

Of inestimable value in election forecasting, exit polls constitute the primary means by which real-time election results are predicted. The subject is typically subsumed in general works on polling or elections. This title treats it explicitly. Polling experts Best (political science, Univ. of Connecticut; CBS exit poll analyst) and Krueger’s (political science, Univ. of Rhode Island; former CBS exit poll analyst; coauthor, with Best, Internet Data Collection) meticulous longitudinal study synthesizes oftentimes elusive and ephemeral exit poll statistics from disparate sources over the past four decades. While the tables and figures on presidential and congressional voting preferences in chapters four and five comprise the bulk of the book, readers will also profit from the first three chapters, which offer a history of exit polls, explain the authors’ methodology, and discuss the changing demographic and ideological composition of the electorate. VERDICT Although this noteworthy work may also appeal to general audiences, its primary readership will likely be students and scholars, making it a useful addition to academic libraries’ political science collections.—David Ettinger, George Washington Univ. Lib., Washington, DC

Voices of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Experience. 2 vols. Greenwood. 2012. 708p. ed. by Sang Chi & Emily Moberg Robinson. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781598843545. $189. Online: ABC-CLIO eBook Collection REF

Chi (history, Santa Monica Coll.) and Robinson (history & Asian American studies, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz) open the first volume of this resource on the lives of Asian immigrants to the United States and Asian Americans with an introduction explaining relevant theory and history. This is followed by more than 200 person-centric primary-source documents, such as interviews, personal narratives, eulogies, court records, and blog posts, organized in more than 20 sections, each of which covers the experiences of a different ethnic group. Most of these sources were created by Asian Americans, although some documents are included to present outsiders’ viewpoints. The documents are from the 19th century to today, with the majority from the last 20 years; they include “ ‘An account of the first Japanese native in Oregon,’ ca. 1904,” “Deportation Documents, 1936,” “War Brides Act, 1945,” “Flyer for the Yellow Symposium at the University of California, Berkeley, ‘asian experience/yellow identity,’ 1969,” and “I Cook Nothing Like My Mother, 2010.” VERDICT Most recent titles on the Asian American experience look exclusively at a particular topic (e.g., parenting styles) or group (e.g., children, youth cultures), whereas this set has a much broader focus. An older comparable title is The Columbia Documentary History of the Asian American Experience (2002); however, it obviously lacks material from the last decade, a period the reviewed title covers extremely well. This powerful collection is appropriate for public, school, and academic libraries.—Lura Sanborn, St. Paul’s Sch. Lib., Hopkinton, NH

For all the latest reviews in this subject area and more, see LJ‘s new Reviews Center (Beta)!The Reviews Center (Beta) is available free through March 1, 2012 to all users with a Library Journal or School Library Journal online account (this includes current recipients of our email newsletters). Don’t know if you have an account with us? It’s easy to check and verify your email, or create a new account.Log in to the Reviews Center (Beta) now.

The following titles are reviewed in the May 15 print issue. Visit our Reviews Center (Beta) for the full reviews.

Economics

College Financing Information for Teens. 2d ed. Omnigraphics. (Teen Finance). 2011. 387p. ed. by Elizabeth Magill. index. ISBN 9780780812147. $69. Online: Credo Reference, ebrary, Gale, MyiLibrary, Rittenhouse R2 Digital Library REF

History

Bunson, Margaret R. Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. 3d ed. Facts On File. 2012. c.516p. illus. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780816082162. $95. Online: Infobase eBooks REF

Rosser, John H. Historical Dictionary of Byzantium. 2d ed. Scarecrow. 2011. 642p. photogs. maps. bibliog. ISBN 9780810875678. $110. Online: NetLibrary, Overdrive, MyiLibrary, EBL, & Questia REF

Somel, Selcuk Aksin. Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire. 2d ed. Scarecrow. 2011. 576p. illus. bibliog. ISBN 9780810871687. $120. Online: NetLibrary, Overdrive, MyiLibrary, EBL, & Questia REF

