Social Science Reference Sources

Book excerpt: The second edition of this guide to basic reference sources in the social sciences contains nearly three times as many entries, - 2,200 - as the earlier edition and also includes several other notable enhancements. In addition to revising and substantially enlarging the chapters on reference sources, Li has further increased the usefulness of this reference volume by adding a chapter on geography and one on business that is distinct from economies. Since the publication of the first edition, there have been two obvious developments in information storage and retrieval: the rapid development of online databases and the development of CD-ROM. Instead of devoting a separate chapter to these developments, the book incorporates online databases, CD-ROM and other forms of data sources into the text. In addition, there is a brief introduction to these developments. Although the general deadline for inclusion in the volume was December 1988, quite a few titles published in 1989 are included.