Encyclopedia Americana is one of the largest general encyclopedias in the English language. Following the acquisition of Grolier in 2000, the encyclopedia has been produced by Scholastic.
The encyclopedia has more than 45,000 articles, most of them more than 500 words and many running to considerable length (the "United States" article is over 300,000 words). The work's coverage of American and Canadian geography and history has been a traditional strength. Written by 6,500 contributors, the Encyclopedia Americana includes over 9,000 bibliographies, 150,000 cross-references, 1,000+ tables, 1,200 maps, and almost 4,500 black-and-white line art and color images. It also has 680 factboxes. Most articles are signed by their contributors.Long available as a 30-volume print set, the Encyclopedia Americana is now marketed as an online encyclopedia requiring a subscription. In March 2008,Scholastic said that print sales remained good but that the company was still deciding on the future of the print edition. The company did not produce an edition in 2007, a change from its previous approach of releasing a revised print edition each year. The most recent print edition of the Encyclopedia Americana was published in 2006.The online version of the Encyclopedia Americana, first introduced in 1997, continues to be updated and sold. This work, like the print set from which it is derived, is designed for high school and first-year college students along with public library users. It is available to libraries as one of the options in the Grolier Online reference service, which also includes the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, intended for middle and high school students, and The New Book of Knowledge, an encyclopedia for elementary and middle school students. Grolier Online is not available to individual subscribers.
Predecessors:
Before the current manifestation of the Encyclopedia Americana there were two previous encyclopedias using the title in the nineteenth century. There was no connection to the publication that began in 1902 other than the name.
The first Encyclopædia Americana began publishing in 1829, edited by the German-born Francis Lieber and based on the Brockhaus Conversations-Lexikon
A separate Encyclopedia Americana was published by J.M. Stoddart between 1883 and 1889, as a supplement to American reprintings of the 9th edition of theEncyclopædia Britannica It was four quarto volumes meant to "extend and complete the articles in Britannica".] Stoddart's work, however, is not connected to the earlier work by Lieber.
The Modern Encyclopedia Americana:
In 1902 a new version in 16 volumes that carried over some of the old material was published under the title Encyclopedia Americana, under the editorial supervision of Scientific American magazine. The magazine's editor, Frederick Converse Beach, was editor-in-chief, and was said to be assisted by hundreds of eminent scholars and authorities who served as consulting editors or authors. The first publisher was R.S. Peale & Co; between 1903 and 1906 further editions were issued by the Americana Corp. and the Scientific American Compiling Department, with George Edwin Rines appointed managing editor in 1903. The relationship with Scientific American was terminated in 1911. From 1907 to 1912, the work was published as The Americana.
A major new edition appeared in 1918–20 in 30 volumes, with George Edwin Rines as editor-in-chief.[4] An Annual orYearbook was also published each year beginning in 1923 and continuing until 2000.The encyclopedia was purchased by Grolier in 1945. By the 1960s, sales of the Americana and its sister publications under Grolier—The Book of Knowledge, the Book of Popular Science, and Lands and Peoples—were strong enough to support the company's occupancy of a large building (variously named the Americana Building and the Grolier Building) in Midtown Manhattan, at 575 Lexington Avenue. Sales during this period were accomplished primarily through mail-order and door-to-door operations. Telemarketing and third-party distribution through their Lexicon division added to sales volumes in the 1970s. By the late 1970s, Grolier had moved its operations to Danbury, Connecticut.
