LibAnswers

Scholarly books are meant to communicate academic research findings about a topic, while non-scholarly books are meant to broadly inform the public about a topic. The best way to tell if a book is scholarly or not is to look at the publishing information on the title page. If the book is published by a college or university press  (i.e. University of New Mexico Press) it is considered scholarly.

However, books published elsewhere may also be scholarly if they contain academic materials. For example, Nova Science is considered a scholarly publisher, even though they aren't a college or university press. To determine if a publisher is scholarly, use google to find an "About Us" page  that provides more information about the publisher's goals. For example, the publisher Nova Science has this statement on their About Us page: We publish over 1,000 new titles every year by scientists in the top universities and colleges from around the world. This indicates that this publisher is scholarly.

It is also important to note that there are two main types of scholarly books. Some scholarly books are written by a single person about a topic. Others are edited books, which are sort of like a collection of articles. One or more people may edit the book, but each chapter typically has its own authors.

There are some books that might be more difficult to figure out- if you have any questions about a particular book, ask a librarian in the Reed Library!