Literature

Misiroglu, Gina. The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Icons and Hollywood Heroes. 2d ed. Visible Ink. 2012. 480p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781578593750. pap. $24.95. REF

Political Science

Weatherford, Doris. Women in American Politics: History and Milestones. 2 vols. CQ Pr. 2012. 500p. illus. index. ISBN 9781608710072. $225. Online: CQ Press Electronic Library REF

Sciences

Burnie, David. Nature Guide: Birds. DK. (Smithsonian Nature Guides). 2012. c.352p. illus. index. ISBN 9780756690410. pap. $14.95. REF

Coombes, Allen J. The A to Z of Plant Names: A Quick Reference Guide to 4000 Garden Plants. Timber. May 2012. c.312p. bibliog. ISBN 9781604691962. $19.95. REF

Social Sciences

DeMello, Margo. Faces Around the World: A Cultural Encyclopedia of the Human Face. ABC-CLIO. 2012. 308p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781598846171. $89. Online: ABC-CLIO eBook Collection REF

In Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden (Modern Library. 2002. ISBN 9780375759451. pap. $14.95), Eleanor Perényi’s brief, wide-ranging essays are filled with literary references and blunt opinions—and sharp and fine writing. In addition to beans, dahlias, lilies, and onions, she covers the alarmist nature of weather forecasts, the idiocy of seed tapes, and the beneficence of the vulgar toad. Ending with “Woman’s Place,” Perényi casts a feminist eye over the history of gardening, explaining how flower gardens became a “feminine ghetto.” This is a collection to put into the hands of avid gardeners and literary-essay fans alike.

Originally published in The New Yorker from 1958 to 1970, Katharine S. White’s beguiling gardening essays comprise Onward and Upward in the Garden (out-of-stock indefinitely [OSI], but still available). Most gardeners understand the allure of the plant catalogs that begin arriving in the mail in January, but only a fine writer like White could turn them into literature worth a close reading. She pores over them, praising the writers’ style while sometimes bemoaning hybridizers’ offerings. White also offers digressions—including long forays into the art of flower arranging and flower shows—and some practical tips.

Weed scientist Nancy Gift challenges our suburban horticultural fears in A Weed by Any Other Name: The Virtues of a Messy Lawn, or Learning to Love the Plants We Don’t Plant (Beacon, dist. by Random. 2009. ISBN 9780807085523. $23.95). She not only gives names to the nuisance plants common in lawns and gardens but tries to get readers to appreciate them. Using a measured approach and every­day events—a daughter’s bulb-planting birthday party at a community center, her parents’ experiences with a lawn service, a visit to friends living in a newly built subdivision—Gift invites readers to recall childhood experiences of weeds, unravel the clues they can provide about the soil and its history, and even experiment with them in the kitchen (recipes provided).

In her delightful Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer (Penguin. 2010. ISBN 9780143117285. pap $16), Novella Carpenter takes urban gardening to its extreme, recounting how she and her boyfriend moved to an apartment in a rundown section of Oakland because it sat next to a vacant lot that they could use for gardening. Soon the garden becomes a way for her to connect with her neighbors, and she develops affection for her community as well as her plants. Not one to do anything by halves, Carpenter quickly moves from vegetables to bees, turkeys, chickens, and other animals. Though few readers will want to follow her example of raising pigs in the inner city, many will find Carpenter’s tale both amusing and inspiring.

In Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation (Knopf. 2011. ISBN 9780307269904. $30), Andrea Wulf details the passion of America’s early statesmen for plants and gardens and their conviction that success in agriculture was crucial for the nourishing of the new nation. She paints a touching portrait of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams touring famous gardens while waiting to see if Britain would sign a trade treaty with the United States and speculates on how a visit by constitutional delegates to the gardens of botanist William Bartram might have paved the way for a compromise essential to the success of the new Constitution. Readers will appreciate the impact of the Founding Fathers on our landscape through Wulf’s engrossing and well-argued account.

