Application forms for the L4U Automation Grant are available by calling the company and will be accepted until June 30. Only one application per library will be accepted each year.

Source: Kelowna Software, Ltd., Kelowna, BC, Canada, 800/667-3634, 250/712-4644; http://www.L4U.com.
 

NFAIS and EUSIDIC Form a New Alliance
The National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services (NFAIS) and the European Association of Information Services (EUSIDIC) have announced their intent to merge their operations into a global alliance of information services, subject to the completion of plans and the approval of NFAIS and EUSIDIC members.

The alliance will initially bring together NFAIS's membership of approximately 50 information producers and providers with EUSIDIC's membership of approximately 100 information services, intermediaries, users, and providers. According to the announcement, the umbrella organization will focus on global issues, common strategies, and shared goals, while NFAIS and EUSIDIC will retain full control over their national/regional agendas. The merger is expected to take place early this year.

Source: National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services, Philadelphia, 215/893-1561; http://www.nfais.org.
 

ACS to Publish Complete Archive Online
The American Chemical Society (ACS) has announced that it is making its entire archive of scientific journals--some published for more than a century--available on the Web. The resulting archive will include approximately 2.5 million pages of scientific research. Work on the project was to begin in the last part of 2000 and should be completed by the start of 2002.

ACS publishes 28 scientific journals in all areas of chemistry and plans to introduce two additional journals, Nano Letters and Crystal Growth & Design, next year. ACS journals published between 1996 and 2000 are already available online. By developing this digital backfile of PDF articles and searchable bibliographic data for all titles, the entire catalog of the society's research will be available to any customer via the Web. Access to the backfile will be made available on the Web through December at no charge to ACS Web Edition subscribers as it is created and posted. Beginning in January 2002, an annual fee will be charged for access.

Source: American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 202/872-4451; http://www.acs.org.
 

Fuji Photo Film Partners with ImageWorks to Offer Microfilm Conversion Services
Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc. has announced an alliance with ImageWorks, an imaging integrator, to offer the Image Workflow Services Program. This program will provide full integration services to any organization requiring a specialized conversion of their microfilm information to existing IBM Image Plus and other imaging systems.

This program uses Fujifilm's M Drive to convert microfilm images into standard TIFFs. According to the announcement, ImageWorks can help an organization merge standard TIFF format images into pre-existing proprietary imaging systems. It can provide everything from consultation to on-site turnkey operations.

Source: Fuji Photo Film, U.S.A., Inc., Elmsford, NY, 800/755-3854; http://www.fujifilm.com.
 

Free Trial and New Advisors for Questia
Questia, the new 24/7 online research service, has announced that it is scheduled to release this month. Right now, Questia is offering a special sneak preview of the service and a free 1-month trial (redeemable when the site launches). Visit http://www.questia.com/trial/page/index.html.

Questia has also announced the formation of its Librarian Advisory Council, created to provide strategic insight in developing the collection, which the company says will grow to 250,000 scholarly books and journals by 2003. This news follows the company's recent announcement of the Questia Advisory Council, which includes former First Lady Barbara Bush and Harvard University Library director Dr. Sidney Verba.

Questia reports that the Librarian Advisory Council members will assist in the analysis of student research needs. They will also provide guidance in the development of the Questia online collection and composition tools. Members will serve 2-year terms.

Source: Questia Media, Inc., Houston, 713/358-2500; http://www.questia.com.
 

Security Tools

InfoExpress Releases CyberGatekeeper
InfoExpress, Inc. has announced CyberGatekeeper, a remote access firewall solution that enforces the security policies of a network.

CyberGatekeeper, which the company says will be available early this year, is a protective firewall that examines PC configurations, shuts down access from unsafe systems automatically, and reports threats to administrators. The product is vendor-neutral and is designed to work with third-party VPNs, firewalls, anti-virus programs, and applications.

