ABC-CLIO

ABC-CLIO
Status Active
Founded 1953
Successor Eric Boehm
Headquarters location Santa Barbara, California
Key people Ron Boehm (CEO); Becky Snyder (President)
Publication types Books, Databases, Magazines
Nonfiction topics History; Social sciences
Imprints ABC-CLIO, Greenwood Press, Praeger, Libraries Unlimited/Linworth
Official website www.abc-clio.com

ABC-CLIO, or ABC-Clio, is a publisher of reference works for the study of history and social studies in academic, secondary school, and public library settings. ABC-CLIO provides service to fifteen different online databases which contain over one million online texbooks.[1] ABC-CLIO recruits "academic leaders" in the subject areas they cover in order to provide authority for their reference titles.[2] The headquarters are located in Santa Barbara, California.

History

The company was founded in 1953 as a privately held corporation.[3] Their first publication was Historical Abstracts in 1953.[4] Eric Boehm started the company and the name itself represents the two divisions initially represented when the company incorporated in 1969: American Bibliographical Center and Clio, for Clio Press.[4] Clio Press was named after the muse of history.[4] Eric Boehm had always been interested in history and when he noticed that there were not many good historical abstracts available, he started publishing the Historical Abstracts.[4]

ABC-CLIO entered into digital publishing with electronic data in the 1960s.[3]

During the 1960s, a sister bibliographic and abstract publication on American history, America: History and Life, was added. It is considered an award-winning title.[3]

In 1975, ABC-CLIO put its first database online.[3] The database was called DIALOG.[4]

During the 1980s, ABC-CLIO expanded into providing primary reference books such as encyclopedias and dictionaries.[4] In 1988, they stopped publishing bibliographic books.[4]

In the 1990s, ABC-CLIO began to provide access to its humanities database on CD-ROM.[5] The EXEGY Current Events CD-ROM was named "Best Disc of the Year" by Library Journal.[6] In 1996, ABC-CLIO merged with an electronic publishing company, Intellimation, which also produced educational software.[6] The merger brought in Becky Snyder to ABC-CLIO from Intellimation.[6] In 1998, ABC-CLIO provided electronic access to America: History and Life.[3]

By the 2000s, one of ABC-CLIO's most popular products had become online databases for researching many topics in the field of the humanities. In 2001, ABC-CLIO began to publish eBooks, initially providing 150 different titles to schools and libraries.[3] The company's reference books had won numerous awards, and the company started a series of subject-related online databases for secondary school use. In 2004, the company acquired the quarterly historical journal, Journal of the West, which has been published since 1962.

It sold Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life to EBSCO Publishing in 2007.[7]

Imprints and series

Greenwood Publishing Group

Main article: Greenwood Press

In 2008, ABC-CLIO acquired the Greenwood Publishing Group from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.[8] The deal gave ABC-CLIO a "perpetual license" to use the imprints of Greenwood Press and publish all of its titles.[8] Acquiring the publishing group gave ABC-CLIO access to Greenwood Press, Praeger Publishers, Praeger Security International and Libraries Unlimited.

Greenwood focuses on publishing full-text reference works which are authoritative on various topics.[9]

Libraries Unlimited

Libraries Unlimited came to ABC-CLIO as part of a deal with Greenwood Press. In 2012, Kathyrn Suárez was named Publisher for this division which focuses on publishing for librarians and information professionals.[9]

ABC-CLIO Solutions

ABC-CLIO databases are provided under the umbrella of ABC-CLIO Solutions. There are fifteen different databases providing access to different subject areas.[1] ABC-CLIO Solutions provides digital curiculum with multimedia content, text-to-speech features, translation tools which covers various topics relating to history and the humanities.[10] After ABC-CLIO acquired Greenwood Press's databases, they revamped the look and feel of their interface in order to provide common access through the ABC-CLIO interface.[11] ABC-CLIO also provided the ability to search across multiple databases through one search, also providing options for narrowing the search after revamping their interface.[12] The new interface is considered user-friendly and provides access to personalized features.[13] Much of the praise for the direction and expansion of digital services has gone to President of ABC-CLIO, Becky Snyder.[14] who has been with the company since 1996.[6]

Praeger

Praeger is known for publishing "scholarly and professional books" in the subject areas of social science and the humanities.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 "Database Offers 1 Million Free Resources and Images in April". eSchool News. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  2. Vnuk, Rebecca (15 September 2012). "Encyclopedia Update: Reboot, 2012". Booklist 109 (2): 52–56. ISSN 0006-7385. Retrieved 8 May 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Costello, Megan (2 April 2001). "E-books a natural for ABC-CLIO". Publishers Weekly 248 (14): 28–29. ISSN 0000-0019. Retrieved 8 May 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hane, Paula J. (January 2001). "ABC-CLIO Stresses Customer-Based Products". Information Today 18 (1): 12. ISSN 8755-6286. Retrieved 8 May 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  5. "History and Mission". ABC-CLIO Solutions. ABC-CLIO. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Rogers, Michael (May 1996). "ABC-CLIO merges with Intellimation". Library Journal 121 (8). ISSN 0363-0277. Retrieved 8 May 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  7. "EBSCO Acquires Two Renowned Databases from ABC-CLIO: Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life". June 15, 2007.
  8. 1 2 Albanese, Andrew (November 2008). "ABC-CLIO "Buys" Greenwood Imprints". Library Journal 133 (18). ISSN 0363-0277. Retrieved 8 May 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  9. 1 2 3 "Kathryn Suárez Appointed Publisher of Libraries Unlimited". Santa Barbara Independent. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  10. "ABC-CLIO Upgrades History Instruction with Multimedia Content". eSchool News. 18 February 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  11. Quinn, Mary Ellen (1 November 2010). "Another Look At: ABC-CLIO Databases". Booklist 107 (5): 90. ISSN 0006-7385. Retrieved 8 May 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  12. Kuzyk, Raya (16 November 2007). "Reference Into the Future". Library Journal 132: 8–11. ISSN 0363-0277. Retrieved 8 May 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  13. O'Gorman, Jack, ed. (2014). Reference Sources for Small and Medium-Sized Libraries (8th ed.). Chicago, Illinois: ALA Editions. pp. 7–8. ISBN 9780838912126.
  14. "Becky Snyder, President of ABC-CLIO, Joins Marymount Board". Santa Barbara Independent. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2015.

External links

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