Convinced that turning her deck into a conservatory for exotic plants will provide welcome comfort after surviving cancer and her sister’s untimely death, Ruth Kassinger dives into Paradise under Glass: The Education of an Indoor Gardener (Morrow. 2011. ISBN 9780061547768. pap. $15.99). She intersperses her journey with an engrossing and detailed history of fads and fancies in indoor gardening, from Louis XIV’s orangerie at Versailles to the mania for collecting wild ferns in Victorian England. As she visits various breeders and growers and tries her hand at many types of plants with mixed results, Kassinger develops her own slice of Eden and discovers how to adjust to life’s inevitable losses.

LJ: Can you describe Literati for our readers?
Shiva Darbandi: It has four components: “Discovery” revolves around the curation of content; “Education & Assessment” involves surveys and workshops; “Classroom Integration” offers tutorials, modules, and course-content alignment; and “Library Promotion” provides strategic marketing, social media, and case studies.

Laura Warren

LJ: How can librarians get patrons to realize they need this help?
Laura Warren: As the ERIAL project (erialproject.org) found, successful IL instruction and a positive library image result from librarian and faculty teamwork. Librarians must work on their relationships with faculty before convincing students of the need for IL instruction. The information has to be presented in the context of the professors’ and students’ academic lives, by including links to library resources in course-management system pages, for example.

One product of a recent day of brainstorming at Credo was the realization that students learn best when they don’t realize that they’re learning. This philosophy has influenced Literati and will ideally have an impact on bibliographic instruction in general. Let’s face it, one-shot sessions with titles such as “Primary vs. Secondary Sources” are not winning users over.

SD: The first step is market research. Before implementing any of the tools, services, or marketing materials available through or independent of Credo Reference, librarians should use resources such as virtual reference chat logs to learn more about their institution’s faculty and their needs. This allows marketing to be customized and therefore made more effective for faculty who can then steer their students toward the library.

LJ: Can you tell our readers about the workshops you’ve developed? How do they compare to what librarians did before?
LW: Literati’s workshops deal with familiar topics—teaching students how to narrow topics, move research beyond the open web, cope with information overload—and cover subjects of interest to librarians and faculty that are brought up in places such as Libraries Thriving (librariesthriving.org), which is separate from Literati but similar in its goals of providing support to librarians and working to promote research effectiveness. The workshops for librarians focus on academic library issues such as making the most of one-shot sessions, working smarter rather than harder, and building librarian-faculty relationships, and they provide opportunities for discussion and examples of how Literati can help. The faculty-focused workshops demonstrate how to embed IL tools in course learning-management systems and squeeze IL into what may seem like an already full curriculum.

For students, we address general topics and demonstrate how to use Literati during research. The goal is to get them learning without knowing they’re learning and to begin to apply the new skills elsewhere. Offering workshops on general topics makes the most of a resource that their institution already subscribes to, freeing librarians to focus on more complex concepts that are better taught hands-on.

Engaging web-savvy students

Shiva Darbandi

LJ: What has the interns’ video production company created?
SD: We’ve been working on dynamic videos with sound and some informative yet concise tutorials. Although a few videos target faculty or highlight children’s programming, the bulk of the materials focus on college students. These users are very familiar with the web and assume that online content will be convenient and engaging. We have to draw them in while communicating the institution’s IL goals.

Based on feedback so far, I think we’ve been successful. Librarians enjoy the ability to use our tutorials and videos in the Literati platform and link to them through emails, websites, learning-management systems, and other places online. Credo developed the technology and structure for the tutorials and videos, and the interns provided the library knowledge, allowing the creation of plentiful content quickly. We’ve produced promotional material for archival repositories, digital collections, and newly renovated libraries that covers, for example, choosing a topic, evaluating resources, and the importance of being information literate.

