College and Research Libraries 186 College & Research Libraries cussed in detail is the vexatious, perennial dispute inherent in an organism that at- tempts to be on one hand a library for Con- gress, and, on the other, a library for ev- eryone. Although this section of the book is of great interest, one questions with raised eyebrows the assertion that "for years, librarians have been urging that the Library of Congress be put into the De- partment of Education,'' an entity that has only been in existence since 1980 (90 Stat. 668). Part three also notes LC' s initial re- luctance to accept the computer (followed by its subsequent embrace), the difficul- ties of locating materials at the Library, and Boorstin' s impact upon the institution he directs. The last part is a brief comment on the future of LC as it begins to harness the technological wonders of videodiscs and digital storage in the service of en- hanced control and access. Throughout the narrative run basic phil- osophical issues. Does LC really help Con- gress govern? Is the Library doing a proper job of preserving the nation's his- Heritage on Microfilnt Rare and out-of-print titles and documents on 35mm silver halide microfilm. • French Books before 1601 • Scandinavian Culture • 18th Century English Literature • Victorian Fiction • Literature of Folklore • Hispanic Culture Send for catalog and title information today. ~~~~[M ~COV\P~Y 70 Coolidge Hill Road Watertown, MA 02172 (617) 926-5557 March 1983 tory? Are the manifold information needs of users really being met? While the con- . elusion is affirmative, it is tempered with the caveat that future managers of this vast enterprise must be ever alert to the processes and technologies by which its disparate clientele will be served wisely and well. This informative monograph contains a six-page bibliography. No index was available for evaluation, presumably be- cause the above review is based on a ''not for sale" advance copy made from uncor- rected proofs. With the assumed inclusion of an index, the book when published will be a valuable addition to our professional literature and may well enjoy a wider audience.-Joe Morehead, School of Library! Information Science, State University of New York at Albany. Neustadt, Richard M. The Birth of Elec- tronic Publishing: Legal and Economic Is- sues in Telephone, Cable and Over-the-Air Teletext and Videotext. White Plains, N.Y.: Knowledge Industry, 1982. 143p. $32.95. LC 82-6614. ISBN 0-86729-030-7. Ever since "the paperless society" be- came buzzwords in our language, there have been many discussions debating the pros and cons of electronic publishing. The discussions this reviewer has heard have typically been subjective and some- times emotional. The issues raised have related to the emergence of a new mass medium, described eloquently by the au- thor: Until recently, mass distribution of information has been dominated by publishing and broad- casting. Now, technology is marrying these media to spawn a new one: electronic publish- ing . Print-type information-text and graphics-is being distributed over electronic channels : television, radio, cable TV and tele- phone wires . Electronic publishing . . . has no place in the law at present. No statute or regulation men- tions it, and the first court decision on this me- dium was issued in the fall of 1981 . In the next few years, policy-makers must answer a string of questions to fill this vacuum. How will the First Amendment apply-will electronic pub- lishers have the full freedom of newspapers or will they be covered by content regulations, as are broadcasters? Will would-be electronic pub- THE B/NA FIRM ORDER SYSTEM: FULFILLING YOUR ORDERS IN HALF THE TIME. After two years of development, the B/NA Firm Order System is cutting library book delivery times in half. Plus it is offering routine ordering and response speed similar to that of yester- day's rush orders. Here's how it works for your library. 1. You order electronically or by mail. Some networks can send your orders via electronic mail for same day handling. In every case we handle your orders on day of receipt. 2. We enter your order, locate titles and instantaneously create your full order from our com- puter Library File, Publisher File 2 Electronic,.····~~ mail or hard copy ordering. of over 30,000 publishers and comprehensive Bibliographic File. It currently contains over 250,000 titles including all new titles treated by BIN A over the past five years, plus current fulfilled and unfulfilled orders. Over 70% of scholarly titles are immediately found. Those not found are entered into the Bibliographic File. J. The system prints your order which is checked against BIN A inventories in Lake Oswe- go and Blackwood for shipment. The system also gives out-of- print and other current status reports so we can notify you, or begin automatic 0/P searching. 