The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) annual Outstanding Reference Sources awards are considered the highest awards honoring academic reference books or media,. Besides these awards, the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

(ALA) also grants other medals and honors including the

Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction __NOTOC__ The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction were established in 2012 to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. in the previous year. They are named in honor of ni ...

and the

Dartmouth Medal The Dartmouth Medal of the American Library Association is awarded annually to a reference work of outstanding quality and significance, published during the previous calendar year. History Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a priv ...

for the "creation of a reference work of outstanding quality and significance." In addition, the ALA List of Notable Books for Adults, selected by the RUSA Notable Books Council, has been chosen yearly since 1944. Nomination and awards decisions are made by the ALA's Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), the "authority in top reference works in print or on World Wide Web." Awards are selected by RUSA's Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) Reference Sources Committee. An annotated list of their selection of outstanding reference works is published annually in the May issue of '' American Libraries''.

Recent RUSA Book and Media Awards

2017 Awards

* “The 21st-Century Voter: Who Votes, How They Vote, and Why They Vote.” Guido H. Stempel III and Thomas K. Hargrove, editors. ABC-CLIO. * “Gun Politics in America: Historical and Modern Documents in Context.” Harry L. Wilson. ABC-CLIO. * “Youth Cultures in America.” Simon J. Bronner and Cindy Dell Clark, editors. Greenwood. * “Miracles: An Encyclopedia of People, Places, and Supernatural Events from Antiquity to the Present.” Patrick J. Hayes, editor. ABC-CLIO. * “American Governance.” Stephen Schechter, Thomas S. Vontz, Thomas A. Birkland, Mark A. Graber, John J. Patrick, editors. Macmillan Reference USA. * “Encyclopedia of Nordic Crime Fiction: Works and Authors of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden Since 1967.” Mitzi M. Brunsdale. McFarland & Company, Inc. * “Clothing and Fashion: American Fashion from Head to Toe.” Jose Blanco F., Mary D. Doering, Patricia Hunt-Hurst, and Heather Vaughan Lee, editors. ABC-CLIO. * “The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation.” Bryan A. Garner. The University of Chicago Press. * “Historical Dictionary of British Spy Fiction.” Alan Burton. Rowman & Littlefield. * “Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography.” Franklin W. Knight and Henry Louis Gates Jr., editors. Oxford University Press. * “Africa: An Encyclopedia of Culture and Society.” Toyin Falola and Daniel Jean-Jacques, editors. ABC-CLIO.

2016 Awards

*''Black Stereotypes in Popular Series Fiction, 1851-1955: Jim Crow Era Authors and Their Characters by Bernard A. Drew. McFarland & Company, Inc.'' *''Civil War Biographies from the Western Waters: 956 Confederate and Union Naval and Military Personnel, Contractors, Politicians, Officials,'' *''Steamboat Pilots and Others by Myron J. Smith Jr. McFarland & Company, Inc.'' *''The Encyclopedia of Victorian Literature Dino Franco Felluga, editor. Wiley Blackwell.'' *''Modern Genocide: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection by Paul R. Bartrop and Steven Leonard Jacobs, editors. ABC-CLIO.'' *''The Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary by David and Ben Crystal. Oxford University Press.'' *''The Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of North America and the Caribbean by Scott Weidensaul. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.'' *''The SAGE Encyclopedia of Alcohol: Social, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives Scott C. Martin, editor. SAGE.'' *''Weird Sports and Wacky Games Around the World: From Buzkashi to Zorbin by Victoria Williams. ABC-CLIO.'' *''Women’s Rights in the United States: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Issues, Events, and People Tiffany K. Wayne, editor. ABC-CLIO.'' *''Worldmark Global Business and Economy Issues Thomas Riggs, editor. Gale.''

2015 Awards

*''American Indians at Risk,'' Jeffrey Ian Ross, editor. Greenwood *''Black Stats: African Americans by the Numbers in the Twenty-First Century,'' by Monique W. Morris. The New Press. *''Bumblebees of North America,'' by Paul Williams, Robin Thorp, Leif Richardson & Shelia Colla. Princeton University Press. *''Consumer Healthcare,'' Brigham Narins, editor. Gale Cengage Learning. *''Dictionary of Untranslatables: A Philosophical Lexicon''. Barbara Cassin, editor. Translation edited by Emily Apter, Jaques Lezra, and Michael Wood. Princeton University Press *''The Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice.'' Jay S. Albanese, editor. Wiley Blackwell. *''The Encyclopedia of Deception.'' Timothy R. Levine, editor. Sage Publishing. *''The Encyclopedia of Humor Studies.'' Salvatore Attardo, editor. Sage Publishing. *''The Encyclopedia of the Wars of The Early American Republic, 1783-1812.'' Spencer C Tucker, editor. ABC-CLIO. *''Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God.'' Coeli Fitzpatrick and Adam Hani Walker, editors. ABC-CLIO.

