Background information to the socialnet Reviews

Since September 2000, monthly reviews of current new publications in the fields of social work and social economy have been published. What began under the editorship of Prof. Dr. Harro Kähler is currently being continued with an editorial team of four. Coordinated by Farina Eggert, the editors Prof. Dr. Peter-Ulrich Wendt, Dr. Theresa Hilse-Carstensen and Michael Bertram publish an average of four reviews per day. This means that more than 22,000 reviews have now been collected, with an annual increase of around 1,400.

The offering aspires to the following quality features or has already realized them to a large extent:

• Since 2002, as many new publications as possible from the relevant range of topics have been screened on the basis of numerous publishing programs and publications of the German Library and evaluated for relevance to the readership. This systematic, active selection represents a core service. It manifests itself, among other things, in the large number of publishers involved.
• Particular emphasis is placed on making lesser-known publishers with relevant literature accessible to the public.
• The base of reviewers is extraordinarily widespread. Where possible, proven experts in the respective discipline or committed practitioners are recruited selectively.
• The relatively broad spectrum for the social sector including nonprofit management is intended to facilitate "thinking outside the box".
• A contractually agreed review guideline and editorial review ensure a consistently high quality of the individual reviews, so that in many cases just reading the review contributes to knowledge transfer and further education.
• A proprietary database solution is used as the technical basis, enabling ongoing further development and realization of new ideas.
• The reviews are characterized by their particular topicality. Mostly titles of the current year, at most of the previous year, are reviewed. Due to the partially automated process, a review can be processed from the idea to publication in two to four weeks if there is good cooperation between the publisher and the reviewer.
• The content is integrated into socialnet. This enables thematic cross-references and the integration of the reviews into other portals.

Through the scope of the offer, careful selection of book titles and the quality of the reviews, the offer contributes specifically to the transfer of knowledge into social work practice.

The benefit for practice is continuously increased by further features. Most recently, a multi-level keyword search was introduced. Each title list for a keyword can be further restricted by a second keyword.