4· The system generates publisher purchase orders. If Order drawn from your Library File, 30,000 + records in Publisher File and 250,000+ records in our Bibliographic File. Publisher Purchase Orders DOD DO D PUBLISHE 4 ORDER TO PUBLISHER, REPORT TO your order is not in our inven- tory, the system creates pub- lisher orders. You automatically receive a 3x5 status report. We can also produce regular man- agement reports in various formats, and now offer fund accounting options. 5· We pick up orders and ship them. BIN A vans pick up from over 100 New York area pub- lishers for timely shipping. It's a working, practical sys- tem backed by Blackwell Group expertise and our bookselling tradition. To try it, simply enter your next firm order with us. BLACKWELL Blackwell North America, Inc. 6o24 S. W. Jean Road, Building G Lake Oswego, Oregon 97034 Telephone (8oo)547-6426 1001 Fries Mill Road Blackwood, New Jersey o8ou Telephone (800)257-7341 OFFICES IN: OXFORD, ENGLAND; LAKE OSWEGO, OREGON; BLACKWOOD, NEW JERSEY; NOVATO, CALIFORNIA; LONDON, ONTARIO, CANADA; HOUSTON, TEXAS; ATLANTA, GEORGIA; MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA; CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA AND FREmURG, WEST GERMANY. 188 College & Research Libraries Discover fast, economical ways to keep up with current research in organic chemistry ... at an ISI ®/CID FREE Seminar! A half-day Seminar from the lSI/Chemi- cal Information Division will show you how you and your staff can : • Keep current on the latest in organic chemistry • Search nearly 3 million compounds even when all you know is the molecu- lar formula • Learn about new synthetic methods At the Chemical Information Division , we specialize in giving organic chemists ac- cess to information crucial to their work. Our products and services , including Current Abstracts of Chemistry and In- dex Chemicus " and Current Chemical Reactions~. are designed to take care of current awareness needs quickly and easily-leaving chemists with more of their valuable time to spend on research. Whether you 're a current ISIICID sub- scriber or you're learning about us for the first time , at your seminar we'll focus on you, and how ISIICID can help you locate the chemical information you need . To arrange for your FREE, half-day seminar fill out the coupon below and mail it to- day! o®rr 101 - 2979 C19831SI Institute for Scientific Information® Chemical Information Division Marketing Department 3501 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19104 Telephone: (215) 386-0100 March 1983 lishers have access to the electronic channels of communication- is regulation needed to en- sure diversity and competition? Should the government set technical standards to make systems compatible or should it leave that issue to the marketplace? Are privacy policies needed to protect consumers from misuse of the vast data banks the new technologies will create? Does current copyright law adequately protect the investments of those who create the infor- mation? The book is written for the stakeholders in this new mass medium-newspapers, phone companies, cable companies, and book publishers-as well as for those who must devise new laws, enforce the laws, and test the laws for the lay public whose interests must be protected . The content deals primarily with com- munications policy-current and pro- posed-and includes discussions of tech- nical standards, privacy, defamation and obscenity, and economic rights. A brief but useful chapter, "How Electronic Pub- lishing Works," sets the stage for delving into the text. Librarians should read this book-if for no other reason than to understand that growth of the new medium cannot be re- sisted, and that the time is now for serious consideration of how the library will as- similate this new technology. The book is well written and interesting to read.- Allen Kent, University of Pittsburgh . Spigai, Fran and Sommer, Peter. Guide to Electronic Publishing: Opportunities in Online and Viewdata Services. White Plains, N.Y.: Knowledge Industry, 1982. lOOp. $95. LC 81-20787. ISBN 0- 914236-87-3. Some publishers would call this book a "special report" because it provides con- cise information aimed at specialized au- diences. The specialized audiences appear to consist of: (1) venture capitalists and (2) print publishers. The first audience would be interested in assessing new business opportunities, the second in deciding when, if ever, to adopt new technology. The book addresses two technologies, one relating to online services and the other to viewdata services. The technolo- gies of these electronic publishing exam- ples are presented in a jargon-free man-