At the heart of CyberGatekeeper is an auditing module that performs a security audit of the user's PC and then authorizes or denies access to the network, depending on whether the remote user's configuration is acceptable to the network's security policies. If a required application stops working on a user's PC, CyberGatekeeper will shut down connectivity and block subsequent traffic.

Source: InfoExpress, Inc., Mountain View, CA, 650/623-0260; http://www.infoexpress.com.
 

WebAgain 2.0 Defeats Web Site Vandalism
Lockstep Systems, Inc. has announced WebAgain 2.0, a new version of its Web site content protection and archival utility.

WebAgain protects the content of an organization's Web site by systematically comparing the publicly posted files to the most recent copy stored in the WebAgain Archive. When unauthorized changes are detected, WebAgain automatically restores the original content, quarantines a copy of the hack, and sends notification to the administrator, without taking the site off-line. New features on version 2.0 include zombie server protection, FrontPage Server Extensions support, and automatic Web site import.

WebAgain protects Web sites that are hosted in-house or by a third party, and requires access to the site through a network or dial-up connection. The utility runs as a Windows NT/2000 service. Its server can be remotely administered, and a single installation of WebAgain can protect multiple Web sites with the licensing of a registration key. A single license to protect one Web site and its associated mirrors is $995.

Source: Lockstep Systems, Inc., Scottsdale, AZ, 877/WEB-FIXR, 480/596-9432; http://www.lockstep.com.
 

Northern Light Develops Micro-Site for News and Information on Computer Viruses
Northern Light Technology, Inc. (NL) has announced a site offering information and practical resources for combating computer viruses. The Northern Light Special Edition, located at http://special.northernlight.com/compvirus, links to a broad range of anti-virus solutions and up-to-date information.

According to the announcement, the Computer Viruses Special Edition was designed and built by NL's editors who craft queries that search for and cull out the most useful and relevant information pertaining to computer virus detection. Links include the Criminal Division of the U.S. Justice Department, the National Infrastructure Protection Center, relevant online journals such as Virus Bulletin, and anti-virus software products and solutions, as well as insight into the hacker culture and community worldwide through links to Hacker News Network and upcoming hacker conventions.

Source: Northern Light Technology, Inc., Cambridge, MA, 617/621-5194; http://www.northernlight.com.
 
 

Upgraded Services

R.R. Bowker Announces ulrichsweb 2.0
R.R. Bowker has announced the availability of ulrichsweb.com 2.0. According to the announcement, the new version allows users to start a new search from any page; employ advanced keyword searching in title and subject (word may be in any position); target, limit, or sort search results by numerous criteria, such as country, ISSN, and status; download, print, or e-mail records from any portion of the search, including search results, lists, or full display; add or edit comments to results lists generated; save, copy, and/or move items to public lists or the user's own lists; generate search history during a session; browse indexes; and monitor usage statistics.

Bowker has also added topical articles, monthly spotlights on new serials data, and other complementary features. ulrichsweb.com is now updated on a weekly basis.

A free 2-week test of ulrichsweb.com is available by logging onto the Web site.

Source: R.R. Bowker, New Providence, NJ, 888/BOWKER2; http://www.bowker.com.
 

ingenta Enhances Content, Technology
ingenta has announced that access to the UnCover database, which contains over 11 million article citations and full-text articles from journals and publications across the globe, all archived back to 1988, is now live and available through its Web site. Users also now have the option of Adobe PDF or HTML delivery direct from the UnCover database, as well as the traditional fax article delivery.

In addition, ingenta reports that it has implemented its access control technology for corporate and library account authentication into the new UnCover service, allowing institutions to track subscription records and access journals they subscribe to free-of-charge. ingenta's users review abstracts and bibliographic information for free, and subscription authentication ensures fast and free access for subscribers. There are also pay-per-view options for nonsubscribers. ingenta has also implemented a new technology in its core databases that it says results in search results being returned to the desktop up to 30 times more quickly.

Source: ingenta, Cambridge, MA, 617/395-4000; http://www.ingenta.com.
 

