Choice is a publishing unit of the

Association of College and Research Libraries The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes library, libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th ...

(ACRL). It includes the magazine ''Choice'' as well as other products including the ''Choice Reviews'' database. The magazine was established in 1964. It is considered the premier source for reviews of academic books,

electronic media Electronic media are media that use electronics or electromechanical means for the audience to access the content. This is in contrast to static media (mainly print media), which today are most often created digitally, but do not require ele ...

, and

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

resources of interest to those in higher education. The magazine is headquartered in

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles (25.749504 km) south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. Middletown is the largest city in the L ...

Reviews

Reviews are done by scholars. For a print book, they are to be no longer than 190 words, and slightly longer for internet resources.

Scope of influence

Most academic libraries in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

use ''Choice'' and/or ''Choice Reviews'' for selecting and purchasing materials. Reviews are published monthly in ''Choice'' magazine and are added in real time to the ''Choice Reviews'' subscription database. ''Choice'' publishes approximately 500–600 reviews each month in subdisciplines spanning the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

, and the

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

and

behavioral sciences Behavioural science is the branch of science concerned with human behaviour.Hallsworth, M. (2023). A manifesto for applying behavioural science. ''Nature Human Behaviour'', ''7''(3), 310-322. While the term can technically be applied to the st ...

Outstanding Academic Titles

According to 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. History 19th century ...

, the Outstanding Academic Titles list "reflects the best in scholarly titles... and brings with it the extraordinary recognition of the academic library community." The list is administered by the ALA's Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). Every year, in its January issue, ''Choice'' chooses a selection of the books reviewed in the last year as "Outstanding Academic Titles" ("Outstanding Academic Books" until 2000). The selection covers around 10% of the roughly 7000 books reviewed annually.''Choice''
Outstanding Academic Titles
Retrieved February 24, 2010 Most academic libraries in the

use ''Choice'' for selecting and purchasing materials. According to the ACRL, ''Choice'' reaches 22,000

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

s and an estimated 13,000 higher education faculty in almost every undergraduate college and university library in the United States, along with many larger public libraries, and special and governmental libraries. Reviews are published monthly in ''Choice'' magazine and Choice Reviews online. ''Choice'' publishes approximately 7,000 reviews per year in 50 subdisciplines spanning the

and

, and the

and

. Selections for Outstanding Academic Titles are determined by scholars who act as experts in their respective fields of study and who do not receive payment for their reviews.

References

External links

Magazine websiteList of Outstanding Academic Titles
ALA Book review magazines published in the United States Monthly magazines published in the United States 1964 establishments in Connecticut Magazines established in 1964 Magazines published in Connecticut English-language literary awards {{US-lit-mag-stub