'Encyclopedia of Trauma' is a top academic title

Barri Bronston bbronst@tulane.edu
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Choice, a publication of the American Library Association, has named Tulane University social work professor Charles Figley's Encyclopedia of Trauma: An Interdisciplinary Guide as one of its Outstanding Academic Titles for the 2013-14 academic year.
Figley

The American Library Association has named social work professor Charles Figley's Encyclopedia of Trauma an Outstanding Academic Title. (Photo by Joe Halm)


Only 10 percent of the 7,000 works reviewed in Choice are selected for the honor, and Figley, an internationally known trauma expert who holds the Paul Henry Kurzweg, MD, Distinguished Chair in Disaster Mental Health at the Tulane School of Social Work, attributes the book's success to its interdisciplinary approach.

Choice called the book, published by SAGE Publications, “an excellent standard reference work” and an “important academic summary of the scholarship on trauma.”

Each book named to the list is selected for its excellence in scholarship and presentation, the significance of its contribution to the field and its important value in the treatment of its subject.

Last year, the Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, named Figley's book one of 11 Outstanding Reference Sources. Books on the list are strongly recommended for library collections.

Figley says most books on trauma focus on post-traumatic stress disorder, while his incorporates history, economics, engineering, medicine and neurology. He says it is organized and written in a way the average person can easily understand.

“My first goal was to provide a roadmap, the first of its kind, for understanding, studying, assessing and treating trauma and teaching about trauma,” Figley says. “My second goal was to make knowledge of trauma accessible to everyone by having experts write about their areas of expertise.”

Figley says he shares the book's success with Tulane faculty members who served on the editorial board, including Kathy Regan Figley of the Disaster Resislience Leadership Academy; Kevin Gotham, sociology professor; John McLachlan, environmental studies professor; and Elizabeth Townsend Gard, associate professor of law.

The Howard-Tilton Memorial Library on the Tulane University uptown campus has both a print and electronic copy of Figley's book. The electronic copy provides Tulane faculty, staff and students with unlimited access.