SIRS Mandarin Makes SIRS NetSelect Available to Knowledge Source Users
SIRS Mandarin, Inc. has announced that SIRS NetSelect, a new online guide to some of the Internet's best resources, is now available to existing SIRS Knowledge Source users via the Knowledge Source online interface. Users can access safe, informative, and educational Internet resources on a broad range of subjects.

Information in SIRS NetSelect sites spans a wide variety of topics, including business, government, science, education, culture, music, the visual arts, and more. The guide's topic structure is modeled on SIRS' article reference databases--SIRS Researcher, SIRS Government Reporter, SIRS Renaissance, and SIRS Discoverer Deluxe. SIRS Knowledge Source research aids such as source information, tagging, and e-mail are also available from SIRS NetSelect.

Source: SIRS Mandarin, Inc., Boca Raton, FL, 800/232-7477; http://www.sirs.com.
 

LibraryHQ.com Has Access to SiteSource
LibraryHQ.com, an information portal for library professionals, has announced the availability of SiteSource and associated products and services for libraries, schools, and individuals. Available through yearly subscriptions, SiteSource contains a database of 20,000-plus quality, cataloged Web sites selected according to specific criteria by professional catalogers and subject specialists. Expanding by nearly 1,000 Web sites each month, SiteSource contains a wide variety of subject areas for users of all ages.

Also available from LibraryHQ.com are separate services to help libraries make even fuller use of SiteSource (see http://www.libraryhq.com/products). MARCSite, for example, enables libraries to download MARC records from SiteSource and integrate them into an OPAC. SiteDesign is a service available to help libraries customize their Web pages. According to the announcement, Web designers who are experienced with the special role of libraries create sites that reflect a library's own services and mission.

Source: LibraryHQ.com, New York, 877/401-9535; http://www.libraryhq.com.
 

BIOSIS Releases MethodsFinder Version 2.0
BIOSIS has announced the release of MethodsFinder 2.0, its Web database of laboratory methods for life sciences researchers.

MethodsFinder 2.0 will give customers access to thousands more full-text methods from Web pages and grey literature, tens of thousands more records in the database, and an enhanced search engine. According to the announcement, the database provides a centralized location where users can expect to find methods and protocols from around the Web, expertly indexed and constantly updated. In addition, MethodsFinder 2.0 maintains a growing archive of protocols from the traditional life sciences literature.

Source: BIOSIS, Philadelphia, 800/523-4806, 215/587-4800; http://www.biosis.org.
 

EBSCO Online Offers LC Subject Browsing, Adds 22 Full-Text Electronic NewsRx Titles
EBSCO Subscription Services has announced a new enhancement to EBSCO Online that allows users to view journal content divided by subject categories based on Library of Congress (LC) classifications.

Journals on EBSCO Online are assigned an LCC category. The user can view a list of all categories for which EBSCO Online has at least one journal. The list will indicate how many journals on EBSCO Online are classified in each category. The user can then click on a category name to see a list of all journals in that category. From there, the user can browse the content of all journals his or her library has on subscription.

The enhancement also includes a "reverse browse" capability. When a user is viewing a specific journal of interest, there will be a link near the journal name called More Like This. When the user clicks that link, he or she will see a list of all journals that are in the same category as the original journal, and then will be able to view the content of those journals. EBSCO reports that future plans include integrating the LC filtering into EBSCO Online's search functions. This will allow the user to limit article searches and journal searches to specified categories.

In a separate announcement, EBSCO reports that electronic access to the full text of 22 NewsRx and NewsRx.com reports is available via EBSCO Online.

NewsRx titles available include Vaccine Weekly, Cancer Weekly, AIDS Weekly, Biotech Week, and Women's Health Weekly. According to the announcement, NewsRx.com provides business and clinical information news and reports relating to drugs, chemicals, biotechnology, science, and medicine to more than 1,000 major health and pharmaceutical companies in 40 countries.

Source: EBSCO Subscription Services, Birmingham, AL, 205/991-1276; http://www.ebsco.com.
 