Later developments:
In 1988 Grolier was purchased by the French media company Hachette, which owned a well-known French-language encyclopedia, the Hachette Encyclopedia. Hachette was later absorbed by the French conglomerate the Lagardère Group.A CD-ROM version of the encyclopedia was published in 1995. Although the text and images were stored on separate disks, it was in keeping with standards current at the time. More importantly, the work had been digitized, allowing for release of an online version in 1997. Over the next few years the product was augmented with additional features, functions, supplementary references, Internet links, and current events journal. A redesigned interface and partly reengineered product, featuring enhanced search capabilities and a first-ever ADA-compliant, text-only version for users with disabilities, was presented in 2002.The acquisition of Grolier by Scholastic for US$400 million, took place in 2000. The new owners projected a 30% increase in operating income, although historically Grolier had experienced earnings of 7% to 8% on income. Staff reductions as a means of controlling costs followed soon thereafter, even while an effort was made to augment the sales force. Cuts occurred every year between 2000 and 2007, leaving a much-depleted work force to carry out the duties of maintaining a large encyclopedia database. Today, Encyclopedia Americana lives on as an integral database within the Grolier Online product.
The Encyclopædia Britannica :
The Encyclopædia Britannica (Latin for "British Encyclopaedia"), published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledgeEnglish-language encyclopaedia. It is written by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 contributors, who have included 110 Nobel Prize winners and five American presidents. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, which spans 32 volumes and 32,640 pages, was the last printed edition; digital content and distribution has continued since then.The Britannica is the oldest English-language encyclopaedia still in production. It was first published between 1768 and 1771 in the Scottishcapital of Edinburgh, as three volumes. The encyclopaedia grew in size: the second edition was 10 volumes, and by its fourth edition (1801–1810) it had expanded to 20 volumes. Its rising stature as a scholarly work helped recruit eminent contributors, and the 9th (1875–1889) and11th editions (1911) are landmark encyclopaedias for scholarship and literary style. Beginning with the 11th edition and following its acquisition by an American firm, the Britannica shortened and simplified articles to broaden its appeal to the North American market. In 1933, the Britannicabecame the first encyclopaedia to adopt "continuous revision", in which the encyclopaedia is continually reprinted, with every article updated on a schedule. In March 2012, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. announced it would no longer publish printed editions, and would focus instead onEncyclopædia Britannica Online.The 15th edition has a three-part structure: a 12-volume Micropædia of short articles (generally fewer than 750 words), a 17-volumeMacropædia of long articles (two to 310 pages), and a single Propædiavolume to give a hierarchical outline of knowledge. The Micropædia is meant for quick fact-checking and as a guide to the Macropædia; readers are advised to study the Propædia outline to understand a subject's context and to find more detailed articles. Over 70 years, the size of the Britannica has remained steady, with about 40 million words on half a million topics. Though published in the United States since 1901, the Britannica has for the most part maintained British English spelling
The Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science
The Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science is a well-respected multivolume reference set that was first published in 1968 and can now be found in hundreds of libraries throughout the world. The Second Edition, edited by Miriam A. Drake, published in 2003 with four volumes. Readers may notice that the title is now plural in order to signal an important change in the content of the Third Edition. The time has come to recognize the plurality of information sciences that are emerging today, and this Encyclopedia reflects both the broad scope and interrelatedness of the several information disciplines and professions. The editors have completely re-visioned the content and organization of the Encyclopedia, developed parallel topical categorizations across the disciplines, and rigorously defined what is and is not to be included. Information disciplines included are library science, information science, archives and records management, museum studies, informatics, knowledge management, information systems, bibliography, document and genre studies, and social aspects of information. The Encyclopedia is intended to serve an audience of librarians, information specialists, academic researchers, systems analysts, bibliographers, and documentalists, as well as students and the general public.
Available Both in Print and Online
The content is published online (subscription required). Entries will be added on a quarterly basis, building the breadth and depth of coverage.
Call for Papers
We are looking for broad encyclopedic reviews that:
• describe and explain the concepts, technologies and theories involved;
• justify their importance to the academic community and to society in general;
• review the evidence and scientific basis behind the theories, including the latest research;
• provide a description of practical real-world experiences and/or case studies;
• offer a helpful summary, in particular noting future trends and potential applications; and
• provide references and additional reading relevant to the topic.
Typical manuscripts are between 3,500 and 8,000 words. We generally allow authors three months from the date of assignment to submit their manuscripts. All manuscripts will undergo a thorough review process, with feedback from reviewers regarding content and coverage.
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