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Internet Express
Web Help for Low-Income Patrons
Library use is on the rise as a direct result of the recession. Irene McDermott provides websites offering help for low-income patrons in areas such as government assistance, healthcare and insurance, paying monthly bills, and avoiding foreclosure. She includes sites specifically designed for helping seniors and for assisting those doing the assisting.

Publishing Trends
Is the Academic Spring Moving Academic and STM Publishers to a Winter of Discontent?
The shift from print to electronic formats within the STM publishing world has been highly successful. However, as Dan Tonkery notes, recent events, starting with the introduction of the Research Works Act into the U.S. House of Representatives in late 2011, may make a promising future not so promising after all.

So You Want to Hold a Conference
Event Planning Resources
This piece by Cindy Shamel offers resources useful to the do-it-yourself conference planner. From picking a location to finding speakers and getting the word out to would-be attendees, Shamel covers all the meeting basics and then some.

Recommender Systems
A True Smorgasbord of Options
Nancy Herther presents a plethora of social recommendation websites from major library-oriented social book review sources. She takes a close look at the three library licensed leaders—Bowker’s Fiction and Non-Fiction Connections, Books and Authors from Gale Cengage, and EBSCOhost’s NoveList. Herther also goes beyond books, touching on systems such as Connotea, Flixster, and Rate Your Music, and finishes by mentioning a few possible game-changer systems.

A Slit of Light in the Door of Government Information
Miriam Drake shares the good news that long-needed changes to the Freedom of Information Act are finally under way or in the works. She explains the history of the act, examines other open government issues including the release of controlled unclassified information, and talks with reps from the Office of Government Information and Open the Government.

Current Awareness in Pharma
Part 4. From Regulators to Consumers
In the next installment of her series, Rachel Bates Wilfahrt highlights the major government and regulatory agencies and trade associations within the pharmaceutical industry. Wilfahrt also profiles a few quality drug information resources central to all areas of pharma and valuable to both industry pros and consumers.

Correspondence
Reaction, from emails to the author to blog posts and tweets, was fast and furious after the April 2012 issue of Searcher was published with Steve Coffman’s cover article, “The Decline and Fall of the Library Empire.” Coffman shares a smattering of the comments, as well as some of his responses.

Contacts
Find the postal and electronic addresses, phone and fax numbers for all the companies, products, and people mentioned in this issue.