the Encyclopaedia Judaica has been recommended by the Library of Congress and by the Association of Jewish Libraries for use in determining the authoritative romanization of names of Jewish authors. Its guidelines for transliterating Hebrew into English are followed by many academic books and journals. The 1972 edition has generated both positive and negative reviews. The word Judaica is commonly used to refer to objects of Jewish art and Jewish ceremonial objects. Second edition In July 2003, Thomson Gale announced that it had acquired the rights to publish a second edition of Encyclopaedia Judaica, expecting to publish in December 2006 under one of its imprints, Macmillan Reference USA. The 22-volume work was published on December 30, 2006 and released in January 2007. Gale has published other substantial revisions of major reference works in the field of religion in recent years, including second editions of The Encyclopedia of Religion and The New Catholic Encyclopedia. Together with original publishers Keter Publishing House, Gale has made major updates to many sections of Encyclopaedia Judaica for the new edition, including the entries on the Holocaust, American Jewry, Israel and others. Fred Skolnik, who served as a co-editor on the original edition of Judaica, was retained as Editor-in-Chief for the 2nd edition. American Holocaust scholar Michael Berenbaum, adjunct professor of theology at the American Jewish University as well as director of its Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust, serves as the editor for the Holocaust and Americana sections of the encyclopedia and executive editor for the work at large. Judith Baskin, University of Oregon Judaic Studies department head, was brought on to supervise improvement of women's studies and gender issues coverage. In total, more than 50 divisional editors, including five winners of the Israel Prize, oversaw contributions from nearly 1,200 scholars and editors. The new edition contains more than 21,000 signed entries, including 2,600 brand-new entries and 12,000 changed entries. Online edition , some articles from Encyclopaedia Judaica have been published at Encyclopedia.com. As of 2022 most of the entries of the 2007 Digital Second Edition of the Encyclopaedia are accessible by searching the Encyclopedia.com search engine directly. Critical reception and awards Reviews from library literature have been positive. Donald Altschiller of Boston University, writing in Choice, states that the second edition of Encyclopaedia Judaica "has already attained a secure place in the reference pantheon...Essential." Barbara Bibel, writing in