2014 Awards

*''American Civil War: Definitive Encyclopedia and Document collection''. Spencer C Tucker, Editor; ABC-CLIO *''Literature of Propaganda,'' Thomas Riggs, editor. St. James Press/

Gale Cengage Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Gr ...

*''Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories That Shaped Our Culture.'' Jacqueline Edmondson, Editor. Greenwood. *''Encyclopedia of U.S. Presidency: A Historical Reference''. Nancy Beck Young, editor.

Facts on File Infobase Publishing is an American publisher of reference book titles and textbooks geared towards the North American library, secondary school, and university-level curriculum markets. Infobase operates a number of prominent imprints, including ...

*''History of Jewish-Muslim Relations from Origins to Present Day.'' Abdelwahab Meddeb and Benjamin Stora, editors.

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

*''Frogs of United States and Canada,'' C. Kenneth Dodd Jr. author.

Johns Hopkins University Press The Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publ ...

. *''Encyclopedia of Mind,'' Harold Pashler, editor.

Sage Reference Sage or SAGE may refer to: Plants * ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb ** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family ** ''Salvia'', a large ...

. *''Almanac of American Military History.'' Spencer C Tucker, editor. ABC-CLIO. *''Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions.'' Patrick Taylor and Frederick I. Case, editors.

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic proje ...

. * Special acknowledgement to

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

, for continuing publication of '' Statistical Abstracts of the United States''

2013 Awards

*''Biotechnology: In Context,'' edited by Brenda Wilmoth Lerner & K. Lee Lerner, Gale Cengage *''Dictionary of African Biography,'' edited by

Emmanuel K. Akyeampong Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong (born 1962) is a professor of history and African and African American studies, and the Oppenheimer Faculty Director of the Harvard University Center for African Studies at Harvard University. He is a faculty associate ...

and

Henry Louis Gates Jr. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Amer ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

*''Encyclopedia of Housing,'' Second Edition, edited by Andrew T. Carswell, Sage Publications *''Encyclopedia of Peace Psychology,'' edited by Daniel J. Christie,

Wiley-Blackwell Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publish ...

*''Encyclopedia of Trauma: An Interdisciplinary Guide,'' edited by Charles R. Figley, Sage Publications *''Enslaved Women In America: An Encyclopedia,'' edited by

Daina Ramey Berry Daina Ramey Berry is an American historian and academic who is the Michael Douglas Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She was formerly the associate dean of the graduate school and chair of the hist ...

and Deleso A. Alford, Greenwood *''Japanese Philosophy: A Source Book,'' edited by James W. Heisig, et al.,

University of Hawaii Press A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

*''Literature of War,'' edited by Thomas Riggs, St. James Press/Gale Cengage *''Presidents and Black America: A Documentary History'', by Stephen A. Jones and Eric Freedman, Sage/CQ Press *''Typography Referenced: A Comprehensive Visual Guide to Language, History, and Practice of Typography,'' edited by Allan Haley et al., Rockport Publishers *''Women in American Politics: History and Milestones,'' by Doris Weatherford, Sage/CQ Press

2012 Awards

*''Encyclopedia of Political Science,'' George T Kurian editor-in-chief. CQ Press, 9781933116440 *''Civil War Naval Encyclopedia,'' edited by Spencer Tucker. ABC-CLIO, 9781598843385 *''Competing Voices from Russian Revolution: Fighting Words,'' edited by Michael Hickey. Greenwood, 9780313385230 *''Oxford Encyclopedia of Books of Bible,'' edited by Michael D. Coogan. Oxford University Press, 9780195377378 *''Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites,'' by Donald B. Kraybill. Johns Hopkins University Press, 9780801896576 *''Polish American Encyclopedia,'' edited by James S. Pula. McFarland & Company, Inc., 9780786433087 *''Green’s Dictionary of Slang,'' by

Jonathon Green Jonathon Green (born 20 April 1948 in Kidderminster, Worcestershire) is an English lexicographer of slang and writer on the history of alternative cultures. Jonathon Green is often referred to as the English-speaking world's leading lexicograph ...