LJ: How can your case studies benefit institutions?
LW: Credo is interested in how institutions take advantage of its tools and services. We design and talk about these features, but the best realization relies on seeing them in use. Case studies are our answer to that. We use statistics compiled as a part of an institution’s Credo subscription to present qualitative information about student use of our services and combine that with the library’s participation in ethnographic interviews and observations, surveys, and/or usability testing to create a full picture.

An institution’s participation in these activities benefits Credo by giving us the opportunity to evaluate our products, but the library can then use the raw data for presentations, evaluations, and marketing. The case study can be shared with current and prospective students and their parents to emphasize the university’s success and its focus on core IL skills.

SD: We work with librarians to create an open-ended, customized research question that will guide the case study. From there we encourage librarians to review a menu of methodology options. We explain the responsibilities involved with each so librarians know that while we write the literature review and collect and process raw data, they may be responsible for recruiting survey participants, for example. While the options provided to each institution are the same, a library’s needs and intentions shape how the research is conducted.

LJ: Have you witnessed students having “aha” moments when using your information-literacy instruction assessment survey?
SD: It wasn’t designed with that in mind, at least consciously, but that would be a wonderful side effect! Surveys are a great method of measuring the quality of products and services, so such tools have always had a home at Credo. Through Credo Evangelist Jackie LaPlaca Ricords’s leadership, our assessments have seen quite an expansion. Surveys that were once used solely for student feedback have been adopted by public libraries that need a relevant tool for their staff.

LJ: Libraries Thriving gathers an eclectic group interested in eresource innovation. How can librarians get the most from it?
LW: The group invites librarians, faculty, publishers, library vendors, and other educators interested in sharing ideas and working together to increase innovative use of eresources.

Because the community emphasizes collaboration and innovation, the best way for librarians to get the most out of it is to keep up with what’s going on. What’s helpful is that individual components (the discussion forums, the online seminar series, etc.) complement each other. For instance, in celebration of National Information Literacy Awareness Month in October, Libraries Thriving collaborated with the National Forum on Information Literacy (NFIL) to promote President Obama’s declaration of the celebration and the concept of IL. As a result, we featured a shareable IL badge on the Libraries Thriving homepage, started discussions on the forums about IL awareness-raising activities, and presented two seminars featuring Dr. Lana Jackman, NFIL president and an IL enthusiast.

LJ: How have the innovations been received? And what’s next?
LW: Everything has been received with enthusiasm so far. It’s exciting because we started when the videos, workshops, case studies, etc. were just abstract ideas and now we’ve got links to final products. On top of that we’re hearing from librarians, faculty members and library directors that they want more, more, more. As for what’s next, I don’t feel comfortable even guessing! As other interns join the team and more institutions adopt Literati, I’m sure the products will evolve.

SD: Our partnering libraries seem overwhelmed, but in a good way. More than once I’ve observed librarians and staff express shock and delight at the range of tools and services offered. Of course there’s variety—some libraries use modules that others don’t need at all. In a few cases, materials were too generic or not generic enough, and we worked on further customization. I can’t wait to see what the next batch of interns produces.

Shiva Darbandi (MLIS; shiva.darbandi@credoreference.com) is a solutions associate at Credo Reference. Laura Warren (laura.warren@credoreference.com) is completing her last semester of the San Jose State University LIS program.

CONTENT Women and Social Movements, International—1840–Present (WASMI), is a collection of primary-source materials from more than 300 repositories around the world. The documents are mainly in copyright and previously unpublished. They include letters, diaries, unpublished manuscripts, conference proceedings (a major portion of the file), journal articles, memoirs, photographs, ephemera, and national committee reports. These are licensed from women’s organizations, archives, and publishers and accompanied by scholarly essays for historical context. The file also provides links to 20,000 pages of online primary-source material.