CrossRef Access Expands Ovid's Linking
Ovid Technologies announced that it was to add support for CrossRef to its Ovid OpenLinks product by the end of last year.

CrossRef was formed in 1999 by a group of leading scientific, technical, and medical publishers to support reference linking to participating publishers' full-text content. Membership currently includes 50 publishers.

Ovid's OpenLinks features links to over 2,000 full-text journals at remote publishers' sites. The CrossRef implementation will add thousands of additional OpenLinks titles that journal subscribers can select and link to from Ovid bibliographic databases.

Source: Ovid Technologies, Inc., New York, 800/950-2035, 212/563-3006; http://www.ovid.com.
 
 

Collaborations

Innovative Incorporates netLibrary Data
Innovative Interfaces, Inc. has announced that its integration of netLibrary e-books is now available at no cost to libraries using its INNOPAC and Millennium systems.

Under an agreement made with netLibrary last March, Innovative has developed features that enable users to access collections of netLibrary e-books directly. Full MARC records are downloaded into the library's catalog and enable full-text access to e-books. The netLibrary record loading process is fully integrated into Innovative's Acquisitions EDI system. In addition, Innovative has developed other new features that integrate netLibrary's collection, including search limits, previews, and check-out.

With access to netLibrary's collection management architecture, patrons can remotely access e-books 24/7. Also, many of Innovative's partner libraries belong to consortia, and will benefit from the ability to share and expand their holdings without the cost of physical transport.

Source: Innovative Interfaces, Inc., Emeryville, CA, 510/655-6200; http://www.iii.com.
 

SIRSI Adds NL Search Capability to iBistro
SIRSI Corp. and Northern Light Technology, Inc. (NL) have announced an alliance to integrate Northern Light's advanced Web search capabilities into SIRSI's new iBistro Internet Access Center for public, academic, corporate, government, school, and other special libraries.

When users search the Web through iBistro, the search engine used is Northern Light. Search results are relevance ranked and organized into Custom Search Folders. Northern Light also offers advanced search features, including the ability to limit searches to particular subjects, types of Web sites, languages, countries, and date ranges.

SIRSI's iBistro Internet Access Center allows library users to search the catalog; visit other libraries; peruse high-quality Web sites; read book reviews, summaries, and other book information; and purchase books currently unavailable in their library, all from a single interface. Users can also personalize iBistro to create a MyBistro resource, where they receive information about new titles of interest just to them.

Source: SIRSI Corp., Huntsville, AL, 256/704-7000; http://www.sirsi.com.
 

ingenta and Macmillan Build Science Universe
Macmillan Publishers has announced that it has selected ingenta, the global research gateway, to create a series of encyclopedia-based reference portals for scientists, researchers, and librarians. According to the announcement, the collaborative project will be built in stages using ingenta's XML/XSL-based portal technology and linked to aggregated full-text content.

The first services to be released will be the Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics (EAA) and the Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (ELS), which were scheduled to be released late last year and this spring, respectively. The agreement includes arrangements for further releases of up to three additional portals per year over the next 5 years. Also as part of the agreement, ingenta will host a number of Macmillan's existing online reference works, including the Grove Dictionaries of Art, Music, and Opera.

The services will be available on a number of commercial bases, including site licensing, hourly based charging, and prepaid multiple session access in addition to being available on a pay-per-view basis.

Source: ingenta, Cambridge, MA, 617/395-4000; http://www.ingenta.com.
 

ISI and ulrichsweb.com Link Services
ISI and R.R. Bowker have announced that bidirectional links between the ISI Journal Citation Reports on the Web (JCR Web) and ulrichsweb.com (version 2.0 of Ulrich's Periodicals Directory on the Web) will be available with the release of JCR Web version 2.0. This hypernavigation will provide mutual subscribers with a new, integrated toolkit for serials data research and evaluation. Release is scheduled for the first quarter of this year.

