College and Research Libraries 80 I College & Research Libraries • January 1980 OCLC' s development. For those with a re- served seat at the terminal, Susan Martin's Library Networks 1978-79 or the 1979 edi- tion of CLASS's comparison of on-line resource-sharing utilities is a better investment.-Patricia Ann Sacks, Cedar Crest and Muhlenberg Colleges, Allentown, Pennsylvania. Miller, Jerome K. Applying the New Copyright Law: A Guide for Educators and Librarians. Chicago: American Li- brary Assn., 1979. 144p. $10. LC 79- 4694. ISBN 0-8389-0287-1. Any author who voluntarily tackles the job of writing a volume to attempt to explain the complexities of the copyright law of 1976 to educators and librarians de- serves credit for a noble effort-noble be- cause, as the author states in the introduc- tion, "Some are sure to be displ~ased with the positions I have taken; some will find them too conservative, while others will find them irresponsibly radical." The author volunteers that he chose to "attempt to take a middle ground in interpreting the dis- puted areas, such as placing photocopies on reserve, the question of 'spontaneity,' and videotaping television programs." The volume has five chapters: a brief his- tory of copyright (informative), fair use (51 of 115 pages of text), library photocopying, obtaining permission (portions of this chap- ter are based on the author's dissertation), and securing copyright protection. Eight appendixes (including professional and con- gressional guidelines, policies, and confer- ence reports), chapter notes, and a compre- hensive index round out the volume. The author gives a detailed explanation of the concept of fair use, using excerpts from Senate, House, and conference committee reports to document his discussion and in- terpretation. He has also designed a fair use checklist, a "review device to help readers apply the [four] fair use criteria." Thirty-six problems are presented in the areas of "making paper copies of printed materials" and "duplicating performance materials," after which the author gives answers based Midwest Library Service 's University Press Selection Plan Offers a Big Extra! It's a Pre-Publication Catalog This catalog is the only one of its kind in our industry and by using it a librarian can MONITOR University Press Publishing. The catalog is pro- duced twice a year in a revised, updated form. It's still another example of how we attempt to anticipate a library's needs and to offer ser- vices accordingly. For more information on this plan , call us on our Toll-Free WATS Line 1-800-325-8833 Missouri Customers Call Collect: 0-314-739-3100 Ask for Mr. Lesser '"'"" "19 Years of Service to College and University Libraries" Midwest Library Service 11443 St. Charles Rock Rd., Bridgeton, Mo. 63044 on his application of the checklist. Draw- backs to what might. otherwise be a helpful exercise are that the problems are geared almost exclusively to elementary and secon- dary educators and librarians and the an- swers are based on the author's interpreta- tions of the fair-use section of the law, in- terpretations with which some will disagree. Discussed, .also, is limited application of the fair-use criteria in the areas of perfor- mance materials, display materials, repro- duction of display materials, and fair use by nonclassroom educators. Off-air copying of television programs, an unresolved issue of considerable concern to librarians, educators, film producers, and the broadcast industry, is briefly addressed. Soon after submission of the manuscript for publication, a group representing these interests was formed under the aegis of the House Subcommittee on the Courts, Civil Liberties, and the Administration of Justice and the Copyright Office to develop guidelines for off-air taping by nonprofit educational organizations. This group is still at work on its task. The library photocopying chapter is di- vided into two parts: identification of ten basic elements or requirements that can be distilled from section 108, and an applica- tion of section 108 to types of materials and types of services . The author receives plaudits for stepping over the "middle ground" into justifiable liberality in the area of copying for reserves and a recognition that both sections 107 and 108 give photo- copying rights and privileges to libraries. In one of his most memorable quotes, he calls the CONTU guidelines "a model of opaque legal language." Librarians should disagree, however, with his interpretation concerning unsupervised reproducing equipment, that "until the courts provide better guidance, it may be safe to assume that a self-service copier lo- cated near and in sight of a staff work sta- tion is not truly an unsupervised machine." For librarians who may need to seek permission after the limits of the fair-use or photocopying sections of the law have been exhausted, the chapter on obtaining permis- sion will be helpful. Suggested request forms are provided, including those for re- questing permission to duplicate copyrigh- Recent Publications I 81 ted materials and those for copying out-of- print sheet music. Of particular interest is the discussion on purchase conditions set by either the purchaser or the supplier. In general, this paperbound volume pro- vides forms, a checklist, do-it-yourself exer- cises, and some useful explanations for a complex law of the land. It is regrettable, however, that the publisher did not take the opportunity to make clear that the interpre- tations are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect endorsement by the American Library Association.-Nancy H. Marshall, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Maizell, Robert E. How to Find Chemical Information: A Guide for Practicing Chemists, Teachers, and Students. New York: Wiley, 1979. 261p. $17.95. LC 78- 23222. ISBN 0-471-56531-8. As chemistry and chemical engineering change, the author says, "so do the sources of information chemists and engineers use. New and improved information tools are constantly being introduced, and, concur- rently, older tools become less valuable, be- come obsolete, or are discontinued." This is the main rationale for the current work, a reference guide in the genre of W oodbum' s Using the Chemical Literature: A Practical Guide (Marcel Dekker, 1974) and Bottle's Use of Chemical Literature (Butterworths, 1971). Maizell, who is manager of information services for a large corporation and has both chemistry and library degrees, has essen- tially resurveyed this familiar field. The more significant newer tools are brought in for inspection with quite a solid chapter on computer-based on-line and off-line retrieval systems. Then the enduring classical chemi- cal information reference tools are trotted out again and their basic features and struc- tures reviewed. To enrich the mixture still further, the author deals at some length with information flow and communication patterns in chemistry, with search strategy, and with keeping up to date with current awareness programs. Above and beyond this standard format, a considerable amount of very practical advice is successfully incorporated into the easy- flowing and readable text. Maizell' s sugges- tions on how quickly and efficiently to get ac-