Briefly Noted
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Defining Digital Humanities: A Reader, ed. Melissa Terras, Julianne Nyhan, and Edward Vanhoutte. Surrey, U.K.: Ashgate, 2014. 330 pages. $55.75 (ISBN 978-1-4094-6963-6)
Based on readings found in the course syllabi they collected, editors Melissa Terras, Julianne Nyhan, and Edward Vanhoutte offer a volume of previously published articles and blog posts, supplemented by an introduction, editorial notes, and additional readings, for use as a textbook in courses exploring the digital humanities. Though now a widely used term and an area that is receiving increased attention by colleges, universities, and funding agencies, there is no clear definition of the digital humanities, nor is there consensus on what it includes. Is digital humanities a new academic discipline or a bundle of techniques? Is it just a reworking of traditional areas of the humanities with new technology, or does it augur revolutionary changes? As the articles in Defining Digital Humanities show, these questions were being debated when digital humanities was still known as “humanities computing” and remain open today. This work should be of interest to faculty, students, and administrators. (FR)
Games in Libraries: Essays on Using Play to Connect and Instruct, ed. Breanne A. Kirsch. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2014. 248 pages. $55.00 (ISBN 978-0-7864-7491-2)
Today’s widespread popularity of gaming offers libraries important opportunities to address the diverse interests and learning styles of students. Breanne A. Kirsch brings together 13 essays from 17 contributors—mostly academic librarians—who provide a wide range of ideas and suggestions for integrating games—both traditional and online—into library research and learning. Cecilia Sirigos describes the millennial generation, their affinity to gaming, the different gaming entry levels available to libraries, and examples from colleges and universities. Other articles discuss when to use gaming to advance specific pedagogical goals, badge systems as indications of accomplishment or skill in information literacy, leading patrons from games to books, how to bring the board game Clue to life, and reaching transfer students using the game Blackbeard’s Treasure. The last chapter by Jonathan Kirsch is an annotated bibliography of sources about gaming in libraries. Games in Libraries: Essays on Using Play to Connect and Instruct is an eclectic collection that should be of interest to librarians and administrators involved with instruction and outreach. (FR)
Makerspaces: Top Trailblazing Projects, Caitlin A. Bagley. Chicago: American Library Association, 2014. 128 pages. $50.00 (ISBN 978-1-55570-990-7)
This is a brief, practical guide for libraries interested in developing maker-spaces. After highlighting relevant planning criteria such as defining, justifying, funding, staffing, and promoting these new creative spaces, author Caitlin A. Bagley looks at the maker-spaces in six public libraries, two university libraries, and an after-school program. She sketches out each of these recently developed maker-spaces using the criteria, so that library planners can understand how these first-movers made decisions regarding their potential users, tools and equipment requirements, available space, and necessary staff expertise. (FR) [End Page 658]
The Reference Guide to Data Sources, Julia Bauder. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2014. 184 pages. $60.00 (ISBN 978-0-8389-1227-0)
The Reference Guide to Data Sources is organized like a traditional reference sourcebook, but its subject matter reflects the shifting boundaries of reference work. With Internet access, the expansion of computing power, and increased storage capacity, microdata sources are becoming widely available, and reference librarians are increasingly called upon to aid students and researchers in locating and interpreting these data. Julia Bauder’s new book meets a growing need for an accessible guide to these sources. The Reference Guide to Data Sources covers both science and social science data but is more comprehensive for the latter. There are chapters on agriculture, earth sciences (three chapters), and health-care data sources, but none for physics, biology, or genetics. There are seven chapters on economics, three on political science, and one on spatial data. The book begins with an introductory chapter on data reference and ends with two useful appendices. This reference guide should find a home in many academic and public libraries. (FR) [End Page 659]
