H. W. Wilson Company
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| This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2010) |
| Founded | 1898 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Halsey (H.W.) Wilson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | Bronx, New York |
| Publication types | Books, databases |
| Official website | www |
The H. W. Wilson Company is a publisher based in New York City. It publishes print and online indexes, full-text databases, and other products and services for public, school, college, and special libraries around the world.
The company may be best known for its Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature, the most widely consulted index of articles in the popular press. Other notable resources include the Core Collections series, comprising Children’s, Middle and Junior High, Senior High, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Nonbook Materials, and Public Library Core Collection: Nonfiction. This series has been a standard resource for librarians since it began publication under the name Children’s Catalog in 1909.
H. W. Wilson is also noted for its range of biographical reference (including the critically acclaimed Biography Reference Bank and the monthly Current Biography magazine), its Art Suite of databases (Art Full Text, Art Museum Image Gallery, Cinema Image Gallery, and Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals), and its retrospective databases, which add decades of coverage to a library’s periodical coverage.
H. W. Wilson databases are accessed using the WilsonWeb search and retrieval system, which contains a number of features designed to make searching as fast and accurate as possible.
H. W. Wilson is the main sponsor of the American Library Association’s John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award, which honors outstanding library public relations.
History
The H.W. Wilson Company was founded in 1889 by Halsey William Wilson, a student working his way through the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Together with his roommate, Henry S. Morris, Wilson started a book selling business serving educators and students at the university. When it came time for Morris to graduate, he sold his share of the business to Wilson, who then began a long and fruitful career in business.
The H. W. Wilson Company’s first original reference was the Cumulative Book Index, first published in 1898. This was followed by the Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature in 1901. In 1911, Wilson relocated the company to White Plains, New York, to be nearer to its main markets.
By 1917, demand for more specialized indexes had grown to the point where the company had to move again. Wilson bought a five-story building in the Bronx on the banks of the Harlem River, where the company remains headquartered today. The building’s distinctive lighthouse was added in 1929.
Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature became the company’s first electronic reference in 1985, available through WILSEARCH. In 1995 Current Biography and World Authors became available on searchable CD-ROM, and in 1997 the first version of WilsonWeb, Wilson’s online information search and retrieval system, was launched.
Products
The H. W. Wilson Company offers 78 reference databases to meet research and browsing needs in a range of fields, including applied science and technology, art, biography, biology and agriculture, business, current events, education, general science, humanities, law, library and information science, library collection development and readers’ advisory, literature and social sciences. These databases are maintained by editorial staff members who are experts in library science and other subjects, and updated daily by staff in New York and Dublin, Ireland.
The company also publishes an extensive range of print references in these areas, including Facts About the Presidents, Famous First Facts, and the monthly magazine Current Biography.
John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award
The John Cotton Dana Award, sponsored by H.W. Wilson, honors outstanding library public relations, whether a summer reading program, a year-long centennial celebration, fundraising for a new college library, an awareness campaign or an innovative partnership in the community. Award winners receive a cash development grant of $5,000 from the H.W. Wilson Foundation. The awards are presented at a reception hosted by H.W. Wilson, held during the American Library Association annual conference.