. Oxford University Press, 9780550104403 *''Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine,'' edited by Lyle J. Micheli. Sage Publications, 9781412961158 *''Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory,'' Michael Ryan, general editor. Wiley-Blackwell, 9781405183123 *''Homer Encyclopedia,'' edited by

Margalit Finkelberg Margalit Finkelberg (née Karpyuk; born 1947) () is an Israeli historian and linguist. She is the professor emerita of Classics at Tel Aviv University. She became a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 2005 and served as pr ...

. Wiley-Blackwell, 9781405177689 *''Grove Encyclopedia of American Art,'' edited by Joan D. Marter. Oxford University Press, 9780195335798

2011 Awards

*''Oxford Companion to the Book.'' Michael F. Suarez, S.J. and H.R. Woudhuysen, eds. 2 vols. Oxford, 2010. 9780198606536 *''Encyclopedia of Identity. Ronald L. Jackson II, ed. 2 vols. Sage, 2010. 9781412951531'' *''Encyclopedia of Geography. Barney Warf, ed. 6 vols. Sage, 2010. 9781412956970'' *''Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome. Michael Gagarin, ed. 7 vols. Oxford, 2010. 9780195170726'' *''Encyclopedia of Religion in America. Charles H. Lippy and Peter W. Williams, eds. 4 vols. CQ Press, 2010. 9780872895805'' *''Off Broadway Musicals, 1910 – 2007: Casts, Credits, Songs, Critical Reception and Performance Data of More Than 1,800 Shows. Dan Dietz, ed. 1 vol. McFarland. 2010. 9780786433995'' *''Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion. Joanne B. Eicher, ed. 10 vols. Oxford, 2010. 9780195377330 Berg Fashion Library. Oxford, 2010.'' *''Chronology of Evolution-Creationism Controversy. Randy Moore, ed., et al. 1 vol. Greenwood. 2009. 9780313362873'' *''Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace. Nigel Young, ed. 4. vols. Oxford. 2010. 9780195334685'' *''21st Century Economics A Reference Handbook. Rhona C. Free, ed. 2 vols. Sage. 2010. 9781412961424'' *''Encyclopedia of Political Theory. Mark Bevir, ed. 3 vols. Sage. 2010. 9781412958653'' *''Encyclopedia of Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. John M. Levine and Michael A. Hogg, eds. 2 vols. Sage. 2010. 9781412942089''

2010 Awards

*''Archaeology in America: An Encyclopedia Greenwood Press, Francis P. McManamon'' *''Encyclopedia of African American History: 1896 to Present Oxford University Press, Paul Finkelman'' *''Encyclopedia of Modern China Charles Scribner’s Sons, David Pong'' *''Encyclopedia of Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars ABC-CLIO, Spencer Tucker'' *''Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy Gale Cengage, J. Baird Callicott and Robert Frodeman'' *''Encyclopedia of Human Rights Oxford, David Forsythe'' *''Social Explorer, an online reference resource
location
' *''Broadway Plays and Musicals: Descriptions and Essential Facts McFarland & Company Publishers, Thomas S. Hischak'' *''American Countercultures Sharp, Gina Misiroglu'' *''Encyclopedia of Gender and Society Sage, Jodi O’Brien'' *''Encyclopedia of Marine Science Facts on File, Nichols C. Reid and Robert G. Williams''

2009 Awards

Dartmouth Medal: Greenwood Publishing, Pop Culture Universe. Honorable mention: Gershon David Hundert, YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. *''Books and Beyond: Greenwood Encyclopedia of New American Reading.

Kenneth Womack Kenneth Womack (born January 24, 1966) is an American writer, literary critic, public speaker, and music historian, particularly focusing on the cultural influence of the Beatles. He is the author of the bestselling ''Solid State: The Story of A ...

, ed. 4 vols. Greenwood, 2008. 9780313337383.'' *Encyclopedia of Taoism. Fabrizio Pregadio, ed. 2 vols. Routledge, 2008. 9780700712007. *''Encyclopedia of First Amendment. John R. Vile, David L. Hudson Jr. and David Schultz, eds. 2 vols. CQ Press, 2009. 9780872893115.'' *''Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales. Donald Haase, ed. 3 vols. Greenwood, 2008. 9780313334412.'' *''Encyclopedia of Education Law. Charles J. Russo, ed. 2 vols. Sage, 2008. 9781412940795.'' *''Climate Change: In Context. Brenda Wilmoth Lerner and K. Lee Lerner, eds. 2 vols. Gale Cengage, 2008. 9781414436142.'' *''Gale Encyclopedia of Diets: A Guide to Health and Nutrition. Jacqueline L. Longe, ed. Gale Cengage, 2008. 9781414429915.'' *''New Encyclopedia of Orchids: 1500 Species in Cultivation. Isobyl la Croix. Timber Press, 2008. 9780881928761.'' *''Encyclopedia of Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social and Military History. Spencer C. Tucker, ed. 4 vols. ABC-CLIO, 2008. 9781851098415.'' *''African American National Biography. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks-Higginbotham, eds. 8 vols. Oxford University Press, 2008. 9780195160192.'' *''Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Bonnie G. Smith, ed. 4 vols. Oxford University Press, 2008. 9780195148909.''

