Editor's Introduction

Dear Readers,

I write as editor of the Journal of Folklore Research (my co-editor, Moira Smith, is on sabbatical leave until May of this year) with a tale of two tags, JFR (the journal) and JFRR (the electronic review service). Let me begin by announcing, in case the word has not reached you, a brand new venture that impacts the contents of the very issue of JFR you now hold in your hands. Like many journals, we have sought over the years for just the right apparatus to review books and other products of relevance to our readership. We went from publishing book reviews to publishing book notes; then, we confined the book notes to our Web site. Perhaps each of these strategies had its advantages, but we have devised a new approach, beginning with this issue, 43:1, to inaugurate the 2006 JFR season. Allow me to take another moment or two to briefly acquaint you with our plans and invite you to participate in them, at your discretion.

We are pleased to announce the birth of JFRR, Journal of Folklore Research Reviews, a service that propels reviews of works relevant to folkloristics, without delay and without charge, to the e-mail addresses of those who choose to subscribe to this list. Along with books, JFRR surveys other media and venues such as museum exhibitions, video and film documentaries, CD/DVD and CD-ROM productions, and scholarly websites. These reviews are stored permanently at our Web site, http://www.indiana.edu/~jofr, and there they can be accessed at any time. In addition, we will continue to publish selected reviews in JFR, drawing from our e-mailed inventory those works we deem to be of special importance to our field.

We are fortunate to have the vision and energy of William Hansen, folklorist and classicist, in the role of Reviews Editor, and Deborah Justice, a graduate student in the Department of Folklore and Ethno-musicology at Indiana University, has joined our team as Reviews Assistant. To complete the credits, I must laud the efforts of Arle Lommel, JFR editorial assistant, who designed the electronic architecture to make this venture operable. Our method, still evolving, is to cull those scholarly products we see as meriting, even requiring, coverage, and engage qualified reviewers for them. We then assemble a larger group of deserving works and make these available for review, on a volunteer basis, to our JFRR subscribers. We believe this method will produce a steady flow of reviews while insuring that the main research products emerging in folkloristics and in adjacent fields and disciplines receive notice and critical assessment.

Since launching JFRR in January of this year, we have already gathered a rather impressive list of e-mail subscribers. If you, dear reader, would like to be among that number, you have only to follow these simple instructions: send an e-mail to listserv@indiana.edu with the phrase "SUBSCRIBE JFRR-L" as the message body (not the subject line). We will gladly add your name and e-mail address to our subscriber list.

Meanwhile, I invite you to enjoy, in print, the articles we publish here and in each issue of JFR, along with the selected reviews you will find towards the back of the journal. And please bear in mind that visual (and sometimes audio) complements to articles appearing in JFR can be found at our Web site, along with archived copies of all reviews (those published in print as well as those published only electronically) and other information (for example, how to subscribe to JFR and JFRR) of potential interest to our readers.

I thank you for your kind attention, and release you to enjoy the excellent reading that awaits you in the pages of this JFR issue.