Approximately seven percent of the content is in Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Russian, or Spanish, and well over half of the published material is from outside the United States. Alexander Street Press will add material periodically and plans for the collection to contain 150,000 pages when the file is complete in December 2012.

USABILITY The homepage’s top toolbar has buttons for home, browse, advanced search, playlists, new material, and help and a simple search box with options to comb all subjects, author, collections, full text, organizations, or title. From a column at screen left, users can browse all materials or archives, secondary essays, people, places, organizations, all subjects, or proceedings, as well as a number of themes (encompassing human rights, law, race, sexuality, and more). The center of the homepage displays a welcome note and feature items from the file.

Since proceedings are a major feature of WASMI, I began by browsing them, starting­ with the five typed pages of the “Minutes of the Meeting of the Africa Program Committee,” by the African-American­ Institute, Women’s Africa Committee (June 20, 1958) and continuing with items such as the five typed pages of the “Minutes of Consultation of Representatives of the YWCA of the United States and Canada Regarding West Africa,” at the National Headquarters of the YWCA of Canada (December 10, 1956).

Other proceedings uncovered include those of the All Asian Women’s Conference, the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association, the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, the International Council of Jewish Women, the League of Nations, and the Peace and Disarmament Committee of the Women’s International Organisations. This is just a tiny taste of what’s here. The extent of the content is impressive; it comes from a large host of sources and is backed up with detailed provenance notes, and the scans are high quality and easily manipulated.

Next I browsed themes, which include­ “Social reform and political activism,” “Women and education,” “Women and development,” “Women and sexuality, birth control, and health,” “Work and class identity,” “Peace, international governance, and international law,” “Political and human rights,” and “Women of color.” These themes can be refined—the 1,527 results found under “Political and human rights,” for example, narrowed to 476 when I used the “Refine” feature under advanced search to find material covering Pakistan.

Browsing “Places Discussed” revealed the international nature of the file. The breakdown of locations found was Africa (470), Asia (1234), Atlantic Ocean (1), Europe (988), North America (360), Oceania (139), and South America (150). The number of Asian and African places compared to North American is impressive.

My simple search for “Bandaranaike” found 15 full-text results, from “The Role of Women in Liberation Struggles,” by Amy Jacques Garvey in The Massachusetts Review, Winter 1972, to the “Report of the World Conference on International Women’s Year,” by Mary Virginia Busby in U.S. Center for IWY Newsletter, No. 4-75, August 1, 1975. This is significant, as it would be hard to name another source that could come up with the full images of both of these items in ten seconds.

My next simple search, for “dorothy kenyon,­” hit a vein of gold with 58 full-text results and 76 title hits. An examination revealed such material as “Text of Address­ by Dr. Pauli Murray at the Memorial Service for Dorothy Kenyon” and “Letter from Mary Anderson to Dorothy Kenyon, March 19, 1938.” Good material, but I then tried an advanced search for “Kenyon” in the “Person Discussed” field. As I typed “ken,” the system suggested I was looking for both “Kenyon, Dorothy” and “Dorothy­ Kenyon” and unearthed 12 excellent results, including the letter “Press Attacks on Judge Kenyon,” by Rachel Conrad Nason (June 17, 1949), and the 21-page report “The Work of the Commission on the Status of Women,” by Janet Henderson Robb (October 20, 1951). This is again material that could probably not be found and accessed so quickly anywhere else—not even in the excellent Smith College Special Collections, where the 69 boxes of material in the Dorothy­ Kenyon Papers are housed.

Using the detailed field searches available in advanced search, I located the seven items in Arabic in the file (Equality Now Annual Reports from 1992 to 2008), the 129 items from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, the 436 photographs now in the file, and the poem “Pour Madeleine Doty” by Edouard Dantan.

I was frustrated when, after finding the Dorothy Kenyon material, I returned to “Browse All Subjects.” Since the alphabetical subjects list was somewhat lengthy, I made use of the “Find Term” box, typed in “Kenyon,” and waited for the system to tell me if that was in the list. Two long minutes later I started over, went into “Browse All Subjects” again, and scanned the list until I found “Kenyon, Dorothy.” That approach also took a mere ten seconds.