JCR Web's statistical data provides a systematic and objective way to determine journals with the highest scholarly impact within subject areas. JCR Web is available in science and social science editions that collectively cover approximately 7,000 journals. ulrichsweb.com provides access to detailed and authoritative information for more than 242,000 serials on all subjects from more than 200 countries.

Source: ISI, Philadelphia, 800/336-4474, 215/386-0100; http://www.isinet.com.
 

Infotrieve Offers MCB University Press
Infotrieve, an article research and delivery company, has announced that it has extended its services to offer online access to a resource of 130 business and library science journals published by MCB University Press.

MCB's service, known as Emerald (the Electronic Management Research Library Database), makes the resources of a full management library available to its users, and delivers full-text multi-user access to over 130 respected journals. The content of these journals will be searchable through Infotrieve's Web-based information services, with retrieved articles available for immediate purchase and electronic delivery via e-mail. Infotrieve will also link the MCB publications to its free research services, including a bibliography database and alert of new articles published.

Source: Infotrieve, Los Angeles, 310/234-9480; http://www.infotrieve.com.
 

Pearson Partners with EBSCO for Content
Pearson Education has announced a partnership with EBSCO Information Services to develop customized online research collections providing access to content from selected academic journals and other quality publications. Beginning early this year, students using Pearson Higher Education texts and Companion Web Sites will be able to quickly search for articles specifically relating to their discipline areas.

With over 1,400 Web sites online in 2000 and plans to add 100 more this year, Pearson's alliance with EBSCO is part of its strategy to match its texts with Internet-delivered services and applications, the announcement said. With this partnership, EBSCO is introducing its ContentSelect program, in which the company will work with partners to build collections of periodical content. For the initial launch of the partnership, EBSCO will create a series of discipline-specific collections in the fields of psychology, education, sociology, history, information management, political science, medical science, economics/finance, marketing/management, chemistry, and biology.

Source: Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 201/236-6541; http://www.pearsoned.com.
 

SwetsnetNavigator Offers OECD Journals
Swets Blackwell has announced the addition of all 23 of OECD's electronic journal titles to SwetsnetNavigator, its electronic journal service.

The OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) is an intergovernmental organization of 30 member countries, originally formed in 1948 and containing countries from Western and Central Europe, North America, the Far East, and Australasia. Its primary purpose is to provide members with a forum to research, debate, and develop economic and social policy. As a result, the OECD is the independent publisher of more than 250 publications per year, including 98 million statistics that have been verified and made comparable.

Source: Swets Blackwell, New York, 800/221-3306; http://www.swetsblackwell.com.
 

Academic Press and e-psyche Link Services
Academic Press and e-psyche, LLC have announced that they have signed an agreement linking the e-psyche database with IDEAL, the Academic Press' online resource library. e-psyche publishes an abstracting and indexing database covering more than 4,000 journals in psychology and related disciplines.

e-psyche and IDEAL now feature the DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) necessary to make seamless linking from the e-psyche database to full-text articles on IDEAL accessible to subscribers to both Web-based resources.

Source: Academic Press, San Diego, 619/231-6616; http://www.academicpress.com.
 

ScienceDirect Web Editions from Elsevier Are Now Available for Endeavor Customers
Endeavor Information Systems has announced free full access to ScienceDirect Web editions for Voyager customers. This free offering of access to the full-text articles of 1,200 Elsevier electronic journals in the sciences, technology, and medicine enables customers to offer integrated access through their Voyager systems. This is Endeavor's first joint project with Elsevier Science since its merger with the publisher last April.

Source: Endeavor Information Systems, Des Plaines, IL, 847/296-2200; http://www.endinfosys.com.
 
 

New Online Databases

Facts On File Offers New Online Resources
Facts On File has announced that it is set to issue a completely up-to-date and expanded version of the award-winning CD-ROM The American Indian: A Multimedia Encyclopedia. Substantially reworked and enhanced for online use, American Indian History & Culture: An On-line Encyclopedia (ISBN: 0-8160-4377-9, $198) is now available as a comprehensive online database.

