Clark Professor's LGBTQ Studies Encyclopedia Named ‘Best Reference Title’

From Clark University: "The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies,” a reference work edited by Clark University psychology professor Abbie Goldberg, has been lauded as one of the best reference titles of 2016 by Library Journal, the preeminent trade publication for librarians.

Library Journal describes the encyclopedias as an “exceptional and exhaustive work” and recognizes its coverage of issues of emerging significance (such as transgender rights), in addition to covering compelling and well-developed topics in the field. Library Journal wrote that the encyclopedia’s “distinctive features, knowledgeable writing, and sweeping content” establish the work as “an essential resource and reference standard.”

Professor Goldberg edited the encyclopedias, which were published last May. The three-volume set is believed to be the first reference work of its kind. The Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues, a division of the American Psychological Association (APA), named the work its 2016 Distinguished Book last December.

Professor Goldberg told SAGE Insight, a news blog that features research published in SAGE’s more than 900 journals, that the encyclopedia “is a testament to both scholarly and public interest in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer studies, as well as to the vast array of research being conducted on LGBTQ lives, relationships, and communities.”

The encyclopedia views lesbian and gay studies through the lenses of psychology, human development and sociology, emphasizing queer, feminist, and ecological perspectives on the topic. The text includes more than 400 signed entries by top researchers and clinicians from the fields of psychology, sociology, human development and gender/queer studies and offers an appendix with information on organizations, journals and websites related to various topics within the larger field of LGBTQ studies. It was designed for undergraduate students, graduate students, scholars of LGBTQ sexualities and lives, and others.
“Methodological Decisions by Researchers of LGBTQ Populations,” an article included in the encyclopedia, is available online for a limited time in honor of Library Journal’s recognition.

Goldberg is co-editor of “LGBT-Parent Families: Innovations in Research and Implications for Practice” and author of “Gay Dads: Transitions to Adoptive Fatherhood.” Her first book, “Lesbian and Gay Parents and their Children: Research on the Family Life Cycle,” won several awards. She also is editing a book with Adam P. Romero, senior counsel and Arnold D. Kassoy Scholar of Law at the UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute, on LGBTQ relationship dissolution and divorce.

For more on this reference work, visit “A Milestone for the Mainstreaming of LGBTQ Studies” and the Clark website.

Photo courtesy of Clark University