The “Playlists” feature stands out. It allows users to create themed collections of documents, images, and videos that can be annotated, edited, copied, and shared and used for class viewing. This promises to be an essential application for this file.

The depth of content in this data­base is superb and so is its usability—I love the multiple and powerful­ ways to access the extraordinary material. WASMI illustrates with ease what can be achieved by thoughtful collaborations between commercial and research
institutions.

PRICING For academic libraries, subscriptions to Women and Social Movements, International start at $545. For public libraries, subscriptions start at $727.

VERDICT This scholar’s dream will be equally accessible to high school students and post-docs alike. I recommend it, with awe and appreciation, to libraries worldwide serving historical, cultural, and political researchers.

A few weeks back, those of us on the West Coast had another opportunity to get our biblio-fix. The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books attracted over 100,000 readers to the University of Southern California campus on April 21–22. Anchored by the 32nd annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, the event featured over 400 authors of books for children, teens, and adults. By contrast, Book Expo has about 500 authors and draws an attendance of around 25,000.

I had the pleasure of moderating a panel at the festival on the art of writing for young adults. Authors Pete Hautman (winner of this year’s Los Angeles Times Young Adult Book Prize for The Big Crunch) and Libba Bray (a finalist for Beauty Queens—both books reviewed in 35 Going on 13: What I Did for Love) entertained the audience with their insights. In his acceptance speech, Hautman affirmed the collaborative nature of teen fiction authors, saying “The hive mind is in ascendance.”

Bray should prove to be one of the most sought-after authors for teens at Book Expo, where she will be promoting her September release, The Diviners. It is the much-anticipated first book in a new series that Bray has described as “The X-Files with flappers.”

Chris Colfer (of Glee fame) will be the Master of Ceremonies at the Book Expo Children’s Book and Author breakfast, featuring YA authors John Green (for The Fault in Our Stars, reviewed in 35 Going on 13: Chilling Winter Reads of First Love, Survival & Suspense) and Lois Lowry (for Son, the latest of her Giver books, to be released in October). Colfer will be at the show to promote his own book for middle readers, The Land of Stories.

While I am eager for these fall titles, this year’s spring publishing season has contained many delights so far. Here are a few.

Hautman, Pete. The Klaatu Diskos: Bk. 1: The Obsidian Blade. Candlewick. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780763654030. $16.99.
Fresh off his Los Angeles Times Book Prize win, Hautman embarks on an sf time travel series. Meet Tucker Feye, only son of a small-townMinnesota minister and his organ-playing wife. One day, Tucker’s father disappears from the family’s rooftop and returns hours later with an odd orphan girl in tow, saying only that he no longer believes in God. Then Tucker’s mother descends into Sudoku-inspired madness and disappears with Tucker’s father, who leaves a cryptic note, and Tucker is left to live with an uncle he has never met. Strange things happen on his Uncle Kosh’s roof as well: a far-future race of beings has created portals through which to view scenes of historic pathos…and they have their eye on Tucker. Exploring questions of time, history, and faith and offering a glimpse of some of the most compelling moments in history, this page-turner is grounded by an appealing narrator and tranquil Midwestern setting.

Oliver, Lauren. Pandemonium. HarperCollins. 2012. 375p. ISBN 9780061978067. $17.99.
Here is the sequel to the “love hurts” dystopia, Delirium, a strong series start that appeared last spring. In Lena’s world, love is both a disease and a crime, eradicated by means of an inoculating surgery that fosters a society of emotionless zombies. After the loss of her true love, Alex, Lena makes her way into the Wilds and joins the organized resistance. From there, she is sent on a mission to New York to attract the attention of the establishment’s favorite son, Julian Fineman. The sheltered poster-child for DFA—Deliria Free America—Julian has no experience with emotion until a forced confinement with Lena brings out his human nature and thaws her grieving heart. The cliffhanger ending ramps up the stakes in a story that continues to deliver. Oliver will be at BEA with her new middle-grade book, The Spindlers, to be published in October. Readers will have to wait until 2013 for Requiem, in whichLena’s and Julian’s fates will be revealed.