American Indian History & Culture gives users access to more than 5,000 years of culture, history, and leaders. More than 240 Native American groups are presented through subject entries, biographies, full-color maps, historical documents, photographs, a glossary, timelines, and folklore/legends. Topics include Migration; Wars and Battles; Land and Land Rights Disputes; Red Power Movement; Myth, Folklore, and Oral Traditions; and Missionary Societies and the Mission System.

According to a separate announcement from Facts On File, the Timelines On File binder has been completely revised and is now available online. Timelines On File On-line (ISBN: 0-8160-4409-0, $199) is a complete reworking of the product that middle and high school librarians, students, and teachers have used for years. It now features more than 500 additional pages and a new organization, and is completely searchable.

Timelines On File On-line breaks down into four different sections: The Ancient and Medieval World (Prehistory­1500 C.E.), The Expanding World (1500­1900), The 20th Century, and Nations and States. Each section includes an outline of world history, historical timelines of specific regions, and information on the arts, religions and ideas, and science and technology that flourished within each region.

Source: Facts On File, Inc., New York, 212/967-8800; http://www.factsonfile.com.
 

Gale Group Increases Its Online Repository
The Gale Group has announced what it calls its most ambitious periodical content project ever. InfoTrac OneFile, a subscription online service, provides online access to millions of news wire, magazine, journal, and newspaper articles on a single interface. Coverage includes 20 years of back files.

The 6,111 magazines and journals included run the gamut from general interest to refereed academic journals and business publications, and 2,659 of these periodicals are full text. Inclusion of nearly 90 news wires allows users to tap targeted information in such areas as agriculture, government, and sports, and also allows users to view press releases issued by businesses. Newspaper archives include full indexes of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Christian Science Monitor.

Source: Gale Group, Farmington Hills, MI, 248/699-4253; http://www.galegroup.com.
 

EBSCO Adds to Its Online Resources
EBSCO Publishing has announced that it is introducing Computer Source: Consumer Edition, a new database focused on providing public library patrons and high school and undergraduate researchers with the latest information and current trends in high technology. This database is available via EBSCOhost.

The Computer Source: Consumer Edition database features over 100 full-text periodicals covering computers, hardware and software, multimedia, telecommunications, electronics, and the Internet. The database is continuously updated, and includes full text from Byte, Computer Graphics World, Information Today, Internetweek, Linux, PC Magazine, and Yahoo! Internet Life, just to name a few.

Source: EBSCO Publishing, Ipswich, MA, 800/653-2726, 978/356-6500; http://www.epnet.com.
 
 

New Books

Neal-Schuman Books for Digital Librarians
Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. has recently published several titles that will be of interest to digital librarians.

Digital Reference Service in the New Millennium: Planning, Management, and Evaluation, edited by R. David Lankes, John W. Collins III, and Abby S. Kasowitz (ISBN: 1-55570-384-4, $65), is the latest entry in Neal-Schuman's "New Library Series." Joe Janes, Lorna Peterson, Steven Coffman, Martha Tarlton, Brett Butler, Susan Lessick, and others who have "been there and done that" successfully share their expertise with librarians and other information professionals who are planning or implementing digital reference services. The authors focus on both the theoretical aspects of digital reference services and on the technical aspects of developing, managing, and evaluating them. A special "Digital Reference Technology Spotlight" section offers an in-depth look at actual models.

Selecting and Managing Electronic Resources: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians, by Vicki L. Gregory (ISBN: 1-55570-382-8, $55), offers advice for keeping up with the constant changes in technology and resources. This practical manual addresses both traditional and current aspects of collection development as they relate to all aspects of electronic materials. Topics include collection development policies; criteria and process; budgeting and acquisitions; organization and maintenance of electronic resources; evaluation and assessment; copyright, licensing, and intellectual property issues; and preservation. Also included is a discussion of the Uniform Computers Information Transaction Act (UCITA).

