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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2022
In your interesting series of articles “Reviewing reviews” in ARD (no. 102, 2007) you invite further contributions to this debate, and so may I be permitted to add some observations from the perspective of a publisher or, more particularly, a publisher of African studies reference works.
In his article in the Journal of Scholarly Publishing David Henige states “unfortunately, most reference works are never reviewed outside the library literature, if there.” This is not our experience, even though we now make it a practise not to send out unsolicited review copies of our reference works to African studies or any other journals unless editors specifically request a copy, and provide some indication when a review might appear. We invite journal editors to request review copies by mailings of press releases, and email notifications of new books when published.
1 Henige, David “Reviewing Reviewing” Journal of Scholarly Publishing 33, no. 1 (October 2001): p. 28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2 Unfortunately, despite this policy, it still remains common practice for some editors to request a review copy, but then no review appears, or they merely list the book as a short notice, with the “review” consisting of a couple of sentences taken from the blurb on the rear cover. However, it is accepted of course that the reason for non-appearance of a review may also be due to the fact that book review editors are let down by tardy or unreliable reviewers.
3 Henige, David “Reviewing Reviewing”, p. 31.
4 See for example review extracts at http://www.africanstudiescompanion.com/reviews.shtml or http://www.hanszell.co.uk/africaguide/Index.shtml
5 “The Perilous Business of Reference Publishing in African Studies.” In: Africanist Librarianship in an Era of Change, edited by Evalds, Victoria K. and Henige, David. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005, 199–226Google Scholar.
6 Lindsay & Croft/YBP, Blackwell's Book Services, and Gardners Books. Other vendors who order regularly, albeit in smaller quantities, include Dawson Books, Courts, Bertrams, Starkmann, and the Africa Book Centre in the UK, and a small number of library suppliers in Continental Europe and the USA.
7 An online version of the same review also appears in Africans Libraries Newsletter, no. 115 (April 2005): 12-13 http://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/african/aln/no116.pdf.
8 Dilevko, Juris, and Lisa, Gottlieb “Book Titles Published in Africa Held by North American University Research Libraries and Review Sources for African-published Books.” Library & Information Science Research 25 (2003): 177–206CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
The authors found that although ARL university libraries at institutions with well-established African studies programmes in stand-alone academic units typically have strong collections of sub-Saharan African-published titles, ARL university libraries at institutions not meeting such criteria have relatively weak collections of such material. The authors also urge Choke to revisit some of their current practices and policies that unintentionally exclude African-published titles from their review pages, thus thwarting wider visibility for African publishing output.