2008 Awards

*''APA dictionary of psychology.'' ed. by Gary R. VandenBos.

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

, 2007. 1591473802. *''

Encyclopaedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a 22-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, langu ...

.'' ed. by Staff, Macmillan Reference U. S. A. 22 vols. Rev. ed. Gale, 2006. 0028659287. *''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. ed. by George Ritzer. 11 vols. Blackwell, 2007. 1405124334.'' *''Encyclopedia of Body Adornment. by Margo Demello. Greenwood, 2007. 313336954.'' *''Encyclopedia of Race & Racism. ed. by John Hartwell Moore. 4 vols. Gale, 2008. 9780028660202.'' *''Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History. ed by John B. Hattendorf. 4 vols. Oxford, 2007. 9780195130751.'' *''Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film. ed. by

Barry Keith Grant Barry Keith Grant is a Canadian-American critic, educator, author and editor who best known for his work on science fiction films, horror films and popular music. Grant is recognized as one of the leading experts on the work of American documenta ...

. 4 vols. Gale, 2006. 0028657912.'' *''Encyclopedia of Asian Theatre. ed. by Samuel L. Leiter. 2 vols. Greenwood, 2007. 03133529x.'' *'' Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction. ed. by Jeff Prucher. Oxford, 2007. 0195305671.'' *''Postwar America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural and Economic History. by James Ciment. 4 vols.

ME Sharpe M. E. Sharpe, Inc., an academic publisher, was founded by Myron Sharpe in 1958 with the original purpose of publishing translations from Russian in the social sciences and humanities. These translations were published in a series of journals, the ...

, 2007. 079568067x.'' *''Oxford companion to world exploration. ed. by David Buisseret. 2 vols. Oxford, 2007. 019514922X.''

2007 Awards

*''Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History. ed. James Ciment. M. E. Sharpe, 2005. 0765680653.'' *''Crusades: An Encyclopedia. 4 vols. ed. Alan V. Murray. ABC-Clio, 2006. 1576078620. $385'' *''Encyclopedia of Swearing: Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in English-Speaking World. Geoffrey Hughes. M. E. Sharpe, 2006. 0765612311.'' *''Encyclopedia of American Revolutionary War: A Political, Social, and Military History. eds. Gregory Fremont-Barnes and Richard Ryerson. ABC-Clio, 2006. 1851094083.'' *''Encyclopedia of Developing World. 3 vols. ed. Thomas M. Leonard. Routledge, 2005. 1579583881.'' *''Encyclopedia of US Labor and Working Class History. 3 vols. ed. Eric Arnesen. Routledge, 2006. 0415968267.'' *''Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism Since 1450. 3 vols. ed. Thomas Benjamin. Macmillan, 2007. 0028658434.'' *''Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America. 3 vols. ed. Rosemary Skinner Keller. Indiana, 2006.'' *''Historical Statistics of United States: Earliest Times to Present. 5 vols. eds. Susan B. Carter, Scott Sigmund Gartner, Michael R. Haines, et al. Cambridge, 2006. 0521817919.'' *''Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity. Stephen A. Marshall. Firefly, 2006. 1552979008.'' *''Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature. 5 vols. ed. David Scott Kastan. Oxford, 2006. 0195169212.'' *''Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. 4 vols. ed. Jack Zipes. Oxford, 2006. 01951146561.'' *''Qu'ran: An Encyclopedia. ed. Oliver Leaman. Routledge, 2005. 0415326397.'' *''Right, Wrong, and Risky: A Dictionary of Today's American English Usage. Norton, 2005. 0393061191.''

References

Citations

Sources

RUSA on ALA website

RUSA Update: News, Events, Awards

Reference & User Services Assn. (RUSA): Book & Media Award for Outstanding Reference Sources

External links

RUSA Book and Media Awards
award site, containing list of recent and earlier awards {{Authority control American literary awards Mass media awards