Revis, Beth. A Million Suns: An Across the Universe Novel. Razorbill. 2012. 385p. ISBN 978-1-59514-398-3. $17.99.
In 2011’s Across the Universe, Amy awakes from a cryogenic sleep aboard the spaceship Godspeed and uncovers a murder plot that may prevent the ship’s colony from reaching its destination. As the second book opens, Amy is questioning her romantic interest in the flawed but likable ship’s leader, Elder. Would she feel the same if he were not the only available choice? For his part, Elder must rein in a shipload of fractious plebeians, even as he receives game-changing news from his engineers. Tensions mount as food and resources become scarcer and it seems less and less likely that the Godspeed’s nearly 2300 inhabitants will ever make it planetside. Next year’s Shades of Earth will complete the trilogy, which has been distinguished by its high-level philosophic discourse, complex characters, and unexpected plot twists.

Rosoff, Meg. There Is No Dog. Putnam Juvenile. 2012. 272p. ISBN 9780399257643. $17.99.
At the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, I had the pleasure of conversing with Carnegie medalist Mal Peet about this newest title from his friend and fellow prizewinner Rosoff, which posits the question: what if God were actually a willful teenager? Bob might be the Creator of the Universe, but he would much prefer to laze about, eat junk food, and chase girls, much to the dismay of Mr. B, whose job it is to clean up His messes. When Bob becomes infatuated with the guileless and beautiful Lucy, his stormy moods start flood waters rising across the globe. In an amusing subplot, Bob’s pet Eck is gambled away by his irresponsible, irrepressible mother, who is another force in the universe. The author’s satiric view of godly nature will feel familiar to fans of the exploits of Zeus (see the review of George O’Connor’s Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory in 35 Going on 13: August Eclecticism), and while she seems to have little love for the baser leanings of teen boys, the book ends well for most of its characters. Rosoff explores a bold premise with consummate skill.

Stork, Francisco X. Irises. Arthur A. Levine Bks: Scholastic. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780545151351. $17.99.
In his latest, the author of Marcelo in the Real World tackles end-of-life decisions. For the past four years, Kate and Mary have lived in a stasis brought on by an accident that left their mother in a persistent vegetative state. When their emotionally distant minister father dies suddenly, they are left with few resources. Their church has chosen a charismatic young minister to lead the flock, who respectfully requests that they vacate the parsonage in a few short months. Too soon, the girls must make some difficult choices: should Kate marry her longtime boyfriend or follow her dreams of attending Stanford? And who will care for Mary and their mother if she leaves? Kate and Mary must refocus their lost faith and reenergize their lives past the forced selflessness that has held them hostage. A loving tribute to the bonds of sisterhood.

Wasserman, Robin. The Book of Blood and Shadow. Knopf. 2012. 432p. ISBN 9780375868764. $17.99.
“I should probably start with the blood.” Nora’s best friend, Chris, has been murdered, and suspect number one is Nora’s boyfriend Max, now missing. The night’s events have left her friend Adriane in a catatonic state. The four were research assistants to a professor, translating texts connected to the Lumen Dei, a device that promises ultimate knowledge and communication with the divine. The quest to clear Max’s name takes Nora toPrague, accompanied by Chris’s cousin Eli, where she encounters a deadly cult bent on finding the device. This thriller serves up a healthy dose of Latin scholarship, drawing the reader letter by letter into a centuries-old mystery, and Nora’s increasingly complicated relationships with her friends ground the story in emotional reality. Teens and adults alike will race to the book’s shocking conclusion.