Developing and Managing Electronic Journal Collections: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians, by Donnelyn Curtis, Virginia Scheschy, and Adolfo Tarango (ISBN: 1-55570-383-6, $55), offers first-hand knowledge designed to help librarians approach electronic journals in an organized, efficient, and proactive way. This how-to is a systematic guide through acquisition, management, and successful integration of the electronic format. It includes sample electronic policies, a comparison of databases, and an electronic journal spreadsheet.

Preserving Digital Information: A How-To-Do-It Manual, by Gregory S. Hunter (ISBN: 1-55570-353-4, $59.95), shows how to apply the best practices recommended by the professional associations and experts for preserving information in electronic formats. The nature of digital information, media fragility, technical obsolescence, system integrity, and "the digital record" are all covered. Hunter identifies the 10 strategic decisions that every librarian and archivist must make in order to establish a successful digital preservation program.

Source: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., New York, 212/925-8650; http://www.neal-schuman.com.
 

ALA Title Helps You to Gather Statistics
ALA Editions has announced Statistics and Performance Measures for Public Library Networked Services, by John Carlo Bertot, Charles R. McClure, and Joe Ryan (ISBN: 0-8389-0796-2; $38 or $34.20 for ALA members). According to the announcement, this title will help you measure, track, improve, and allocate funding for access to online and network-based resources.

Written by a team of research experts, this how-to manual will guide you through the process of measuring and assessing the quality of service you are providing to a new breed of technology-savvy library users. The book will show you how to collect and organize hard statistics based on the measures you set; assess the services you are providing and identify potential areas of growth; understand how your services are being used by patrons; develop a specific picture of your library's network service and usage that can be communicated to staff, community, and new funding streams; and develop financial reports and cost-benefit analyses to support budget increases and reallocate resources. It includes examples, charts, graphs, worksheets, and sample forms.

Source: ALA Editions, American Library Association, Chicago, 800/545-2433, 312/280-2427; http://www.ala.org/editions.
 

Idea Group Presents Its New Title World Libraries on the Information Superhighway
Idea Group Publishing has announced World Libraries on the Information Superhighway: Preparing for the Challenges of the New Millennium, edited by Patricia Diamond Fletcher and John Carlo Bertot (ISBN: 1-878289-66-7, $74.95), which presents the thoughts and experiences of librarians and academics on the changing role of libraries in a global networked community. More than just a compilation of case studies, the authors deal with all aspects of emerging technologies and their uses in libraries. Some authors focus on the technical aspects of these technologies, while others describe the theoretical implications.

Source: Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, PA, 717/533-8845; http://www.idea-group.com.
 

New Technology Press Offers XML Guide
The ABCs of XML: The Librarian's Guide to the eXtensible Markup Language, by Norman Desmarais (ISBN: 0-9675942-0-0, $28), provides an overview of XML and some of its applications in libraries. It discusses XML and its relationship to SGML and HTML and examines the various components.

The ABCs of XML explains the structure of an XML document and explores the different types of style sheets that offer various options for formatting and presenting XML documents for reading and processing. Contents will be updated at http://newtechnologypress.com/updates/xml.html. Fax your order to 281/646-7702, or use the online order form available at http://www.newtechnologypress.com/ntp/onlineform.html.

Source: New Technology Press, Houston, 281/646-7700; http://www.newtechnologypress.com.
 

O'Reilly Releases Reference on PC Hardware
O'Reilly & Associates has announced that it has released PC Hardware in a Nutshell, by Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson (ISBN: 1-56592-599-8, $29.95), a comprehensive and concise guide to buying, building, upgrading, and repairing Intel-based PCs, for novices and seasoned professionals alike.

In addition to coverage of the fundamentals and general tips about working on PCs, the book includes chapters focusing on motherboards, processors, memory, disks (floppies, hard drives, and optical drives), tape devices, video devices, input devices, audio components, communications, power supplies, and maintenance. The last chapter is a complete case study in building a PC from components.

Source: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Sebastopol, CA, 800/998-9938, 707/829-0515; http://www.oreilly.com.